Our CLF Cait will be 12 this year. She is one half of the reason that my husband Jimmy and I are together. The other half of the reason is a 14 yo CLM, Toby. But that's another story for another day. But here is her story today.
Saturday was mine and Jimmy's anniversary. We took Cait hunting with us on opening weekend, and again this weekend for the last weekend of the season. We were going to be pretty careful with her so she wouldn't get stiff and sore. She is in good physical shape and still runs HT, but at 12 everything just hurts a little more than it used to. We hunted timber Saturday morning, but it was pretty slow. Only 11 birds out of our group. We decided to go hunt our pit Saturday afternoon. We debated about it some because that rice field is awfully muddy and tough for an old girl to run in. We decided to go ahead and take her with us, but if we had a big afternoon, we were going to limit her number of retrieves. A greenhead and susie had been circling, and even though they were a little long, we knew they weren't going to make another pass, so hubby called shoot. The susie got away clean, but I hit the greenhead. (Which I was proud of since I was the only girl in the pit). He was crippled and landed about 115-120 yards out. Cait was watching him, and she was ready to go. Jimmy was debating on sending her. Well, he debated a little too long, and she said hey dad, I got this, and off she went. He got the whistle out, and started to call her back. The duck was alive and had a good amount of fight still in him. One of they guys said, she's still got plenty of heart and she wants that duck. Jimmy let her go. You could see her hit another gear as she got closer and the duck was splashing and swimming toward the rice. But ole Cait was gaining ground. In my head I'm thinking come on Cait. The duck made it to the rice and disappeared. Cait went in after him and disappeared, too. She was out of sight for what felt like FOREVER, but in reality was probably only about 15-20 seconds. When she came out, she had that duck. And I swear I thought I was going to cry. It's a retrieve I will remember forever.
Was it Cait's last hunt? I don't know. But here she is - one half of the reason I am with my best friend and the man I love more than life - on our annivesary with that greenhead I shot from that pit Saturday afternoon. I wish the picture was a little clearer. I would love to have it framed.
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Saturday was mine and Jimmy's anniversary. We took Cait hunting with us on opening weekend, and again this weekend for the last weekend of the season. We were going to be pretty careful with her so she wouldn't get stiff and sore. She is in good physical shape and still runs HT, but at 12 everything just hurts a little more than it used to. We hunted timber Saturday morning, but it was pretty slow. Only 11 birds out of our group. We decided to go hunt our pit Saturday afternoon. We debated about it some because that rice field is awfully muddy and tough for an old girl to run in. We decided to go ahead and take her with us, but if we had a big afternoon, we were going to limit her number of retrieves. A greenhead and susie had been circling, and even though they were a little long, we knew they weren't going to make another pass, so hubby called shoot. The susie got away clean, but I hit the greenhead. (Which I was proud of since I was the only girl in the pit). He was crippled and landed about 115-120 yards out. Cait was watching him, and she was ready to go. Jimmy was debating on sending her. Well, he debated a little too long, and she said hey dad, I got this, and off she went. He got the whistle out, and started to call her back. The duck was alive and had a good amount of fight still in him. One of they guys said, she's still got plenty of heart and she wants that duck. Jimmy let her go. You could see her hit another gear as she got closer and the duck was splashing and swimming toward the rice. But ole Cait was gaining ground. In my head I'm thinking come on Cait. The duck made it to the rice and disappeared. Cait went in after him and disappeared, too. She was out of sight for what felt like FOREVER, but in reality was probably only about 15-20 seconds. When she came out, she had that duck. And I swear I thought I was going to cry. It's a retrieve I will remember forever.
Was it Cait's last hunt? I don't know. But here she is - one half of the reason I am with my best friend and the man I love more than life - on our annivesary with that greenhead I shot from that pit Saturday afternoon. I wish the picture was a little clearer. I would love to have it framed.
