Thanks fellas. Drake made some kids smile for sure. And yes, he is a rock star. He draws attention to himself everywhere we go. It just makes my head get bigger and bigger. Not as big as his though. Yesterday we picked up a kid who has never hunted pheasant before. I gave him one rule...DONT SHOOT MY DOG! We were done in 24 minutes. Nowhere close to Drakes record on boxed chickens but we walked slowly and gingerly due to my knee hurting like a mo-fo. Its fun to BS and exchange stories with the kids and their parents. Plus, Ive been doing this for a long time and it was fun to catch up with some of the releasers and whatnot. The BBQ was going and drinks were cold so it was easy to hang out for a couple hours afterwards. So the kid wanted my number so he could call me and let me know if he was coming back out today. And yes, this was all ok with his father. Needless to say I got a call from a very excited 14 year old last night saying he wanted to hunt with Drake again. So I iced the knee and prepared myself for a wet hunt this morning. I wanted to make it a little more challenging for the youngster so we waited til the rest of the hunters made their way down range. We went in 10 minutes behind a father/daughter and their female black lab. I wanted all the "dazed' birds removed from the equation. Needless to say drake picked up a rooster off the bat. Aswing and a miss for the kid. further down range Drake put up a hen and the kid knocked it down. Drake put up 5 more birds in the next 20 minutes before the kid finally connected on a nice rooster. All in all, even dealing with great pain, i would do it again and again, hoping to light the pheasant fire in these kids. the best part is I met a great, respectable and very mature young man. He will be playin Yelm here in a couple weeks so i am gonna go watch him play. If I am fortunate enough to get out for myself this season, The kid will be invited every time. Hats off to JBLM and their volunteers who make this possible. What a fantastic weekend! I will load pictures shortly. Again, with permission.
