I feel compelled to post this, but I can say there is no real lesson to be learned besides be aware of what's around you. I took the old man (my lab) down to a swamp alongside the lower Chehalis River for a last chance at some ducks. While walking in, a pair of widgeons cut past us at reasonable yardage. Again, my lab is old and not able to handle current anymore so whacking a smaller duck for him would be about as good as it gets. I pulled through and pulled a lot of feathers off the second bird, but not a DRT shot. The duck went into glide mode then folded up. The lab saw the shot and marked it well. No current and just some swamp grasses to swim through, so he should be ok. I sent him.
What followed next was something right out of a horror movie for any duck hunter.
The old lab cleared the first batch of open water, passed over the floating grass and onto the next open water were I could no longer see him. I then heard a screeching / hissing that I've never heard from a dog, followed by the sound of my dog barking and yelping, then growls and gurgling. I plowed through the chest deep water and pushed through the grass. My dog was being drowned by river otters. As soon as he came up for air one would grab him by the back of the head and roll him over onto his back with another otter grabbing at his neck. I was in luck in that I could still touch the bottom, so I plowed into the fight. The otters backed off when I shot over them. The lab did his best to swim to me but got rolled again. I did a contact shot on that one and pulled my dog up onto my hip and shot two more as they surfaced in my face hissing at me. None was shot further than 5' away.
Dog and I made it back home. He did not need stitches as most of the wounds were puncture type including his paws, but man is that one stoved up old lab!
The short of it is that before I again do some jump shooting, I'm sure going to check for otters, or at least have them in the back of my mind. I always carry a load of buckshot just in case of a coyote or bear, but never considered otters as a threat. I'm just hoping they did not have rabies.
Anyone else ever run into one of these packs?
