Flashback Friday: The Retrieve

Over the years we’ve had some memorable hunts. And we’ve seen some great dog work with outstanding retrieves. But this one takes the cake!

Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors was fortunate to connect with Mike Nyhoff who was the manager for the Glen Elder Wildlife Area. They would invite us to bring kids to their annual hunt. It started out as a Celebrity Hunt, with several former professional baseball and football players coming out to hunt with the kids. Then they started inviting some armed forces service members and it became a Celebrity & Heroes Hunt.

In ’08, we had a few Army members from Fort Riley join in the hunt. Most of these servicemen had been injured while serving overseas. It was a chilly morning with temperatures in the low 30’s. Because we were hunting pheasants with new, young hunters we wouldn’t use blockers at the end of the field. Instead, we would push the fields towards the lake with the lake serving as the blocker.

As luck would have it, we had a bird get up right at the end of the field and it fell at least 15-20 yards out into the lake. The Brittany we were hunting with wanted no part of that cold water and wouldn’t retrieve the bird. One of the servicemen said, “I’m from Wisconsin, this isn’t cold!” and proceeded to strip down to his skivvies and swam after the pheasant.

Yes, that’s a pheasant in his mouth with the Brittany watching him swim to shore.

I’m not sure what valuable lessons the kids might have taken from this experience, but it was certainly memorable!

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