If the good Lord is willing, Timber will be 14 in January. He hasn't really hunted much in the last few years, although he still gets excited when I'm getting gear together, and he always comes outside to sniff the truck tailgate when I get home from a hunt. He's deaf. His eye sight isn't too sharp. His back legs are going out on him. So much so that I have been carrying him up the stairs for probably over a year now.
The thought hadn't really crossed my mind to try and get him out for one last hunt, but when my wife mentioned it at dinner last night I thought, "What the heck, let's try to give him one more show. He's definitely earned it.
Timber had a little pep in his step this morning, trotting in his tripod-like gate across the corn field. I wasn't sure if he would be able to make it all the way. He stumbled on the freshly-cut corn stubble a few times, but he persevered. He bounced up, dirt on his nose, like nothing happened. "Let's go guys, the blinds are this way." He still knew the drill, even though he was just going to be a spectator. On watch like always, his eyes were to the sky. He laid uncomfortably still in his blind, but he enjoyed the show.
The geese did what geese sometimes do, and followed other plans to feed in other fields. We convinced a few groups to come close enough for shots, ending up with three birds in the bag. The truly amazing surprise was on the leg of one of the geese that came down. A leg band, just for Timber on his one, last hunt.
His eyes were lit up from the time I started gathering gear last night to the time we wrapped up today. He's absolutely exhausted now, snoring under the desk next to me. His legs, kicking occasionally. Hopefully he's having dog dreams about his better days when he would blast out of the dog blind and tackle geese @JOHNROHIO and I had dropped into the corn field. Or maybe he's swimming after downed ducks, even diving under water in pursuit of crippled birds to bring them back to shore and return to the water for more. Perhaps he's breaking ice with his big barrel chest, because even freezing cold water couldn't deter him from making a retrieve. What ever he's dreaming, I hope he knows how legendary his last hunt truly was.
