Not going quietly

I thought Jem would be ready to retire, hang it up, head to the couch, rest on his laurels.

After all, he recently turned 13, the life expectancy of a springer spaniel. He has aches and pains, walks like John Wayne, and falls a lot.

But after I left him home on the second day of the season, my wife told me if I wanted to stay married I should never do that again. She said Jem moaned and groaned and howled until I returned home with the other dogs.

He hasn’t stayed home since.

Jem accompanies us on the first hunt out of the truck, usually a quick loop through the sage and short grass where I can keep an eye on him. He’s been deaf for years, or at least pretended to be, too many shots fired in his direction.

Never a fast dog, Jem nevertheless always set a pace that was hard to match. He’s a bit slower now, but only a bit. I still have to work to keep up with him.

Hunting sharptail grouse on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge earlier this week, I dropped a bird that Ace flushed, then swung on another that Ruth put up and watched it fall. Anxious to get Ruth a retrieve, I focused on where the second sharptail fell. She was quickly on the bird, picked it up and brought it to me.

Turning my attention back to Ace and the first bird, I realized he was still hunting instead of standing guard over a dead bird as is his habit. We looked for half an hour and never found the first grouse. Maybe I just thought I had hit it.

The next morning we were back and so were the grouse. I dropped one, passed on a low flier, and while watching Ruth retrieve, realized Jem was chasing a bird that was flopping in the sage. He caught it and brought it to me. I’d only shot once so it had to be the missing bird from the day before.

Pleased that I hadn’t lost a bird, and that Jem had gotten a taste, I loaded Ace and Ruth in their boxes on the back of the ATV, then hoisted Jem onto the seat with me. We hadn’t gone a hundred yards when he put his head back and began to howl. He kept it up all the way back to the cabin.

The end may be near, but he’s not going quietly.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected].