Mornings With Molly

Love Creek English Setter's MVP 2011
Most Valuable Pointer
Molly

                                                         This is a story about one of a series of solo runs I did in the season of 2011 with Molly. Having had a serious injury to her left eye in the field which she subsequently lost I ran her by herself for a period of time giving her time to adjust to the change. This dog has more desire, drive and stamina  than any dog I've ever had and she proved it time and again throughout the 2011 season even with her now unfortunate handicap. These performances during the 2011 season earned her the Love Creek English Setter's MVP award. Most Valuable Pointer!
                                                         It had been 14 days since Molly's operation to remove her left eye. The eye lid now was sewn shut covering where her eye had been. I  had made every effort to do what could be done for her making an emergency trip to a specialist in Minneapolis but the diagnosis was that the eye could not be saved and had to come out. I felt most confident having the surgery done by my Vet in Madison Wisconsin so I called from Minneapolis and made the arrangements for the surgery which had to be done asap.
We stayed at my sister's with Mick and Beau for a week following the surgery to allow Molly to recover. It was the last week of September and we'd been hunting Sharptail for 3 weeks at that point. As I spent a few moments talking with my Vet he recounted several accidents in the field he was familiar with over the year's that came to mind and said " Arlan I can tell you this that if you hunt long enough something eventually will happen either to you or one of your dog's. That's just the way it is." That's no consolation but it made me feel better knowing I wasn't alone. And later on in the season in fact did experience having to rescue Mick after he fell through thin ice in a slough and couldn't get out causing me to have to wade in up to my waist to pull him out!
                                                        So the morning to remove the stitches finally came during the first week of resident Pheasant season. My Vet Morrie Link had assured me that Molly would adjust and hunt as she had with maybe a little difficulty marking birds from her blind side. This would be the test. I carefully removed the stitches myself at 7:15 and everything looked as though it healed fine so the plan was to run Molly by herself the first week to allow her to adjust in the field and observe how she did.
                                                        I chose an area with mostly open cover to allow her to ease into the routine again. We arrived just after 8:00 a.m and I turned Molly out having left Mick and Beau at home. Molly was eager to get going having had the cone on again for the last two weeks and it was a nice sunny morning with little to no wind. The plan was to walk through a little CRP then around the edge of a wheat field and come back through some short alfalfa with sloughs interspersed throughout. I hadn't taken 10 steps and she was working a bird casting about in circles in the CRP! I was amazed as she got right to work. I did notice her looking for me a couple of times at first but she was quick to adjust and kept moving. This bird was moving about and she stayed with it working around a rise in the grass. I was prepared for a flush at anytime of course and kept close to her as she worked. Finally she came to point right on top of the knoll 100 feet from the Jeep behind us! Not 10 minutes had passed. I moved slowly ahead and past her flushing a nice Rooster back to the west which fell with one shot from my 16 gauge SxS. I was so happy for her as she recovered the down bird. Glad to have her back on the team!
                                                       It was around 8:15 when we headed back east along the wheat stubble and Molly worked the edge along the grass. Halfway down the fence line she locked up on point again standing in the wheat stubble pointing into the grass. I walked ahead and two Hens flushed. She was having fun! We then headed across the alfalfa towards the first slough. Molly got birdy around the south side and was tracking a bird along the cattails. Suddenly she stopped. Going on point right on the edge 30 yards ahead of me. I approached cautiously and kicked the grass ahead of her. Another Rooster burst from the cover and again fell with one shot from my 16 gauge SxS. It was a little after 8:30 and Molly had me on two Rooster's already on her first morning back. Incredible!
                                                        We worked the short alfalfa back to the next slough and Molly came around the north side and got birdy in the alfalfa which was a little higher with some open patches here and there. She was tracking moving birds here and came on point in the open right where the field had a little dip in it creating a place for birds to hide I thought. I was right! I walked ahead as she held still being about 50 yards behind her and came within 20 feet of her when two Roosters took flight simultaneously in a beautiful flush. I took the bird to my right and again it fell with one shot from my SxS. I had to let the second bird go of course because that was our third bird. Molly retrieved the prize and as I looked at my watch it was 8:50 a.m. What a run for her first morning out in two weeks. She may have a handicap but so far I hadn't figured out what it was!
                                                       We made our way back to the Jeep as I thought about how fragile our lives can be with the unexpected changing our course at anytime. So this run with Molly was a second chance.  Being lucky to still be out here together doing what we both love.