Had a Bit of a Scare

Two samples of Kaiser's urine, the bloody urine and one from the following day which appears to have cleared up.

After hunting all day we heading back home for a long drive. Kaiser worked hard the past day and a half. When we finally arrived home I took Kaiser out to urinate. While relieving himself I noticed that his urine had blood in it. I couldn't really tell as it was around 9pm by now and the artificial lights outside made it tough to really see. So I let him in and found a flashlight to check. He had pissed on an empty planter that had some light dried leaves in it. I saw that his pee did in fact have blood.

Having never dealt with anything like this, I freaked out a bit. After I showered him I called the local emergency vet to see if I should have him checked out now or if I should just wait till the morning to see my regular doctor. they told me to come in. So I did.

The vet checked him over. There are a few causes of bloody urine such as eating poison, trying to pass a stone, among others and the vet asked me question so to see if these could be the cause. Another cause is overexertion. When a dog overexerts himself his muscles breakdown and is passed through the body through urine or feces. The doc x-rayed the dog to see if he was trying to pass anything, she also did other tests such as blood and urine analysis.

After some exhausting tests, the main culprit was overexertion. With the results in from the analysis in, it was determined that Kaiser had some abnormal readings that concerned her. She worried that he could suffer from some kidney damage and suggested that he say overnight so she could put an IV in him so he could recover quicker and reduce any chance of kidney damage.
I left him there for the night to pick him up the next morning before 8am.

I arrived at 7:30am to pick up Kaiser and after paying the $710 bill we were off. The vet said he should be fine but have him rechecked in three days to make sure he didn't suffer any damage.

I'm having several hunts that are becoming extremely expensive but as long as my dog is okay, I'll just have to live with it.

Day Two. The Gate and Joel's

The Merkel 47E 20 gauge

Kaiser with the first bird of the day.

The Merkel 47E and my father's 20 gauge French over and under.

Although while at the motel I was beat tired, for whatever reason I could not fall asleep. The last time I checked the clock it was 5am. Managing a few hours of sleep I finally woke up to head out to The Gate. Just like the day previous, within the first 10 minutes quail were flushing. Again for whatever reason these birds were also very wary. They either held extremely tight or they flushed wild far from us. Kaiser gave me 10 points for the day. Some were false points from old scent but many were legit. Of those legit points I only managed one bird from them. I literally shot like shit. Shooting is a perishable talent and since I spent no time at the clay range this summer it was clearly apparent. Most birds were small loose coveys flushing in singles or doubles.

Within a few hours we finally found a large covey of about 25. We chased them through a draw managing a couple and missing more than I care to admit. The birds literally held tight. At one point we rested for 10 minutes, once we began moving again there quail flushed just feet from where we were resting. Talk about holding tight. I lost two this morning. One I hit my father saw the bird go down and then proceed to run into a tree. Kaiser followed but lost the scent as the trees roots were dense. The other we lost cause I hit one bird and while we were moving to retrieve it Kaiser went on point. The hit bird must have ran somewhere and kaiser couldn't locate the scent.

We stopped hunting around 1pm after my dad's over under had trouble closing completely shut so we headed back to the Rover. While heading back we ran into more and more quail. All in all this morning we must have seen at least 150 birds. Incredible.

After taking an afternoon nap we headed to a new area. Quail called in the background. We headed toward them. In no time we were on birds. We spent the last few hours of daylight looking for more birds but didn't find quite as many. Previous years have been spectacular but this year they were hard to find. I know the birds are still there as there was fresh track everywhere. If I were not so tired I'm sure I would have been able to move into the high grounds to find them but I simple didn't have it in me.

This day I took 4 quail losing 2. Dad didn't manage any for the day. Pics to follow.

First Birds of the Season- Moore's Place

The Hubertus Small Game Knife ready for gutting.

The Quails of the day taken with a Merkel 47E and a French U/O.

Kaiser and I take a rest while searching for chukar.

I missed the early dove season. I missed the early season mountain quail. I missed the regular season opener. The Rover was packed last week and I was ready to go up until I hopped in the driver's seat and the truck wouldn't start. As a result the trip was cancelled as I went to go replace the battery. In addition to that I had them do my routine maintenance. They found that I needed to replace my front bushings. Great start to the season.

After a lousy start, I decided to today was going to be the first time out. I was in no mood to wake up early to beat morning traffic I choose to leave the house late morning. We arrived the on the hunting fields at 3pm. Within only a few minutes from the car, we flushed a loose covey of about 8. I took a 30 yard right to left shot. I missed with the first IC barrel of the 20 gauge Merkel 47E but managed him with the second Mod barrel. My intetion was to climb to get some chukar so I was using B&P F2 Classic #6. I with my father through a dried out riverbed where we've had great luck in the past. No other birds appeared. Once through, I decided to climb the mountain for a chance at chukar. I left dad at the flatlands and walked parallel to each other. I climbed higher than I've ever climbed on this mountain. Unfortunately Kaiser and I were unable to find any birds. Unlike me, dad managed better than I. He flushed two small conveys and took two quail for his efforts. We met back at the truck by this time it was alittle after 5. We began driving out, not far from the main road a covey of at least 20 flushed to our right. Stopping the car, we jumped out and pursued the birds. Singles and double flush wild but shots were difficult as we were in some thick stuff along with a forest of cholla, yucca and other desert plants. We managed none of those birds. These birds acted like late season birds. They must be holdovers. After all the rain this spring I'm surprised I didn't see more birds and more dumber young birds.

Kaiser and I are not in hunting shape. This is completely my fault, I should have done alot more to get us ready for the season. Oh well. I'm typing in motel and I'm beat. Pictures for some reason will not upload so they will go up later.