Burge tower shoot

The first thing that you need to know about a tower shoot is that there is a hill, but no tower.  A truck filled with pheasants sits on the hill.  A handler tosses the birds into the sky, and they rocket away.  Around the tower in a large circle are gunners trying to shoot the birds as they zig and zag in the wind.

So what were Larsen and I doing at Burge Plantation during a tower shoot?  Someone has to get the pheasant when they fall from the sky, and who better than a black-nosed red & white spaniel?   Larsen fetched up a bunch of birds and had the time of his life.  He was a little confused at first as the sound of the guns came from different points on the compass, but once he saw the birds fall from the sky, he got with it.  Larsen and I hunted the easy ones and the hard ones.  We moved into the briars and got the winged ones and hunt-deaded the dead.

Things got a little wild at the end, with Larsen going rogue in order to flush the live birds in the field, but everyone (except me) had their eyes trained on the skies and it worked out well. The outing more or less "untrained" Larsen from being steady, but it was a wonderful time and the little dog was thankful from the bottom of his heart.

Clint set a Christmas-like tone with his rendition of Jingle Bells played on his bagpipe.

Puzzled but nonplussed by the bagpipes.

Larsen's first bird of the day was a nice hunt dead and retrieve.

The shooting got hot, but the little dog didn't flag. 

This hero shot is interrupted by the cackle of a cock