Well, There's not a lot of glimmer and gold to it. We made a road trip to a special permit area with an extended bird season. It was the last day. We started on a flat and were crossing it along a windbreak of thick bush and trees. Along that break the Epagnuel Breton hit a hard point. Upon crossing in front of her a little covey of 4-birds got up. My son had the 12-b and dropped the bird going his way. We were told there were not many Bobwhites, but we could shoot a few. With that in mind, we made no attempt to find the other 3 that scattered. When we got to the "top" there was a rocky peak with water on both sides. The rocky peak made a sort of natural bridge between the bodies of water. Right when we started crossing the pup locked up on a little clump of straw grass at the waters edge. We picked our way down the loose rock and when we were about 15-feet from the dog a lone chukar took off over the water. My son dropped it in the water. The little dog is broke - that is - she stays put through flying birds and shooting and waits to be released before retrieving or carrying on. Her release is a physical tap on the head. The last little bit of downhill was slippery and steep but I had to get to her or she'd stand there all day. I touch on the head and the retrieve command and she was into the water. I did learn the beeper collar is waterproof!. When we got to the top my son tied his boot laces and reloaded. Apparently before we continued we switched guns and didn't realize it. These Pedersoli's are the same exact weight and I've got the stocks the same dimension. The 12 does have wide barrels than the 20, and the 12 is blackened while the 20 is browned. However, we both shoot either about the same. A few hundred yards later the dog was pointing again on the opposite downhill side. My son went down to the point while I stayed on the peak. As the shooter got past the dog the chukar ran uphill. When it saw me, it turned and took off airborne from the peak in the direction it had come from. My son shot it and dropped it in the water too. It was a dramatic sight since it had elevation from the peak. It fell probably 50-feet and made a big splash. This time the dog was a few steps away and was released for the retrieve. When we crossed we came into rolling grasses and light brush. The dog pointed in some two foot high grass. Two Gambel's quail took off and my son and I each knocked one down. I sent the dog for the long one while I picked up the close one that I could see. All this was within the first hour. About an hour later the dog pointed in a mixed straw colored grass, green colored grass area. When we got 15-or so yards from the dog a covey of Gambel's took off. Probably 30-birds were airborne. I hit and missed. My son dropped two. We had the same exact load in the guns in spite of 2 different gauges. I have a lot of #6 and it was already in the shot snake so we just used it instead of switching to something smaller that we might otherwise use for quail and chukar. Another hour went by and we turned from North to West to circle this bowl that we were on the rim of. The dog was out of sight for about 5-minutes when we heard a faint beep-beep. We saw her on a little ridge locked up tight. Before we got all the way there a chukar took off and loop left and came towards us. My son and I shot simultaneously and it dropped. Another chukar ran out along the edge at a sprint. Since the bird was between us and the dog we picked it up and then released her. We went toward the bird we had just seen running. About 100-yards later the dog pointed and my son knocked down a chukar that we presume was the same one we were after. Standing there re-loading, we heard the Gambel's quail. Going toward the sound we found a covey of around 10. They were in waist high grass way in front of the dog's point. When they flushed, they really went up high making a pretty cool sky-lit background with nothing else in the background. 2 of these fell. We went in the direction of the majority and the dog pointed again. That produced another bird. While my son was re-loading the dog pointed about 75-yards out. I heard "go get 'em Dad", so I walked out there. Another single went up and I dropped it. When the dog brought it to me my son had caught up and we began our turn to the South. On the edge of a small pond the dog did a 180 from full stride and froze. We passed by her nose and a group of 5 or 6 quail got up and my son shot one that fell in the pond. As the dog entered the pond for the retrieve, a late bird got up on my side and went over my head. I turned and dropped it. At this point we'd been out all day and it was nearing 5PM. We turned back to the East- and towards the truck. The dog was on point downhill to my right. I was making my way there while my son paused to tie his boot laces. Near the dog I heard a shot somewhere uphill behind me. I turned to see a chukar falling out from beneath a cloud of smoke. My son had bumped one up. The dog was oblivious to all this, focusing on the bird in front of her. A single quail went right and crossed in front of my son who was somewhat uphill. He shot and missed, but he hit it with the second barrel. The dog brought the quail and then I sent her for the chukar because we couldn't find it. It was walking but with broken wings, so the dog had a short round-up with the bird before bringing it in. With the truck in sight and 5PM just behind us there were 3 more points and finds on the way back, each resulting in a bird. The season is about over so this was a nice way to wind it down.
