Thread: One of those days that makes it all worth while for a working Gun Dog owner

Missus & l had planned for a 4 day hunting trip last week ,but the floods & wind fronts put the Khyber on that ,so the missus was hanging out to try some new loads l worked up for the 1992, 280 AI, Rem Mountain Rifle l recently inherited & she has taken a shine to .She has decided she wants to use it over the Roar this year, instead of the 270 Finnlight she normally prefers, l am lucky to have a 250mtr " Range" at the Farm, so in between wind gales & 160mm of rain falling in 4 hrs , l had worked up some mild & accurate loads for her & she would be trying out the "Roar" load this trip l had settled on, a Barnes 150gn TTSX doing just over 3000 fps,she had put a few groups together with the various loads on the range & was consistently shooting 16mm 3 shot groups with it & denied any knowledge of the recoil with a cheeky grin after l had suggested maybe we wait for her to use it until l get a replacement "modern" recoil pad for her ,so had a lot of confidence in the rifle & load to do the job .

We had a request for a nice fat Velvety Stag for Salami & Sausage making, l had decided to just take Sako our 4yr old Vizsla on the hunt today to give her some more one on one time ,as she has been showing a lot of improvement of late & l wanted to reinforce the good work . After passing over some hinds ,Sako locked onto & tracked just what was ordered, a Stag mooching off towards a Bush Belt & the missus pulled off a nice shot at 165 mtrs , just as the Stag turned for one last look back at where the Hinds were & was about to enter a thick bushy gully ,fed by a mountain spring .

As we walked up on the fallen Stag & doing the usual hugs & congrats ,we both noticed Sako was scenting heavily the closer we got to the Bush edge & more importantly for us , of a indication Sako was convinced game was close, the nut case went into its "Moon Walking " stalk, where each foot step is done in slow motion & all the muscles are clenched , then right when we were at the downed Stag ,before we realized what was going down , we had a full locked on classic point happening .

I immediately chambered a round & gave the hand signal for Sako to push on ,after about 60 mtrs of slowly fighting through the thick scrub & ferns , Sako went on full lock again & a nice Boar decided its stump impersonation was not working & broke cover tried to run up hill to safety ,my custom 284W handles like a fine 20G quail gun, so l swung through & fired as it went through a light patch of Ferns ,sending it rolling down hill past us .Sako the wonder dog was pretty happy with it self & l made sure a good dose of praise & belly pats was administered to show my appreciation .

Sako has just turned 4 & this was the first time a double point has been done on separate Game species, l firmly believe that the introduction of my pup Muttley the "accidental " Deer dog machine, a 14 month old GSP/Kelpie/Header X to the team & how fast he has picked up Gun Dog duties (when he was only ever meant to be a companion for my Old Lab at the Farm ) ,has spurred Sako to ignore the usual Vizsla trait of being a pup until 6yrs old & to switch on to concentrating on showing that mongrel Muttley up ,so Sako stays queen of the Farm & mums favorite .

As usual the Barnes were devastating ,smashing shoulder & showering the internals in bone shrapnel on the way through to leaving large exit wounds ,the Boar had a 2 ft stream of blood pumping out as it rolled down past us.

Sako been reading too many Gun Dog monthly mags & trying to show us why we should leave that mongrel Muttley home more often .




Nice solid Boar