Bird Dog in Snow –
This is Huck. He is a yellow Labrador Retriever, named after the book Huckleberry Finn. We go quail and dove and pheasant hunting in the fall and winter. He loves it. He is just a pet most of the year, but when he has a job to do, he becomes a different dog.
Labs were bred in England a long time ago to retrieve birds, primarily from the water. Huck can do that too, but mainly we hunt on land; pastures and fencerows. Hunting in the snow is the best because you can see all the bird and animal tracks.
Huck not only retrieves downed birds, he also knows how to stay close and search for them before they flush. He zig-zags in the tall grass in front of the walking hunters to find and flush birds. It seems like Huck is actually smiling when he brings me a quail or a dove. I think he is happy to earn his keep.
