Carnage in the Backyard

We have 1 1/2 hunting dogs at our house. Shooter is a legit hunting dog. Lucy, not so much. She loves to fetch, but doesn't quite understand how the whole hunting thing works. She'll fetch a bird if she sees it fall, but mostly just wants to beat Shooter to it or try to steal it from him. She isn't alert in the blind. She just lays her head on your lap. Anyways, I'm getting off topic.

For as long as I can remember, Shooter always tried to "get the squirrels" in the backyard. At our old house, we actually had squirrels. We have no trees here, so it is only on a rare occasion that we see a squirrel. If we do, it's usually just hauling it across the fence. Shooter doesn't limit the term "squirrel" to just squirrels. Anything that he can chase can be considered a squirrel. At our house, doves are the most common "squirrel."

So yesterday, I hear the thud at the back door. I often hear pawing or when Shooter turns and sits with his back to the door. This was different though. It even kind of scared me. I open the door to find Shooter with a semi-alive dove in his mouth, feathers everywhere, and Lucy just as excited about the action as Shooter.


When I came outside, you could tell he didn't know if he was in trouble or not. He put the bird down and looked at me. He wanted to eat it, no doubt. He was pretty proud of himself.


Then, he laid down next to it, as if that was going to change my mind about him eating it. If he wasn't a hunting dog, I'd say go for it. You deserved it. But, as I predicted, Dad said "NO." All that would do would be to suggest that eating the birds he retrieves is okay.

This was the first kill at our house. We had one close call before when we were trapping and banding doves in the backyard. It had been raining and so the bird's feathers were wet. When we released it, it couldn't really fly to well and flew straight into the side of the house. When it fell to the ground, Shooter just about had it. Luckily though, the bird got up and flew away just in time.

It probably doesn't look too good for the wildlife biologist to have dove murder scenes in the backyard. Whoops. Hopefully it doesn't happen again. Or, if it does, be sure there are enough to make doves wraps. Yum!