Kipling too was right when he wrote,“ I bid you beware of giving your heart to a dog to tear.”
And on a lighter note, to quote an e-mail I received not so long ago, entitled“ Who Is Your best Friend?”
It went:-“ This really works! If you don’ t believe it, just try this experiment. Put your dog and your partner in the boot of the car for an hour. When you open the trunk, which one is really happy to see you?!”
A dog is invaluable for tracking a wounded animal or even one hardhit with a lung or heart shot that might run 50 metres or more before collapsing dead. In winter 2016, my friend Ray and I, along with Jive and Ray’ s young dog, went for a hunt up a favoured gully. The stream forked and just before the junction, a hind and youngster appeared above us, standing and staring down at us. I contemplated a photo but the uneasy deer didn’ t hang around for that.
We moved on and climbed the centre spur above the forks, at first through bush for a hundred metres
or so and then out into open grass. After just a couple of hundred metres Jive scented the breeze with sustained eagerness.
Jive loved fishing too
“… beware of giving your heart to a dog to tear.” – Kipling
“ There could be something just ahead,” I whispered to Ray.“ You go first, and be ready just in case it’ s a good stag.”
Ray and the stag Jive tracked( but that’ s his dog behind, muscling in on the action!)
NZ Hunting & Wildlife 196- Autumn 2017 35