Ouch

It’s come to the point I was hoping wouldn’t happen. My back and leg are hurting so bad I can’t even walk up my driveway let alone a chukar mountain. I was lucky and got one last chukar outing before I went down.

The dogs are what I feel bad for. They depend on me for entertainment and right now I can’t even take them on a flat land walk. Here’s my last few hunts.

First off is a duck hunt that my grandson, Conner invited me on. I should have realized my back was getting worse, because I had a tough time just getting in and out of the lay out blind he had for me. But the boys treated me like royalty and all I had to do was shoot. They did all the work.

The next day a goose hunt. Although Conner likes to hunt everything, this is what he is really good at. At 20 years old he has become a very accomplished outdoorsman.

And then my last chukar hunt. Usually I can out walk the pain in my back. It gets less as I cover the mountain. I just have to get through that first hour and it seems to be less pain. My leg, I just have to concentrate on keeping it as flat to the ground as possible. So I headed up the mountain, following the dogs. As I got further up the mountain my back pain got worse and a few slips with my leg and it was throbbing also. But the boys were having fun.

All I had to do was tough it out and get to them. But it got to the point that I could only take five or six steps and stop because of the throbbing pain in my back. But slowly I got to the dogs.

I even had some success.

I finally couldn’t go any further, but some eagles and crows were feeding on something up the hill and I had to see what it was. So I gained a little more elevation to find this dead deer that was feeding several predators on the hill.

I was thankful it wasn’t a buck. I would have packed the rack down the hill and that wouldn’t have been comfortable. It was time to make the slow descent back to the rig a mile and a half away. It took three hours to cover that distance. But the boys didn’t let my slow going detour them. They located a few more birds as we descended.

With some success on my part.

Dog and bird wise, it ended up being a pretty good day. The boys had a good day on the hill and were happy to get in the back seat of the truck. Days like this are what they live for.

I live for them also. But I’m afraid, unless the doctors have some kind of miracle, I might be through for a while. If the insurance gets on the ball and gives the okay for the back doctor I believe the procedure they are wanting to perform will only keep me off the mountain for a few days. But I’m afraid that when I meet with the leg doctor on Wednesday that his solutions might put and end to my season. My back pain is worse, but it sounds like the leg is going to need repaired and immobilized.

So over the next couple of weeks I’m going to need a few prayers that I’m wrong and everything will work out good for the dogs. They need me healthy. I need chukar hunting. I need to be able to move through the hills. Outside of my family, that is what I live for.

Man, am I proud of those dogs.