You’re going to love this

I’ve been crying on everyone’s shoulder the last couple of months about my injuries. It’s been working because I’ve got several messages form chukar hunters wishing me the best. I have two issues, my back and my leg. The leg is obvious and the solutions are obvious also. The back is a much different issue. Nothing’s been obvious. But after my visit to the back doctor yesterday, it’s become clear that all of us chukar hunters may have similar problems.

I’ve had operations, ablations, and way too many shots in my back and nothing seems to be getting me closer to comfortable hunting on the chukar mountain. The MRI’S show several different problems but the solutions have not been positive. So we’re ready to try another path. Putting some wires up the spinal cord hooked to a battery under the skin. The best way to explain it in my simple terms is, the wires intercept the pain and tell my brain not to sense it. Sounds simple but there obviously is more to it. It’s called a brain.

There are a few hoops to go through before they can do the operation. You’re going to love the biggest hoop of all. I have to go to a psychiatrist to make sure I’m a candidate. I chuckled when the doctor told me, because I thought he was joking. But I realized he was for real when he set up my appointment for Feb. 9th. The earliest appointment available by the shrink.

The next half hour was spent explaining to the doctor what chukar hunting is all about. Of course Barb was at the visit with me and all she could do was shake her head as if embarrassed by me. The doctor asked me questions like, “How steep the mountain is, how far do you go, how long it is between birds, why don’t you just let the dogs chase the birds to you, why can’t the dogs find there own water, and the many other aspects of chukar hunting. Questions that I thought were just every day knowledge. It ended up with, “and you do that simply for a bird that weighs about a pound and a half?”

We ended up the conversation with the doctor mumbling something about how odd that kind of hunting seems. Barb was still shaking her head as we walked out the door.

I forgot my coat and when I went back in to get it I heard the doctor say, “the psychiatrist is going to have a ball with this one”. I wondered if he was talking about me.

So, on the 9th, I have to sit in front of a shrink and tell him or her the same story about chukar hunting. I think I’ll leave Barb at home. If my dogs could talk, I’d take them along and maybe they could explain how much fun and gratitude we get from chukar hunting. And then again, maybe that’s not such a good idea. The doc might think the dog’s brain mass is larger than mine.

That’s where I’m stuck at now. I’ll still try some chukar hunting in the meantime and try to figure out why the back doctor seemed like the things I said were strange. Maybe I could get some help from you guys. You can tell me if the hunts are weird or why a psychiatrist might think I’m way out there. I’m afraid that maybe they might come up with the conclusion that my brain is no bigger than a chukars brain and the operation might be way over my ability to comprehend.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep following the dogs to the best of my ability and hoping for success. Also, I’ll be hoping they figure the process may help me.

Chukar hunters. Just remember, this could be you. Think about how rational chukar hunting seems to you.