[fabsroman]

Andy,

The only reason I like to shoot a limit of any bird nowadays is so that I can watch my dog Nitro get excited and make the retrieve. Once I have kids out in the field with me, I am pretty sure that the only reason I will want to kill bunches of birds and deer is so the kids have a great time. I am well beyond the need to kill a ton of anything anymore. I have gone dove hunting 4 times so far this year. Killed 1 the first day I went, 2 the next time I went, 9 the next time, and 12 this weekend. The only reason I felt bad the first two times out is because Nitro didn't get to retrieve too much. Other than that, they were all great days spent with my dad and some of his friends. This weekend, Nitro did a bunch of retrieving and has slept most of Satruday night and all day Sunday. I know he had a great time. I'll feel the same way about taking the kids out. A great day for me will depend on how good of a day they have.

Got a pretty funny story about Nitro from Saturday. A wounded dove landed on a tree about 75 yards away and I told my dad to make sure Nitro sat while I went to shoot it (i.e., I didn't want the dog scaring it away). Well, when I got close enough to the bird, I raised the gun and heard my dad screaming sit, stop, bad dog. I turned around to see my dad on the ground beating Nitro. It turns out that Nitro took off when he saw me raise the gun. Problem was that my dad was holding him by the collar. Nitro weighs 100 lbs. and my dad weighs 230 lbs., yet the dog managed to drag him on the ground a decent amount. Luckily, nobody got too hurt. My dad had some scrapes on his arm and I am sure Nitro had some bumps on his head.

I am sure that my wife and I will have some disagreements regarding when the kids can come hunting/fishing with me because we have already discussed it. I was 5 when I started to go with my dad, but I didn't shoot a firearm at that time. I started shooting at 7 or 8. My wife's initial thought was 12, and I know that isn't going to sit well with me, so we will have to wait and see how it all turns out.