We had two great deer in our area reported. The first buck was Elijah Lang's 8 point. He was in the stand with his father when two bucks came into view. The bigger one knew something was wrong and ran off but the other large buck took a good run and tried to outdash Elijah's buckshot. Elijah very skillfully put his buck down for the count on the spot. Great shooting!

Katelyn Spuchesi was in a ground blind with her father when her buck came into view. At first she was not going to shoot but then decided after looking him over in the scope that he needed to go home with her. She made it happen with one shot! What a great buck!

Dove hunting was forecast by VDGIF to be less than average due to spring rains, windy nesting conditions etc... My informal observations have backed that up. Many farmers have not harvested corn quite yet due to all the rain but even where they have, the doves are not extremely numerous in the few places I have observed that were harvested.
Still, getting outside, in the field, gun in hand with a retriever is worth it if nothing more than to get away from chores and relax a little. We took two dogs Friday afternoon and shot at a few birds and got two of them which the dogs were able to find and bring back. Then the rain squall from Florence hit us and drove us sopping wet to the truck. Saturday we were able to sneak back out and we managed to see one bird in range and got that one allowing my daughter's nearly year old lab go retrieve it. The bird had fallen in dense cover but she found it and retrieved it without mauling it in short order! We were thrilled. The dog is one of seven out of her litter last year and has shown great potential. We got the female (mom) from Liberty Pups. Those dogs have shown to be great field companions and retrievers are a reasonable price. We hope to have another litter in the coming year. Look at tomorrow's post for details on Liberty Pups and watch here for upcoming news of litters we may have down the road.