Joe Allegretti writes: Hunting season began with another very successful dove opener. Nearly two dozen hunters bagged nearly 500 birds on the long Opening Weekend. It was very hot, hotter than normal, so Pepper saw limited action. Boone was still at “finishing school,” it would be another month before he would get to come home. Cody joined us on days two and three, retrieving limits of dove for Steve Manser, who kept Cody cool by hunting next to a pond. I made five trips to our farm last season to dove hunt, eight hunting days in all, each time shooting limits. My youngest daughter, Melanie, shot her first limit of dove during one of those secondary hunts. Pepper made numerous water retrieves over the large pond on several of those hunts. During the second dove season, it was Boone who was called to duty to make retrieves in the water, retrieving his first duck, shot by my son, Anthony. Boone also got his first taste of dove on that trip, displaying excellent marking abilities.

Our annual trip to the Cannonball Company in North Dakota was another success. It was 70 degrees the day we arrived, but the temperatures cooled down quite nicely while we were hunting. Pepper did great, flushing and retrieving dozens of pheasants. Boone was somewhat confused, not used to all of the scent and heavy cover. I was somewhat disappointed, but remembered how Ammo and Pepper were on their first trips to North Dakota and that they became excellent pheasant dogs. A DFG pheasant hunt in Gorman saw Boone perform admirably; he flushed the planted roosters out of cover he was used to-sage brush. Melanie, Anthony, and I all bagged roosters that hunt, with Melanie shooting her first pheasant.

Our annual goose trip to Nevada saw no geese fall, but we did bag several ducks. Boone retrieved several ducks from the icy slough. My nephews bagged their first ducks on this trip.

It was a great hunting season; unfortunately, it had a very sad ending as Cody’s owner, Steve, died suddenly of a heart attack in early January. We all lost a great friend and hunting companion; we will miss him.

Steve and Pepper (2004)

Check out the group's other hunting seasons too:
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007