The day starts with a run. Some days lifting weights follows running. Other days there’s swimming and cycling. Still others it’s all of the above. And on nearly all days I shoot in the morning and afternoon.
This day started like so many others – running. River, my lab, runs with me. She’s basically a runner and swimmer even though she has a keen interest in archery. Together we run along with a friend, Coco. Coco, the lab down the road, is well mannered, but she can’t avoid nastiness. River, a bit more refined, stays out of the worst of Coco’s badly influenced romps, if I can signal River away in time.
Mud was on Coco’s mind during this run. River didn’t haller in mud, Coco’s shame, but following the run she needed a bath. In fact, both dogs needed bathing and I expect Coco’s owners weren’t too pleased when she returned home.
One of the many things I’ve learned about labs is that a tired lab is a good lab. So, River hangs out me with after running while I shoot. I’ll spend hours outside practicing archery and throughout it all River watches. Some times I need to toss a stick but that’s fine.
River prefers 3D practice to paper target practice. 3D is done in the woods and there are so many more things to smell. Occasionally, there’s a nice carcass to taste and roll over. Of course, there’s the possibility of finding the delicacy of a pile of rabbit poop, a favorite treat for many dogs.
This afternoon, practice was about yardage. The game was to estimate and check my guess against a range finder. Regardless of what the range finder measured, the first shot was always taken using my yardage estimate. The targets were then shot up to 6 times before moving, using the same target at distances from about 20 yards to about 50 yards at about 5 yard increments. It’s a slow process and by then end of the day both dog and man are tired.