The Bird Dog Sorrows

This week has been very interesting to say the least. I have a story to tell, but first I would like to introduce myself. My name is Riley, and I am one of the four owners of Bull Mountain Brothers inc. My main job as an owner is Podcast production and I do a large part of the content management. As a “media company” it seems important to hit every possible form of content reach that we can. I’m taking a bullet for the boys and being the first to write a blog. I must say upfront. I hated English class in school. For most of my life I have chosen to be lazy with punctuation and ignore common English when writing, My apologies for that. All of you journalists and English majors, I recommend that you leave now because it will not get any better. We can’t afford an editor, nor do we want to… Have fun with this one.

If you have come across our Facebook page, you may have come from any one of our many social medias or media outlets. With that being said, you may need to know what we are and what we do. We have a weekly outdoor podcast that has now turned into a live recorded show. You can watch us on YouTube or listen on apple podcast and Spotify for the audio version. We have also started to dabble in filming vlogs and hunts for our YouTube channel. BMB sells merch and outdoor gear. With the intentions to sharpen all of our skills in those categories, we strive to someday take on even more. With all of the usual boring parts out of the way. I can tell you my story.

Jade and Ramsey out on a hunt.

To start. I need to introduce you to Jade. Jade is my six-year-old black lab. I brought her home when I was 21 years old. (Now 27). When I was a young ambitious 21-year-old. I thought the only important thing in life at the time was owning a bird dog. I was at a time in my life where waterfowl hunting was right at the top of my priority list. In my mind to become the best, you had to have a bird dog. Years later, and many hunts after. I now know that maybe shouldn’t have been my only priority. As we all know, tunnel vision can happen when you’re young and ignorant. I had some problems with this dream of mine owning a bird dog. Those problems were, I lived at home still and mom and dad said I could not have another dog in the house. To solve that problem, I did what any responsible young adult would do in that situation. I bought a house so I could have a bird dog… Most logical decision, right? With my problems fixed. I could now find a dog and, as luck would have it, some close friends of ours from my youth trapshooting league decided to breed their male and female labs. Right as I was ready to get my first bird dog, they had a litter, that’s Fate right? I remember being able to pick her out from a group of multicolored brothers and sisters. Yellow, Chocolate and black. if you ask my good friend and podcast partner Matt Schaff, black labs are the only way to go. so black it was. I brought Jade home in September of 2016.
I will spare you the tales of training her how to hunt and become a productive member of dog society. How at 4 months old, she woke me one morning by going number 2 on my chest. Countless hours of teaching “sit” and “come.” Her first hunt, and even when she got a sister, eh… and then another sister… We can save those stories for another time. For now, I would like to tell you the important parts. In 2016 I was at a point in my life where I only knew work. I didn’t have time for a large social life. I had some small, short relationships, and a lot of my friends were away at college. At the end of the day, I was alone a lot. Which is fine because I chose this life. I think I failed to mention that the house I bought was 30 miles from work. That made everything a little worse than it could have been. When I came home every day, I always had my pall jade. She grew to be the sweetest, most caring animal I have ever met. Jade was my best friend. For three years, until my brother Ramsey moved in. It was just me and Jade. Taking on life together and taking care of each other. As you could imagine a special “man’s best friend” bond was formed. Years went by and even though the people around us and the scenery changed constantly. We always had each other. Through Life changes, work problems, and everyday struggles. I always had jade. Around 5 years old, I had to retire her from bird hunting. She now has a puppy sister to take over her role. Jade would get a condition called cold tail which in short, her tail would swell, and be very painful for up to a couple days after swimming in cold water. I couldn’t stand to see it anymore, so she got to retire early. Aren’t we all a little jealous of her? In dog years she was out of work at 35. Must be nice… Even with her role as lead bird dog for me gone. The same sweet jade remained. I was more than happy to have her as my full-time best friend again. Let’s just hope the new pup likes to hunt.

I have been fortunate enough to not have a ton of hardships in my family over the years. I lost my one grandpa when i was young and the other passed when my mother was only 6. In recent years my mom has lost her sister and very recently, her mother. (My aunt and grandmother). These are the largest medical hardships I have witnessed. Close family, but not immediate close. I have never experienced the pain of someone or something immediately close to me be sick or die. I apologize to the readers of this first BMB Blog. I have zero intentions of being this morbid in my usual writing, but to tell my story, some background has to be laid out. About two weeks ago I caught jade limping around the house. Reaching down i grabbed her leg and brought it into my view. She was missing an toenail. My jerk reaction, one of her sisters was playing too hard while on the deck, and she ripped it off. No problem right? Just watch the wound and make sure it heals. After about four days, i noticed it was swelled. I chose to then take her to my mother’s where she could rehab the wound, away from the other dogs. It did not get better. Mom and I chose at that point, that it was best to take jade to the vet. With work I could not take her, so my kind mother took the responsibility for me. This should be easy. The Vet will give her antibiotics and a bandage, and she will hit the road. I awaited a call that morning and around 11 AM I got the call. I knew something was off when I could hear the stuffiness in moms voice, while she ralayed what was going on. Jade did not break her nail or get it caught. Her toenail was decaying. Her bone was dissolving and almost no blood remains in her digit. What was most likely the cause? Cancer. The news hit me strangly hard, I kept a straight face but couldn’t hold back the tears. My little best friend? Cancer? at six years old? It was if the news, that I had never even in my dreams expected, Hit me in a way, that some who are not caring pet owners would not understand, Like a truck hitting me in the chest. We all assume we are guaranteed time with everything in life, I should get at least 12? 14 years out a lab? Right?

Life has a way of humbling us into understanding that we aren’t intitled to shit. I will end my soap box here. This story comes from the last two days. As of right now, Jade had quick surgery to amputate her toe. We await the blood work in hopes that she does not have cancer throughout her body. Today she came home, and she is her normal happy self. Except for the cone, gosh she sure hates the cone. I do not know what the future holds but I hope we still have quite a few more years trogether. It would be very unfortunate if she passes sooner than later. Depending on the actual cancer situation, that of which I do not know just yet. I do not tell this story for your sympathy, I just wanted to share the feelings I had, when I found out my best friend Jade was unwell, without me even knowing. This heads the argument of “pets are like family”. I could have never imagined that I would care so deeply about an animal. It still amazes me that it hit me this hard. I ask my bird hunting readers, listeners, family and friends, Is it because of the bird dog code? One that details a bond between man and animal, for the common goal of harvesting for consumption and together outsmarting the game we hunt? I really don’t know. I honestly think now, after experiencing it, I would feel the same way if she was a born and bred house dog. Growing up, I never understood some people’s reasoning for not owning dogs, especially when they contribute the reasoning to the death of another dog. I have heard many times a person say, “I will never own a pet again, because the sickness and death caused me to much pain”. It never made sense to me, until now… I used to think, heck! couldn’t you just get another one? Truth is. There will never be another Jade. I do believe for the foreseeable future, my jaders will be okay. We will have more time to share, the thought of that makes me very happy. For those outdoorsman and bird hunters out there, I just wanted to share my story, because I think so many can relate, especially those that are more experienced in life. In ending, All I can say is to always enjoy the positive, good times while you can, things change so quick. Whether it’s a bird dog or a family member, Love everyone, and everything all the same. Making memories is the only thing we take to the grave, make them while you can, and cherish it all.

Thanks for reading the first Bull Mountain Brothers Blog. We plan to write many more. Let us know how we are doing. Write in the comments or Email us at (bullmtnbrothers@gmail.com) with all of your criticism’s. Good and Bad. We love to tell stories from our past, and present. Today’s story happened to be a sad one, but I promise they wont all be! Come back for more outdoor blogs, Hunting, fishing and everything outdoors.