Saturday 12 April 2014

Mother's Pride

Readers in the US will be very familiar with bumperstickers that say "Proud Parent of an Honour Student" or My Child is an Honor Student at --- School". I get that. Parents should be proud of their children's achievements. I only have fur kids, but I'm proud of their abilities too. So proud, in fact, that you may want to turn down the volume before watching this video:


That's Quincy retrieving a goose (in spite of my enthusiastic overhandling). 

She's never retrieved a goose before this morning, and she retrieved four out of four, all shot and lost last night on dark. All were blind retrieves (she couldn't see the bird) on cold game (scent is not so good as when freshly shot), in water, with the wind in the wrong direction for scenting (to her back - carrying any smells that might help her locate the bird away from her). Everything was against her and she found them all.


I'm so proud of that dog. 

I want a bumper sticker that says "My Kid may be crap at calculus, but she can scent dead game and swim carrying a 10-pound bird in her mouth". 

Canada geese weren't such a problem in Dorset, but they plague farmers in our area, eating the young maize crops. The old legal classification relating to common land grazing says is that two geese will graze as much as one sheep. We counted 40 geese lifting from the small pond this morning. The pond adjacent to a farmer's crop of maize. 

There is no closed season on Canada geese. However, wild goose meat cannot be sold in England. And there is a lot of meat on a goose. Each breast is about 3/4 lb of meat. That's over ten pounds of meat from the seven geese shot last night. It wouldn't sit right with me to shoot something and waste the bounty, so the dogs are eating goose alongside their pheasant egg omelettes, and we're having goose breast schnitzel for dinner. Courtesy of my wonderful girl.

15 comments:

CallieK said...

Your Quincy sounds smarter than a lot of people I've met!
Here in Toronto we are plagued with Canada geese that live here year round. They are fat and prolific and if the zombie apocalypse arrives, they are the first thing on my menu.

Kris said...

Over here we are overrun with white-tailed deer and Canada geese. But even though there are lots of people going hungry, we are not allowed to harvest any of these pests. Your Quincy is just brilliant!

Jennifer Montero said...

CallieK - Before the apocalypse comes and the internet goes down, order yourself a copy of Hank Shaw's book of duck and goose recipes. He's a master, and his blog is fantastic.

Jennifer Montero said...

Kris - What a lot of meat underutilised. Shame. Do you know why?

Bag End Gardener said...

Way to go Quincy! Blind, wet and windy - that's one heck of a retrieve. Lovely to see her working so well in new surroundings.

Hope your dinner was as delicious as hers.

Hello Kris, lovely to see you so far from home :}

Seester said...

We have almost no geese in San Francisco. Or deer, for that matter. But you don't have to go far outside the city for either. We do have raccoons, possum, a few skunks, and of course, rats. Not sure what the laws are about "harvesting" any of these animals, but I am pretty sure no one would want to eat them. Well, your dogs might, but I've seen (and smelled) the manky things your dogs will happily chew on, so skunk might be an upgrade. I'm very proud of Quincy. She's a great dog.
Now- please post videos of Tinky dancing. Remy is convinced she is the next internet sensation.

Kris said...

It's the law. Even though they ravage my landscape and gardens, I cannot shoot them. It's so frustrating. I'm on a fixed income and goose and venison would be ideal protein supplement!

Kris said...

Yes, I do tend to wander, don't I? :-D

Pam said...

What a good girl! Canadian geese are epidemic here in northern Virginia. Could Quincy make a field trip?

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful dog! And I enjoyed Mum's comments on Quincy's progress too :-))

Fran

Peruby said...

Wow. All that and LOOKS, too! Pretty girl.

Chris said...

What a good girl! I love that frame at the very end of your video, where Quincy is just starting to perk her ears up. She's like, "All in a day's work, Ma. Tea?"

Hazel said...

Well done Quincy!

I had no idea you couldn't sell wild goose in the UK. I've just had a bit of a read about and it seems to be to protect numbers of rare goose breeds like the Brent? But has created the massively successful Canada goose take-over bid.

I need to make friends with somebody who shoots geese.

Tamar said...

Bravo, Quincy! And Brava, Jen -- I'm a little late to the party here, but congratulations on a successful move. May your new life go as well as that retrieve.

Sondra said...

If you have a smoker, smoked goose breast is a tres gourmet fabulous meal! You can make an easy sauce with either apricot or raspberry preserves, and they will be the a meal you'll talk about for months....