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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Duckslayer100" data-source="post: 498732" data-attributes="member: 1485">I'm inclined to finally come to terms with Zeke's test. Since I wasn't scrambling to post an update, I can assume you know how it went. Now to say he failed in glorious fashion would be hyperbole. In fact, he did well by some standards. But when you set the bar high and that bar is missed, well, it's hard to look at the silver lining. Zeke did help me understand my own failings. Basically, I cannot see the forest for the trees until one falls into the water, spits a duck out without finishing the retrieve to hand, and completes the action by taking a piss while the judges watch and smirk. So we will try again next year. And we will both, hopefully, be wiser for it. In the meantime, we are firmly in the throes of autumn. And despite his (and my) shortcomings with testing, I can see not all that effort was in vain. Zeke has proven many times how much he's grown -- from tracking a crippled duck that sailed across a slough hours ago, to chasing a fully alive adult Canada goose and battling it out in deep water -- and I can't help but be proud. But there is work to do, and that will come next year. For now, we have birds to chase, and many memories to make. My son is 13, and has fully embraced the hunting culture. We are heading to "the Range" this weekend, with partridge on our minds and miles ahead under our boots. It's a tradition that spans many years, and I relish it like a starving man does a finely seared steak. It's the best time of year, gentlemen. I'm not a grizzled veteran by any stretch of the imagination, but I've circled the sun enough to know that these precious days are fleeting. Enjoy the sunrises. See the colors. Bag the birds. Make the memories. Because soon enough, that's just what we'll all be. Memories. Make the days, and yourself, worth remembering.</blockquote>

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