Extracting Elley from the hollow tree proved quite an undertaking. It took all manner of coaxing and pleading to get her to come out. When she did finally come out, she looked me dead in the eye with an excited, “what”, “where” look on her face. She scurried all around the area sniffing and trying to figure out what happened. I figured the coon would return for more chickens at some point, but he never did. Perhaps Elley spoiled his taste for chicken. I had told a neighboring landowner who’s a close friend of the incident. That fall he showed up at the house. He had numerous trail cam pics of a big, bob tailed coon at his corn feeders. We laughed and named him “Bob”. He continually turned up in pics for several years afterward, but we never lost another hen. As the years passed, Elle developed into not only our head of livestock security, but also a trusted companion and protector of our young son. She was a snake killing machine! Poison or not did not matter. Yes, she got bit a couple of times as a young dog, but quickly learned to kill water moccasins and rattlers without getting bit. It was such a comforting feeling seeing our son out playing, Elley at his side, knowing she would protect the young boy and lay down her life for him if need be. Elley also became something else, something I would have never expected. Elley became a hunting partner. It all started with her following me around stump shooting. Now when I do this in the yard, I carry but one arrow. If I go on walk about in the woods however, I carry a quiver with several types of arrows from blunts, to broad heads and even flu flus. Any varmint or game legal at the time would be taken. This really blurs the line between stump shooting and hunting. Elley, mostly on her own, developed the habit of following right at my side. She moved when I moved, froze when I froze. With a little instruction I taught her to remain by my side until I said “skit em”. She was a joy in the ground blind too, quiet as a church mouse she was. Elley understood the concept of stealth and hunting. I took several deer from ground blinds with her at my side. She could sense when I became alert to something and she’d watch me intently. Sometimes in natural blinds she could see the deer approach, but she never once moved a muscle or gave me away. She would just intently glare at them. She would also help me find them after the shot. When dragging the deer out, she would gleefully assist me by clamping down on the deer and playing tug of war. The first time this happened I had gotten a small doe. After the drag rope was secured around her neck, I drug her about 30 yards before noticing that I was dragging both the doe and Elley. She was dug into the does hindquarter like a giant tick, laying on her side, tail wagging and happily being drug along. She was looking at me as if to say, “ what?”. I just laughed and kept dragging. The years passed by happily like this, then came the evening when Elley and I crossed paths with one of the meanest and nastiest boar hogs I’ve ever encountered.....
Topic: Elley (Read 5746 times)
