Not a great day! Poor Bacci!! :-(

Ok, so I took the day off of work today. Not only was it supposed to be a great day for me and Dani to go hunting together, but it's also Bacci's birthday. What better way to spend it for him than to do what he loves to do best...aside from eat...hunting!! So we headed out...all excited. Due to the snow on the ground I didn't want to drive through the woods and thought it would be better to drive to the bridge and walk across. It felt like we were there alone! There were hardly any guys there. The only guy in the parking lot was Brian. So at first light we went into the field. Didn't put up anything but while we were walking I was telling Dani about tracking birds. We got to the point and I saw two cockbirds in the point. I walked in and they took off before I could get there. I took one shot but I was too far and missed. We came out the other side and started working the edge towards the swamp. We got to the end, tracking birds all along, and made a right to the edge of the river. Bacci was in the hedgerow and all of a sudden took off towards the woods. I whistled but he didn't listen. Well I saw some deer tracks and was worried that he was chasing a deer so I buzzed him when he wouldn't come back. He went back into the hedgerow and then I saw it...his face and chest was covered in blood. What the hell!? I called him over and he had cut his ear so badly it was dripping blood...and I don't mean a drip, drip...it was pouring. Dani started crying immediately (of course). I grabbed some snow in my hand and held it to the ear to see if I could get it to stop with pressure but it wouldn't stop. So we high tailed it back to the truck. When I got there I put on styptic powder and it seemed to stop. I picked him up and put him in the truck and we went home. When I pulled into the driveway he shook his head and there was blood all over my truck. I took him out and put on more powder...again it seemed to stop and I took him inside. Again he shook and now it was all over my house. I called the vet and brought him right in. The vet said that he needed stitches and that I could pick him up later. So I left him there and went home.

Dani and I decided that sitting home was silly and we went deer hunting at the club. It was a beautiful sit...the weather was chilly but nice. I really thought we would see some deer...but I couldn't get my mind off of Bacci. We didn't get any deer at the club and when we left I went to go pick up Bacci. They retrieved my pup and as I was paying he shook his head and blood started dripping again. They got the vet and said that they would restitch him and that he would stay the night!! Happily, he's home now and mending. It really was a deep gash though!