South Dakota Trip Part 2

Back again;
Mark sent the pictures I was waiting for (thanks a bunch Mark) and I wanted to follow up on our last few day in SD.
I left off after the second day of walk in hunting with a cold and tired Ike. 
We finally got back to the hotel in Sioux Falls and got Ike fed and watered and still had to clean 3 of the pheasants we were able to bring down.  Well, I parked my truck under the lights and cleaned them on the tailgate.  In SD (as in many states) you have to leave the leg, head or wing on to identify them as a rooster - since you can't shoot the hens.  Got them cleaned and washed up and then brought out my vacuum sealer and got them sealed air tight and put in the fridge to chill. 

In lieu of a lot words, I am going to post pics with captions - that will be more fun to look at.  Just a couple of notes.  One a big thanks to Scott A and his Dad Bill for agreeing to come up on Saturday and hunt the day with us.  I know I sure enjoyed it and I think Bill and Scott did!!  Kudos to Scott for some GREAT shots too that day.  And Second, a note to Rosemary and Darryl our hosts, They took over for Judy and Ralph (Rosemary's parents) and the new house and lodge is ABSOLUTELY GREAT. The food was super and the hospitality top notch (Terry the homemade wine was really good this year).. Great time and Great people.
Well here are the pics... Enjoy:

Everybody ready to go

The new Lodge - It is really nice



BeBe the Wonder dog (and Steve D too!)

Ikey, with vest and boots under the watchful eye of Uncle Mike

Chuck and his son in law Zach It was Zach's first trip with us..

Most of our group with our former (now retired) hosts Ralph and Judy

Old Dead eye drops one

Lots of walking hope you have good boots

Our Saturday bounty... What a good time

BeBe sums it up... Man I'm bushed...

Ike The Patient Update

Well Ike has had a pretty eventful last few days.  He has graduated from the splint it the last post to his first hard cast and even to his second a little sooner than what we had planned.  Here is my running diary of our events:

Monday 4/23/12

Took Ike to VCA Aurora Animal Hospital this morning to drop him off  to get the splint removed and get a cortisone shot and then get the first of 3 permanent casts applied.  On Friday they didn’t tell me not to feed him any breakfast in case they had to anesthetize him but the good news was I got a call about 11 am that said he was a very good boy needed no anesthesia and the swelling in his hock was done sufficiently so no cortisone was administered.  I was told to keep him from chewing the cast, no outside activity other than on a leash for a bio break and look for any swelling in the toes of the casted leg.  Come back in 5-7 days to get the cast replaced with the second of the three planned steps.   Set up appointment for Monday the 30^th

Thursday 4/26/12

Ike seemed to be doing fine – I had to do some damage control on the top of his cast – I swear he can go from doing nothing to total destruction in 5 minutes.  Wednesday I had to do a quick fix and Thursday he had developed a small little sore at the top of the cast – probably from where he had removed the extra padding so I put some EMT gel on it and added additional padding with some surgical gauze (all this is contained in my First Aid Kit) and then re-wrapped it with some self-adhesive first aid wrap. I called the vet back and inquired if I could come in on Friday instead of Monday to get the cast replaced – since they had said 5-7 days anyway. They said sure so I made the appointment for Friday morning again. I tried our “Blow up pet collar” as the traditional “Cone of Shame” was difficult for us to use with our kennel, and Ike kept running into things and just hated it.  We have the blow up collar from when he was neutered but he really never bothered that incision so we didn’t have to use it.  Let’s just say that I got it on him and thought I had successfully gotten him acclimated to it and asleep.  Boy, was I wrong!  I didn’t leave him 5 minutes to go back to my home office to get on another conference call and I hear him thumping his way on the hardwood floors my way.  He comes around the corner and hanging from his neck is the remnants of his blow up collar – the inch wide nylon strap is chewed completely through and he had successfully gotten a hold of the outside cover and chewed two holes in that.  All in 5 Minutes.!!  So the Big Cone of Shame came back out.

Friday 4/27/12

Got up early and took Ike to the VCA hospital by 7:45.  Ike got taken right in and again needed no anesthesia for anything (they say he is such a well behaved boy) so I took some feed with us and they him for me and kept him under observation until I picked him up later that afternoon.  They suggested some other collars and we were able to find (on clearance) a comfy collar model that seemed to provide the protection with less problems.  They lowered the hard cast area and added extra padding on the top of the cast and said the sore was very small and would be fine.  Just need to keep him from licking and chewing on the cast.  Progress is very good and I hope we can get more time with the vet the next drop off to see where we go next