Nell learned not to run up birds and you could not make her flush a covey.  She got so that she would track a covey and move in slow so as to not frighten them. When hunting with Nell, if the tip of her tail was wagging, she was closing in. When her tail was still she was looking at birds. The only exception to this is the fact that her tail would continue to wag if she was pointing a woodcock or an occasional rabbit. She was fun to hunt with on woodcock but when you shot one, she would find it for you, pick it up and then spit it out. She would not go back to it, so if you needed her help on woodcock you had to pay close attention.

  On quail she would hunt dead and thoroughly search the area, bring the bird back and give it to you. If she didn’t find the bird on the first pass she would go back and look again just as thoroughly as the first time. After that she would move on. If you tried to get her to look a third time she would look at you like “who are you kidding, you missed.” Then she would continue the hunt and ignore any additional request to hunt close.

  Nell always checked back with you every two minutes. If any longer than that she was pointing. I remember one time when a friend of mine came home with me from college. We took Nell out behind the house and she went missing. I told him she was pointing and we needed to find her. He went around the right side of the thicket and I went to the left. I got tangled up in some briars and had to get down on my knees to crawl under them. As I came to an opening, there was Nell on point and looking me in the eye. As my friend came around from the other side I told him he would have to take the shot because I could not stand up. About that time the covey flushed and he shot. Nell returned his bird. As he looked at me in the briars he declared that this was the first time he had ever seen anyone get down and back their dog.

  Another time I was hunting with my wife’s uncle who had a half trained pointer. Nell pointed down by a lake and her tail was not moving. The pointer initially backed her but then began crawling on his belly to get closer. When he got close to Nell she turned her head and looked me in the eye as if to make sure I knew it was not her that was about to run up birds. About that time, they flushed.   Nell lived a full life and provided lots of memories of hunts with her.