Hard learned lesson from last week.

Took my 12.5 year old GWP out for the waterfowl opener last Saturday. He is older and this particular hunt is low impact and provides an opportunity to get him out while the brush is still too thick for upland at his age.

I took a total of 3 shots all overhead incoming with him out in front; all high angle shots with the birds dropping behind us.

When we arrived home after a short ride, I woke him up in the back seat and he seemed to have a shocked look.
Once inside the house, we realized that he was completely deaf.

Apparently, gundogs tend to suffer from hearing loss and as they get older it can take less to push things over the top. The only saving grace is that he has a fairly extensive vocabulary of hand signals. He's adapting.

Did find dog hearing protection in a Field and Stream article. Maybe something worth looking into next time.

Tom