Second hatch of Quail are flying and I am seeing pairs again. We have had two strong hatches of Pheasants also. Should be a great year.
Lord that is a pretty dog. Good job of training.I'm sure that the woodcock who set up her nest at the edge of our yard has re-thought that decision each time she's been flushed!
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Luckily, I have a trout stream and swimming hole on my property so at home my guy can run and soak, run and soak all day. If I take him somewhere with no water to cool off in he gets distressed. In the cool of Autumn, he'll run all morning and not slow down.
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I slap the GPS on him and he's free all day though he mostly just hunts minnows in the stream during the heat.
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Lord that is a pretty dog. Good job of training.
I walk most of the time. I like being on the ground with the dogs. I will ride when I'm just running the dogs to get them in shape. Old John Henry likes dogs and he has a second gate lope that is perfect speed.Thanks Neb.
That's awesome country you folks have out that way. Do you mostly hunt from horseback?
I walk most of the time. I like being on the ground with the dogs. I will ride when I'm just running the dogs to get them in shape. Old John Henry likes dogs and he has a second gate lope that is perfect speed.
You live in God's Country!
I netted 8 pigeons this week and I've launched and shot three. We're just beginning formal retrieve training but he's still figuring out marking and finding the downed birds. He gets so excited that he runs right past them a few times....he's still a pup. Do you guys have your dogs steady? Whip breaks at the flush and I gotta say, it doesn't really bother me. I know that there's a safety aspect and they say that a steady dog marks better but it seems like a lot of training work when my goal is just a hunting buddy.
I made a raised training bench with a cable across the top. I'm going to begin the force fetch process. I just want my dog to find them, staunch up and then retrieve downed birds to hand.
As for finding and locking up staunchly, that part's finished. He won't even twitch for a full 10 minutes over a bird and is picking up on the fact that he needs the gun to get the bird. We still have all those woodcock surrounding the property so he's off pointing them all the time. He's also very compliant on recall and being directed in the field.
It's nice to look forward to this season with the pup so well started and I don't have to worry about him being gun shy, hard mouthed or other negative stuff.
I am so happy hunting season is almost here. I plan on going at least three or four times a week.