The puppies are growing like weeds. Some of the buyers are coming over to pet the puppies and help socialize them. They usually can’t believe how much they have grown, in just a few days. I see them several times a day and it’s hard for me to notice the growth but I weigh them before worming them each week or so. I write their weights down each time. When they were first born I kept track of their weight to make sure they were thriving. Now it’s easy to see they are thriving, really well.
I don’t think my shoe strings are going to survive this litter.
If one gets stick that is the one they all want.
Sally on point in Arizona.
Once in a while I take a pigeon from the coop and tease the puppies with it. Usually, they are jumping in and trying to get the pigeon. With 7 puppies trying to get the pigeon I’m usually bleeding pretty quick. When they are all really trying to get the pigeon I let it fly away. I say, “get that bird, get that bird”. They chase and probably would whether I said anything or not. Oh well, it gets me a little excited too.
When anyone comes over to play with them I try to sit in a new part of the yard so the pups will get used to new areas. When I get ready to take them back to their kennel I clap my hands really loud. Most of the time they come as fast as they can run. Most of them go right back in the kennel but every once in a while there will be a couple that will try to stay away from me. When I get close to them they come right to me.
I usually have a young dog to start or bring along each season and this morning I was thinking about when Tur Bo was a puppy. He was born in early June and when the season in Kansas opened he was only about 5 1/2 months old. He would have been 8 years old if he was still alive. The dogs I owned when he was a puppy, with the exception of Luke, are long gone.
I was hunting a walk-in property in Kansas. Lucky a nice male dog I had back then was running the edge of a soybean field and went on point where a small draw split the field. Tur Bo was working around in front of me and when I got close to Lucky Tur Bo went to him. He licked Lucky in the face, wanting to play, then went on around him. A covey of quail flushed, flying across the road.
It kind of startled Tur Bo. But he started smelling the ground where the covey had been sitting. Both sides of the road were walk-in and we followed the covey. Across the road where the covey had flown was thick CRP. Dolly, Tur Bo’s mother pointed a single that I killed with Tur Bo kind of backing.
We stayed around, going back and forth in the CRP and Tur Bo pointed. He had been worked on pigeons at home. He just didn’t know that there may be birds anywhere. A lot of times when I have a young dog that I really want to shoot a bird for I miss. But not this time. Tur Bo raced out and picked the quail up and came back to me. He didn’t want to give it up but after I petted him a bunch I blew in his ear. He turned the bird loose.
Sometimes Mann just looks good in the kennel.
Sally is a June dog, too. A daughter of Tur Bo. When she was just a pup I worked her a lot on pigeons but I thought she was too young when the season opened. Later I hunted in Oklahoma and when I stay over night or nights I take all of my dogs. It was probably in December when I finally turned her loose in Oklahoma. We found a covey right out of the truck but she wasn’t involved in it, the way I remember.
We went on about a quarter of a mile and the GPS showed her on point. When I got to her about 5 quail flushed right in front of her with more getting up well ahead. I killed one and she found it but didn’t pick it up. In a hundred yard circle she made 4 or 5 points with the other dogs backing. They were convinced she was a bird dog and so was I. She has continued to get better.
I think Sally heard me, a year or two ago, when I told someone that Mann was the best bird dog I’ve ever owned. The next 3 or 4 hunts she really put it on him. But all and all, he is better.
Abby, the mom, watching the puppies play.
Mann is only 3 years old now. He was born in February 2018. He became a bird dog in Nebraska his first year. The first morning as I got close to a walk-in place I wanted to hunt I saw a covey of quail leaving the walk-in. It was private property where they flew but the cover looked really good, on the walk-in. There was a wide draw running through the walk-in.
I turned Tur Bo, his mother, Dolly, and Mann loose. Tur Bo pointed across the wide draw. It took a long time for me to negotiate the brush and draw. When I got to him about 3 quail flushed in front of him and went right over a bank. I didn’t get a shot. I heard other quail flushing that I couldn’t see.
I wasn’t paying much attention to Mann. I was watching Dolly and Tur Bo. I checked the GPS and it showed Mann on point behind me. I had walked past without noticing him. I went back and he had a single that when I shot dropped right in front of him. He picked it up after nosing it for a little while then dropped it and went back to hunting. I got the bird.
Mann didn’t go very far until he found another single. This one was really buried in the CRP. I kicked in front of him and nothing happened. I tapped him on the head but he wouldn’t move. I kicked closer in front of him and a single flushed right under his nose. He saw this one fall and ran to it. I petted him until he dropped the quail. I don’t remember finding any more quail that day.
Keeping the ball away from the other puppies.
The next day I moved down to hunt some walk-in in Kansas. I was only going to hunt half a day then drive on home. I had Lady, Dolly’s mother, with me. She was old and I didn’t hunt her but about an hour at a time. Since I was only going to hunt a short time I just turned all of the dogs out. I put the GPS and e-collar on Lady last. When I got my hunting vest on and loaded my gun, I turned to see where the dogs were and Lady had been about to pee when she smelled some quail. She pointed. The quail were moving through a hay field going to a harvested soybean field. They were all spread out. Lady just had one bird and it flushed before I got to her. I shot but missed. The other dogs were trailing and we moved quite a few birds. After a little while I put Lady back in the truck.
We started around the soybean field. It was fairly narrow field with a big pasture on the back side. As I crossed the fence into the pasture I saw Mann pointing, looking into a small multi-flora rose bush. When I got close a covey of quail flushed out not getting very high off the ground. When I started to shoot I saw another quail come right beside the quail I was going to shoot at. I knew I would kill them both with one shot. When I fired they both fell within a foot of each other. I knew it would happen but it still surprised me and although I could have shot again, I didn’t.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
The covey stayed pretty close together and went over a little hill. That was the direction we were going anyway. When I came over the top of the hill I saw Sally and Mann both on point in separate places. Sally was closer so I went to her. A single quail flushed and when it fell Sally retrieved.
I turned toward Mann and he was still on point. Sally honored. I went to him and a single quail flushed out of ankle high grass with not a tree close. I missed with the first barrel and promptly missed with the second. There was no reason for it but just really wanting to kill one for the dog. I have whiffed when I really wanted one for the dog more times than I like to remember. But it happens.
Abby on a pigeon.
I hope after this season I will have some more memories of young dogs figuring out what their job in life is. I have Boss who is just a year and a half and I’m also keeping a puppy from this litter. Abby is just over two years old. Both Abby and Boss pointed wild quail last year but we weren’t really in a lot of birds. Hopefully, I will be able to get them in enough birds to make bird dogs out of all three. I’m going to try.