I have been working the two male pups on birds, sometimes. A few times I just walked them to the back. They really don’t care as long as I do something with them. The older dogs are the same. It’s been too warm even early mornings to work the older dogs. I don’t even like to put my pigeons in a release trap during the warm weather. When it’s in the seventies or higher, first thing of the morning, it’s too warm, in my opinion.
I still throw dog food in the grass so the pups have to use their nose to find it.
The smaller male, Gabe.
One of the pigeons that escaped the puppies.
I walked the puppies to the back on my neighbor’s side of the training grounds. It’s hard to get them far enough ahead of me to hide a bird. When they hear the Velcro fastener on the bird bag make it’s noise they come to me. Then I have to walk for a long way, with the bird asleep, before I can hide it.
I hid one, a few days ago, in the edge of the brush, on my neighbor’s side. Buck the larger pup, smelled it first and jumped into the cover. The pigeon woke up and he grabbed it by the head and took off. Gabe was right behind him. When Gabe caught Buck he bowled him over. Buck released the pigeon and it flew off. Both pups stopped right under a hanging limb on a tree. The pigeon circled around and landed right above them, almost falling through the tree to the ground. Gabe jumped as high as he could. When he hit the ground he was on his side. He yelped like it really hurt, then came to me.
I have some tip up bird releases. I decided to use those this morning. To be able to put the birds in the tip ups, I put the puppies on the chain gang. This is the first time they have been restrained, like this. I expected a lot of whining or barking but it didn’t happen. They made a little noise but quietened down, quickly.
Two of the tip ups had long strings on them. I didn’t really need them but it didn’t hurt anything either. I hid 3 pigeons in the strips of grass I have left on my side of the training grounds.
When I went to get the pups off the chain gang I waited on them to quit jumping around before I unhooked them. May as well start them right. After I unhooked them they weren’t sure they were loose. I had to wait on them to join me. =
Going for a walk.
We started toward the back into a strong west wind. When they got close to the first bird they both really started searching. The tip ups were new to them and they were having trouble. I eased in, stepped on the tip up and released the pigeon. They tried to get the bird but it flew away with them right behind. The pigeon headed back to the coop but stayed low enticing the pups to chase.
When they came back we went on toward the back. The long string on the next one was new to them. They got their feet tangled in the string but I let them keep on until the string fell away. They continued on down the field. They passed the pigeon and then got the scent. They both whirled around and pounced on the trap. I stood about 10 foot from them and pulled on the string to release the bird.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
They pounced on this pigeon when it came out of the tip up but with two puppies they get in each others way. Before they could really pin it down it flew away. It only went to the first trees and lit. The puppies had followed but it didn’t take them long to move off. We went on down the strip of grass.
The wind must have been swirling around because it had been out of the west but on the last bird and this next bird both the pups were on the west side before they smelled it. I had already picked up the string before they found this one. As soon as they got close I released the pigeon by pulling on the string. They chased a little way and came back. We went all the way to the back before going back to the kennel.
Yesterday I had walked them to the back without birds and when we got back I fed my pigeons. I had used a coffee can to carry the feed to the pigeon pen. I tossed it closer to the shed so I would remember to take it back when I finished. Usually Buck is the braver of the two puppies but when he saw the blue coffee can lying in the yard it spooked him. He raised his head really high looking at the can. Then he tucked his tail and came back toward me.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
Then he turned and went a little closer and stopped again. He was 25 feet from it and wasn’t going to get any closer. I had put some dog food in the grass for them and Gabe was finding the dog food and eating. Then he saw Buck looking at the can and just went to it. Just before he got there he slowed but went right on. Buck couldn’t stand it. He went all the way and pounced on the can. But that’s one of the benefits of having two puppies. If one of them is afraid the other isn’t and they get past it.
The weather has been above average and it got me to thinking about a hunt I did a lot of years ago near Nob Noster Missouri. It was cold and a dry when I left home but when I got near the place I wanted to hunt, the roads were icy. It wasn’t until I got out that I realized that there had been a lot of freezing rain in this area.
Mann when a pigeon lit in the tree above him.
I pulled off the road and the grass looked like neon lights. Where the grass had been sticking up the rain had frozen around it in a circle. The grass was bent over looking like tubes. The barb wire fences were covered with ice and were round, also. Today if I saw this I wouldn’t hunt but I was young and didn’t even think about not hunting.
I think I only had one dog. We went hunting. Every step I took the ice was crunching. When I came to a fence I didn’t even worry about me or the dog. The fences were completely covered in ice.
My dog pointed along a fence row. When I got to him the birds had to be under the ice. When I went in front of him a small covey flushed. I knocked a bird down and when I picked it up I saw they were in trouble. The ice may have been on for longer than I knew. I took the dog back to the truck and we went home.
Sally honoring Mann.
Another time Dennis Garrison and I were hunting near Colony Kansas. This time the weather had been bad for a long time. Back in those days if the weather was too bad for us to hunt it was too dangerous for anyone. We hunted some really bad weather.
We had hunted for quite a while without finding anything. We were crossing through a patch of cedar trees when the dogs pointed. There isn’t a lot of grass that grows where the cedars are thick. We walked in and a covey of quail flushed. I think we both got one bird a piece. The covey only flew about 50 yards and went back down. When we picked our birds up they were skinny. Their breast bones were sticking out without much breast around it.
Again, we loaded the dogs and went to the house. This was near the end of the season and it would be a long time before we could hunt again but it was the right thing to do. Now, I sometimes think that quail are too valuable to shoot.