More puppy pictures taken over the past few weeks. It’s hard to take pictures and release the birds when they need to be released, so the pictures suffer.
Tur Bo
Tur Bo
Annie
Annie
Tur Bo
Jack pointing a hidden pigeon by smell.
Jack
Jack
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I’ve been working the pups on pigeons in various ways since they were about 5 weeks old. I started with young birds that can’t fly or clip wing birds. The puppies chase as the birds run around.
Jack
When they get too aggressive for young birds I put grown birds to sleep and hide them in grass. (Tuck the pigeons head under a wing and straighten their legs out. Lay the bird on the wing that has the head tucked under. Cover with grass) The pups will smell these birds and jump in, awakening the birds and the bird will fly away.
Annie
When the pups get too aggressive we move to birds in release traps. As the pups move through the training grounds, they will react to the hidden birds. Some will whirl around, some will just move toward the bird. If they don’t point, I release the bird. If they point, I don’t move or say anything. At their first movement I flush the bird. At this age they can’t chase very far so the only fun they get is pointing, so they point for longer and longer.
Tur Bo
Now at 41/2 months old they are all pointing. Annie and Jack are still for sale. Here are some pictures of all three taken the last two mornings.
Jack
Annie
Tur Bo
Wednesday, October 16, 2013 dawned clear 39 degrees with a north west wind of about 15 miles an hour. Before daylight I turned all of the dogs out for about 5 minutes. I got to the farm I wanted to hunt early enough to have a cup of coffee before releasing the dogs.
Dolly, Blaze and I hunted a CPR field next to a corn field. The wind was still blowing but
Whitey
Not as strong as the day before. We were following a fence row and as we got further back it had more and thicker cover.
The cover was thick enough that I had to rely on the Garmin GPS. When I checked, it showed Blaze on point about 80 yards away. She was hidden by the cover in the fence row. I got within about 40 yards of her and a cock pheasant flushed. The wind was from her to me and when he flushed he flew within about 25 yards of me. They don’t make that mistake during the season.
When we got to the back we moved over about 200 yards and started back to the truck. Several times Dolly or Blaze would point, then move up and point then go on. Evidently some pheasants were running ahead of us. We got back to the truck without seeing any more birds.
At the second farm I turned out Lucky and Whitey. This farm is pasture near a corn field. The walking in this pasture was easy and I could see the dogs really well but Lucky crossed a fence into some real tall CRP and went on point. Whitey honored him. When I walked in front of Lucky a hen pheasant got up. Then about 15 yards from her a hen and a cock pheasant flushed.
Blaze
As we went on through the CRP Lucky pointed again and Whitey backed. Before I got to him a hen pheasant flushed. When she got up a covey of quail also flushed. Most of the quail were real little. A late hatch that didn’t fly very far.
I worked Whitey up close to where I saw the quail go down and she pointed. Lucky backed her and I flushed a single.
Then Lucky pointed with Whitey again backing. When I got in front of him I saw a pheasant roost so I tapped him on the head to send him on. When he and I started to move away a quail flew away. Scott Linden says, “trust the one with the longest nose.”
We worked our way back to the truck with the only bird contact, a cock pheasant that I flushed.
Luke
The next farm I turned Luke and Dolly loose. This was a pasture that had cows on one end so we hunted the other. The dogs went over a slight rise and I checked the GPS before I got to the top of the hill. It showed Luke on point about 165 yards away. As I was checking the direction to Luke the GPS showed Dolly running, then showed her on point near Luke so I knew she was honoring.
When I got close I saw Luke on point in a thick plum thicket with Dolly backing. As I walked up to the thicket Luke moved and a single quail flushed. I whoaed Luke but the plum thicket was too thick to sit him back where he was on point so I just kicked in front of him, walked off, came back and kicked in front of him then sent him on.
Luke and Dolly started working the ground like birds had run off. Then Dolly pointed and Luke backed. I walked in and flushed her bird. Luke doesn’t move on another dogs point but he does on his. Why?
Then Luke pointed and Dolly backed. I started in and he flushed a single quail. I whoaed him, picked him up and put him back where he originally pointed, kicked in front of him then sent him on.
He went about 15 yards and went on point. Dolly backed and I went in to flush. Luke did not move. A single quail flushed.
As we headed back to the truck I saw Dolly heading to a plum thicket. As she got to the edge she pointed. When I got a little closer I saw Luke in the middle of the plum thicket on point and Dolly was honoring him. As I walked in front of Luke he did not move until about 8 or 10 quail flushed. That’s all I want, let me flush the birds. Is he fixed, time will tell. Two in a row is a start.
The next farm was really rough walking. It had not seen a brush mower in a long time. It has briars, saplings, and plum thickets with tall weeds. Whitey and Luke loved it.
As we moved through I saw Whitey on point. Luke could not see her so I whoaed him. As I walked in front of her I saw an immature cock pheasant hunkered down under a little plum tree. He looked like he had flattened out to hide. I kicked the ground and he didn’t move. I kicked closer to him and he didn’t move. I kicked the plum tree and he finally flushed. Whitey at 20 months old stayed on point through all of that. If I could get her to talk to Luke.
When we got back to the truck we headed home. It was a productive 2 days. In some areas there was more cover than normal. Probably more late winter, early spring moisture. At least one place I started to hunt but didn’t because of the sand burrs. I didn’t have boots for the dogs.
I definitely will be back when the season opens. I turkey hunted for 2 days and didn’t see a turkey and I count it a successful hunt.
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I loaded 5 dogs and left for the Greensburg, Kansas area about 4:00 am on Tuesday morning, October 14, 2013. Unit 4 of the turkey units is not open for fall turkey hunting. The boundary line is Highway 183 to 54 Highway. Everything south of 54 is open. This is important because you can not work dogs on walk-in property. You must be hunting. Early prairie chicken season is closed so I hunt turkeys.
On the way down I stopped at the Byron Walker Wildlife Area. Troy Smith that runs it is a setter fan with some puppies for sale. I know the feeling, I have some for sale also. The dogs had been in the box for quite awhile so I turned them out for about 10 minutes.
It was about 45 degrees with a north west wind of about 30 miles an hour. The first farm I stopped at was pasture located near a corn field. The pasture had a lot of ragweed with plum thickets on the hillsides. Grasshoppers were every where. Good food for quail.
This is good area to run puppies. They learn that there are trash birds in the plum thickets and will run from one to the next and then chase. Sooner or later there will be some pheasants or quail in the thickets. This teaches the pups to run to objectives.
I turned Lucky and Whitey out. Lucky is the sire of Whitey, who is about 20 months old. We started into the wind and Lucky was on point in the edge of a plum thicket only about 75 yards from the truck. Whitey came around and honored. As I started towards Lucky the birds started to flush. On a real windy day, with all of the weeds and brush rattling, quail will not hold well. We hunted a big circle back to the truck. I saw 2 hen pheasants get up before the dogs got near them but I got no more dog work.
The second farm I hunted was also pasture near a corn field. This one had more brush and the plum thickets were larger. I used Dolly and her son Luke. Dolly and Lucky are the dam and sire of the other three I have with me, Whitey, Blaze and Luke. Luke is a year older than the other two.
Although this area is fairly flat with just rolling hills I would be lost without my Garmin GPS. I check it often. About ten minutes into this hunt I looked and it showed Luke on point about 65 yards away. As I got close to the plum thicket but still about 40 yards from Luke 2 hen pheasants flushed. I couldn’t see Luke so I checked the GPS and he was still on point. I got within about 20 yards of him and a cock pheasant got up right in front of me. They sure look slow when the season is not open.
A couple of minutes later Dolly was on point. I went in front of her and nothing got up. I tapped her on the head and she moved up about 30 yards and went on point again. As I went in to flush Luke saw Dolly on point and honored. Now the hen pheasant was between us so she flushed instead of running.
Dolly
Lucky
We moved over about 200 yards and started back to the truck. I don’t know what happened but I saw Luke and I saw a covey of quail. In the high winds quail don’t hold well for dogs, but Luke has been moving on his birds. We have been working on this. At least I have been working on this, I hope Luke has been too.
In the first 2 hours we moved 2 coveys of quail and 6 pheasants. We hunted three more farms that afternoon but did not see anymore quail or pheasants but with the strong wind and the temperature rising into the sixties it was really hard on the dogs.
But tomorrow is another day.
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