There is still snow on the ground and single digit temperatures, so I can’t (won’t) work the English setters in my kennel. I’m going to list each dog and tell a little about them and about it’s strengths and weaknesses. Mainly, what I will be doing is showing you how kennel blind I am.
Luke pointing a single.
Luke, at nearly 9 years old, is the oldest dog I have in my kennel. His sire was a grandson of Hick’s Rising Sun on the top and his dam was a granddaughter to Tekoa Mountain Sunrise. So he is line bred Tekoa Mountain blood line.
Luke’s worst trait is, he runs too big. His best trait is, he runs until he finds birds. He doesn’t always stay on the same place I have permission to hunt but when he goes on point he will be there until the birds move.
Two years ago Don Hansen and I were hunting near Emporia Kansas. I checked the GPS and Luke was on point about 800 yards away. As we started to him Sally and one of Don’s dogs pointed. Because they were closer we went to them. We shot on a covey of quail and the dogs found a couple of singles that we shot. We started back toward Luke and Sally pointed a couple more singles that we shot at.
Finally, after a long period of time we got close to Luke, who was still on point. When we got within about 35 yards of him he moved up about 20 yards and went back on point. He had a covey of quail.
This past season, Vince Dye and I were hunting in Iowa. Luke got a way ahead of us. When I noticed the GPS he was over 500 yards away on point. Since he was ahead of us I never said anything to Vince until we needed to turn. At that point he was still over a quarter of a mile from us. When we found him, he was still on point. I went in front of him and a rooster pheasant flushed. I dropped it.
He’s hard to keep close but if he did stay close he wouldn’t find near as many birds as he does now.
Tur Bo on point.
Tur Bo is the next oldest dog at 5 years old. Tur Bo is a son of Shadow Oak Bo and Dolly. Dolly was the smartest dog I’ve ever owned. Tur Bo lost all of 2017-2018 season to rehab. I think, he jumped on his house and run his leg through the chain link. When he pulled it out he tore his knee cap loose. Dr. Becker at Independence Animal Hospital reattached it. He stayed in a cage in my basement for about 2 months. I let him out 4 or 5 times a day but only on a leash. When his knee healed I was afraid to run him for very long. Sometimes I took him but only ran him for 30 minutes.
He’s been hunted this season like all the rest. Sometimes he was rested but sometimes he hunted all day. Dr. Becker’s repair is perfect. One time I saw him favor that leg and he only carried it for a couple of steps. May have picked up some mud or a sticker. It was enough to scare me, though.
Tur Bo is dual registered and I ran him in an AKC hunt test, when he was about a year old. I had worked him a lot on pigeons and taken a lot of pictures. In the hunt test he only had to point one quail to qualify. After he qualified I decided I wanted a picture of him. When he swung by I raised the camera and he styled up for the picture. The judge laughed and said, “that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a dog pose for a picture”.
Tur Bo stays in closer than Luke. Most dogs do. He will hunt out to 400 yards but he covers all of the objectives. He stays to the front but is more left to right. He checks in but if I don’t see him for a little while I check the GPS. If he goes on point he will hold as long as the birds do.
Sally on point.
Sally will be three in June. She seems older because she started so young. I took her to Oklahoma for her first hunt when she was about 7 months old. I didn’t use her first thing but when I turned her out before noon she just started pointing quail. A covey flushed in front of the dogs and I saw close to where they came down. I had two other dogs down with her but she made 3 points on singles and let me walk in front of her. She had been worked on pigeons a lot and it transferred to quail, just fine.
After the season last year we got the opportunity to guide some guys that bought a bunch of birds. I think they bought 150 chukars and pheasants. The owner of the game farm put out 75 in the morning and 75 in the afternoon. I had Sally and Dolly with me. They were supposed to have some more dogs but they didn’t show up. Dolly was old and I only hunted her until noon. Afternoon the owner of the game farm loaned us two dogs but Sally more than held her own. That was really good for her.
Once I started hunting her I decided to run her all day so she would learn to pace herself instead of running like Luke does. It seems to have worked. She hunts most of the time under 300 yards but right to left, left to right. She’s a pleasure to hunt with.
Mann on point.
Mann is another dog that started early. He was born in April of 2018. I took him a lot this year and he pointed several times. He’s still trying to find his range but mostly he’s 300 yards or less. He too, has been hunted all day long unless he was too tired. I think this makes them pace themselves instead of running out of the country.
Early in the season we had hunted a couple of days in Nebraska and on the way home I stopped in Kansas. My phone rang just as I got out of the truck so I sat back down and answered the call. After the call I put the e-collars and GPS collars on Tur Bo, then Dolly. While I was putting them on Mann I looked and Dolly was on point. Just as I saw her a single quail flushed from in front of her.
I must have stopped the truck almost on top of a covey. I had several points from Dolly and Tur Bo on singles then we went around a harvested corn field. There was pasture on the west side of the corn field and as we went along the corn field Mann pointed. He was out in the pasture, looking into a small bush. When I got to him he never moved. I kicked the bush and a covey of quail flushed. They flew straight away for a ways then one turned to my right. My favorite shot. Just as I started to pull the trigger another bird lined up with the one I was shooting at. They both dropped. I saw it coming but it amazed me and I never fired the other barrel.
I’ve killed two with one shot several times before but it’s been a while. Some times the dogs find them that you don’t know you have hit. But I saw this one coming and was so amazed that I never shot the other barrel. Those two quail were within 2 feet of each other. We followed up on the singles and he pointed two more times.
Late in the season we were in south central Kansas. I had Luke and Sally out with Mann. Luke got disoriented and was lost to me. Sally and Mann were covering the country pretty well so I kept going. Sally and Mann are both white and orange. On the ground they look alike. I thought both dogs were ahead of me in the rolling hills. I checked the GPS and I had walked about a hundred yards ahead of Mann. He was on point behind me.
On the way back to him I called Sally. When I got to him he was pointing into a small plum thicket. I walked up and saw the covey run out the other side of the plum thicket and flush. They never got 5 feet off the ground. I shot through the plum thicket but it was a frustration shot.
We looked for the singles with no luck. Just a half mile away another covey flushed in front of the dogs. They were so far ahead of them, they never saw or heard them. I could only tell the direction that they had flown but we headed in that direction. As we came up a hill Mann pointed on the flat ridge. I took about 2 steps toward him and a single quail flushed. It dropped when I shot. Mann picked it up and dropped it in my hand.
Sally may be the best I’ve ever owned and Mann may be better than her. Time will tell.
Babe pointing a pigeon.
Babe is a litter mate to Mann. She may make a good bird dog but she’s not as mature as he is. When I work her on pigeons she wants to move. She doesn’t want to flush the pigeon she wants to circle it. Not just once, but move, then move a little more, then a little more.
Lucky, who turned out to be an excellent bird dog did the same thing. Only he just moved once and I would pick him up and set him back. He quit moving. When I pick her up she cowers. I had to use something different.
On her I heel and whoa her. I carry a bag of pigeons and I whoa her and throw a pigeon. After she got used to stopping when I threw a pigeon I put the bird to sleep and laid it right in front of her. I stroke her sides telling her what a good girl she is. Then I wake the pigeon and let it fly away. She has to stay without moving. This has got her to stay on point some of the time but occasionally she wants to move. We’ll work through this. Her and Mann are both really young.
These are the English setters I have to work with. It’s a long time until next season and if the weather ever warms up and dries out I will start working them on pigeons. It’s pretty nice to go in the back yard and get a dozen points. And I can do that often when the weather allows.
Another shot of Babe with a pigeon right in front of her.
Mann on pigeons.
Sally on wild quail.