Blaze
Blaze
The temperature was in the upper 50’s when I got up this morning. The weather people said it was like the first week of October. Rather than work the young dogs on the whoa board, which is boring for me and the dogs, I loaded up 9 pigeons, three release traps, Blaze, Tur Bo and Luke and went to the county park. I no longer own Whitey.
I hid 3 pigeons, in release traps, in the tall grass at the county park. One of the places I usually work the dogs had been mowed but this area had really tall grass. We had a good breeze out of the north so this field was good choice for the dogs to smell the birds at a good distance. I put one pigeon where I thought the dogs would smell it and two pigeons a few yards away. I heeled Blaze to the edge of the field, with an e-collar on her neck and one on her flanks. When I released her to hunt she disappeared into the tall grass. I could occasionally see the grass moving and I knew where the birds were hid. I found Blaze on point when I got close to the birds.
I took some pictures then walked in front of her. She was about 10 yards from the pigeon she was pointing and I flushed one of the other birds. She never moved. I continued to kick the grass then flushed the other pigeon that was about 20 yards away and shot the blank pistol. She never moved. I continued to kick the grass in front of her then flushed the last bird that was hid. It came out of the release trap and flew right over the top of Blaze. She swapped ends but didn’t try to chase. She just watched it fly away. I petted her and released her. She stayed in front of me until we got back to where she was staked out at.
Tur Bo
Tur Bo
After putting the e-collars on Tur Bo I heeled him to the edge of the field and put him on whoa. I walked a big circle then tapped him on the head to release him. He’s a bigger, taller dog but the tall grass pretty well hid him as he hunted. I thought the wind was out of the northeast but when he pointed he was south and east of the single pigeon. I walked a circle around him kicking the grass then came back and slipped my fingers inside his collar. I flushed one of the two pigeons that were hid about 25 yards from where he was pointing and he never moved. I don’t know if he stayed on point because I had a hold of his collar or he was being steady.
He knew the bird he was pointing was still in front of him and he was on point. I let him stand there for a little while then flushed the second bird that was about 25 yards away. I still had my hand in his collar but he never tried to move. I turned loose of his collar and walked another circle around him kicking the grass then came back to hold onto his collar. I flushed the bird that he was pointing. He didn’t try to move. I walked in front kicking the grass then tapped him on the head to release him. He hunted back to where he was staked out.
Luke
Luke
I heeled Luke to the edge of the field with his e-collars on and whoaed him. I walked around him then tapped him on the head to release him. As soon as he hit the tall grass he disappeared. I walked to the hidden birds and didn’t see him at first then he came in front of me and slammed into a point. He was running all out when he crossed the scent cone and the only thing he could do was put on the brakes. He was only about 4 or 5 yards from the single pigeon I had hid.
I walked in front of him kicking the grass and flushed one of the pigeons that were about 15 yards away. He didn’t even flinch. He knew the bird he was pointing was still there. I continued to kick the tall grass then flushed the other bird that was about 15 yards away. He never moved even when I shot the blank pistol. I let him stay on point for a while as I kicked the cover then flushed the pigeon he was pointing. The bird came out low and flew right over his head and he only turned his head. He didn’t move his feet at all.
The weather people are predicting cooler weather in the morning than we had this morning so I will take the young dogs to the county park again. I may walk in front of Tur Bo tomorrow then flush the pigeon to see if he is steady. I hope he is but if he’s not he’s only 13 months old. He has plenty of time, it’s a long time until bird season.