Happy New Year

qwerksc

Member
Completed another year, Looking forward to a solid 2019.
This was my pups first season and what a season it was.
Last January, we started off with lots of puppy training and conditioning. The first of April we dropped the boy off at, Nelson Volta kennel outside of Los Banos, for his intro to gundog training. The critter made the cut and it was on. Scott Acevedo put Bendu through the paces, I would go over once a week for my training and to get my handling skills up to speed. During the next three months, it was birds, guns and fun, six days a week, we missed the dog, but he was in great hands, his training camp crew kept him busy.
We picked Benny up at the end of June, then it was lots of time in the woods and field. I wanted to put the dog in and around as much wild birds as possible, Bendu is gonna hunt. We hunted up a few rabbits and he don’t care what the game is, he just wants to hunt.
By the time dove season rolled around, the dog had been in the field plenty, but doves are new to him. I had a draw on the opener at a premium dove refuge spot. I kept the boy on a long lead, he wouldn’t take off, i shot a limit of birds and the pup would mark and get em, but had a hard time on the retrieve. He found a three deep in the thick cover and we only lost two birds, hell of a day, hot like hell by 8:30. We put up a few pheasant as well and he sniffed out a nest full of eggs that day on the walk out.
We went back the next weekend and smashed a few more dove and walked 6 miles scouting pheasant, we put up a few.
That’s all I can do now, I’ll come back a little later for some more of the season recap.
Hope y’all are havin a good New Year’s Day!
 
Then came pheasant season.
This season was all about the dog. The opener, my brother came down from Truckee and we got on a decent refuge in the grasslands. He brought his 19 month old lab, Kima, she has some birds under her belt from the tail end of last season, mostly preserve birds, but still birds non the less. We got to the field and right out of the gate, we get checked by the warden, checked it all, steel shot, plugs and paperwork, our money at work. All good and back hunting, with in the next 30 mins, the dogs flushed two roosters. My brother had the shots and missed, he was blown away at how fast the birds were. The dogs worked hard for the next 15 miles for them and 7 miles for us. Back to the truck for a break, then off to a new spot. We headed to the other side of the refuge for another go. We had a good walk, the cover was great, but probably got hammered in the morning, we didn't see a pheasant until we got back to the truck, where we saw a guy shoot one fifty yards from the parking lot, reassuring us that there are still a few left around here. It was a long day for the pups and they did a great job.
 
During the long holiday season, I ran the pup in the chukar hills of north eastern CA. The dog did well in the big, big country, but the long day and volcanic rock took its toll on the boy. After twenty miles of some seriously steep and rugged terrain, he got a small cut on one toe pad and inflamed the main pad, i have been trying to keep him chill for the last five days to heal, but he is itching to get out. Heading to the foothills tomorrow, hopefully find some quail for the boy. Six days of rest, the pad is looking good, heading out for a small walk to see how he does.
 
Good luck. Sounds like the young dog is doing well.
 
Got out thursday before the storm. We didnt see any quail at the spot, so, we ended up scouting an area we mapped out on a tip from a friend, which also turned up, no birds. We found a big flock of band tail pigeon, which was cool.
The dog was a champ, no issues with the pad.
There were lots of quail around the house, now we just need to pin them down in the field, it's a process of elimination. Lots of land to cover, just need more time.
 
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