My Last Kansas Hunt

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PheasantWhisperer

Member
Had a pretty good weekend with a good group of friends. Could have killed a lot more but a couple guys were a little green in the uplands. A lot of shots that didn't connect but saw plenty of birds both pheasant and quail. The dogs did excellent. My old dog Suede was her usual self, but my little setter "Peach" has started to turn in on. Still won't bring em to me so that will be the focus of her off-season work. But she covers the ground and has really started to blossom. Piper did sustain an injury on some barbed wire running after a wounded one. But I finally found some use for my sports medicine degree and put a tape job on the front ankle area and back to work she went. Acted like nothing was even wrong and didn't chew at the tape which was surprising. Had an unbelievable pheasant flush in about 100 acres of CRP. The most I've ever seen at one time. But I haven't been to the Dakotas. The weather was good but the roads were not. Tore the crap out of some farm roads getting to where we were going to hunt. Wasn't going to drive down them for fear of pissing off our farmer, but he came out and said "aw you pusscakes from Missouri are just afraid to get your trucks dirty!" That's all I needed to hear and off to the mud races we went. He said two trips down the road with the blade will fix it all. Go for it. And that's what we did. Still, some roads were just impassable. As usual, I very much appreciate it Kansas, until next year...
 
A great hunt, I'd say. Beautiful dogs.

BTW, what tires are those? Looks like they clean out pretty well.
 
They are Faulken Wildpeak tires. They are on the cheaper end but you can get them with the bigger tread like these. The tread on them is slanted. I guess that makes them clean out better?
 
Hey, don't be stealing our dirt! :) Looks like a good outing. I need to get out some more before the big layoff!
 
Yep, stole a lot of dirt! 2 hours of pressure washing the truck yesterday, then another 30 minutes pressure washing the concrete! Worth it!! Which 2 dogs are you breeding Troy?
 
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I have yet to wash my truck from Saturday. Spent $4 at a car wash in western Kansas trying to clear mud from the front wheels after nearly getting stuck on the way to the highway to come back home, but other than that one instance we stayed on pretty solid roads. 40mph was as fast as I could drive with the mud packed in. After $4 of quarters, I could hit 70mph, but still had some bumps to it. :) Luckily it rained quite a bit Saturday night/Sunday down here, haven't looked at it, but hopefully most of it is washed off.
 
That is a nice team of dogs. I am looking to add to my army of 1 setter this year. We usually only ever have 2 dogs with us for 3 days in Kansas. We have learned that we have to rotate, really for my setter's sake, every 2 or 3 hours or we are nearly without a dog on the last day. My buddy has a britt, who hunts like the energizer bunny it seems. I see a few Vizslas on this site. Not sure if I will ever stray from the setter, but how are they to hunt with and around the family?
 
I was strictly a setter man. And I still love em. But I am sold on the Vizslas too. They dont really shed. They dont stink like other dogs. Even other short haired dogs. And super good around kids and family. I think because of their maintenance they make better house dogs. As far as hunting, my best combo has been the setter-vizsla combo. The shorthairs are great to though. The three sitting down are mine. The shorthair is a friend of mine's dog. The little pocket setter standing is my dad's. It's nice to have three. I usually let em all out on the first run of the day, then start rotating them. Depending on how many people and other dogs are out there. I appreciate your comments boys:cheers:
 
I run a vizsla too. She's a pretty good bird dog, every bit as good as I have a right to expect for the amount of on-going training she gets. She's strictly a meat dog--won't impress anyone with her style, speed, or manners in the field. But she produces, and I like the way she hunts. Many of the other dogs she hunts with are flushers, so it's a challenge to train and insist on manners.

If I had to find fault with her in the field, it would be retrieving. She doesn't like to pick up pheasants. I'm more than willing to forgive that fault if she'll find them. That's the interesting part. She sometimes makes truly phenomenal finds on cripples. Other times she loses interest in the cripples quickly.

At 9 years old she's slowing down a bit and I'm thinking about my next dog. She is SO AFFECTIONATE around the house that I think my wife will insist on another V. She fits all the breed's stereotypes in this area.
 
Vizsla do shed. It's not very obvious, but it's there. The contents of the clear canister on the vacuum don't lie.
 
matto said:
I run a vizsla too. She's a pretty good bird dog, every bit as good as I have a right to expect for the amount of on-going training she gets. She's strictly a meat dog--won't impress anyone with her style, speed, or manners in the field. But she produces, and I like the way she hunts. Many of the other dogs she hunts with are flushers, so it's a challenge to train and insist on manners.

If I had to find fault with her in the field, it would be retrieving. She doesn't like to pick up pheasants. I'm more than willing to forgive that fault if she'll find them. That's the interesting part. She sometimes makes truly phenomenal finds on cripples. Other times she loses interest in the cripples quickly.

At 9 years old she's slowing down a bit and I'm thinking about my next dog. She is SO AFFECTIONATE around the house that I think my wife will insist on another V. She fits all the breed's stereotypes in this area.
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That surprises me. I guess all dogs are different but the Vizslas I have had have all been natural retrievers. Prey drive retrievers I guess. I dont hunt with many flushers. But I have hunted with some springers and it is tough at first to make the young dog stay put when the springer ran past her to flush the bird. It was tough on both dogs. She wanted to move and sometimes the springer would stop and point. Not really what you want either one of em to do but by the end of the hunt they both figured it out.
And I know they do shed a little, but not like other dogs. If I have em in the backseat in late spring there is a white outline of hair where the setter was sitting but not too much hair where the Vizslas sit. Much easier clean up. We have a great dane for a house dog. She has short hair too but the vacuum has to be emptied 3 times to finish the living room! I could probably construct 2 great danes out of the hair she looses. I probably dont brush my dogs as often as I should either.
 
Birds had no chance with a huntin' crew like that.
 
With the crew of humans we had the birds had lots of chances! :D I had my gun resting on top of my shoulder most of the day. Letting the guys that don't get to go much shoot. One guy was a duck and dove hunter. He shot well. But not so much for the others. My brother-in-law can't hit a flying animal to save his life! The 2 I shot the first day were ones that were slightly hit. I finished them off in fear of them flying off and dying. The 2nd day I shot one off of a point from Piper and the other tilted a little on a shot from one of the other guys and I took 2 long shots at it trying to put it down. It was one of those where it flew about another 300 yards, then gained altitude, flew straight up in the air and fell straight down. Marked it, walked up and Suede was bringing it to me before I could get to the mark. It was stone dead when she delivered it to me. I think I shot one quail each day. Watching my dogs point and watching the other guys miss was entertainment enough for me.
 
I always thought that was cool when there is that well placed piece of shot, finally was told its a brain hit, that makes all birds do the stall out climb.
Had one bird fly half a mile once, two of us had it marked, but we didn't have permission on that parcel, so we left our guns and hightailed out there without a dog, we walked right up to it dead as door nail. even have saw doves do it also.
 
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