Recent content by tomt

I have a 3yr old black female from them. She's by far the smallest lab I've ever had (45lbs) a dynamite hunter in the uplands. Great natural point, and the absolute best personality at home and in the truck. Points well but too close, grouse never allow her to get close enough. If the pointed...

Do it. It's how I hunt, except no trailer. Get a light weight topper for your truck that pops up. Dogs sleep back there with me or in the crew cap depending on temps. Easier to find camp spots, navigate dirt roads and don't have to back track and return to the parked camper each evening. Also...

I am always looking for new hunting experiences. Each year I do a couple separate 2 week trips to Montana and SD, and 4-5 days in Kansas. Each trip, ill I'll start by hitting areas I've had past success for and then travel somewhere completely different. However, I rarely plan it out, instead...

Only so many youth days in their (and your) lives... make them clean all the toliets everyday for a month and scrub your truck floorboards with their old toothbrushes instead to give em' a good "learning"... but DONT miss a chance to sit in a blind with them on a day without the hordes of folks...

Does anyone have an excellent recommendation for prescription shooting glasses.. I've always used just my regular daily prescription sunglasses. But now my right eye is getting blurry spots (my nephew calls it "old man eyes") and I want a lens that helps sharpen definition. Dr. says it's nothing...

I had a very well respected trainer tell me that almost any problem (emphasis on almost) in the field can be addressed with going back and reinforcing basic obedience. Don't be fooled, obediance slips with all of us who love our dogs. Every time I'm getting frustrated, I remember that advice and...

Revisit basic obedience every day, sit, heal, stay. Sit on whistle. Sit on whistle with collar. 5min, that's all it takes. But do it in different settings (ie when going on walks, unleashed walks, prior to training). Dogs should always sit immediately after unloading for their safety, those...

Good point. I have one of the traditional Browning vests, don't like it much as I have to keep it loose so the buckles don't get in my way. I start hunting Sept grouse where I most often find adequate water sources for the dog, then through Montana, KS and CO pheasants where I'm often needing 2...

I recently lost my hip belt with snare pliers, dog bowl etc somewhere along a 3 mile WPA loop. I'vebeen wanting a vest but I absolutely hate have a strap under my gun stock effecting the pull. I have had a couple iver the years but can't get over that feeling, hence the hip belt. However...

Just got off the phone with mine.... she paused a bit too long when I said that I'd be home by Dec 6th.... "really?" was her reply. I've only been gone since the 19th 🤔😆 All good, she hung up after a "love ya babe" 👍

Very impressed with the numbers of birds still out there on public land. I haven't walked a field without seeing at least a couple, not always getting shots but that's a work in progress with a very enthusiastic young lab. Staying in smaller areas where 1 guy and his 2 year old, who keeps...

How many ways can you screw up in one field?? So my first walk was a 3.6 miler around a WPA. Kali got birdy right away and I stupidly didn't go with it as I thought the birds would be on the side of the pond further away from the truck where the thick grass met corn. Instead, we got to the...

Once a "mud eater" always a mud eater. Last 2 labs sneak(ed) a bite whenever they could. But past age 2 they do it much much less... the collar helped with my current lab

I'll usually camp through the last of Nov/ first week of December, although every 5th night I call it a day early and sleep in the next morning while giving my dog and I both a rest in a Motel. If snow AND wind, I'm moteling it for sure😉

They are fighting. They jump in order to spur each other... Mean little f'ers to each other. 😉