Shawk
Member
Final days... We added a pup to our household last spring and finally got our 7 year old GSP in the field where she should be much more. She's likely hunted more this year than her first 7 years combined. I took them out on Wed for what was probably our last hunt of the season. Early in the season we lost 3 birds (2 in one day!-argh) due to lack of experience (and partly due to a shaky shooter/owner probably as well). I spent a ton of time with both preseason on obedience, etc, but they still surprised me with how well they listened and ran the fields for "young" dogs. I think we forget sometimes that bird dogs already know how to hunt, we just need to get them to the field! So after losing those 3 birds, we were able to shift most of our focus on finding/retrieving "dead birds" with A LOT of play and fetch on most birds dropped. The goal of course was to get a little more excitement in that part of the hunt. Most days I shot only birds that were worked or pointed but I loosened up on that toward the end of the season as birds got little tougher to find so we could keep working on the retrieving end and the "dead bird" command. On Wed we shot a bird in the morning, scouted a few new places and then had a nice finish to the day just after 4pm (video attached below). Video isn't of a stellar point, pointers perfectly backing, ect but instead a nice finish to our season of work locating down birds. We finished the season stuck at that 3 birds lost and not another after... not bad for the cover we hunted with these pups. Fun season... Stay safe as you're finishing your seasons and best wishes!
Video (click to view)... You'll see Chloe come out with the 2nd bird at the end as well but she just did the puppy steal from Mia under the cover (ha). Mia knows better than to play tug of war with a bird... Chloe, well, uh... yeah we're working with her on that!
Pic from our hunt Wed... neither gets to excited for picture time...
Video... This guy was fun to track...
Video... One of my favs for the year... hen but this was a fun one
Video... First year with the Alpha... I was keeping an eye on Chloe when I noticed on the Alpha that Mia was on point so I start the video. I couldn't see her but the Alpha showed that she was around 30-35 yards from me so as I get close to here (still couldn't see her) the rooster flushes.
Video... Nice find by Mia on a runner... I wasn't convinced yet we had him sitting. I should have watched her a bit more closely as clearly she's convinced he's here. He scared the snot out of me and I totally whiffed left on the first.
Video (click to view)... You'll see Chloe come out with the 2nd bird at the end as well but she just did the puppy steal from Mia under the cover (ha). Mia knows better than to play tug of war with a bird... Chloe, well, uh... yeah we're working with her on that!
Pic from our hunt Wed... neither gets to excited for picture time...
Video... This guy was fun to track...
Video... One of my favs for the year... hen but this was a fun one
Video... First year with the Alpha... I was keeping an eye on Chloe when I noticed on the Alpha that Mia was on point so I start the video. I couldn't see her but the Alpha showed that she was around 30-35 yards from me so as I get close to here (still couldn't see her) the rooster flushes.
Video... Nice find by Mia on a runner... I wasn't convinced yet we had him sitting. I should have watched her a bit more closely as clearly she's convinced he's here. He scared the snot out of me and I totally whiffed left on the first.
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The ice had been on there for a little while and should have but fine but I was still skittish about taking that bird. You probably didn't notice but I pulled kind of 3/4's up for a second or two and then put it to my should and fired. I didn't know if I wanted her on that ice but she would of chased a bit either way.