So I got my first bird dog this year. Had to really sell it to the wife to get her to agree. She fought it pretty hard but finally gave in. So we got the dog in March at 8 weeks old and at 3 months old I attended a Ronnie Smith training seminar so I could learn some things to do to help me with her. I came back from the seminar and realized... I need pigeons! I could hear the wife already.... what? Getting a bird dog means now we have to get pigeons? Oh hell no. But alas, she gave in. So from 3.5 months old til she was 6 months I worked her almost every day on pigeons. I trained her to the point where my knowledge ran out and then sent her to a friend in Missouri to have him put the polish on her.
I picked her up in October and things have been great. I put her a little test on Saturday with 8 pen raised quail out in the field. The birds came from a guy here in town who has huge flight pens. His birds fly really well needless to say. We put them out in the field, I turned her loose and she nails the first one. Flush.. shot.. retrieve to hand. Perfect! I'm thinking man this is great. Well she takes off full speed down the trail in the grass, a few moments later I see a quail flush... she bumped it. Few seconds later I see another flush... she bumped it. Then a third. Luck would have it I left my darn whistle at home but my collar has a beeper so I beeped her back in. We sat there for a few minutes and I calmed her back down.
Released again and she nailed the next 4 birds. Point, flush, shot, retrieve to hand. None of the birds I had placed were where I left them. They had all ran off 10-20 yards away which was good. Made it tougher for her. Finally after I had 5 birds in the bag we went back to where she bumped birds 2,3 &4. Bam.. point. Hot dog! She found one. Flush, shot, retrieve to hand. We couldn't find the last two as they flew into some trees but we had a blast.
Needless to say I'm excited for the season. Life long dream of having a bird dog is finally realized. My wife has been a great sport putting up with all my shenanigans... bird launchers, bird bags, collars, pigeon coop in our back yard (I live in a subdivision).
Now just time for the real thing on Saturday!
Mark
I picked her up in October and things have been great. I put her a little test on Saturday with 8 pen raised quail out in the field. The birds came from a guy here in town who has huge flight pens. His birds fly really well needless to say. We put them out in the field, I turned her loose and she nails the first one. Flush.. shot.. retrieve to hand. Perfect! I'm thinking man this is great. Well she takes off full speed down the trail in the grass, a few moments later I see a quail flush... she bumped it. Few seconds later I see another flush... she bumped it. Then a third. Luck would have it I left my darn whistle at home but my collar has a beeper so I beeped her back in. We sat there for a few minutes and I calmed her back down.
Released again and she nailed the next 4 birds. Point, flush, shot, retrieve to hand. None of the birds I had placed were where I left them. They had all ran off 10-20 yards away which was good. Made it tougher for her. Finally after I had 5 birds in the bag we went back to where she bumped birds 2,3 &4. Bam.. point. Hot dog! She found one. Flush, shot, retrieve to hand. We couldn't find the last two as they flew into some trees but we had a blast.
Needless to say I'm excited for the season. Life long dream of having a bird dog is finally realized. My wife has been a great sport putting up with all my shenanigans... bird launchers, bird bags, collars, pigeon coop in our back yard (I live in a subdivision).
Now just time for the real thing on Saturday!
Mark
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