PairOfLabs
Active member
Did the quail hold for the long walk in? Both my labs point but are what I call "close pointers"- the bird, in the few times it holds, is usually about 10 inches from their nose.
Outstanding or crazy dog story's
- Thread starter birddude
- Start date
birddude
Well-known member
There's a legend in these parts about an old half setter half sheep dog named dingelberry, on the count of.. well you can figure that out. Ding for short. The farmer who owned him bragged that he was the best bird dog that ever lived. Word got around to a world-renowned doctor up Noth who ran top notch pointers of the time. The doctor finally had enough of these tall tales and decided to go south and challenge the two to a contest. By the time the contest arrived folks from all over the county had heard and dozens were gathered at the edge of town.
As the group milled and speculated on the outcome, a giant of a vehicle pulled into the field. Everyone had heard of but no-one had ever seen it, the 1902 Cadillac! As the dust settled an entourage of men stepped out, the final man with a leash and cigar. At the end of that leash was the most beautiful liver and white pointer anyone had ever seen. There were gasps through the crowd!
This is S+9999ir Galahad of the morning stars light king of the uplands, The doctor proclaimed! Here before you stands the best bird dog known to man!
As the onlookers wondered in circles around the pointer whispers began to the effect that there's no way this dog can be beat and that the old farmer won't even show.
About that time someone spotted a cloud of smoke and dust rolling down the road, slowly inching their way. Finally an old beat up model A pulled in and an old grizzled farmer stepped out. He said sorry for being late folks but old ding had to fetch the stock from the back forty first, Then on the way here, I knew he was hungry, so we stopped and grabbed a roadkill opossum. Without hesitation the farmer opened the trunk and again gasps were heard. Only this time for another reason as the ugliest dog you've ever seen crawled out! Matted, muddy hair hung almost to the ground. Tuffs of hair were missing. He had numerous scars and half an ear missing! The old farmer said lets get this show on the road cause me and ding have to get the sheep off the north pasture before dark!
As the group walked across the fields, King the pointer quartered wide. He pointed covey after covey many of which fell to the doctors fancy semi auto, while Ding just sauntered along, marked his path with piss and rolled in something dead.
Finally, without warning Ding slowed to a half assed point and went over a rise. When the group crested the rise, the old farmer through up a hand for all to stop. In the flat below the rise Ding was circling with the circles getting smaller and smaller. Then old Ding just sort of laid down. The old farmer then motioned for the group to proceed. When they reached Ding he was laying with both front paws over a gofer hole. The old farmer then turned to the doctor and said you want singes or doubles!! ( loosely plagiarized from a story I read many years ago)
As the group milled and speculated on the outcome, a giant of a vehicle pulled into the field. Everyone had heard of but no-one had ever seen it, the 1902 Cadillac! As the dust settled an entourage of men stepped out, the final man with a leash and cigar. At the end of that leash was the most beautiful liver and white pointer anyone had ever seen. There were gasps through the crowd!
This is S+9999ir Galahad of the morning stars light king of the uplands, The doctor proclaimed! Here before you stands the best bird dog known to man!
As the onlookers wondered in circles around the pointer whispers began to the effect that there's no way this dog can be beat and that the old farmer won't even show.
About that time someone spotted a cloud of smoke and dust rolling down the road, slowly inching their way. Finally an old beat up model A pulled in and an old grizzled farmer stepped out. He said sorry for being late folks but old ding had to fetch the stock from the back forty first, Then on the way here, I knew he was hungry, so we stopped and grabbed a roadkill opossum. Without hesitation the farmer opened the trunk and again gasps were heard. Only this time for another reason as the ugliest dog you've ever seen crawled out! Matted, muddy hair hung almost to the ground. Tuffs of hair were missing. He had numerous scars and half an ear missing! The old farmer said lets get this show on the road cause me and ding have to get the sheep off the north pasture before dark!
As the group walked across the fields, King the pointer quartered wide. He pointed covey after covey many of which fell to the doctors fancy semi auto, while Ding just sauntered along, marked his path with piss and rolled in something dead.
Finally, without warning Ding slowed to a half assed point and went over a rise. When the group crested the rise, the old farmer through up a hand for all to stop. In the flat below the rise Ding was circling with the circles getting smaller and smaller. Then old Ding just sort of laid down. The old farmer then motioned for the group to proceed. When they reached Ding he was laying with both front paws over a gofer hole. The old farmer then turned to the doctor and said you want singes or doubles!! ( loosely plagiarized from a story I read many years ago)
AtTheMurph
Well-known member
Yes. My buddy and I were chuckling the whole way. we had hunted the place before and knew the birds were going to be in a certain patch of briars. Corn stubble right up to it. We figured birds were in stubble when dog went on point. But I told him I could tell she was pointing that bush. And she was.
That was at least 25 years ago and I will never forget.
BritChaser
Well-known member
nothing like a dog steady on point. i was hunting alone in a half section of CRP on a warm day. it was Sunday mid-afternoon and I had hunted all day and Saturday too. i let my brit roam far as we were on a big flat. he went on point about 200 yds. away. i usually quick march toward a point but I was about out of gas. i just ambled along as best i could. the dog held point and when i finally reached him, damned if we didn't bag that cock! so happy with the dog.
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AtTheMurph
Well-known member
My French Pointer did something cool like that. Had three dogs hunting with us at the time, my pointer, vizsla and buddies GSP.
Everybody hops out of truck to hunt a strip of grass. we were probably 50yds from where the grass started. Vizsla and GSP take off like bats out of hell, but my French pointer took only a few bounds and stopped dead. He looked back at me and seemed to be upset that other dogs were busting it to the grass. Told my buddy, 'there's a pheasant here." He wasn't a fan of my dog as he thought his GSP was the best bird dog of all time.
Get into the grass and all the dogs were birdy but no bird. We kept working it as it's about 1/2-3/4 mile long but only about 50 yds wide. Told the old guy in the group to go back, take the truck and block. We were pushing that bird(s). As we were about halfway 5 cocks bust up right in front of my old friend who had gone to block. Last time he ever hit a double. He can't walk anymore so only blocks now.
Everybody hops out of truck to hunt a strip of grass. we were probably 50yds from where the grass started. Vizsla and GSP take off like bats out of hell, but my French pointer took only a few bounds and stopped dead. He looked back at me and seemed to be upset that other dogs were busting it to the grass. Told my buddy, 'there's a pheasant here." He wasn't a fan of my dog as he thought his GSP was the best bird dog of all time.
Get into the grass and all the dogs were birdy but no bird. We kept working it as it's about 1/2-3/4 mile long but only about 50 yds wide. Told the old guy in the group to go back, take the truck and block. We were pushing that bird(s). As we were about halfway 5 cocks bust up right in front of my old friend who had gone to block. Last time he ever hit a double. He can't walk anymore so only blocks now.
birddude
Well-known member
Trackers, beepers, bells, ESP.. I used to have a big running setter who was easy to keep track of cause he was somewhere close to where the birds were getting up... usually that was about 300 yds!!
Weimdogman
Well-known member
Friend used to pick up his nephews farm dog , a big old lab/chessie cross. We Hunted sloughs creek bottoms and draws on his family and neighbors land. Had a couple weims and that old cross named Coco. Coco was a hell of a retriever but would run by you and throw the bird. Of course some weren't dead and made for a little excitement.
Coco had 2 major faults
he was the exact opposite of steady to shot. Gunfire had him heading to the horizon to find something to retrieve. Come Coco Come was how we all referred to him.
He supplemented his diet with squirrels,rabbits ,and anything else he could get away with. He wouldn't bother cats as he shared a dog house with them on cold winter nights. He wouldn't eat our birds as he preferred the innards without getting a mouthful of feathers.
When ever we get together and talk about the past Come Coco Come is sure to bring smiles.
Coco had 2 major faults
he was the exact opposite of steady to shot. Gunfire had him heading to the horizon to find something to retrieve. Come Coco Come was how we all referred to him.
He supplemented his diet with squirrels,rabbits ,and anything else he could get away with. He wouldn't bother cats as he shared a dog house with them on cold winter nights. He wouldn't eat our birds as he preferred the innards without getting a mouthful of feathers.
When ever we get together and talk about the past Come Coco Come is sure to bring smiles.
Two years ago my buddy and I were in South Dakota the last week of October. After 2 days of few birds 10 inches of snow fell and the temps went below 0. We resigned ourselves to hunt road ditches where we could. Our practice was to find a ditch that had cattails and I would let Bob out and I would drive down to the other end of the cattails or maybe a quarter mile. We would walk the ditch until we met, rinse and repeat. We had 3 dogs (a lab, a Springer, and a GSP. We didn't let the dogs out of the crates because we didn't want to take the chance of a vehicle hitting one. We walked toward each other on one stretch of cattails and a rooster got up in range of both of us. We both shot and one of us hit it in the head and it flew straight up almost out of sight and then sailed at least 500 or 600 yards and piled up in a bean field. When he hit the snow it looked like a grenade had gone off. We walked by the truck on the way to retrieve the bird. I let my Springer out. We walked down the road with Springer at heel until we got almost even with the rooster. We could see the bird sitting way out in the middle of the snowy field. I sent Bella to fetch. She got near the bird and it took off. It could get about 3 feet off the ground. She caught it 3 or 4 times and it managed to get away. Finally she got a good grip and made back to me and delivered the still very alive bird. I have wished ever since I had gotten a video of that retrieve on my phone. I had it in my pocket but didn't think of it until we were several miles away.
PheasantSlough
New member
My brother came out to South Dakota on his annual pheasant hunt. We were working across a grassy field, when my golden retriever, Gus, dove in the grass and came up with a rooster. Gus retrieved the very live rooster, and my brother said he made a nice find on the cripple. My reply, "this is no cripple, you ready"? I tossed it in the air, to my brother's surprise, and three shots later that bird was still flying!
birddude
Well-known member
Probably the best 40 minutes of dog work I've ever seen was a few years ago in Kansas. The dog was Bonnie, my late Wire in my profile pic. My buddy and I got permission to hunt a nice farm with good habitat and a big CRP patch on the end. We joked that our plan in the CRP would go to hell as soon as the dogs hit sent and we'd see each other latter. We didn't get 50 yards when the dogs hit sent and tracked off in different directions. Bonnie tracked and pointed 3 hens and 4 roosters. Every bird held! After every flush she would come back to the place it was flushed and start tracking again. I shot all 4 roosters with the last bird being wing clipped. When I got to where it went down Bonnie was gone. I stood there watching my garmin for 5 minutes. Finally at 62 yards she caught it and came back. She was not only the best wire I've owned, The best bird dog period. That was the only time I limited out in Kansas.
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
My dog's have never been polished. They're never going to be field trial champs. But they can darn sure hunt pheasants, and they never cease to amaze me. They've done many unbelievable things over the years, but this one stands out from this past season. For me, the highest level of excitement in pheasant hunting comes when my dog turns an "all hope is lost" situation into a "we got him & I can't believe what you just did" situation. It almost always involves my dog cleaning up a mess I've made by making a less than stellar shot.
This one was on Halloween, 2021, & happened on a public WPA in eastern SD. I'd let Ace get further away than I typically do. Mistake. Sure enough, he flushed a rooster, & I made about a 45-50 yd shot, but not the way I'd have liked. #5 bismuth just doesn't have much oomph left out that far (that's my excuse). I saw the bird come down in some drowned out cattail stubble & immediately start running & get lost. Ace hadn't seen it fall at all. After I got Ace over there, he acted like he sensed something to the north, up toward the big tree in the video (about 75 yds away), but for some reason was reluctant to immediately track it. He eventually did, though, & ended up right up around the big tree. Then a buck ran out of the cattails, into the picked corn, & stood and watched briefly. I fully expected to see Ace run out after it, but that didn't happen. I thought I'd better hedge my bets a little, though, & hollered "fetch!" a few times, hoping his mind would stay on the pheasant & not the deer.
The rest is history. We got him. Ace got him. Those are the highest highlights of my hunting. I'm fully aware that other people's dogs (all breeds) do similar stuff, but in my world, field-bred springers who hunt a lot are 2nd to none, and particularly MY little field-bred springer.
This one was on Halloween, 2021, & happened on a public WPA in eastern SD. I'd let Ace get further away than I typically do. Mistake. Sure enough, he flushed a rooster, & I made about a 45-50 yd shot, but not the way I'd have liked. #5 bismuth just doesn't have much oomph left out that far (that's my excuse). I saw the bird come down in some drowned out cattail stubble & immediately start running & get lost. Ace hadn't seen it fall at all. After I got Ace over there, he acted like he sensed something to the north, up toward the big tree in the video (about 75 yds away), but for some reason was reluctant to immediately track it. He eventually did, though, & ended up right up around the big tree. Then a buck ran out of the cattails, into the picked corn, & stood and watched briefly. I fully expected to see Ace run out after it, but that didn't happen. I thought I'd better hedge my bets a little, though, & hollered "fetch!" a few times, hoping his mind would stay on the pheasant & not the deer.
The rest is history. We got him. Ace got him. Those are the highest highlights of my hunting. I'm fully aware that other people's dogs (all breeds) do similar stuff, but in my world, field-bred springers who hunt a lot are 2nd to none, and particularly MY little field-bred springer.
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A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Yep, I'm a springer whisperer.Nice retrieve, great bird work, wonderful dog--but I bet it was your "FETCH, ACE!!!!" shouts that kept him doing what he does so well.
From the speed of his tail-wagging, Ace just LOVES bringing a bird back to you. Nice work.
Yes, he's almost as proud of himself as I am of him. I firmly believe an experienced dog DOES care if they're/we're successful, & they deserve to be. Amazing what hunting a lot & tons of encouragement will do.
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Carl Spackler
Member
Reminds me of a friday afternoon where I left work around noon, was driving out to our land near Colby but knew it would be dark by the time I got there so I stopped at some WIHA land by Hays around 4pm. Hunted it and flushed a couple of birds out of range but on the way back to the car Milo started getting birdy and dove in a giant pile of grass/weeds.
A rooster that had been clipped/injured before popped up but could only get maybe 5ft up in the air before it would come back down and take off running. Every time it flushed I would put my shotgun to shoulder but my dog was always right next to it so I could never get a good shot. This happened 3-4 times, the rooster would flush, then run and get caught by my dog. It was like a 2 minute cartoon.
Eventually Milo pinned it down and I just walked up and twirled it around to snap the neck....only bird I've ever killed without firing a shot.....How many pheasant hunters can say that?
Bruh, Carl spacklers one of the greatest movie characters ever. Nice!
Pheasant hunters normally call when you twirl a phez around "wring its neck." Like ringneck but spelled a little different.
I'd say almost anyone who hunted much with a decent dog seen his dog catch a crip before.
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Birdman2
Well-known member
I've seen several dogs Iike that lol
Joe Hunter
Well-known member
Short story.
Walking a tree row... bird gets up... my buddy shoots and knocks it down... my dog goes to the area of the fall and starts hunting... I it's a runner so I headed that way too... she focuses in on a critter hole and starts digging her way in... I'm thinking I won't letter her go any farther than I can pull her out with her back legs... she stretches in and then starts to back out... came out with the bird!
Wish I had hit the video, but I did get photos!
Walking a tree row... bird gets up... my buddy shoots and knocks it down... my dog goes to the area of the fall and starts hunting... I it's a runner so I headed that way too... she focuses in on a critter hole and starts digging her way in... I'm thinking I won't letter her go any farther than I can pull her out with her back legs... she stretches in and then starts to back out... came out with the bird!
Wish I had hit the video, but I did get photos!