Well I have been when dogs who were a hindrence. Thankfully that was a long time past. I always take my dog. Day in day out the dog is invauable to the equation, the dog does the real hunting, I am content to shoot. Heck I don't know if I am confident enough to shag up my own birds! Dogs have had that much effect on me. Now shooting is paramount to hunting, I got birddogs instead of a shitzu, because they made the hunt better. I did field trials for years, I enjoyed it, when the bird season is finished, I wouldn't go to a trial, and skip a day of hunting. There are guys who like the spit in your eye competion the trials represent. I go hunting to shoot birds, I think the dog does too! There are others to go hunting to make their trial dogs better. A good senario is when a bird jumps wild, do you shoot? If you do you are a hunter, the stauchness, and all things being perfect, point -flush-steady-retreive, is a more of a dog trainer with his mind on other things. By the way, I shot wild birds flushed wild over all-age dogs who won championships later on. no ill effect by shooting on birds as they come. I would amend this to new pups, especially in training to be staunch.
