[Walley]

What breed of gun dogs do you people have and what do you hunt with them?

I have a brace of German Shorthairs, two labs and a young Brittany that this will be her first season in the field. I have been running her with the Shorthairs and she has learned quit a bit from them. With the labs she is more interested in playing than hunting. The labs are younger dogs and at times are a bit puppyish. She is only thirteen months old so hopefully she will out grow that nonsense.

I am a dedicated pheasant hunter and think that people who hunt them without dogs should stay home and not screw things for the rest of us.

[simplepeddler]

I have allowed Gracie the Boykin spaniel wonder dog own me for 12 years.
I was a dedicated duck hunter for years and hunted out of a pirouge in south Louisiana marshes.

She wieghs a wopping forty pounds, so she would swim next to the pirouge and I could hall her and the bird in the little boat without swapping.

Great breed................BUT you do not train a Boykin, you educate them.


Oh, and I own three bassets that occasionally will push a rabbit for me on our little ponderosa.

[R-BOLT]

Walley - I own a professionlly trained choc. flushing lab and hunt with other dedicated upland hunters with like and professionally trained pointers. Have upland hunted over 35 years, hunt every weekend other than rifle deer season (in season of course). I have seen way more hunts screwed up by poorly trained dogs than anyone with out a dog. In fact other than losing a down bird, do not understand the do not hunt with out a dog at all. Even with great dogs we lose a few birds. It is 100% more fun for myself to hunt with dogs, but have shot and recovered hundreds of birds with out. I am always glad other people love their gun dogs as much as we do, but would never draw the line, with a hunter that is not fortunate as we are to hunt with dogs. Hunters need to stand shoulder to shoulder as do gun owners to protect our passion, no room for division for me. My 2 cents.

[amoroque]

Originally Posted by Walley

I am a dedicated pheasant hunter and think that people who hunt them without dogs should stay home and not screw things for the rest of us.

Wow thats harsh.....I'll make sure I stay out of "your" field.

[Walley]

Every season the dogs pick up quit a few cripples that people without dogs leave in the field. Often it is a dead bird that someone could not find an hour or so before we got there. The boys from DNR don’t much care where a bird comes from; it still counts against your daily limit. Nothing screws up a good days hunt faster than having that happen.

No dog is always 100% but 90% is a hell of a lot better than continually leaving cripple and dead birds in the field.

I can’t count the good young dogs I have seen screwed up by some idiot. It takes time to train a dog and you have to work with them during the off-season to keep them sharp. One of my labs had been professionally trained and her first time out in the regular season four morons ripped of nine shots with 12-gagues on the first flush. She came to me gun shy as all hell and it took me over a year to get her over it. She is as steady as they come now.

When I was a kid my father always said, “If you want to hunt do it the right way or forget it”. He would no more go out after birds without a dog as he would go out without his pants on.

[R-BOLT]

Walley - You bring up a good point about lost birds and bag limits. I understand what you are saying, plus sounds like your father was a top notch hunter too. I guess I am lucky to live in pretty good habitat and finding a few cripples in a season is not a issue. We still eat them as long as the meat is not green. I am not much on the total bird count, just glad to be out hunting.

[Walley]

We live in western Minnesota and every weekend during the season we have would be hunters from the cities all over the place. You know the type. Buy a license and a box of shells two days before the season opens. Take the gun out the night before opening day and wipe it off before they head out in the morning to drive us landowners nuts. One time the dogs picked up nine cripples and four dead birds in a seven-acre patch of slew near the road. The way I look at it is that if you go through the trouble and pleasure of having a good gun dog you are bound to be a very contentious hunter and usually a better than average shot.

[amoroque]

Originally Posted by Walley

Every season the dogs pick up quit a few cripples that people without dogs leave in the field. Often it is a dead bird that someone could not find an hour or so before we got there. The boys from DNR don’t much care where a bird comes from; it still counts against your daily limit. Nothing screws up a good days hunt faster than having that happen.

No dog is always 100% but 90% is a hell of a lot better than continually leaving cripple and dead birds in the field.

I can’t count the good young dogs I have seen screwed up by some idiot. It takes time to train a dog and you have to work with them during the off-season to keep them sharp. One of my labs had been professionally trained and her first time out in the regular season four morons ripped of nine shots with 12-gagues on the first flush. She came to me gun shy as all hell and it took me over a year to get her over it. She is as steady as they come now.

When I was a kid my father always said, “If you want to hunt do it the right way or forget it”. He would no more go out after birds without a dog as he would go out without his pants on.

I get your point, maybe things are a little different here. I've been upland bird and waterfowl hunting for years. I dont have a dog, would love one someday.
I completely agree with you about the people who show up the day before, wipe the dust off the gun and try to hunt. I think that is where the problem really lies.

[nwrednk]

Well , forgive me if i speak "out of turn"... But my nearly 2 yr old beagle has proved to be
a great hunting partner as long as he is tethered to me by a short leash! My "dawg-
sitters" took-up" the habit of long r/v trips last year so Jethro had to learn what "his big
dawg" does in october! They used to "dawg sit" my old beagle that lived over 16 yrs
when Pop & I went hunting! Jethro has adapted/learned to accept loud noises like gun-
fire better than my "best beagle ever"(Goober)! Jethro, "cut his teeth" as a pup last year
with some hunting action by spotting a nice buck, but no Elk were moving in the daylight!
lucky for Jethro, I had plenty of deer meat in the freezer from before the record killer
winter of all time before recorded history! 2008/2009! Was the most snow we ever got in
such a short time when Jethro was still a pup "porpoising" his way thru over 3 feet of
snow!