doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Incredible hunting dog feats.

When I brought Emily, my first Brittany home, she had just been weened. I took her around to the back yard to meet her new pal Zak. I put her down on the ground and Zak walked over and they touched noses and Zak wagged his tail and did an about face and walked away.

Remember, Emily had just been weened and as Zak walked away she spotted something swinging that to her looked like a food source. Emily launched herself and in a heartbeat her needle sharp teeth were locked on to Zak's unmentionables.

Zak made an immediate turn and continued turning at a fast rate with little Emily hanging on for dear life. Inertia had her body extended and her ears were flattened ala Snoopy. On about the 4th revolution she was thrown clear and tumbled on to the grass.

Thereafter, Zak, was always careful to ensure that Emily was never behind him. They later became buddies and complemented each others hunting styles.

I brought Bella, a Ryman type Setter, home in September, 7 years ago. She stayed in the house throughout our grouse season until February the following year. She was 7 months old and never exposed to a bird of any type. I took her for a walk on a warm but snowy February afternoon. We crossed some grouse tracks, we both started to follow them. I saw the tracks lead into a dense blow down. I tried to call her over to hopefully have her first grouse contact, she wasn't there. I back tracked and found her on point about 20 yards uphill from the blow down. She had the grouse pinned against a tree trunk. I walked in and flushed it. The tracks went into the blow down then out the other side, up around to the tree. The natural ability of some dogs are amazing.
terc

"I brought Bella, a Ryman type Setter"

DeCoverly dog?
CHAZ

I was hunting grouse one day in a favorite cover and my DD Heiko had pinned a nice bird ,it came up close ,I shot quickly and tumbled the bird ...it landed in a small river ,although I could not see exactly through the brush I did see water fly and heard the splash ,I sent Heiko in immediately fearing the bird would float downstream and be lost ,when I got to the point where I thought it had dropped he was working a single spot about six feet up the the bank ,I sent him down the river figuring every second was crucial and I was going to loose my prize ! no sir he would put in a half assed effort and return to the damn river bank ...I kept sending him off ,more frustrated each time ...I mean there was nothing on the bank and he kept going to the same spot over and over ,idiot dog I thought .

This came to the point where I was about to loose my cool ,so I said to myself to hell with it and let him be ....he sniffed to his spot on the bank again ,he started frantically digging and after excavating a sizable hole he stuck his head in up to his shoulders to pull out a very much alive wingtipped grouse !!!!

I didn't see the hollow log buried in the river bank,but when that grouse pitched in the water he sure did ,and Heiko knew it too!

Had an old mixed breed once a cross between a greyhound and a lab. Boy was he quick. The first day I brought him home I thought I would throw out a retrieving dummy into the pool to see if he would retrieve it. Well he was so fast he actually ran across the surface of the water, retrieved the dummy and barely got his toe nails wet.
I couldn't wait to taking him duck hunting with my hunting partner. First morning out we set out our spread of decoys, within minutes a pair of mallards came in and we dropped both of them. Ole Shep ran out on top of the lake grabbed both ducks and brought them directly to the blind.
I looked at Dave my partner and he never said a thing. All morning Shep repeated his performance and never got more than the bottom of his paws wet, yet Dave sat quietly.
We limited out, loaded our gear and headed for home. I sat silently in the truck for 5 minutes before I finally spoke up.
Well what do you think??? Dave looked over at old Shep and said... Don't be to hard on him he will learn to swim.

Sorry guys I couldn't help myself. I do have a pointer that refused to retrieve birds for the first year while I trained her. Hard as I tried she just refused to pick up a dead bird. One morning while training she pointed a bird, I flushed it and shot at the bird and only dropped a leg. Bell watched the bird as it flew out of sight about a hundred yards. I released her and off she went. I told my partner, little good that's going to do she refuses to retrieve. We stood there yacking for a bit when I spotted Bell coming over a rise. As she got closer I realized she had the bird in her mouth and it was still alive. She brought it directly to me and I took it from her. From the moment forward she retrieves birds like she was force broke, and is one of the best retriving dog I have owned. Dogs are a lot smarter than the owner sometimes. We just need to figure out how to communicate what we are asking them to do.

Hoof, Bella came from Bierls Setters. They call their dogs " Ryman Type". She is a mixture of Pinecoble, DeCoverly, Hemlock, Wyss, and a few others.
terc

Some great stories here. I picked up a dog from the pound in 2005, friendly, playful critter. Lab face, covered in curly hair, black all over, with a white spot on the chest. Called her Yo. She was an awesome retriever on with tennis balls, not afraid of any type of cover, the tougher it was, the better she liked it. Took hand signals pretty well, listened great.
So, I thought I'd take her grouse hunting one day. She caught on to it the first day, she always sat or stood there looking at them, when she found a bird. I walked right by her on the first one, wondering what she was doing, turned around, looked at her, told her to come (about 25yds), she didn't budge. I walked back , she got up and pushed the bird, which I did not know or think was there. As far as I knew, she'd never seen one before.
Tried here on some farmed pheasants, she'd either sit or stand there, not really pointing, but, she would not budge. Took her to a pheasant festival shoot later that year, she sat on a bird. She got up when we got there, bird flew. She was sitting her butt right on top of it.
She'd spot birds in trees, turn on a scent at 50 yds or more, and never sight hunted. Watched her follow a running pheasant for about 100yds, bird in short 6" stubble 20 yds in front, she just didn't see it, but, it was plain as day. But, she would not retrieve a bird, she'd show you where it was, then on to the next one.
Got a big lab the next year, he was a retriever, very well trained, maybe a bit over trained as far as walking at heel goes. That was where he hunted from, if he went ahead, he had something, all I did was walk across the wind with him.
Those two as a pair were hilarious, she was out front, lock up on a bird, he was at heel, he'd flush, I'd shoot, he would retrieve.
One day I was walking a canal, came up on the road, standing on the bridge. Couldn't see her, all of a sudden, she came up from under the bridge, with a duck in her mouth, wounded one, her first feathered retrieve in 4-5 yrs of having her. The last time I had her out, with a new pup, 2 yrs ago, she went out and water retrieved a duck alongside the pup, there were two out there. I was thinking , nah, she'll swim around it and come back like normal, without it. Damn, she grabbed it, brought it right to hand. I was shocked. Training dummy, she'd retrieve it...bird, not a chance, she got me those two times.
Then she taught the pup about working cover that day, tough cover, really tough krap, didn't know she still had that left in her. She worked a really nasty patch for 45min, and got birds out of it for the pup. Took him 15min of watching to catch on to what she was doing in there, then he was in there like a dirty shirt, following her.
For a pound hound, of an unknown mixture, she was something special, absolute murder on ground birds, she loved hunting. And she taught the pup. She'd always let his predecessor retrieve, even on doubles. I'd buy 10 birds at the farm, she'd find 12 or 15, every time. She never picked up a pheasant, hun or sharpie, she let the Big Dog do the retrieving. I often wonder if she knew that was her last trip, and decided to show me that she knew exactly what she was doing, the whole time.

I was never really a bird dog owner until 1998 when a French Brittany named Mandy came to be a part of our lives. Prior to Mandy I had always just boot hunted for birds without a dog. I had always wanted one and not too long before we got Mandy had made a commitment to buy an American Water Spaniel. I was excited about that but just a week or two prior to their weaning I did battle with a table saw and lost. Ended up loosing a portion of my left middle finger. With only marginal insurance and seasonal work at the time, I was forced to bow out of the AWS purchase.

The following winter I got a call from a friend who had two French Brittanies from the same litter. He had started out with Jasper, Mandy's brother and was doing great things with him. My friend is a bird hunting fanatic and really knows how to train a dog.

Mandy came to him when the kennel that sold Mandy to her original owner, found that owner to be abusive and cruel and the kennel owner gave them the option getting their money back or being reported for animal cruelty. Mandy was under weight, malnourished and would cower any time you reached out to her. She had also been spayed. When the kennel owners realized that they offered her to my friend.

He took her in and got her fed up and past all the cowering and started working her in the field. She was every bit as good as her brother and he was an amazing dog. She had one serious flaw though. She did not like toddlers. We didn't have kids at home and no real prospects of grandkids so he offered her to me. They had a toddler and an infant and while she was an awesome hunter, they didn't want to risk any issues with the kids.

Mandy really taught me to bird hunt. Numerous times she'd retrieve a quail only to stop and lock up on point on another one with the quail still in her mouth. She was a pretty small Brit but fearless and had a lion's heart. She took off down a steep mountain side to retrieve a chukar that glided rather than dropping and ended up 400 yards down the hill. She made the retrieve despite my trying to call her off. I made sure she got a good rest after that retrieve and made sure I was more careful on my shot choices.

She retrieved a head shot pheasant one time that threatened to beat her brains out. She grabbed this bird by the breast and as head shot bird do, it flapped its wings furiously about her head. It never phased her.

On a field hunt for geese, one large gander went down. What I didn't know was he was only stunned. As Mandy approached he came to with a busted wing and a bad attitude. They circled one another like a pair of boxers. The gander struck like a snake and Mandy ducked the blow and dove in like a mongoose and for a few seconds it looked like a miniature tornado of fur, feathers and dust. The tornado subsided and out of the lingering dust came my little champion dragging a gander that, while it didn't outweigh her, definitely matched or exceeded her for size.

I could go on for hours about Mandy but those were some of the highlights. I miss her greatly.

Much like topgun with his wonderful Lady, I sobbed uncontrollably when the day came to let Mandy go. My wife and I always said we didn't know we had a Mandy sized hole in our heart until she came to us. We sure knew it when she was gone.

Very nice story Marty. Thanks for sharing.