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

When it came to birds, Emily was a very aggressive Brittany. We were hunting pheasant on the ranch and Emily went on point. I flushed the bird and it flew off towards the river. I shot and the bird dropped into the river and I told Emily to fetch.
She leaped off of the bank that was 15' above the water as well as any Lab and a few minutes later appeared downstream with the bird in her mouth.

One time while hunting Huns,Emily went on point and I walked in and flushed a covey, shooting two. Emily was still on point and I beat the ground in front of her to no avail. Thinking that there were no more, I tapped Emily on the head to relocate her. Instead of relocating her response was a more intensified point. She was right and I finally flushed and shot single bird. Emily always told the truth.

Mandy pulled a similar one with me. Moving across some grass that had been pastured with cattle she locked up hard on point. Wouldn't budge. I looked around. I told her, "come on girl there's nothing there." The grass was too short to hide a mouse let alone a hun. I stepped past her in an effort to convince her there was nothing there when the ground exploded with huns. I am ashamed to say I muffed both shots. I never doubted her after that.

When Emily was about 4 months old some friends and I were going duck hunting. We were loading our gear and my Lab was already in my truck, when one of the guys said "look".

Emily was on the front porch in a corner where the house connected to a wrought iron railing. She was facing away from us, slumped over, the picture of rejection.
"Ah let her go", said one of my softie duck hunters and Emily went on her first duck hunt.

She had been introduced to the gun and retrieving and after the first couple of ducks were shot her gaze was focused into the sky.

I decided to let her fetch the next duck and when it hit the water, I tapped her head and said, "Emily fetch".

Emily leaped from the canoe and swam out to the duck. The duck was to big for her mouth so she grabbed a wing and drug the bird to the canoe.
I lifter her into the boat and she held onto the wing.

It was a cold morning and Emily began to shiver. One of the guys took his coat off and wrapped it around little Emily to keep her warm.
She made two more retrieves and she was a confirmed duck hunter from that day on.

wyobirds,

That is a heart warming story. If you're not a hunter, it's hard to imagine how much they love what they do and how they live for those days in the field or the blind. It broke my heart when Mandy got to where she couldn't hunt anymore.

Marty

Thank you Marty. People who have not had a personal relationship with a dog are missing one of life's greatest experiences.
Annie is a hunting dog and a house/family dog. I have a room where my guns, ammo, reloading equipment, fly tying tools/material, hunting/fishing clothes and fly rods are kept. In that same room, Annie has a dog bed. It's her favorite room and if I leave anything out to where she has access, she brings it to me with her stubby tail buzzing.
She also brings me dead critters and critter parts. She puts me to bed every night and greets me every morning.

Marty,Wyobirds wonderful accounts of your Britts. The photo above shows 31 lbs. of doze and affection. Very touching about Mandy. They do break our hearts when they leave us behind to deal with this mortal coil without them beside us. Gil

I have enjoyed this thread immensely, I do think I would be a bird hunter if I did not have dogs. Here is a picture of Maggie in Montana with a limit of roosters my father and I took over her. She was something special. My dog trainer summed her up well to me one day while we were walking back to the truck. He said "she is what I like to call an independent thinker. She has every card a dog could have drawn in regards to skill but would be a handful for any professional trainer". That dog was full tilt from the second she hit the ground until we returned to the motel. Some of the more memorable moments were her treeing a Canadian Lynx while grouse hunting. Many retrieves that were mind blowing including one where I pulled her off the trail to show her where the bird was and after patiently indulging me she gave me that look that said "just wait here and I'll take care of things". She disappeared for about 45 minutes and right before dark as my anxiety level was sky rocketing she appeared on the horizon with my bird. One morning in Kansas after about 8" of fresh snow she caught at least 4 hen Pheasants burrowed under the snow. She did not really appreciate me releasing them after all her hard work. I learned over time to never doubt her. I heard it said that Springers do not hunt the wind but work foot scent. Well nobody told her that and she was quite effective at taking large loops and picking up body scent, especially when we had a wounded bird down. I miss her greatly but currently have her Grand Daughter who is also a great dog.

Here's Belle on point with a bird in her mouth. We got both birds. Oddly, on the same hunt my male, Max, also pointed a second bird with a bird in his mouth. In 30 years of hunting with my own dogs, those were the only two times this has happened. Sadly, both dogs are gone,now.

Daryl, it is totally amazing that dogs can have a bird in their mouth and point another. Whether it is a different type of scent, don't know but what a treat to see that.

Puppies: Willa on the left. Now 15 months old. Her first season was last year. She learned a lot and is a sweet natured dog.

Abby and woodcock two seasons ago. One tired pooch. She�ll be five in January and does all I ask her to do other than pay the bills. Limited in use by the lack of opposable thumbs.

Abby on a cold January morning retrieving doves.