doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dogs, Doubles and birds

Mike, I think you've got me right; although I didn't start out in shooting with a dog, once I'd got the bug I was never without a kennel full.

CZ The pics were taken some years ago before the present Duke re-established the old Buccleugh Springer line and employed David Lissett as his trainer and head honcho.

On the day in question the then Duke, a man as obsessed with gun dogs as any of us, spotted me handing "Chris" up a hillside at distance, after a runner, and asked if I'd mind standing with him in the afternoon when he would shoot as "back gun". Well, who was I to say no! A great memory of a lovely man.

Here's a snap of my one time Lab collection; the black feller was my go-to wildfowling dog, the others all worked on big time driven shoots in England, Wales and Scotland, plus occasional pigeon shooting and country show demos.



And a few more Springers ...



Echoing Mike's comment I often say that I enjoy meeting my friends in the shooting field, and the dogs love to meet their old chums too.

I've got a shed load of pics from driven shoots should anyone be interested.

Eug

Don't forget the romance of night time wildfowling in UK .......

Chum Gordon sitting in a romantic patch of muddy cow poop looking really pleased after a blank flight. Solway estuary at Ladywell, my "Jack", and unfired Beretta 3" auto.



Eug

Wonderful pictures Eugene. I for one would love to see pictures from your driven shoots.


My first trip to MT in the fall of 2001.



Standing on the bank of the Musselshell river and holding a Lefever G grade. How I ended up shooting the Lefever was one of those things you never forget. I had started the trip with a nice little Birmingham boxlock. Maggie flushed a rooster along the bank of the river, a right to left crosser and I nicely centered the bird in my pattern and it folded up in the air landing quite dead in the river. Maggie made a beautiful water retrieve and I was feeling pretty darn good about life. I proceeded to take less than a dozen steps, tripping on a hidden stick in the grass and cleanly snapping the wrist on the British gun. The walk back to the truck to get the Lefever was frustrating to say the least. Nothing like roosters flushing and your buttstock hanging by the rear trigger guard screw.

Maggie was an all purpose dogs as well and this is my favorite picture of her. We shot very few Ducks together, maybe 2 dozen, but this picture captures her heart. No way was a few stitches going to stop her from finishing a hunt.

Here's our girl Dixie, an American Water Spaniel and a couple of 16ga doubles, a Husky and a Simpson.

Partial to yellow labs myself:



Stella with a limit of Woodies at Bear Garden Swamp...Geo

This thread is what this site should be about. I've enjoyed all the posts very munch. Thanks, to all that posted.

And GWPs of course:



Willy pointing a covey of bobwhite quail...Geo

And son Trent taking one of them a bit too close:

Here's a couple of my old Brittany, Mandy. She came to me already trained but had been a rescue dog and it turned out she didn't do well with toddlers. Knowing we didn't have any kids at home our friends who owned her gave her to us. She was my first bird dog and what a hunter. I wish I had taken more pictures back then. These pictures were taken back before I realized that doubles should be on a horizontal plane rather than a vertical.



Here she is on her last hunt. She was having trouble with joint pain and failing eyesight but still had the drive to hunt. I took her out to a place that had birds to plant and set out a few chukars for her. She still had the drive and still made all the points and retrieves.







This is our current Brittany, Willow. She was a rescue dog from here in Alaska. She's not the hard driving hunter Mandy was but is the sweetest dog we've ever had. She loves to get out to hunt. Her points are not as solid as Mandy's and here retrieves well the amount to finding the downed bird and standing over it until I get there. She's a funny dog that way. She has never offered to play fetch with balls or toys. We still love her though and she has been a great therapy dog for my wife after the loss of our son to cancer. She always seems to know when she's hurting.

Amazing pics Eugene! During my recent search for a Springer puppy on a lark I called the kennels at Buccleuch to inquire about the possibility of exporting a pup from them. They informed me that, at the present, they aren't exporting any dogs but they invited and provided me a booking for a training day with David Lissett next March. I immediately accepted and made my reservations. Those training days are booked for years in advance so I felt very lucky to have happened on to one.

I was finally able to find a puppy from Mark Hairfield of South Haven Kennel in Mississippi and she is a great niece of the famous Buccleauch Pepper of YouTube fame. She is now five weeks old and we will drive down and pick her up in mid June. Couldn't be more excited!

Here's a link to a video of David handling Buccleuch Pepper.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfzLrCAU550

Bob,

You'll get a huge amount out of a day with David, there aren't any better. Note the Acme silent whistle with a bit of soft plastic tubing on the mouthpiece ... he's big on them for Spaniels.

By way of coincidence(s) my Springer "Chris" was a son of FTCh Jenoran Boss who appears in Peppers pedigree so we share a link. Also in the exact spot where David demonstrates the water work, my old boy has picked birds out of the river and from over the other side. Small world what?

And just another word of thanks to SKB for starting a really nice thread, and to all the contributors thus far ... enjoyed them all.

Eug