Great Photo of a Bird Dog and Hunter

Found this picture on the Birdy Sportsman's FB page. I asked him if I could share it with my readers and he gave me the go head.

R-Dub Outdoors Going Green, The Video

So here is the first video I have ever filmed, edited and published by myself. Luckily hunting was really good. I missed some shots of the kills but that is what happens when your filming by yourself.

Dog 1 and Dog 2

So earlier in the month I spoke about the difference I have seen in hunting dog #1 and Dog #2. The main premise is that hunting dog #2 being younger with hunting dog #1 always around can afford to be lazy. So I am going to jump into this idea and see what other hunters think about it.  

Sage

I got Remi my German Wire Haired Pointing Griffon (Griff) in December of 2006 after my first hunting dog Sage a German wire haired Pointer was killed by a car.  I trained Remi just like I trained Sage though the school of hard knocks.  I would definitely say I am strict with my dogs.  

Now for those of you who don’t know all that much about pointers, they are not like labs when it comes to water.  They need some coaxing/training/ butt kicking to get in when young.  Sage hated the water as a young puppy. She was kind of a princess and didn’t like to get her feet on cold water. I found that just throwing her into the cold water worked great. Since she was already wet she swam for anything. Through a summer of swimming together she got the hang of it and I didn’t have to throw her in anymore.  Remi was the exact same way at first. Although she started to like the water way faster and didn’t take to many times of getting thrown in to make her realize she is going in no matter what. Now Remi won’t get out of the water. She will swim miles after a wounded duck of goose and will spend hour swimming around a bunch of cattails trying to find a duck. So Remi is dog #1 in the premise.

Now enter dog #2 Lily another Griff, who became a family member around July of 2009. I figured since I now had a wife who was getting into hunting I should get another dog so we each can have a dog to hunt behind.  PS my wife was also pregnant with Maddy when we got Lily.  Now I am a huge supporter of getting puppies hunting as early as possible once away from the mother.  So Lily was hunting that September for grouse. Lily has a great nose for birds.

Remi

Now at Lily’s 2nd year hunting I started to notice something. When grouse hunting I would give Remi and Lily hand signs to run up or down a hill in search of grouse. Remi would run way up on the hillside but Lily would just get a few yards off of the road. When it came to duck hunting Remi would swim out after any duck in the water and Lily would just wait in about knee deep water for Remi to bring the bird in close enough for her to steal it.  So for a couple holes I would leave Remi in the truck and send lily out for ducks in the water. At the beginning of the season Lily would only wade up to her knees to get a duck and by the end of the season she would swim maybe 20 yards for a duck.  But she would always give you that look like “can’t we just get Remi to go get it” first.  But if there were any weeds or grasses in the water forget it she wasn’t going. This was very frustrating for me.

So 2011 came around year three and same thing I felt like I had to train Lily all over again going to get ducks, even though I spent a summer swimming with her in lakes around the house. Lily will swim as far as she needs to get that bumper in the water if it is 80 degrees out.   2012 is turning out to be the same thing. This year there was a teal off the bank at about 10 yards in deep water.  I had Remi in the truck and Lily would go out to her knees and come back. So I tried the good ol’ stand by and threw her in. Well that didn’t work she basically flipped me the bid and left the area. Remi came out and got it without any direction. 

Lily as a puppy

 Now my brother also had 2 Griffs. The same thing with them Dog #1 is a swimming Champ, and Dog #2 who is at 6 years will not swim for birds. My brother’s dog #2 is also Remi’s litter sister.  I know that my brother has put in just as much time with dog 2 as dog 1.

So is it that the #2 dogs are allowed to be lazy because dog #1 is always there for the save.  I thought maybe with Maddy being born I didn’t get enough time training Lily. But that doesn’t make sense because Lily has been with Remi and should have learned to be a water dog. Or is it that we just happen to get two dogs that don’t like water?

All I know is I will keep trying to get Lily to become a swimmer because I know one day Remi will not be around to clean up after her.

Hunting the Indian Dan Wildlife Area

So I have been trying to get away from my normal hunting spots and venture out to find new places within a days drive from home. I decided a while ago that I wanted to try a few different wildlife areas, one on my list was the Indian Dan wildlife area near Pateros Washington.

I finally had a day where it worked out for me to go hunting, so I loaded up the dogs Remi and Lily took Maddy to daycare and we were off to Indian Dan.

On the way there I checked a few spots along the highway to see if I could jump some ducks in the river. I tried to put a sneak on a few ducks along the bank but could not find good enough cover to get close enough for a shot.

We arrived to the wildlife area and it was the first spot I ever hunted where you had to register to hunt. I filled out the card put the top half in the drop box and kept the lower half with me.  I read all the info posted like the warning that the Sharp Tailed Grouse lived in this area and that all hunters should identify birds before shooting.  In Washington State you can not shoot Sharp Tailed Grouse although I have never seen one "they" say they look a lot like hen pheasants.

We got to a frozen lake and I decided this was as good of a spot as any to start hunting. There was a rancher there who was getting ready to go look for some of his cows and I decided to ask him to share any knowledge he might have about where the quail are in this area.  The rancher told me where to go, but told me that it was the same area he was going to be riding to look for his cows. I thanked him for the info and told him I would try that area another time.

I got the dogs out and we walked around the frozen lake, about half way around the lake Remi decided to disappear.  Then the battle in my brain starts. Is she locked on point and should I look for her or is she off dicking around in front of me scaring up what ever is out there and should I call her back risking calling her off a point.

After looking for her for a few minutes I decided to call her........No answer. A few more minutes had passed and you could tell how pissed I was getting by the sound of my voice.  Finally I see her about a half mile away and about 200 feet above me coming down a hill. I call her again to let her know where I was. Again the minutes start passing by. I start to think about all the horrible things I am going to do to her when she gets back. After a 1/4 mile hike in the wrong direction she catches up with me. I turned her over on her back and grabbed her snout and put my nose to hers and asked her "Where the HELL have you been?" Once she broke eye contact a few times I let her go. That will teach me to leave the Electric Collar at home.

As we continued to hunt I was keeping Remi at a close heal. I noticed Lily getting getting a bit  birdy. So I released Remi.  As the dogs worked the brush to my right a single quail got up from my left. Of course I was not ready and I missed. All I could think about was I just wont let my dad find out about this, or I will never hear the end of it.

We hiked up one ravine over the top and back down the main canyon. If my dogs found as many birds as they did cactus's we would of had a good day.  But we decided to spend most of our time removing cactus chunks from dog legs, paws and one human thumb. (PS just getting pricked by one of those things.....It doesn't tickle.)

Even though we did not shoot any birds or see much of anything at all we did find a huge hornets nest made in a clump of grass, a mouse nest made out of Doritos yes that's right I said Doritos, out int he middle of no where. I also slid down three to four hundred feet of canyon slop in the snow in the baseball slide position. I figured it was a lot safer then trying to walk down it.

Over all I had a great hike and found a nice area to hunt. I can't expect to find all the birds the first time hunting there.

The maturing of a growing hunter Part 2, 5 Years Old

5 Years Old

I can remember sneaking into a hiding spot with my Dad, watching him get ready and imitating him. My Dad with his 1940 Browning Auto 5 and me with a stick of unknown origin. First we hear Grandma's holler "woo hoo! Lets go ducks". Then the Rush of 100's of ducks lifting at the same time. Dad whispers "Here they come get ready" We lean deeper into our patch of Giant Rye Grass waiting in anticipation. The quiet whistling of the wings getting louder as they approach closer and closer. As their silhouettes come into focus over the horizon Dad whispers again "stay in your cover, hide your face". As the ducks get overhead Dad leans out of his patch of grass: Bang, Bang, Bang, goes the old double thumper. I point my stick and yell BANG, BANG. As birds start to fall and dogs get released, I adamantly say. "Got one Dad, I know I got one." Dad smiles and says "Good Job".

I run from cover out into the sage brush blanketed field, thinking I am just as good as those dogs finding downed birds.  I come upon a Mallard Drake and I grab it. What's this, it's still alive. I better find someone to take care of this. As I see Grandpa walking through the scrub, I think, I will take MY DUCK to Grandpa and he will help me. As I run over to Grandpa, I trip and fall (STUPID SAGE BRUSH). I get to Grandpa and tell him "I shot this duck" and Grandpa gives me a "Holy Smokes" I also tell him the duck bit me that's why I fell, Grandpa chuckles and rings the neck. We get back in the truck, me in the back seat with the muddy dog, there is no worries we're hunting.

At the end of the day it's time to clean the ducks. I find My Duck and start feathering. Now it's time to gut, well I better have someone do this part for me. Later around the camp fire I get to tell my story of triumph.

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I was about 5 years old, this is my first memory of hunting.

Part 1 "Before Memories"

Part 3 (10 Years Old)