Idaho Ron
New member
I took a friend of mine, and his spaniel. John is his name and Herc is the name of his dog. Herc is well trained and has passed 3 legs of his Master title. We planned on hunting together for the day. When I do this with my spaniel, I have him heel while the pointer works. That is what we did with Herc. The Idea is for the pointer to run big and find the birds. Once the pointer has found them the guy with the spaniel has to get between the birds and the canyon. This cuts off the escape route for the birds. The Spaniel has to be in controll so it will not break and flush the birds in front of the pointer. Once the shooting is done the spaniel is brought into the game by helping to find the downed birds. When done right both hunters are under 30 yards from the covey flush and the birds flush right over the top of the hunters. Shooting is fast and furious.When I got to the end of the road I let Gretta out to go potty. She jumped out and ran to the canyon edge and went on point.
I was NOT ready to hunt yet so I picked her up and went back to the truck. We got something to eat then took off
Gretta's first find was good but John didn't get into the right spot. The birds end ran us and went to the canyon. The second bunch Worked better but John is new to this style of hunting, I got two he got one. The next bunch was GREAT!
This bunch held well and I was standing 20 yards away when they flushed. I shot three out of this bunch and John missed twice. We turned around and went back to the truck. We ate a bite of lunch and rested. After lunch, Gretta got to find the bunch that she smelled at the truck. This bunch held OK but not real good. I shot one bird and John and I teamed up on another. The next bunch was perfect. We walked right into the covey and I shot the finish of my limit. I had eight birds. John missed again!
Now it was time to put away the gun and take pictures. This picture was a sad time again for John.
As you can see Gretta has them down pat. Herc the spaniel also smells them and the flush is about to come. I didn't get the picture
I will say that John was having a tough day. Gretta didn't get a retrieve this time either.
Now it is getting late in the day. Gretta has pointed many coveys of birds. She was running BIG!! At times she was over 300 yards out and running well. When she pointed she held and waited for the shooter. But the hitter of the birds was not anywhere to be found ;D
In this picture John is going in for another flush.
This one turned out like the last 15 flushes. He was in the middle of them but his shells had no shot in them I think.
Well we went back to the canyon and Gretta went on point down in the canyon.
These are a band of Desert Bighorns. We took a bunch of pictures. Here is a close up!
After this we let Gretta go again. This time she took us for a long hike back out to the desert. After a long walk and a lot of relocating she found a sage hen. At this point is was real dark and I put a leash on her. She had a great day for a puppy, I got eight birds and John got two. The one thing she does well is she cuts the birds off from running to the canyon ifthe wind is right. She will smell them run, and she will swing wide and down the canyon. Then she will point them again. She has done this a lot but John thought it was amazing to watch her cut off these birds.
Ron
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-15-2004 21:28: Message edited by: Idaho Ron ]</font>
I was NOT ready to hunt yet so I picked her up and went back to the truck. We got something to eat then took off
Gretta's first find was good but John didn't get into the right spot. The birds end ran us and went to the canyon. The second bunch Worked better but John is new to this style of hunting, I got two he got one. The next bunch was GREAT!
This bunch held well and I was standing 20 yards away when they flushed. I shot three out of this bunch and John missed twice. We turned around and went back to the truck. We ate a bite of lunch and rested. After lunch, Gretta got to find the bunch that she smelled at the truck. This bunch held OK but not real good. I shot one bird and John and I teamed up on another. The next bunch was perfect. We walked right into the covey and I shot the finish of my limit. I had eight birds. John missed again!
Now it was time to put away the gun and take pictures. This picture was a sad time again for John.
As you can see Gretta has them down pat. Herc the spaniel also smells them and the flush is about to come. I didn't get the picture
I will say that John was having a tough day. Gretta didn't get a retrieve this time either.
Now it is getting late in the day. Gretta has pointed many coveys of birds. She was running BIG!! At times she was over 300 yards out and running well. When she pointed she held and waited for the shooter. But the hitter of the birds was not anywhere to be found ;D
In this picture John is going in for another flush.
This one turned out like the last 15 flushes. He was in the middle of them but his shells had no shot in them I think.
Well we went back to the canyon and Gretta went on point down in the canyon.
These are a band of Desert Bighorns. We took a bunch of pictures. Here is a close up!
After this we let Gretta go again. This time she took us for a long hike back out to the desert. After a long walk and a lot of relocating she found a sage hen. At this point is was real dark and I put a leash on her. She had a great day for a puppy, I got eight birds and John got two. The one thing she does well is she cuts the birds off from running to the canyon ifthe wind is right. She will smell them run, and she will swing wide and down the canyon. Then she will point them again. She has done this a lot but John thought it was amazing to watch her cut off these birds.
Ron
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-15-2004 21:28: Message edited by: Idaho Ron ]</font>
