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  1. #26
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    WI
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    I went out to the County Forest to run my dogs, black lab and english setter, on some grouse and woodcock. The birds were out tonight. I ran out of shots in my blank pistol. My setter had 7 productive points and some were on multiple birds. My lab had three flushes. I even bumped a bird, though my lab thinks it was her. I had my Garmin Astro on my setter and she was consistently between 80 and 150 yards out with several casts over 200 yards and one over 300 yards. I took multiple videos of my setter's bird work though using a point and shoot camera doesn't provide the best quality. Out of all the video I took I'll post two.

    In this first video. I had searching for her for several minutes. My Garmin Astro showed her from "Near" to about 15 yards, but because it was heavy cover I couldn't find her. Again after several minutes I finally found her. The video is me walking toward her thinking I had moved all the birds, but once I got close to her I moved a grouse. I yelled whoa without really thinking about it. In the end my setter stood for 4 separate flushes and then the shot. There is a small flinch with the shot, but considering she stood for all the birds I'm not complaining.


    This second video is to show full that my setter is not broke yet. In training with quail and a launcher I don't worry about her breaking, but as you see here wild birds is another thing. There were two flushes with this point. There are a couple "salty" words in this clip. It was those damn raspberry thorns that kept sticking in my hands.


    What the videos don't show well is just how thick it was in the scrub/shrub wetland and just how difficult it is to find a dog on point. I had to edit both videos substantially because of all the footage of me walking to my dog on point and then searching for her once I got close.

    And this this run wouldn't have been as enjoyable without my lab, Summit.


  2. #27
    Join Date
    May 2007
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    Put mine on birds a couple times this week, shes doing pretty well so far but still really wants to chase at the flush. I've got work to do.

  3. #28
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    Oct 2003
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    Flyandski365, who is your pointer out of? Your picture makes it looks like your pointer has a lot of animation in the tail, which I love. Pointers are awesome dogs to watch run and their points are only second to a setter in my eyes.

    I'm going to train with some quail and hopefully a few pigeons this weekend. I like to use the quail for steady to wing and shot training and would like to use the pigeons for both steady to wing and shot by using a two launchers and two pigeons. I'd also like to try out the remote backing dog I just bought if I have any birds left.


  4. #29
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    May 2007
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    A wretched hive of scum and villainy
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    Grange - Shes an Elhew that I got second hand because her original owner didn't have time for her. I'll see if I can locate her pedigree, I know it's around here somewhere. Shes also a tiny thing at 33lbs, and yeah, that tail is nonstop until she locks up.

    Have you ever trained with carded pigeons? I'm thinking of starting on that this weekend.


    Edit: Found it! So not officially an Elhew I guess, but theres a lot of that line in there.


  5. #30
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    Oct 2003
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    The pedigree is not working for me. I'm not very knowledgeable about pointers, but have seen several Elhew's at trials.

    My setter is small as well. She tips the scales between 33-35 lbs. I didn't want a big setter, but would have preferred her to be about 40-45 lbs. if I had my choice. However a smaller dog really looks snappy in the woods.

    I've never used carded pigeons, though I know people that have. I started my setter on pigeons in a launcher while she was on a check cord. Once I knew she was birdy, which was very early I didn't let her chase the birds after flushed. I launched the bird at the first sign of her catching scent and also at the first movement after she established point.


  6. #31
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    May 2007
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    Yeah, I'm def not letting her chase - shes on a check cord for now. How did you break yours?

  7. #32
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    Oct 2003
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    Before whoa training I held her and launched the bird. I wanted her to get used to not being able to not only chase, but also not be able really move the flush. After I had her whoa trained reliably steady to flush I would would set a bird (started with pigeons and moved on to quail) in a remote launcher and let the dog find and point the bird. I then pretended I was flushing the bird for a few moments and then launched the bird. If the dogs moved I gave the whoa command and used low stimulation with the collar until she stopped. I then shot the blank pistol and again the whoa command and stimulation until she stopped.

    I didn't start the breaking command until I had a signal that she was ready. The signal my dog gave me is I was able to whoa her after the flush while hunting. I also noticed she wasn't really chasing the birds much after the flush.

    I still won't call my dog broke, but she is getting close.


  8. #33
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    Sep 2001
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    Orangina
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    Great vids, Grange! Love this thread...where are all the big gamers at?
    "All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring."

  9. #34
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Reverend Floater View Post
    Great vids, Grange! Love this thread...where are all the big gamers at?
    Right here fuckin' working. It is just not shaping up to be a good season for me. Too fuckin' busy. I already missed early goose. I'm not sure when grouse goes 'till, might get out Sunday. 1st Season either sex rifle however, "if it's brown, it's down". Archery harvest rates have been high so far.

    The upside is that if it all works out there will be some muthfuckin' skiing going down this winter.

  10. #35
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    WI
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    Working my parents 5 month old brittany pup, Phoenix on a pigeon this morning. Three pictures are from the same point. Watch her head crank up. I love that!!

    She's on point!


    She's really catching some scent now.


    A full snout full of scent Now!!


  11. #36
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    May 2007
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    A wretched hive of scum and villainy
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    Great looking pup!

    This heat is killing me. Even mornings and evenings are still pretty unbearable. I hate Florida.

  12. #37
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    869
    I love those stumpy tails. It's kinda hard to tell from a still photo when she's on point, though. With your setters there's all that feathering at 12:00...

  13. #38
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    insurance purgatory
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    Well I finally got into some grouse. This was my forth trip out this year. The first few were to old haunts that usually produce, but didn’t have squat for birds. The berry numbers this year are outstanding, so I feel like the birds are a little more spread out than usual. I found these birds at the very tip top of the ridge with practically no berries and very dry conditions and was able to get a nice group of 6 birds up. I blasted two and was pretty stoked! Enda, my yellow dog, was even more stoked. I thought she was going to have a heart attack. In fact, I had to stop hunting after these two birds because I couldn’t get her to cool down. She’s not used to her shitty owner actually finding birds!! Here is a shot, post-hunt at the truck.

    The crazy part was the random dove shots we had on the way out. Usually these little buggers are gone by the first week of September, but I had two shots and got one. Tiny little appetizer, but good none-the-less.

    Some people are like Slinkies... not really good for anything, but you still can't
    help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs...

  14. #39
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    Nov 2002
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    Nice country GGL

  15. #40
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
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    Vacationland
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    And in Maine news:
    Maine bear hunter attacked, hospitalized by quarry

    TOWNSHIP 5 RANGE 7, Maine (AP) -- A Maine bear hunter is recovering from injuries suffered when he was attacked by a 300-pound bear he was hunting with dogs.

    The Bangor Daily News says 37-year-old Ryan Shepard of Shin Pond was hunting with three friends and dogs on Monday when he was bitten in the arm and leg in the unincorporated area of Penobscot County in northern Maine known by its map coordinates Township 5 Range 7 about 85 miles north of Bangor.

    Officials say Shepard's injuries were not life threatening.

    Monday was the first day of Maine's bear-hunting season with dogs.

    Deborah Turcotte of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife says that before he was bitten, Shepard fired his weapon at the bear after it charged past the dogs, mortally wounding it.

  16. #41
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    869
    Well, I'm gun shopping again. Since my house was burglarized a few years ago, I've be using a friend's extra Browning Gold. It has worked fine since I do all my duck hunting with him anyway. I can't keep doing it for ever, so its time to pull the trigger on a new shotgun or shotguns. The Beretta 390 I shot skeet with Sunday felt great. What do people think about a pair of 12 ga 391s with the same cast and 14.5" LOP, one in Camo for ducks and one with a wood stock for skeet and upland?

  17. #42
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    Oct 2003
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    Quote Originally Posted by skinnyskier View Post
    Well, I'm gun shopping again. Since my house was burglarized a few years ago, I've be using a friend's extra Browning Gold. It has worked fine since I do all my duck hunting with him anyway. I can't keep doing it for ever, so its time to pull the trigger on a new shotgun or shotguns. The Beretta 390 I shot skeet with Sunday felt great. What do people think about a pair of 12 ga 391s with the same cast and 14.5" LOP, one in Camo for ducks and one with a wood stock for skeet and upland?
    I love my Beretta over/under shotgun. I have a cast on stock (I believe all beretta over/unders come with a 3mm cast off stock) and had the LOP cut to my size.

    If a 14.5" LOP fit's you then great, but after getting my shotgun's LOP adjusted I wouldn't go back. Now when I shoulder a shotgun with a standard LOP I immediately can tell the difference.

    For Beretta semi's my favorite one was the Urika style. I loved the shape of the stock. If I didn't want an over/under I would have definitely gone with a Urika though I would have opted for the field grade gun because those competition guns are generally too darn heavy to carry in the field all day. I guess for waterfowl hunting in a blind weight may not be a big issue, but I'll swap some extra kick from the shot for weight in the gun any day when it come to upland hunting.


  18. #43
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    Jan 2008
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    da nortwoods
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    Brodie's first bird hunt

    Took my 2 1/2 yo out to try and jump some ducks. Scared up a grouse instead. Brodie wasn't to sure about the shooting at first but his curiosity got the best of him and he quickly recovered. Hopefully this is the start to a lot of days in the woods.



  19. #44
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    May 2007
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    The kid looks stoked! Nice one.

    Trapped a new hawk for a friend this weekend, but couldn't find one for myself. Pics later. I'll be heading to the beach next weekend to see if I can snag a falcon. It's still early in the season but I'm getting antsy without a bird.

  20. #45
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    Sep 2001
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    Orangina
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    Quote Originally Posted by skinnyskier View Post
    . The Beretta 390 I shot skeet with Sunday felt great. What do people think about a pair of 12 ga 391s with the same cast and 14.5" LOP, one in Camo for ducks and one with a wood stock for skeet and upland?
    I think this is crazy talk. My friends and I do pretty well duck hunting and I don't know anyone with a camo gun--totally unnessary. If you want to throw down that kind of cash, I'd personally get a trick O/U for upland (nice and light, safe, simple, fun) and a Binelli for waterfowl. I don't have any idea how many rounds I've shot through my Benelli 1st Gen SBE or how many times it's been soaked, dropped, stepped on, etc. and it never has problems. Oh, and I bought it used.
    "All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring."

  21. #46
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    Oct 2003
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    I went up noth this past weekend and realized I forgot shell for my shotgun. I think my subconscious was telling to continue to work on steady to wing and shot (blank pistol) with my setter. We moved several bird. I refilled my pistol 3 times and still didn't have enough shots. Even with my shotgun I really only had a couple good shots anyway. The birds were tough to see well with all the leaves and they seem to be more skittish than normal at this time of the year.

    I had my Garmin Astro on my setter and saw her extend her normal range as the day went on.

    This picture was taken off a point at 108 yards.

    This picture was taken off a point at 112 yards.

    And this picture was taken off a point at 154 yards.


    I took a cool picture of my lab on a woodcock, but the damn camera focused on a tree much closer to me to the dog is way to blurry to post.


  22. #47
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    Oct 2003
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    WI
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    Had another great weekend running my dogs on grouse on woodcock this weekend. I'm still just using a blank pistol instead of my shotgun as I have two more cover dog trials and am working on having my setter steady to wing and shot for the trials.

    The grouse numbers were not as good as the last few weekends, but the woodcock number made up the lack of grouse.

    My dogs are ready for action.



    I've posted pictures of this spot several times before, but it gives a good idea of what type of habitat we are running in.


    A couple more pictures of what we were running through.



    My setter pointing both grouse and woodcock.




    After a good day of running on wild birds the dogs are ready for a drink.


  23. #48
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    May 2007
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    A wretched hive of scum and villainy
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    Trapped a hawk this weekend, but he had a healed wing injury that I didn't want to risk re-injuring crashing bushes after rabbits. I kept him for 24hrs to get some food into him and make sure he didn't need to go to a rehabber. Released him in a good area with plenty to hunt.





    It's too bad about the wing, he had some nice looking feet.

  24. #49
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    Sep 2001
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    Orangina
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    Thumbs up Steve's Back!

    Well, Steve "graduated" from school today. Over the past 6 weeks I've been down there quite a few times to hunt over him, watching his progress. It's been very, very cool. For the first few times, the trainer had him on a check cord to make sure he wouldn't bump the birds. He did great and was quickly allowed to range.

    By the time I hunted him for the last time, he was quartering very well, tracking, holding his point and retrieving the bird every time. You could see his confidence growing every week. He will not be taught to be steady to the shot until this spring when he goes back to camp for a month.

    Today, however, was Steve's first duck hunting experience. After leaving the kennel, we drove straight to our spot where my buddy had already set up a spread for the morning. It was late in the morning and pretty warm. I made Steve heel and sit and wait...and wait...and wait. Finally, a single came into the spread and my friend shot it, but Steve wasn't paying attention of course and didn't see it fall. We walked out into the water and I was trying to get Steve lined up so that he could see it. Just then, another bird came in and my buddy dropped it perfectly--about 10 feet from where we were in the water. Steve was obviously a surprised to see a bird fall from the sky, having never seen a duck before. Then he simply swam out and retrieved it.

    Steve's first duck:



    After that, he put 2 and 2 together and when I said "dead bird, fetch it up," pointing out to the first one that had fallen, he immediately swam out and got it.

    After that, we shot about 5 more and Steve retrieved 3 of them. He missed one that was very wide, though I think he would have got it if he hadn't been on the leash when it went down. The final one he missed was a deep was a sailor that was simply farther out then he thought. The two times my friend took the boat out to get the birds, he stopped and we did "training birds," throwing it out of the boat when Steve was watching from the shore as I fired my shotgun in the air. He got both of those.

    His final bird was a big green brain that was pretty deep but he kept his direction just long enough to finally see it and get lock-on.



    Huge knock on wood, but I think Steve's going to be one hell of a bird dog. And he's been sleeping ever since!
    "All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring."

  25. #50
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Rapid City
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    65
    First day of the resident only pheasant season here in SD

    10 Min for the first and only bird. Lots of people on the state land areas. Next weekend should be amazing.

    This is Chuck's first solo hunt. His buddy is suffering with lung cancer so he will be on his own this season. He did great and I could not be happier.

    Hope everyone had a great day in the field. Elk tomorrow.

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