Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Gun Dog

GENERALLY SPEAKING, I am not a fan of pointing Labs but I think they are a great idea. To see how I will resolve this apparent contradiction, please read on. Pointing Labs have been around for quite a long time now. Some of the early controversy surrounding their emergence on the American gun dog scene has now diminished. The American Pointing Labrador Association (APLA), established in 1991, has brought a measure of standardization and respectability to pointing Labs. Moreover, the pointing Lab has not proved to be the feared ruination of Labs-as-we-knew-them. Some people actually worried about that 20 or 30 years ago. Their concern was that a breeding program focused solely on a single trait—in this case pointing—would lead to neglect of other “classic” Labrador traits. Those classic traits…

QUESTION: I recently got a new Lab puppy. About 10 days after getting him, he hurt his foot by jumping out of my arms and landing funny on his front foot. It seemed to hurt a lot the first hour or two afterward, then it gradually got better but not all the way. He still limped some the next day so we got him looked at by our vet. He said the problem was between the carpus and the paw.We had them take x-rays and they found a break in a bone below the wrist. He said the bone wasn't out of place and didn't need surgery, just a splint for about 3 weeks. My question is, how does this happen and will it be OK without surgery? I am…

We were at the mountain’s peak—12,400 feet. A cold fall wind whipped across my face and roared against my body as I fought fatigue, and the muscles of my legs screamed with the wind. Hundreds of miles of mountains and dense forest blanketed the landscape in front of me. Slowly hiking the mountainside, I studied every rock in an attempt to separate snow from camouflaged ptarmigan. Libby, my friend’s five-month old German shorthaired pointer, ran below me; and my Lab, Lincoln, covered the territory out front. Libby was working at a fast trot when she came to a complete stop and went into a hard point. Body tense, the young pointer stared down the mountain, eyes locked on a small rock outcropping. I slowly made my way to her, and…

There’s a lot of chatter these days about “life lessons.” Those mentally, physically or financially (and sometimes a combination thereof) painful experiences are often cited as being the only way to learn and grow. Cer tainly in my real job as an investigative reporter, I’ve endured my share of unpleasant situations. Even now, from a gray-haired perspective, two still stand out: a contempt of court citation issued when my reporter partner and I refused a j u d g e ’s o r d e r t o n a m e o u r sources; and, on another occasion, being handcuffed and frog-marched away from a highly volatile, getting-uglier-by-the-minute protest demonstration (on which I was reporting) by an FBI agent who, when I was just a tad uncooperative after…

It’s time once again to send us photos of your sporting breed puppy for possible use in our spring 2018 issue. Now’s your chance to show off your little pride-and-joy/unholy terror, but hurry—the submission deadline is Friday, December 8. Email your submissions to: joseph.genzel@outdoorsg.com. Minimum size requirements for magazine reproduction are 5x3 at 300 dpi or 1,500 by 900 pixels. Most cell phones and digital cameras now take excellent photos, but please make sure your phone or camera is set on the highest quality resolution available—consult your manual. When you email us your pics—and please, no more than one or two per contributor, as we can’t download and file more than that—be sure to include a brief message with your pup’s name, breed, age and any interesting personality details, plus…

IN A WORLD that seems hell-bent on over-complicating almost everything, I take great comfort in the fact that flushing dog training requires very little in the way of gadgets, gear and elaborate training tools. Granted, as in any activity there is always the opportunity to buy all sorts of gimmicks and gadgets, but in all honesty, and notwithstanding the possible exception of the electronic collar, the tools I rely on most in my daily training sessions have changed quite little in the last century. That is not to say that proper training tools are cheap or disposable or that they should be skimped on. To the contrary, every trainer worth his or her salt should be equipped with the proper tools for the job, and by equipping him or herself…

MOST PEOPLE HIRE a professional dog trainer because they don’t think they have the skills to do the job themselves. But in many cases, that’s not true. Training a hunting dog—no matter the breed—isn’t rocket science.Today, with the plethora of do-it-yourself videos available, there’s plenty of advice to glean from, and it truly does take just a few minutes a day. Daily repetition is the key to success. If you do decide to hire a pro, however, do so with your eyes open. Know what it is you want and how long that may take. If you’re not sure, ask the pro. If you want a dog taken from zero to finished, expect it to take at least four or five months for a pointer; longer for a retriever or…

BARRETT IS WELL known for rifles but recently has ventured into high-grade shotguns, much different from the company's .50 rifles used by so many military forces around the world. The new scatterguns are elegant and functional, so it's no surprise the line is named “Sovereign.” The name means “superlative quality, most exalted, or supreme.” They combine Barrett precision with historical Italian design to form guns that are light and combine superb performance with great reliability. The Sovereign name is understandable, as the Barrett family’s stated goal is to design and build “the finest firearms in the world." All of the Sovereign models are made in Italy and the company’s extensive line covers a broad spectrum of field and target configurations. All are carefully crafted and have varying degrees of ostentation…

Ironically, it was a woodcock hunter and his springer spaniel that booted the doe to my tree stand. I had sat, bow in hand, while drizzle slowly soaked me for three hours when she emerged from the river bottom. With fading light I figured my chances were slim when she suddenly perked up, snorted and bounded straight for me. Half a minute later the orange-clad hunter and his spaniel rounded the bend. After field dressing her, I hooked my safety harness around her neck and started for the truck. As soon as I broke through the wood edge into the fallow field I started jumping woodcock. They flared through the cone of light cast from my headlamp and caused my heart to jump with every flush. At least a dozen…

IT TAKES A lot to make me cringe. Not my less than sterling academic career, not some of the things I’ve said after one (or two or three or four) beers on a Friday afternoon (my motto: if you’re buying, I’m drinking); not even my single-digit scores on the skeet range. These, among others, I can shine on. But there is one thing that makes me want to plug my ears and run screaming from the room: when certain people describe how they introduced their dog to an electronic collar.Typically, those conversations go something like this: Me: “How did you collar condition your pup? He seems a little, um, uncomfortable with it.” Them: “I just slapped a collar on old Biscuit Eater and lit him up. Boy, he sure listens…

JAY LOWRY HAS been obsessed with bird dogs throughout his entire life. He grew up in southern Illinois when that part of the state was thick with quail and even though no one in his immediate family hunted, he was fortunate to have an uncle as well as a few friends who would take him out. His uncle, who ran Brittanys, exposed Lowry to the world of watching a good dog work and it was something that stuck with him until he graduated from dental school in 2000. That’s when he turned his attention to getting serious about owning a bird dog of his own. “I was reading through a Ducks Unlimited magazine when I ran across an advertisement for Wildrose Kennels and their British Labs,” he recalls. “That was…

I should be pulling on my vest, stuffing shells in pockets and uncasing my shotgun. Instead, I walk a few steps from the truck, snap off a stalk of sage, crush it between thumb and fingers and bring it to my nose. There is no greater smell to a hunter trapped in the pines and pavement of the eastern United States than sagebrush. It is, I’m certain, exactly what freedom smells like. Just days earlier, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that greater sage grouse would not be listed under the Endangered Species Act. Twelve of us—conservationists, writers and policy shapers—are here to celebrate the salvation of the iconic western bird the way all bird hunters celebrate: by following a brace of English setters, a griffon and a German…

RAIN HAD FALLEN sporadically during the night but by dawn it was down to a few sprinkles here and there. The sky was still heavy, like a moist blanket settling in loose folds over the gently rolling hills of the cover. Aspens clustered on the hillsides looked wet-black against the gray hues of early morning. Downslope from the aspen stands, an alder run’s wide swath bordered a creek snaking along the bottom between hills. Several hundred yards up from the aspens, two hunters—let’s call them Bill and John—leaned against a truck, sipping coffee while they waited for the cover to brighten. The men were holding short leads: at the end of Bill’s loop was a leggy, wasp-waisted but big-chested liver-and-white pointer; John’s lead held a small but well-built, mainly white…