Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i Gun Dog

(Editor’s note: This is a letter I wrote to my father recently. He’s been gone close to 30 years, but I still write to him sometimes because, hell, I just miss talking to him. Hope you have a fine fall.—JG) WE MISSED YOU again last duck season. It was a damn good one, but not the same without you around to tell us what to do, though by some miracle Carl and I still shot plenty of birds (well, he fired his gun in their general direction…you know how that story goes). Do you ever think the DNR will open that old island on the river we used to hunt? I sure would like to go back there with you some day. Spots like that don’t exist around here anymore.…

AT 36 YEARS OLD , Ashly Kite, owner of Moss Bend Retrievers (mossbend.com), has accomplished a lot. Kite, who refers to himself as “pretty much a Lab guy,” grew up in a family of upland hunters but it was his grandfather who was truly instrumental in steering the youngster toward a life of dogs. “I started following my grandpa around with a toy shotgun in the field,” Kite recalls. “When I turned 12 I heard about a fellow named Keith Pittman who was selling quail, so I went out to meet him. He was a bird dog trainer and I would worry the mess out of him, just absolutely aggravate the tar out of Keith.” It’s no surprise that, given his early experiences with upland dogs and dog trainers, Kite…

HALF OF THE U.S., if not more, is home to poisonous snakes, typically rattlesnakes. If you’re hunting in rattlesnake country, your dog is in danger of being bitten. Many rattlesnake bites aren’t fatal, but a significant number are, and in either case, a snake-bit dog will almost certainly undergo considerable pain and extremely expensive veterinary bills. It makes sense, then, to have your dog avoid these creatures like the plague. Most hunting dogs are naturally curious, and by the time they’ve crept close to a rattler, run the risk of being bitten. Snake breaking is safe and almost always effective. But there are drawbacks. Trainers who specialize in snake breaking use a variety of methods to result in a snake-proofed dog, but all that I know of expose the dog…

COME THE DEPTHS of October, despite the dwindling hours of daylight, despite the leaves yielding their splendor to blustering wind, despite the soft feel of early fall surrendering to the actuality of winter’s weight, there is surprising relief in knowing that summer has moved on. Nevertheless, it seems paradoxical that autumn ushers in a comforting sense of rejuvenation and with it, an air of expectancy. Snow falls heavily over the small lake, straight down in more a vague drift earthward than by the normally insistent pull of gravity. There is no wind, not the merest puff of a breeze, to move the large flakes in their leisurely descent. And they are large indeed; most are bigger than a silver dollar and some are twice that size. Predictably, given the state…

Portuguese Water Dogs I ENJOYED READING Tony Peterson’s article on hunting with standard poodles (June/July 2018). I started upland bird hunting with a Portuguese water dog in 1999 and currently am hunting with my second Porty. I also hunted with a friend’s standard poodle for the last two years. There are many similarities between the two breeds. My wife was a breeder of Portuguese water dogs for many years. Based on her observations and feedback from several Porty owners who were also upland bird hunters, she convinced me a Porty could become a bird hunter. She was correct. I agree with Peterson’s concern about getting an unbiased opinion from those of us who use a non-typical hunting breed. Since I am probably one of maybe a handful of folks who…

QUESTION I have a 6-year-old female Lab that has been a fairly successful field trial dog and a great hunting dog. She had one litter of seven puppies from a normal breeding. The next time we bred her it didn’t work despite two different matings. The male was fertile previously. Now we would like to breed her on her next cycle to a dog a long way away. We would like to use shipped semen instead of sending our dog. What should we do to make this breeding work the first time? --R ANSWER This question of “What can we do to make this next breeding work?” comes up fairly often. They definitely don’t always work, whether it’s a natural or artificial breeding. First, make sure you cover all…

KARL GUNZER, WHO is the Senior Manager for Purina’s Sporting Dog Group, was born in Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay. This, as you can imagine, provided him plenty of opportunities to hunt waterfowl, which was greatly enhanced by the fact that he always had a Lab while growing up. It wasn’t until he was 13 and the family dog passed away, however, that he’d get a chance to train one of his own. “After our hunting dog died, my dad bought two more Labs,” Gunzer recalls. “When he brought them home he looked at me and said, ‘Train them.’ I didn’t know what to do, so I picked up a copy of Bill Tarrant’s book, Hey Pup, Fetch It Up! I took those two dogs and trained them off of…

On a dark clear morning in late November I met our guides, Captain Brian LaFay and Captain Jay Andrews, in Lakewood, New Jersey. At 4 a.m., the sky was still inky-black from the night. An amber streetlight cast a soft glow on our muster point. It revealed our setup for the day—a boat blind and a tender boat with layout boat secured to its hull. In the bustle of loading guns, gear, and ammo, I spotted a dog kennel in the back of the truck. Its door was rusted from the salt-crusted fur of its occupant. A heavy-set chocolate Lab named Dexter gazed back at me from behind the steel mesh. I could tell from his piercing stare that this was no salty dog. He had a calm, quiet disposition…

“Here, here, dead bird, good, BACK.” As I stand at the line and watch my little black dog start the water blind of her HRCH title run, I begin to think back over the past two and a half years and what a journey it’s been. I know I have to stay focused in case she needs some help, but the emotions are starting to take hold. It took three months, dozens of phone ca ls, hundreds of texts and countless hours spent scouring the net to find the right dog, but I finally made my decision. The breeder told me that she had one female available and that she had decided to sell the female that she was going to keep for herself. Miss Kristin told me that I…

EACH SUMMER I return home to New York’s Hudson Valley to train dogs with my close friend, Danny Lussen of Pondview II Kennels. Our daily schedule never varies: we head out to the training ground in Salt Point with a trailer full of dogs in varying stages of training, eager to take advantage of the cool early mornings. We park on the field edge and get our training tools together, and it is the rare day when a revolving cast of characters does not roll in just after our arrival, usually with coffee and donuts (which we appreciate). The folks who come to watch us train are generally locals (some with dogs in formal training with Danny) looking for guidance, tips and a chance to spend time with flushing dog…

FRANCHI IS A well-known name in gunny circles. The firm was formed in 1868 in Italy’s Brescia valley, and it has been making guns ever since. Well, those crafty Italians have done it again. The latest is the updated Affinity semi-auto shotgun. It is available in 3-inch 12 and 20 gauges, plus a 3½-inch 12-gauge. Compact and left-hand versions are also available. It is based on the proven Inertia-Driven action. It has few moving parts, clean lines, and unmatched reliability. Fewer parts also mean faster operation. Franchi has indeed used its engineering razor to “shave away” unnecessary parts and material. Since the Affinity is not gas-operated, the gun stays cleaner longer, and there’s very little maintenance required. The steel locking lugs on the bolt head lock into the steel barrel…

Salty water has a smell that easily separates it from fresh. It carries with it the aromas of sea life, the sand and surf and the salt grasses flourishing up from the bottom and reaching for the sky. It was this smell that greeted the hunters launching their shallow running craft at the local ramp just outside Port O’ Connor, Texas. They were heading into the darkness, bound for the south shoreline with south winds blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico. There they would set decoys, hide the boat, and sit among the natural cover of mangroves sprouting from the sandy shore and greet the sunrise. And the rafts of wintering ducks flying down the bay in the morning light. Captain James Shuler of Fin and Feather Outfitters waded…

A wise goose hunter once said, “decoys are only a persuasive tool, there there is no substitute for being where they want to be.” Even big spreads built into the thousands can only persuade a duck or a goose to go so far off a flight line. But you do need decoys to kill birds, and with the help of top manufacturers, hunters are finessing pressured fowl with smaller spreads and building giant rigs full of motion and realism. With a little luck, this will put more birds on the pile and more smiles on our faces. AVIAN-X TOPFLIGHT MALLARDS Break out the big b g—Avian-X has added oversized mallards and black ducks that are 30 percent larger for better visibility. Models come in either foam-filled or standard packs, and…