Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i Gun Dog

SWEAT WAS ROLLING down my back and brow when we finally breached the treeline and broke from the deep timber. The hot S eptember sun burned down on our necks, while our packs weighed down on our weary legs. I pulled my hip belt tighter, took a swig of water, and hiked on. My best friend, Natalie, and I were in Utah trudging through the mountains in pursuit of a trophy bull elk for Nat to notch her tag on, and we had more ground to cover. We had backpacked deep into the wilderness to sleep among the elk and get us closer each dawn. We had no limit of bugling bulls surrounding us each day. They called all day and all night—but from deep in the timber where they…

GARMIN ALPHA 300I & TT 25/T 20 COLLARS The new Alpha 300 series is perfect for both dog training and hunting. The rechargeable lithium-ion handheld battery provides up to 55 hours of battery life so you can hunt longer in remote country without having to take the time to recharge. The 300i also comes with inReach technology, a safety-net communication system for emergencies when you are off the beaten path (subscription required). While both thinner and lighter than full-size Garmin TT collars, the new Alpha TT 25 and T 20 collars are more powerful. They provide tracking up to 9 miles away and 68 hours of battery life with the standard battery pack. 300i: $850; TT 25: $350; T 20: $200; garmin.com INUKSHUK 30/25 FORMULA Six out of the top…

GUNMAKERS have a tendency to follow current trends and borrow design elements from other successful brands, so it’s refreshing when a novel idea arises. One of the most unique over/under shotguns in some time is Beretta’s new Ultraleggero (Italian for Ultralight), which cuts weight to an absolute minimum without sacrificing durability or performance. Ultralight upland guns are hardly new, and this isn’t the first lightweight over/under that Beretta has offered. However, this gun does use a different recipe for reducing mass than other brands. Traditionally, shotgun manufacturers swapped out steel receivers for aluminum alloy receivers and much of the weight shaving was accomplished. With the Ultraleggero, Beretta decided to approach the problem from a different angle: leave just as much steel as is necessary to make the gun safe and…

I USE the last several weeks of summer and early fall to do an honest assessment of my dogs’ performances last year, what they’ve improved upon over the summer, and what we still need to clean up before the new season’s opener. For younger dogs, this pre-season period is an opportunity to continue teaching new skills as they advance beyond foundational obedience. Regardless of your dog’s age and experience level, the pre-season training emphasis should be on ensuring that you are the one in control. Anytime. Anyplace. No exceptions. While these concepts are especially important to nail down before gametime, you’ll see that much of what I’m going to talk about here is an extension of good old-fashioned obedience and should be stressed year-round. MANY ASPECTS TO STEADINESS When hunters…

MAYBE YOU have a great young dog, but don’t have access to good training areas, birds, boats, or other expensive equipment to do the job. Possibly you just don’t have the time for daily training sessions and repetitive drills every day. Whatever your reason, hiring a professional trainer can be a great option, but at the same time choosing the correct trainer for the type and level of training you are after is critical. WHERE TO START YOUR SEARCH Where do you begin looking for a trainer? You could start by asking the folks you bought your pup from; they very likely know good trainers or may even take dogs for training themselves. It is also important to look for a trainer who is familiar with your breed and the…

WHO CAN BLAME any of us for the high anticipation of September 1 and the mourning dove opener in most states? After long birdless months of clay-target shooting and of training our dogs with check cords and retrieval dummies, we can finally swing on wings, and kick off the upland seasons with flitting, zipping, delicious doves. NATURALLY, we want our dogs—especially those fresh- men and sophomores—to accompany us on this gateway experience, which is often defined by lots of shooting, party hunting with buddies, and all the boisterous ballyhoo of a corn-country carnival. Problem is, all those attributes that characterize a classic dove hunt are precisely what your young dog doesn’t need in early September as it transitions from the practice squad to varsity. Your dog needs steady consistency, with…

When September rolls around, upland bird hunters can count on the dove and sharptail grouse openers to get them primed for the fall months. Sharptail are a great species to cut your teeth on before other upland seasons open up, and perfect for young dogs to get reps in early on. Here’s how to find more sharpies this September. UTILIZE HYBRID/TOPO LAYERS Sharptail grouse cover consists of rolling prairies covered in short, thick grass and wildflowers. If you’re in habitat you think you’ll find a pheasant, such as cattails, you won’t find sharptail. To locate contours in the landscape and ridgelines on the map, utilize the topography feature on onX. Avoid flat terrain. Locate high and low contour lines to find sharptail. Low areas tend to be greener, as water…

TOM BECKBE PIEDMONT JACKET This new tailored-fit field jacket from Beckbe is an update on the 6oz Tensaw jacket of yesterday and is designed for early to mid-season fall hunting. It is as light as can be but holds up against the elements and brush of quail country. It wears beautifully and is just at home in the pine woods as it is in town. Beckbe also has many waxed canvas jacket options for female hunters, such as the Blakeley, which offers a tailored fit without sacrificing functionality. $485; tombeckbe.com ORVIS FOLIAGE WAXED FIELD COAT This classic looking field coat has a retro appearance with modern functionality and is sure to be a favorite for years to come. It features big-cargo style pockets, a roll-up hood and welted handwarmer pockets…

JAY LOWRY is a successful dentist who owns his practice inn small town Illinois. In some ways, he reminds me a little of Hermey, the elf that left Santa’s workshop in the 1964 classic movie Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Hermey was a dentist stuck in the body of an elf and Jay, a dog man in the body of a dentist. The obvious in common is dental, but Jay hasn’t run away from fixing teeth in pursuit of his affections. Instead, he’s used them to finance and fuel his passion for what has come to be Ryglen Gundogs. We met twenty plus years ago, just two guys from the Midwest down in Mississippi at a dog training workshop. Both of us had our first British Labradors on the end…

SOME PEOPLE say I have a bit of a temper. That may be true, but I prefer to think that I just don’t put up with foolish behavior very well. Now, I should clarify that dogs rarely make me angry or frustrated, and I am hard-pressed to remember a dog that really got my hackles up. It’s the people that do it, especially when they make poor decisions which have permanent repercussions on their dogs’ health, well-being, or potential success. Even though I pride myself these days on being a trainer who gets called upon often to fix the problems that owners or other trainers create, I can’t help but come unglued when an owner creates a problem that is unfixable…especially when that problem is entirely avoidable. Case-in-point: gun-shyness. In…

THROUGH MOST of the early 1800s, modern day Germany was split into several different independent states. Some were large and rich in resources and wild game such as Eurasian boar and red stag, and some were much more poor. Although many common citizens had farms and owned their own land, the right to hunt—including on their own property—was reserved for the state’s nobility. German nobles were often lavish and wasteful in their hunting practices, putting on massive feasts and excessive celebrations centered around week-long slaughters. But the French revolution in 1789 sent shockwaves across Europe’s nobility that continued to see effects through the early and mid-19th century. In 1848, following suit from much of Europe at the time, the hungry lower and middle classes of German-ruled states revolted. As a…

NEARLY ALL of my hunting partners have at some point during a tailgate lunch looked out over the countryside longingly and said something like, “Man, wouldn’t it be great just once to experience what the dog experiences out there, to smell the birds and understand what’s really going on?” Yes, it would be great. It would also be great to have an aerial view of the playing field and watch the moves and counter-moves as dog and bird try to outsmart each other. But until that happens, we’re stuck as largely ignorant observers, guessing and theorizing, and doing our best to understand what our dogs are doing their best to tell us. What happens in those mysterious moments between point and flush? The real answer of course is, we don’t…

WE WERE saddened to learn of the passing of long-time GUN DOG contributor James B. Spencer, who died September 15, 2022, at the age of 95. Jim wrote the magazine’s “Retrieve” column for 27 years and the “Pro Tips” feature for more than 14 years before retiring in 2012. He also contributed breed features and starred in several training videos, as well as authoring numerous training books. Although the golden retriever was his favorite breed, Jim’s experience was not limited to goldens or retrievers in general; he got his start in sporting dogs with Weimaraners. In addition to the numerous field trial wins he earned with his goldens, he also put hunt test titles on an English springer spaniel named Flick and a German shorthair named Erik. Long-time readers may…

THIS RECIPE is a variation of one of my go-to dinners: red-wine braised [insert red meat here] over cheesy polenta. The acidic, dark-fruit flavors of dry red wine and hardy herbs complement dark meat well, and served atop creamy polenta, you get a soul-satisfying meal. It’s one of my husband’s absolute favorite dishes. You can slow cook sharp-tailed grouse or prairie chicken to make a rich stew. For this recipe, I’ve changed things up a bit. Instead of polenta, I serve this sharp-tailed grouse and wild mushroom stew over crispy parmesan corn mush, which is basically polenta that’s chilled, cut, and fried. Although corn mush is a bit more work than whipping up a pot of polenta in 10 minutes, you do get a textural contrast that I always thought…

DEVELOPING a dog’s ability to stand still is the single most important foundational skill for steadying a dog on birds. There are many ways to teach a dog to stand still, but our family of dog trainers has relied on the Whoa Post for decades. The book Best Way to TrainYour Gun Dog: The Delmar Smith YYYYYY YYYYY YY Method, published in 1977, outlined the early stages of the Whoa Post and the steadying process. In the almost 50 years since that time, we have modified and improved the steadying process, incorporating new techniques and principles as we continue to add to our collective knowledge studying and training dogs on a daily basis. We are able to talk in-depth about dogs’ mindsets and behaviors at seminars. However, here we only…

THE AIR was cold in my nostrils as I inhaled deeply the late fall air. I was shivering a little, unaware of whether the trembling was in response to the temperature or the adrenaline being dumped into my bloodstream. I was seven yearsa old and living my greatest dream. My dad had been telling me stories about his childhood companion, Rusty, for as long as I could remember. Rusty was an Irish setter with a knack for finding and pointing pheasants. He took my dad on many wonderful adventures as a child and I dreamed of living those same types of adventures in my youth. One day, my parents took me to pick out my own Irish setter puppy. I promptly named him Rusty and headed out to make my…

MEMORIES of our childhood fade with each passing year, eventually becoming a figmen t of our perceived reality. While I can’t recall many of the details, several dusty old albums filled to the brim with photos of my early hunting experiences with my father and grandfather paint a detailed story of my deep-rooted hunting heritage. However, there are a small handful of defining experiences in my younger years that I can still recall with clarity decades later. My 10 th birthday, which conveniently coincided with opening weekend of sage grouse season, marked the first day I could legally buy a small-game hunting license in the Cowboy State. For a young boy coming from a long lineage of hunters, I felt I had officially gone from a boy to a man,…

DUCKING through the tent-flapped door, Gordy Krahn stalked past the pellet stove battling the early-morning October chill, approached the cook shack in back and said, “Give me coffee and no one gets hurt.” Krahn had just let both his Brittany spaniels, 11-year-old Rebel and Riot, 3, out of their kennels in the back of his dusty black Toyota FJ Cruiser for their morning run. We were camped in a sheltering grove in the Nebraska Sandhills, a canvas arc of White Duck Outdoors tents winged off either side of the main tent/cook shack central point. Once Krahn and everyone settled with coffee and breakfast, we devised a plan to hunt plains sharp-tailed grouse and greater prairie chickens where Scott Fink of Goose Creek Outfitters regularly sees them while doing ranch chores.…