Innehållsförteckning för Winter 2021 från Gun Dog

I HAVE a passion for the uplands that is hard to put into words. A passion so strong that when given the option to move home to Ohio, my heart was telling me to move west to live in the mountains and rolling plains that wild birds call home. I wanted to be closer, not farther away, from chasing the flush. My passion for upland birds overtakes my senses and sends a wave of energy through me. My demeanor completely changes, my friend told me last year, when grouse were flushing while we were hiking mountains in Idaho for bull elk. My heart pounded through my chest when I drew my bow on a ruff—the same feeling of adrenaline as if I were drawing on a bull. “I knew you’d…

ANYONE who has spent some time hunting upland birds, especially pheasants, knows that the late season can be magical. They also probably know that there are dogs that excel in the early season, and even the middle part of the season, but just can’t hack it during the last few weeks. This isn’t uncommon and is almost always due to inexperience training and hunting in thick, nasty cover. A dog that isn’t accustomed to high cover, whether it’s cattails, plum thickets, or something else gnarly and nearly impenetrable, is not going to understand where the birds are or how to get to them. As a midwestern trainer, this is something that is always on my mind because we can experience unreal action when the snow is on the ground and…

FIREARMS don’t have to be ornate to be beautiful. Case in point: Caesar Guerini’s new limited production Woodlander “Dove Special.” At first glance, the Woodlander Dove Special seems rather austere. But when you look more closely, the fine details found on this gun make it stand out—and it might just be the best value in upland shotguns for this year. As the name implies, the Dove Special is based upon the Woodlander over/under, Guerini’s entry level field gun. Calling the Woodlander “entry level” doesn’t really do this gun justice, though, for it comes with a boxlock action that is case colored with a protective Invisalloy finish and an oil-rubbed walnut stock with a wood butt plate and a Bulino style engraving of a grouse on the bottom of the receiver.…

Women hunters may be new to us, but they’re a familiar user group.  Winchester’s 1915 advertisement for the lightweight Model 12 pump featured a woman hunting over a setter. Miss Rheingold 1952 hunted birds with a setter and a side-by-side. She took that same side-by into the duck marsh. When Dupont introduced a new product that kept cigarettes fresh (cellophane), the image they used was of a man and a woman bird hunting with setters. While trends show that cigarette smoking and setter ownership have declined, women still hunt. Until recently, women’s participation numbers remained pretty much the same. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, 1.2 million women hunted every year during their 1996, 2001, and 2006 surveys. Those numbers skyrocketed to 3 million in 2008 and then jumped…

The folks I admired all ran pointing dogs and Brittanys as a rule.  To me, it simply seemed the proper thing for any upland hunter worth his salt to do. These opinions were hard-boiled long before I ever got a dog of my own, and frankly I’m not terribly sure just where they came from. It wasn’t like anyone told me what to think on the subject. I suppose it was just the result of those formative images that take root in the mind’s eye of a knockaround kid with a gun. My imagination bloomed with notions of men and dogs suspended at the brink of moments that I, too, so wished to share. In the magazine spreads there was Ben O.Williams and his string of Brits on the Montana…

That’s the last sermon from me you’ll be forced to endure. Although my byline may occasionally appear in this magazine going forward, this will be my last regular column for Gun Dog. I’ll pause for a moment while the cheering subsides. The truth is, this wasn’t an easy decision for me to make. Working for this magazine for many years under Editor in Chief Rick Van Etten, and more recently, under Editor in Chief Kali Parmley, has been a pleasure, a joy, and a privilege. By my best recollection, it’s been something like 16 years I’ve been at this post, and the door was open to stay for another 16. But it’s time for me to go. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few of you…

WHAT we really want is a dog who is a good citizen. One who won’t embarrass us. A dog we can live with who is always happy to see us—even when we are an hour late with the evening meal. We want a dog who can sooth nerves at the end of a bad day. So why train our dogs? Simple: We train them to do the job we want done and to our liking—a nice pragmatic reason. We train, too, because we owe it to the dog to ensure his safety and well-being, to give him purpose, and to make him happy. Training is a responsibility we owe our dogs just as much as providing food and shelter. For hunting, we have retrievers, flushers, pointers, trackers, and the versatile…

I hadn’t seen my little French Brittany, Mia, in a couple minutes.  I was hunting the edge of the canyon and my friend Mike was hunting the bottom. I yelled to him asking if he had seen her anywhere. About five seconds later he responded, “She’s on point in some grass below you. I’m going to her. See if you can work your way down.” About two minutes later, I was almost down and Mike was in position below her. Just as I was getting in position and trying not to fall down, the covey flushed with a whirlwind of wings. I had no shot as I was trying not to fall down the canyon side, but Mike brought down a hen and a male. Such is Mearns quail hunting.…

THEY say the price you pay for a puppy is a tiny fraction of what you spend on the dog through the rest of its life. I never believed that. My previous dogs, Ike, the setter, and Sam, my first shorthair, never cost me a nickel outside of normal vet visits and dog food. My luck ran out with Jed, a dark, liver-ticked shorthair. He’s a sweet dog, a good hunter and home-office companion. He is my wife’s all-time favorite. He has also been a money pit. EVERY TIME I LEFT HIM AT THE VET, I WAS AFRAID IT WAS THE LAST TIME. I HAVE SAID MY TEARY GOODBYES TO JED, ONLY TO GET HIM BACK... The problem is, he eats things. All dogs eat things they shouldn’t. Ike, Jed’s…