Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2024 från Gun Dog

AFTER A LONG hunting season, it always feels good to rest and get ba ck into a routine at home. See family and friends, finally sleep in my own bed, and clean up the garage from months of throwing gear here and there. Routine, it’s nice—but it doesn’t bring me comfort for long. The season has been over for a month (for me) at the time of this writing—and I’m already longing for days afield behind my dogs. My soul longs for the noise from the hustle and bustle of life to fade, for the cars and the crowds to be replaced by the serene stillness of the mountains. The trickle of a stream, the wind rustling the leaves of an aspen grove, and the swish swish of my pants…

WEATHERBY will likely always be best-known for their hyper-velocity cartridges and precision rifles, but the Flying brand has a history of selling shotguns that dates back over 50 years. Recently, Weatherby has been revamping their shotgun offerings, adding a side-by-side version of their Orion double guns, as well as a new inertia-operated semiauto, the Sorix. In many ways, the Sorix follows the traditional inertia gun recipe, but there are some new and novel touches that set this shotgun apart. The most noticeable upgrade is a channel machined into the left side of the receiver. When I first handled the Sorix, behind the scenes at the Dallas Safari Club show, I suspected that it was an attempt to lighten the gun or a cosmetic touch. However, Weatherby’s Tyler Grethen explained to…

I STOPPED TRAINING and trialing professionally in 2005, around the time I sold my kennel in upstate New York. Without dogs to keep track of every day, I began to split my year between New York’s Hudson Valley and Coastal Florida. Though I continue to travel and attend spaniel events all over the country, I guess it’s fair to say that I am a snowbird. I just don’t like the cold, gray winter anymore, which means the time I spend in the northeast centers around the summer months, when I spend the bulk of every day helping my friend Dan Lussen as he trains flushing dogs for hunting and competition. Though the focus in each session is to build the skills needed by a working flusher, Danny and I also…

ARE YOU STARTING a new pup, and looking for ways to get him in top mental and physical condition through the summer? Hunt Tests might be a great option. They are an opportunity to enjoy time spent training with other folks who have similar interests. While, at the same time, ensuring that you and your young gun dog are better prepared as you swing into hunting seasons next fall. A great way to stay active through the summer is by joining a local dog club. The best place to start looking would be with one of the ‘testing organizations’ in your area. AKC, UKC, and NAVHDA groups are some of the most common, depending on the breed and event you’re interested in. Regardless of the group, in these organizations you’ll…

LEAKY EYES First of all, I look forward to your magazine every time I finish reading my current one. I’ve given subscriptions as gifts many times. I’m a big fan of Gun Dog. I, too, have tons of memories of dogs from my 50 years afield. Dog stories are so relatable and always find someone to appreciate them. I just wanted to say thank you for the memories in the Winter 2024 Issue. I’m not embarrassed to say my eyes leaked more than once. I’ve been there. Thank you again. – Mike Patterson | via email CHEERS TO WILD UPLAND! I finally found your show (Wild Upland) on MOTV. It’s everything you promised. Thanks for the first show that creates a “take you there” experience. Love the product placement in…

TRAINERS CONSTANTLY evaluate the state of mind that the dogs they work are in. The very first thing we do in our initial interaction with dogs is to read their body language and gauge their mindset. We ask ourselves a string of questions, such as whether the dog is calm, excited, stressed, confident, eager, content, or reactive. Every action that has taken place in the dog’s world beforehand contributes directly to their state of mind. The way dogs perceive us influences how they will respond to any form of training. As we begin training, we compare pre- and post-behavior to see how a dog responds to the training and cues. Our goal in every training session is to ensure that every interaction, every cue we give, and every lesson we…

AS I WALKED out of the arena, I was filled with a blended emotion. It was made of equal parts humiliation and frustration. I had worked so hard on preparing my reining horse to show. At home and in the warm-up pen she performed well, but when we walked into the show pen she felt like a different horse. It was early in my show career, and I had little experience at the time. I had heard people talk about a horse becoming show smart, but until now I had not experienced it. Once I had a chance to calm down, I turned to a couple of my mentors for help. The question I needed answered was, “why does she act differently in the show pen than she does in…

Hoping to find more birds this year for your gun dog, as well as your freezer? E-scouting is a tactic that you should consider before hitting the field. It will have your boots (and paws) tromping through the uplands in search of the next flush rather than behind the cab of your truck wasting precious time and gas. E-scouting from your computer, tablet, or phone helps aid a successful day afield and gets precious bird contacts under the nose of your bird dog. Utilize these tips and tools before heading to the uplands this fall. UTILIZE ACCESS LAYERS By toggling on layers such as Walk-In and Possible Access layers, you’ve just opened up thousands of acres of land to hunt. Many states offer walk-in programs—private land opened to the public…

IF YOU’RE looking for an easy weeknight meal with pheasant, look no further. Aside from brine time, this pheasant and lemon-herb sauce recipe can be on the table in just 30 minutes. Let’s talk about brining. You might’ve brined your Thanksgiving turkey, but did you know that brining also can beb beneficial to game birds? Brining is the method of soaking meat in a solution of salt and water to improve its texture, flavor, and to prevent it from drying out. Thanksgiving turkey can be notoriously dry if overcooked. Similarly, hunters run into the same problem with light meat game birds, such as pheasant, quail, or wild turkey. I love a mallard or sharpie breast cooked medium to medium-rare. But I don’t have the same tolerance with lighter game birds,…

THE ABILITY to “hunt dead” adds extra value to your retriever as an upland hunter. When a bird is down and dead, or—as sometimes happens—down but wounded, your dog is going to have to find that bird using its nose. There are plenty of drills you can do to help it learn how to use its sense of smell more efficiently. So much of what we do with our retrievers is visual. You throw a bumper (or someone throws it for you), your retriever sees it, and goes after it. However, success in going after an object or bird that your dog didn’t see fall begins with your ability to identify the area where it makes sense to start the search. Take your dog to that area, and then help…

I JUST FINISHED the second season of hunting behind my first English setter, Máquina. I documented her training on film and in writing more than any other before, which led me to write this. It also made it a lot easier to remember the success and the sufferings that took place. I wonder what I’ll say about it in twenty years. But for now, I’m left thinking about what I would, should, or could have done differently. Training your own dog can be a lonely feeling. Out of self-admitted ignorance, I overanalyzed when it came to anything in the field. With help from good mentors, I’d muster up the courage to try and quickly recognize that nothing was ever as big of a deal as I had made it out…