Innehållsförteckning för October 2024 från Gun Dog

WILDERNESS. The word itself is music. These words hit home to me as I read them laying in my camper with two bird dogs snoring at my feet. I had spent a long day in the wild, chasing mountain gobblers in early spring. My dogs, Lincoln and Jones, were along to enjoy camp and the mountain air—and I was glad to have them to keep me warm on this cool night, high off the beaten path. It means something lost and something still present, something remote and at the same time intimate, something buried in our blood and nerves, something beyond us and without limit. Outside, the wind rustled lightly through the pines, and the darkness blanketed the landscape. The stars provided the only light for miles. It was just…

IF YOU’RE ANYTHING like me, you live out of your truck come fall. Between dogs, hunting and dog gear, first aid and safety equipment, and more, your truck needs the proper organizational system and accessories to safely get you and your pups in and out of the backcountry. Here’s my go-to truck system and kit. GEAR STORAGE I was tired of digging to the bottom of storage bins or crawling in the bed of my truck for a loose piece of gear—the Decked Drawer system came to my rescue. Two full-bed length sliding drawers allow me to store everything from shotguns and ammo to dog collars and dog bowls. Drawer dividers let me section off the drawers for organization, while heavy duty bins help to keep my toolkit and miscellaneous…

AS DOG trainers and students of canine behavior, we can talk all day about the finer points behind every action we take in training, as well as the behavioral nuances of dogs. At Smith Kennels, every interaction with a dog is intentional and is designed to shape the dog’s mindset and behavior. With that, we can easily get hyper-focused on assessing the slightest A differences in an individual dog’s mindset and behavior at a given time. Taking a step back to simplify our desired goals and outcomes can be helpful so as to not get lost in the nuances. We structure our training around some common denominators that we call the Core Bird Dog Behaviors and Mindsets; these elements are the nucleus of our approach to training dogs. A sound understanding of core behaviors…

IN THE ICONIC 1994 film The Little Rascals, there is a scene where four members of the child gang dress up as adults in an effort to get a “hefty loan” at the local bank. Two of the children put on fake beards and trench coats and climb on the shoulders of a couple of their buddies. Then they walk into the bank masquerading as two adult men. The banker was quick to see through their disguises. As he was chastising the children, he remarked, “If you were my kids, I would punish you.” To which one of the Little Rascals chided, “If we were your kids, we would punish ourselves.” The banker doesn’t allude to what particular punishment he had in mind, but we can conclude that it would…

NOTHING SAYS October like the flush of ruffed grouse from golden aspens. Finding the king of game birds is no easy task, though, as they are well-known for their complex food and shelter preferences. The solution? E-scouting is the most effective way to find these wild birds’ favorite covers. Here is how to find more ruffs for you and your gun dog this October. UTILIZE ACCESS LAYERS By toggling on layers such as Walk-In and Possible Access layers, you’ve just opened up thousands of acres of possible land to hunt. Many states offer walk-in programs—private land opened to the public for hunting—and these can be recognized on the map as plots of land marked with red dots. Additionally, the Possible Access layer is great for grouse hunters who hunt the…

IF YOU’RE a fan of Costco’s chicken bake, then you’ll like this recipe. Lots of melted cheese, meat, bacon, and green onion encased in light pizza crust—what's not to like? In addition to chukar, quail, pheasant, and wild turkey breasts would work, too. Don’t overthink cooking the meat—it just needs to be cooked. Poached in chicken stock, roasted in the oven, or seared in a pan, they all work. Lightly salt the meat, because all the cheese and bacon will provide more than enough sodium. Although you could get away with using the meat off chukar or quail legs for this recipe, I’d caution against using pheasant or wild turkey legs because they will probably be too tough. However, you could slow cook them until tender if you can dedicate…

MANY HUNTERS’ idea of ruffed grouse hunting looks like an image of a regal English setter on point, tail held high as the shooter moves in to flush a cooperative bird. The grouse then vaults into the air and flies away in a straight line, presenting an easy, going-away shot. It’s pretty neat when things work out that way, but anyone who has spent more than a day or two among the aspens and alders knows that in reality, hunting these deep-forest birds is more often an unpredictable challenge. Spooky birds that flush in wild, rough terrain, and dense foliage all combine to frustrate even the best hunters. Once you get past the idea that not every grouse brought to hand is the result of a picture-perfect “gentleman’s” hunt, and…

WHILE CLEANING my office the other day, I came across evidence of a good memory. A picture I took in 2003 with a throw away film camera. A 4”x 6” photograph, grainy, with the colors starting to fade. There were eight pups born in my parents’ sunroom, all nursing in a homemade whelping box. Five black, two yellow, and a lone chocolate, that was our first litter of Labs. I had what I thought was a real nice female and bred her to what I was told was a real good male. His name was Sackett, a handsome yellow Lab that belonged to a well-known outdoor photographer. I’d seen the dog on the covers of books and in the pages of magazines, but outside of stunning good looks, I knew…

IN 1967, Italian Bruno Civolani invented the inertia-operated semiauto shotgun, and in doing so, he revolutionized shotgun design. Benelli utilized the design in their autoloading shot- shotguns, first with their Model 121 shotgun in 1968 and later with guns, their first 20-gauge offering, the SL (Super Luxury) 201, in 1973. In 1983, Benelli’s shotguns took another evolutionary step forward with the release of the Montefeltro, a semiauto inertia-operated shotgun that utilized a rotating bolt head, detachable trigger guard/trigger group, and a wraparound design. Benelli shotguns were first imported to the United States through HK, but that changed in 1997 when Benelli USA was founded in Accokeek, Maryland. Though it hasn’t earned as much press as its Super Black Eagle cousins, the Montefeltro has been a staple for shooters and hunters…

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, when I was training professionally, I had an opportunity to spend some time in Wales working beside the renowned UK breeder Talbot Radcliffe. At the time, SbreederTalbot Radcliffe was unequivocally the authority on English springers; his Saighton dogs would go on to inform the bloodlines of many great English and American lines that persist to this day. In springer circles, Radcliffe remains something of an icon, particularly for those who are committed to the type of hunting spaniels that represent the breed’s origins in the UK. I spent four shooting seasons with Talbot at his Presaddfed Estate in Anglesey, Wales. In that time, I learned an incredible amount about the UK style of spaniel, and how UK dogs differ from American dogs. In this installment of “The Flush,” I’d…

YOU’VE READ about the wonderful bird hunting out West— outWest—mixed bag valley quail and chukar in Eastern Oregon, Gamble and scaled quail in Arizona, or maybe sharptail, Huns, d and pheasants in the Dakotas. No one will argue with the fact that any of these can be a hunt of a lifetime, but let me warn you: there is work to be done if you expect your dream—and Fido’s endurance—to last past the first hour. I’m not talking about lining up guides or hunting areas. It’s about being prepared physically, and having the general toughness it takes to endure the harsh conditions in most of the western states that you really don’t want to overlook. Out there, every bush, blade of grass, and patch of soil is out to get…