Posts from — November 2008

By no means am I an expert on the best places in such a huge land area but I can give you some generalities.

First off all, all the quail are either south or west.  The eastern halves of Texas and Oklahoma are not very good at all.

There was a recent article in a Texas magazine that emphasized how the ‘quail line’ has moved west.  If you drew a hypothetical line north to south through Texas and Oklahoma then superimposed the shift of quail populations you can plainly see that the line has moved significantly west in the last 30 years.

Some areas of Texas have bobs and blues while others have primarily one or the other.  Oklahoma is pretty much the same.

Oklahoma has a good amount of public lands to hunt while Texas has very little.  This is why Texans pay to hunt each year because we simply don’t have the public lands. 

There are yearly leases in Texas and then there are day leases.  It is difficult to find decent day leases later in the season.  If the day lease is good, it will be hunted a lot unless the ranch manager has a lot of land at his disposal and rotates hunting spots to reduce pressure.  The best bet, if you plan to hunt Texas a few times per year, is to find an annual quail lease.

Texas quail hunting leases are higher than Oklahoma.

Ranch owners like out of state folks.  They realize you won’t be there very long at a time and you probably won’t be there very often thus their wildlife resources are impacted less.  I would say it is easier to sign on to a lease being out of state then it is for someone who lives near the lease.

Out of state folks one concern is finding a lease.  I’d like to say there is a magic bullet to find good leases but there isn’t.  There are on line lease finders services but folks there are usually charging more than it is worth and are looking for unknowing newbies and out of state folks.

The best bet is to painstakingly call every single chamber of commerce in every little town on the map.  Ask if they know someone or someone who knows someone.  Word of mouth is the best way to find a decent lease and not get ripped off.

That’s it for now.  Hope that gets you started!

Now give your dog a treat for me and tell ‘em “Dave says good dog!”

Cordially,

Dave

That’s what I’ll tell anyone who is going to hunt wild chukar in Nevada with dogs in the hills & mountains.  Why is it tough?  Because you need to be in top physical condition.  I learned that a few years ago the hard way.

I thought I was in great condition only to find out that flat land or even gentle hill walk in hunting is not proof of great conditioning.  I found the method of hunting with my pointing dog in early January near Winnemucca was very challenging.

Not only did we climb thousand feet plus hills once but we did it repeatedly all day every day for 3 straight days.  Up the north face followed my moments of wild flushes and pointing followed by the downhill walk to find those birds that flew to the bottom, as they almost always did.  Then back up another north face.  

The north face approach was needed on our hunt as it was very cold with recent heavy snow.  The Chukar were on the high south slopes eating cheat grass and sunning in newly formed bare spots melting away by the southern winter sun.  Our northern ascent to hunt them ‘top downward’ was pure He**.  Deep drifts with high knee action while slowly working my way up the north slopes made my thighs and calves burn and cramp.

My recommendation when hunting chukar with this method is to work out on a stair-stepper machine at your local health club a minimum of 2 to 3 times per week for at least a month assuming you are in good physical condition before you start your work out program.  Longer if not, consult a doctor…seriously.

Was it worth it?  Yeah.  The saying they have up there is that your first chukar partridge hunt is for fun, your second is for revenge…I’ll second that!  I must say the the chukar partridge is probably the best table fare among ALL the North American (native or imported) game birds.

The dog work was excellent and the hunting lands were public which makes for a good reason to try it out.  We also found huns and pheasant down low.  There were tons of california quail down low.

BLM is land paid for & maintained with your tax dollars, try it out and I think you’ll have a good time.  A good time will only be had IF you get you and your dog into good, no, great physical condition prior to going!

Give your dog a treat for me and tell ‘em “Dave says good dog!”

Dave

You know, that’s how I feel when I go to a hunting web site.  I certainly don’t want to visit a web site that just brags about this title and that title.  Tell me some stuff applicable to me and my dog!

That’s a terrific summation of how I often feel.  Even though I recently titled a dog for a friend, I don’t feel like I need a parade of titles to convince me that someone has good dogs.  Can they hunt?

In defense of the titles I will say that many great hunting dogs have a thoughtful breeder behind them.  Someone who studies the breed and tries to match strengths and weaknesses in order to produce a better dog for Joe the hunter.  Titles are just a public way of putting out info about a dog.  A titled dog was measured in some way and publicly proves his worthiness. 

A dog doesn’t have to trial to prove its worthiness however.  I proved Nubbin’ on guided wild bird hunts.  He had to produce and if he wouldn’t have, we wouldn’t be talking about him.  The only thing about it is that only those that hunted over him knew his value as a bird dog.  That was good enough for me.

When I breed Nubbin’ I always study the pedigree.  I make sure that the common lineage of Nubbin is complimented by the gyp he is going to be bred to.  I do not like to breed complete outcrosses.  An outcross is two dogs being bred that have zero common ancestry.

Common ancestry is important if the common ancestor is far enough back that it isn’t inbreeding but close enough to perpetuate the great traits of that common ancestor.  Make sense?

Though I don’t want to hear about how great your trial dog is and would rather hear about a terrific wild bird hunt somewhere that I may go to someday, I do understand the necessity of proving a dog in a public way whether it is trialing or guiding or some other way. 

I do love a great bird hunting story that involves Brittanys!  Feel free to share one here on any post!

I guess range is one of the least discussed bird dog training fundamentals because many hunters feel that close working is what is needed all the time for their hunting location.

Most hunters, including myself, find themselves preoccupied with whether the dog will properly hold point and not bust any birds.  Ground patterning and the range of your bird dog is something that often gets set to the back burner because afterall, if the dog won’t find and hold birds, what good is any other training?

In the Brittany world there are two basic types of bird dog.  Those that have the natural desire to run big, far to the front.  Measured in hundreds of yards to the front would be big in my book (in wide open terrain).  400 to 500 plus yards to the front is a big running Brittany.  The second type is the Brittany that genetically desires to stay close to you.  Maybe this dog ranges 25 to 200 yards out.

Notice I stated ‘natural desire’ and ‘genetically’.  This is something you should try to find out before establishing a ‘trained’ ground pattern.  If you like a close working dog all the time, then it does not matter.  If however, you want your dog to range out in open terrain then nurturing what comes naturally to your Brittany is very important.

Speaking from experience, which encompasses hunting woodcock in briar thickets, ruffed grouse on the east coast, wild bobs in the deep south (back when we had wild bobs), bobs / blues / pheasant in Texas, prairie chickens, sharptails, huns, chukar partridge, etc, I think I speak with authority when I tell you that it is no fun hunting over a 50 yard dog in the wide open plains unless asking the dog to stay close for a specific reason such as birds that run hard and flush well out front like wild pheasant.

Your Brittany is smart enough to know the difference between wide open style hunting and close thicket hunting.  Practicing in varied terrain is what makes them good at it.

I like to let my young dogs run as big as they desire on wide open training grounds.  A hay pasture makes a good location for pups to learn to open up.  After the pup has established in his mind that he is allowed to run way out to find birds, I cement in his mind the sequence which entails him finding birds way out, pointing / holding, and waiting for me to arrive and shoot the bird followed by lots of praise. 

Once the young dog has this in mind, I then take him to tight quarters with closely scattered brush, edges, etc.  This ‘tight’ place is where I establish the command to hunt close.  In this tight area, I allow him to find birds close by so that the command to hunt close tells him that there are birds nearby.  I cement that relationship as well by killing properly pointed closeby birds over him followed by much praise.

A smart Brittany will figure all of this out in a season or two and become quite adept at hunting the cover appropriately.

There is nothing as disheartening as a big running dog blowing through wild pheasant well ahead of the hunting party (nobody gets a shot) or a close working dog at 50 yards on an open prairie for other species that hold well (its as tough as watching paint dry plus you end up walking a whole lot more than if you had a dog that was wide / far ranging).

The American Brittany is bred to do both.  When you do get a Brittany, get one from top lines that are genetically capable of doing both.  There are many breeders who have Brittanys out of genetically close working parents.  That’s what the pups will be no doubt.  If you want the option to have your Brittany hunt open cover farther out and tight cover close, then the breeding is where you begin.

Take care and please feel free to share your thoughts on the subject,

Dave Jones