Dog Power - Why the Bobwhite Quail, page 4

Upland Bird Hunts = dog power + shooting ability + willingness to walk.

Unusual the first season the pup finds the covey before his well experienced brace mate. The only picture for the entire season of the old dog backing the pup.

Advice from an upland bird dog trainer of pointing and flushing breeds.

"...When bird hunters' ask what is the best advice for quail hunting I often don't give any except the ambiguous: "go hunt".

Anymore, I don't talk bird hunting with anyone as most take far too narrow a perspective on just about every topic and there is always far too much ego involved preventing any valued conversation.

The worst guys have been the bird dog owners that ask me for help with dog training. They come out to my farm once or twice, work with my birds and then I never hear from them again, that is until that fall. The reports in these cases are frequently along the lines of asking where to find birds or my dog isn't doing (fill in the blank), or how do I get him to (fill in the blank). All of course want immediate and absolutely reliable performance from their dogs at minimum effort.

Because this request [meaning from the MAHA staff] was truly sincere I offer the very best bit of advice that I heard from another a long time ago. That advice was: "to go hunt".

The point of this advice is to talk to those that have the most success quail hunting and two common threads will appear.

The first is they started quail hunting a long time ago and second they have quail hunted consistently longer than those asking the questions how to hunt or train dogs.

The point is that quail hunting is hard, few actually quail hunt for decades and those that do find birds do so for two reasons.

The first is they cover a lot of ground.

The next, when they find coveys they remember where they were found and will hunt that covey twice and typically not more than three times the entire season.

These hunters are always covering new ground to find additional coveys adding to their inventory or replacing coveys that have disappeared. These same hunters are also quick to say one bird in the bag per hunt per covey found and those same coveys can be hunted again next year and years later.

The truth about quail hunting is to walk a lot, have dogs that run down wind edge and be able to shoot accurately regardless of physical fatigue. Three very difficult to achieve qualities that if any one is lacking even a little will be the cause for a bad hunt.

The successful quail hunter is one that quail hunts a lot...."

We keep this piece anonymous as the hunter/dog trainer being interviewed makes his living training dogs for upland bird hunters and states forcibly never for field trials. He also offers that when it comes to quail hunts it is more the hunter is wrong than the dog.

One of those rare covey points in the wide open with nothing but blue-sky shooting.

To miss a shot under such conditions is frequently the result of hunter fatigue from the walking required to get to this point in the hunt.

A test of walking fatigue incurred during quail hunts is to ask any dedicated quail hunter how many consecutive day long quail hunts he will make and most will agree after the first it becomes harder and rarely does anyone hunt three in a row.

On Dogs

Bird hunters will quickly recognize the value of this picture.

Anyone that has hunted plumb thickets knows full well the sinking feeling that follows a bird dropped after shot into a plumb thicket. That feeling is often expressed by a groan coming from the knowledge that any dog on point in a thicket or a bird dropped into one without a dog that retrieves means to leave the gun behind, hunch over at best, most likely crawl into the far stronger than they look thicket to release the dog or to retrieve. The goal besides the bird is not to get stuck in the eye.

For a dog as this one not strong on retrieve to do so from a plumb thicket is to make him loved all over again. This day he reminded me that not all dogs or people meet our ideals at all times. To compare any current dog to the few great dogs that may have punctuated our previous years would be un-fair. Accepting his strengths, ignoring his weakness makes for more enjoyment and getting that special feeling of satisfaction of spiritual tranquility only another bird dog hunter that has experienced that feeling can understand. It is after such dog days that people that fail to meet our ideals have little impact on our lives. Hand gestures accompany unheard epitaphs in confined traffic circumstances or that less than agreeable person at work are ignored with understanding those folks probably have nothing in their lives that comes close to the mind and body restoration of a hunting dog that makes us smile.

Thanks to MAHA and the dog for a great day.