This weekend: New England Bird Dog Club’s annual field trial…

The view from the field trial area
View from New England Bird Dog Club’s field trial area

The New England Bird Dog Club’s 2018 field trial is this weekend in Dummer, NH. If you want to see some great hunting dogs do their thing, you’re should make time to attend. This is a low-key, released-quail trial and a great way to spend a send a day and meet other people into gundogs. The trial is held in northern NH, about 25 minutes from Berlin.

The Gun Dog stake on Sunday is great for anyone who has a bird dog and would like to see them compete. Dogs have to hold points, but they don’t have to be steady to wing & shot.

New England Bird Dog Club's 2018 Field Trial
New England Bird Dog Club’s 2018 Field Trial

Great read: Dad Saw Himself in Setters, by Tom Davis…

4X CH TEKOA MOUNTAIN JETTSUN
4X CH TEKOA MOUNTAIN JETTSUN

Tom Davis is a great writer, and always check out anything I come across from him. This piece from the Sporting Classics Daily blog is a good example of why he’s worth reading. It’s short, and in very few word Davis touches hits on why we fall in love with bird dogs. Do yourself a favor and click through to read the entire piece.

Dad Saw Himself in Setters by Tom Davis now

“I picked him up at the condo he’d rented on the Lake Michigan beachfront. It was more like March than May, a raw wind blowing off the lake, scudding clouds that spat occasional volleys of needle-sharp rain. He wanted to see my dogs run.

“Jesus, Dad,” I said, scowling at his low-cut tennis shoes. “We’re going to be in woodcock cover. Where the hell are your boots?…”

Read all of Dad Saw Himself in Setters by Tom Davis now

Introducing Lexi…

I’m finally back from my fishing trip and some other travels. This past week has been especially busy: I started a new job on Monday and on Thursday this little bundle arrived.

Her name is Lexi. She’s out of Superior Pointers in Bayfield, WI. She’s a fantastic pup, and my wife and I are thrilled with her. As you can see in this video, she’s as wild and mischievous as you would expect a 9-week old pup to be: Lexi, English Pointer, Superior Pointers

Lexi, English Pointer, Superior Pointers
Lexi, English Pointer, Superior Pointers
Lexi, English Pointer, Superior Pointers
Lexi, English Pointer, Superior Pointers
Lexi, English Pointer, Superior Pointers
Lexi, English Pointer, Superior Pointers

“You have to get to know a dog, first, before you can train him.”

Puck, my English Pointer, pointing a grouse
Puck, my English Pointer, pointing a grouse

What’s it really take to train a bird dog? There’s some insight into it in this piece from  Garden & Gun magazine.

The Education of a Bird Dog

by Geoffery Norman – Alabama – Garden & Gun, October/November 2013

For Ramin Jackson, training a gundog doesn’t start with shouting and shock collars. It starts with getting to know his pupil

Find out. Click through to read the entire article.
Find out. Click through to read the entire article.

The turnoff was five miles from Union Springs, a name that doesn’t mean much unless you care about bird dogs. In that case it means a lot. Resonates, I suppose, the same way the name Bordeaux does for people who care hopelessly about wine. Union Springs, which is about forty-five miles east of Montgomery in the Alabama Black Belt, is known as the field trial capital of the world. A bronze statue in the town square depicts not the usual Confederate infantryman but an English pointer, standing staunchly with head high and tail straight…

Read the entire piece here