Quail season in Georgia is getting underway and having grown up there, I was feeling a little homesick, particularly this time of year. I called Todd Rogers at Wynfield Plantation just to get a little southern accent fix and talk about quail hunting. “We’re just getting underway. I’ve got some European guests here just getting ready to go out and the hunting is looking great for this year.
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The Orvis Hunting Blog celebrates our wingshooting heritage with bird hunting news, and entertaining and enlightening podcasts by Orvis wingshooting expert Reid Bryant. We take you into the field with us in our informative articles, photos, and videos that share the sporting lifestyle we love.
Double Barrel Podcast – Training Your Gun Dog Part 3
In the third part of the four part series with Mike Stewart from Wildrose Kennels we cover more advanced training techniques and guidelines to continue to shape your gun dog to the ultimate field companion. (Part 1, Part 2)
Listen to this episode by clicking the play button below and subscribe to future podcasts at www.orvis.com/podcast!
Chasing the Huns, Part II
Continued from Chasing the Huns, Part I Fifteen minutes later, Fern locked up again. We picked up the pace, climbing down the side of a slope before crossing a flat. She stood stiff and motionless, pointing thirty yards from a draw that ran the length of the hillside. As we walked in, I looked at Paul. He seemed more relaxed and I decided not to say anything. The covey of Huns scattered into the air in front of us. Joel missed his shots.
Read MoreTraining Your Dog the Wildrose Way
I’m getting a new puppy the first of the year. He’s a Wildrose British Labrador out of their new sire FTch Glenoch Ruff who came from Northern Ireland this year. My dog Pickett is now 8 years old and at the peak of his performance physically and mentally, but it’s time to start bringing along the successor.
Read MoreDouble Barrel Podcast: Training Your Gun Dog Part 2- The First Six Months
In this, the second part of a four part series on training your hunting dog (see episode 1 here) of the Double Barrel Podcast, I’m once again joined in the podcast studio by my good friend Mike Stewart of Wildrose Kennels to discuss the all-important first six months of training your puppy. Mike goes into detail about a prgram he calls “Early Starts”.
Paul Nelson Farm
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I just spoke to Paul Nelson owner of Paul Nelson’s Farm in South Dakota. I hunted with Paul last year in one of the best days of hunting I’ve ever experienced and wanted to find out how the season was going.”
“This year, we’re seeing even more remarkable numbers of pheasant, because the habitat work we’ve done over the years is maturing and the resulting population is breathtaking,” said Nelson.
Read MoreChasing Huns, Part I
 Simon Perkins hunts in Montana. |
Double Barrel Podcast: Training Your Gun Dog Part 1 – The Puppy
In the first part of a four part series of the Double Barrel Podcast, Brett is joined in the studio by Mike Stewart from Wildrose Kennels. In this episode, learn the steps on how to find the puppy that will be right for you and your needs in the field. Mike has some great tips here on what to look for in researching your new gun dog.
September Sharptails in Montana
A couple of weeks ago I went bird hunting in Montana at the invitation of Dave Perkins. A gracious invitation to say the least, and one that offered up a most notable new experience. This was different. Standing on the ridge I looked across a sea of grass with mountain islands here and there, and the distance defined only by the last jagged range in the distance.
“How far are those?”
“ About 120 miles.”
“Damn.”
I was hunting sharptails near Great Falls. Next-door neighbors are calculated in miles. It looks flat, but it’s not. It rolls and dips and rises like ocean swells and not until you get out of the truck and immerse yourself in it, do you discover the detail, the variations of terrain and vegetation, the places where sharptails find cover.
Unconventional Dog Training
Come autumn, I have the best job in the world. As a bird hunting guide for PRO Outfitters in Central Montana, I spend 28 days a month with my dogs walking rolling hills under a big sky, looking for wild sharptail grouse, Hungarian partridge, and ring-neck pheasant. My dogs are ideal co-workers: every morning their eyes light up when they see me, and they can’t wait to get to work. Bird hunters know that few things compare to the bond you share with your dog in the field. And nothing compares to watching your young pointing dog gain confidence, put the pieces together, and finally “get it.”
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