Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2022 i Gun Dog

II’VE CAUGHT myself multiple times. I’m lying in bed or on the couch, staring at my phone, when I look up to see one, or both, of my dogs staring at me. They’re patiently waiting, wanting my attention, but I’m too distracted by the screen in my hand to pay them any mind. Other times, I’ve looked up from that addictive blue light to see my dogs in a moment that I want to cherish and remember forever—and it’s tainted by the fact that I was too busy scrolling social media. Even a pup sleeping at my feet in a peaceful state is a moment I want to enjoy and capture in my mind—but often I’m too distracted by this mini-computer in my hands. My Labrador, Lincoln, will be nine…

MY COUSIN-IN-LAWS, Keith and Jo Ann Brown, are the epitome of the old-school, American home cooks. Although in their 80s, they still host the extended family on major holidays, whipping out classics they could do in their sleep. For a long time, before my husband, Rick, and I moved from Southern California to Nebraska, Rick always stayed at the Browns’ whenever he flew out to hunt. I got to come along during those last couple years, and I look back on those days fondly. So many years later and I think Keith and Jo Ann’s cooking was just as memorable as the hunting up there and shooting my first Nebraska deer. Favorites included chicken and homemade noodles, mulberry pie, fried walleye, the best broccoli casserole ever—and man, oh, man, they…

VERY FEW OF us live in an environment where we can walk right out the back door of our home, call our dog to us, and set out on a bird hunt. Typically, a bird hunt requires us to spend hours, maybe even days, traveling to our desired hunting destination by truck. While a long drive to a prime hunting location provides us humans with a fun change of pace and a dose of excitement and anticipation, the same travel experience makes for a dramatic and potentially stressful change in routine for our dogs. In loading up a bird dog for a few days on the road we remove him from a predictable and relatively quiet kennel and/or home environment. As we crate him in a vehicle or dog trailer…

THE UPLANDS are vast and unruly. In the eyes of a young gun dog, they can seem to be an endless stretch of ground to run free and search for their quarry. As much as we want to give our dogs the freedom to pursue game at extended distances, it’s vitally important that we shape their search pattern at a young age. With a little training and direction, we can teach our dogs that working in front of us is where birds will be and where birds can be brought to their mouths—not behind us. We can also teach them where birds may be hiding—like dense and unwelcoming cattails or fencerows where they may not think to smell. Any productive gun dog must apply itself to working cover and must…

BROWNING WICKED WING 1/4 ZIP SMOOTHBORE JACKET This high-performance Browning jacket is so light, it doubles as a comfortable shirt, and the best part is that it is also nice enough to wear to Thanksgiving dinner with the family. Ideal for layering, the double-weave spandex face fabric with microcheck backer means comfort in all ducky conditions. It also comes with an upper chest, snap-secured handwarmer pocket, lower, zipper-secured kangaroo pocket, and integrated gear tabs. Available in popular Vintage Tan as well as Mossy Oak Bottomland. $95; browning.com DOKKEN'S DEADFOWL TRAINER MALLARD Dokken's Deadfowl trainers are truly fundamental for training any duck dog. Tom Dokken developed this device to teach dogs how to hold and carry game birds properly—the hard head and bottom, married with a soft, durable body, educate them…

BROWNING has produced some of the finest over/under hunting shotguns of the last hundred years, and that all started with John Browning’s Superposed. In fact, it’s no stretch to say that the American hunter and shooter’s fascination with stackbarrel design is directly attributed to John Browning, and generations of hunters have spent their time in the field carrying a Browning over/under. Browning over/unders remain very popular with hunters and shooters, and it’s remarkable how little the overall design of these guns has changed since they were released in 1931. Looking at a new, modern Browning over/under, like the Citori Feather Lightning 20-gauge, shows that Browning’s brilliance has outlasted a century of competitive designs. FIRST CHOICE FOR HUNTERS & SHOOTERS By the 1970s, the price of Superposed production was climbing and…

AS LONG AS you’ve done your part in the off-season, your dog will probably be at his sharpest point when the season kicks off—at least with obedience and control. But as the season progresses, some issues might creep in, and that early season sharpness might suddenly dull a bit. This, at least with flushers, is often most noticeable with range. For example, a good rule of thumb for pheasant hunting is that 30 yards is far enough. If your dog works at that range early, the birds will still be within shotgun range when they get up, although you won’t be too many wingbeats away from them being out of range. If you’re not working with your dog on keeping that range, then you might notice that you’re getting fewer…

II RECENTLY had a conversation with a young man that has been doing summertime sales. He shared with me some stories of unkind things that people had said or done to him while selling. These stories caused me to wonder why he would continue with the sales. Exploring that question led to him revealing how much money he could make in a relatively short period of time. So he took the good with the bad, knowing that the reward was going to be worth the trouble. He actually considered it a perfect summertime job for a college student. I know another young man who tried doing summertime sales and soon quit, because in his mind the reward just wasn’t worth it. I’ve determined that the difference between these two young…

RIG 'EM RIGHT BLOODLINE ELITE DOG VEST The Bloodline Elite Dog Vest from Rig'Em Right Waterfowl offers duck-tested protection for your most reliable hunting partner. The unique 3-layer construction of the upper material consists of 3mm neoprene and gives a next to skin fit for warmth and comfort. There is also a thin layer of foam for added flotation and an outer layer of heavy-duty canvas for protection from brush and briars. The Bloodline Elite also features 5mm neoprene throughout the chest for flexibility and supreme warmth and a sturdy braided handle to help your buddy back in the blind. $80; rigemright.com DIVE BOMB DOG VEST This neoprene vest is as functional as it is stylish. And yes—we finally have a way to get your best hunting buddy decked out…

II OFTEN compare training a puppy to raising kids. That might offend some of you, but I realize what I write about training isn’t going to keep everyone happy. It’s true though, little kids and puppies are like sponges absorbing what you expose them to. My wife looked at me funny when our two-year-old daughter talked about what sounded a lot like “fox” after a long weekend spent with me up at camp. Then, we realized there were no foxes to speak of and shortly after, a swear jar was put in place to reshape some of my behaviors. To this point, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about training a setter, it’s that you can’t do it without the “f-word.” At the risk of being offended, and better understanding…

II LOOK AT the gun dog space through the eyes of a dedicated spaniel man, and likely that is why I have often been struck by the fact that pointing dog handlers seem disinclined to run a single dog at any given time. I suppose that in big country it makes sense: A pair of dogs or more can cover far more ground than a single and can surely hunt a big piece of country efficiently. I also understand that the common practice of teaching a dog to honor or back allows a degree of control that doesn’t really exist when hunting flushers. As a handler, though, I rarely run more than one flusher at a time. In hunting situations, particularly when handler and hunter are one and the same,…