El Matavenados
Member
This past weekend, the San Diego Sporting Dog Club (sandiegosportingdogclub.org) held a Shoot to Retrieve competition. If you're not familiar with this type of competition, we plant three birds (usually rooster pheasants, as was the case this weekend), then the dog, handler, and a timekeeper go out into the field and hunt them up, with a time limit of 15 minutes. The handler does not know where the birds are. The team that shoots three birds in the shortest time wins. Because we have many breeds in our clubs, including pointers, flushers, and retrievers, as well as all ages of dogs which are various stages of training, we have four categories: open pointer (handler shoots his own birds), amateur pointer (designated shooter), open flusher, and amateur flusher. Retrievers, of course, when hunting upland, are flushers so they fall into the flusher category. If the team doesn't find their birds within the allotted time, the hunt is over, and the birds stay (or don't!) in the field and subsequent teams have the opportunity to hunt them (the first planting is given extra birds to make it fair to those who run first!). Time ends when the third bird is in the handler's hand.
Now that you know how it works, I get to brag on my dog a little! Boomer, my 4-year-old chocolate lab, did an outstanding job, and together, we harvested 3 birds in 3:15, and I only fired one shot. How, you might ask? Well, when the birds are planted, we dizzy them and put them to sleep. With pointers, which aren't supposed to flush the bird, we try to put them down so that they will stay asleep until the shooter kicks them up. But with flushers, we try to do it lighter so that they will flush for the shot. Birds being birds, it doesn't always work that way! So I had a plan in mind on how to best work the field, with the wind conditions in mind, and knowing some of the pitfalls that others fall into, and I worked the plan. We went up the left (downwind) side of the field, and encountered the first bird, which didn't wake up. Boomer picked it up, and delivered nicely to hand, no shots fired. On we go, continuing up the left side. Boomer flushes a bird, and I actually manage to shoot it, with one shot (I'm not very good!), and again, Boomer fetches nicely to hand. Two birds down, one to go. We continue up the left side, and my dog got a little too far out, and it looked like he was on a bird, so I commanded sit with a whistle, and he did it like a good boy. We moved up, and I released him, and he went straight for a third bird, which didn't wake up in time to flush. Another beautiful retrieve, and we're done! I couldn't believe it!
The shotgun I'm holding is the Beretta 3901 that I bought from Fine Firearms, who also installed the sling swivel stud, and fixes any problems I encounter with the gun. Thanks for all your help, NBK!!!! I shoot much better with this than with my 870.
Afterward, I put the dog away and went back to the planting station to help plant birds again, and thanked the bird planters (jokingly) for hooking us up with an easy field, and asked how much I owed them (they said $5.00 each, but they didn't hold me to it). Apparently, there was a bird that was missed by the previous two dogs (this was the one that flushed), so I never even encountered "my" third bird. So yes, a healthy dose of luck led to the victory.
I had run fairly early in the order, so I was able to watch most of the competition. There was some excellent dog and trainer work. The following was one of the most entertaining moments of the day:
They walked by that bird at least twice before they found it and pounded it!
These photos were provided by Ron Dotson (rondotson.com), an excellent photographer and artist. If you ever want to commission a portrait or painting of your dog, I highly recommend that you check out his website.
Finally, if any of you are looking for a group of hunting dog trainers to train with, the SDSDC is full of friendly, experienced folks who would love to make your acquaintance!
Now that you know how it works, I get to brag on my dog a little! Boomer, my 4-year-old chocolate lab, did an outstanding job, and together, we harvested 3 birds in 3:15, and I only fired one shot. How, you might ask? Well, when the birds are planted, we dizzy them and put them to sleep. With pointers, which aren't supposed to flush the bird, we try to put them down so that they will stay asleep until the shooter kicks them up. But with flushers, we try to do it lighter so that they will flush for the shot. Birds being birds, it doesn't always work that way! So I had a plan in mind on how to best work the field, with the wind conditions in mind, and knowing some of the pitfalls that others fall into, and I worked the plan. We went up the left (downwind) side of the field, and encountered the first bird, which didn't wake up. Boomer picked it up, and delivered nicely to hand, no shots fired. On we go, continuing up the left side. Boomer flushes a bird, and I actually manage to shoot it, with one shot (I'm not very good!), and again, Boomer fetches nicely to hand. Two birds down, one to go. We continue up the left side, and my dog got a little too far out, and it looked like he was on a bird, so I commanded sit with a whistle, and he did it like a good boy. We moved up, and I released him, and he went straight for a third bird, which didn't wake up in time to flush. Another beautiful retrieve, and we're done! I couldn't believe it!
The shotgun I'm holding is the Beretta 3901 that I bought from Fine Firearms, who also installed the sling swivel stud, and fixes any problems I encounter with the gun. Thanks for all your help, NBK!!!! I shoot much better with this than with my 870.
Afterward, I put the dog away and went back to the planting station to help plant birds again, and thanked the bird planters (jokingly) for hooking us up with an easy field, and asked how much I owed them (they said $5.00 each, but they didn't hold me to it). Apparently, there was a bird that was missed by the previous two dogs (this was the one that flushed), so I never even encountered "my" third bird. So yes, a healthy dose of luck led to the victory.
I had run fairly early in the order, so I was able to watch most of the competition. There was some excellent dog and trainer work. The following was one of the most entertaining moments of the day:
They walked by that bird at least twice before they found it and pounded it!
These photos were provided by Ron Dotson (rondotson.com), an excellent photographer and artist. If you ever want to commission a portrait or painting of your dog, I highly recommend that you check out his website.
Finally, if any of you are looking for a group of hunting dog trainers to train with, the SDSDC is full of friendly, experienced folks who would love to make your acquaintance!
