New member of the family...

[Fred Fuller]

No, not diapers. Newspapers.

One of the presents for my upcoming 51st birthday, courtesy of my wife, arrived last night. She (the present) is a beautiful 11- week- old Brittany pup ( http://www.cjbrittanys.com/ ). The 'cover story' was a trip to visist my mom, who lives in Alabama. My wife is out of school for summer break, I of course am still at work- no summer break for me.

It is amazing what emotions this event has provoked.

My last bird dog puppy was in the early 1970s. More than 30 years ago. Before college and working to pay my way through college took up all my time, before work came along right after college and has been the major occupant, driver, and controller of my life since then, leaving no time and too much big city time for bird dogs.

This is like... like going back in time thirty years. It's incredible. I have been trying to explain all this and a lot more to my wife. All I have succeeded in doing is reducing her to tears. But I think she has figured out what a wonderful indescribeable multidimensional present this is.

There's an old Stevens- Fox 20 ga. double that is going to be seeing daylight for the first time in a long long time, since I put it away after my dad died. And the replacement copy of _Gun Dog_ will be back on the bookshelf soon, to prompt some forgotten training details. There will be all those things that have been so far in the past for so long as to be almost forgotten, things that have absolutely flooded to the fore now.

Memories of good dogs, and good friends, and wide fields. Recollections of specific covies and where they 'hung out'. Visions of one particular afternoon when what flushed was not one covey but two, which had merged in the late season as they sometimes do, absolutely filling the air with brown bombshells. We were so amazed neither of us fired a shot, and thus thoroughly digusted a hardworking English setter, who expected SOME response for finding what looked like every bobwhite in two counties.

I had no idea time machines had four paws and a bob tail, and needed housebreaking. But I can tell you this one does.

Wish me well, folks. She and I are both gonna need it, but we sure will be having a good time no matter what.

lpl/nc

 

[Dave McCracken]

You just hot wired my memory banks, Lee.

The Brits I've hunted with had 40 lbs of heart.

Dog, shotgun, hunter, the other Holy Trinity...

 

[kudu]

 

[sm]

Congrats!
What is the name of YOUR new trainer?

 

[Whole Hog]

That's terrific! I have a pair of Brittanys, and they're so much more than just bird dogs - they're my buddies and my companions. I can't imagine not having them around.

"Gun Dog" is a good book, and I'd also recommend "Best Way To Train Your Gun Dog: The Delmar Smith Method", by Bill Tarrant.

Scott

 

[axeman_g]

Dogs

Lee,
Welcome to what is my dirty little vice ... bird dogs. I like them all, yet I maintain a relationship with two English Setters. They can really be a joy ...

My younger male is at a trainers right now, trying to transition him to a more close working dog instead of a big running field trial dog. I think my older female misses him, but she is not letting on at all if she is.

I cant wait to get them out this fall, with my new CZ720 shotgun and see how all the extra work has paid off.

Axe

 

[Fred Fuller]

SM,

My wife picked breed, breeder, puppy and name without consulting me at all (conspiracy! conspiracy!). Everyone I know knew about it for months, except me.

My wife is a shooter too, of long standing, and has actually had better training in some areas than I have. Several years ago she attended one of Carlos Hathcock's long- rifle classes.

So the puppy's name is Spotter.

Whole Hog,

Thanks for the book reco. I will look for a copy of it too.

Yes, I know how lucky I am, and I appreciate it too. Thanks for the good wishes, all.

Stay safe,

lpl/nc

 

[sm]

Spotter,
I like it.
Puppy is welcome here anytime he wants to chime in.

Well ...Sir sounds like you have great lady to be married to. Sounds like the best way to show appreciation is for you and Spotter to get out of her hair and go play.

 

[Fred Fuller]

sm,

Thanks.

But wife wants to go bird hunting with us, she's never done that before ever. I introduced her to deer hunting and was with her when she downed her first buck, so how can I say no to this? And she wants to see what happens in the bird dog training process too. She has worked with other breeds but never what she calls a 'nose breed' and so this too will be a new thing for her, but she understands the basics of training quite well. So all these things are going to be a 'family activity' it seems.

BTW, if you haven't found an old style 870 safety yet, pm me an address. I bet you could find one in the mail.

lpl/nc

 

[z1]

I would suggest you have a keeper.

It is your wife I am speaking of. Any man lucky enough to have a wife that loves him enough to get him a bird dog... well, I just don't know what to say. So few of us are that lucky.

Hows about a Winchester Model 21 for her?

 

[Bullet Bob]

I'm actually jealous, and I'm not sure why. I have a great wife, dog, and life, but your event is wonderful. I don't need to tell you to have fun, I know you will. Thanks for writing.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Today I attended Spotter's graduation exercises from Bird Dog Boarding School. She's been away for a month now and today was the day she was scheduled to come home. The trainer wanted me to shoot over her before she returned, and we went out early this afternoon. I was to shoot alone, no one else was along and the trainer left his Benelli in the truck.

I didn't want to send her out for training, I would much rather have done it on my own. But it takes birds, and a good many of them, to train a dog easily. The wild birds are too scarce around here for that to be a reality any more. I even took her back to the family farm in Alabama and we could't get her on birds there.

She's been at the trainer's all month, and while my wife and I were home for Christmas I unwrapped the little 20 ga. Stevens- Fox Model B that was my father's. I had cleaned it and treated it with grease, then wrapped it in waxed paper and butcher paper for storage after he died in 1998. I don't know how old it is, it was used when he got it. It's been pretty near three decades since I shot it, about the same amount of time since I dropped a bird over a point, in fact.

I should have said it _had_ been that long. Actually it's been about five hours now, to be more accurate. Spotter found three singles this afternoon, and pointed and held two of them perfectly. The second one ran on her and caused her to break form a bit- she tried to pin it with a paw instead of holding her point, but she recovered when whoa'ed.

We were hunting in longleaf pine woods understory, with mixed grass and brambles about knee high. The trees were about forty feet tall and had been thinned, so they were scattered but provided a complete canopy shading the ground. The woodlot was on the edge of a large cornfield that had been harvested this fall.

The first bird did its best to fly up my nose when it flushed. I had to do a 180 on it to shoot, and just as the right barrel went the bird swung around a pine tree, which absorbed a bunch of #8 shot. I missed completely with the left barrel, being pretty rattled by then. It had been a long time since I had suffered (!) the pure adrenal rush of kicking a bird out of the scrub under a pointing dog's nose. The old Cole Porter lyric says "I get no kick from cocaine" and that about says it all- there is no comparison in my book.

It was a bit harder to get the next bird out, it wanted to run. So it surprised me more when it flushed, and gave me a quartering shot through the pines. The first shot connected solidly and the bird came down in a shower of feathers. Spotter had trouble finding it to retrieve but vacuumed it up with a little help.

Spotter almost ran over the last bird of the afternoon, and her point was almost straight down. But the bird held for her and she maintained a precarious position till I got there to flush it. This one tried to get under my cap just like the first one did, but I negotiated the turn and the shot better that time and brought the bird down cleanly. She retrieved it with gusto, no assistance necessary. And that was it, she loaded on command and we came home.

It's good to shake hands with the past sometimes...

lpl/nc

 

[Dave McCracken]

Lee, thanks for posting this. Brought back some memories.

Sounds like your pup is off to a good start. Reinforce the lessons by hunting over her as much as possible.

New dog, old gun. Nice contrast there....

 

[Okiecruffler]

Man did that bring the memories flooding back. Got a tear in my eye remembering a sweet girl from when my biggest worry was getting my homework done on time. Thanks.

Nice choice of SG by the way.

 

[axeman_g]

Life ...

Lee,

I am a devout bird hunter that has to take the year off to assist raising a newborn son. Your story really is killing me, I miss the fields and woods so much at this time of the year.

Brittanies are a special breed, all heart and devotion. They are like the AKs of dogs, not the best looking but when it comes down to getting a job done with little fuss or muss you pull a britt out of the truck.

I myself am a English Setter owner. somewhere in my sordid past I decided that clowns are better hunting companions then soldiers. One of these days I will get some smarts.

Enjoy Spotter. Good deal on the pro trainer move, it helps the process along and your dog wont resent your mistakes. My Hannah still wont retreive dependably, I must have craked on her too hard as a pup. The second dog is a champ at retreving, problem with him is that he likes to get lost.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Axeman,

Lucky you, getting to raise a hunting partner! Congratulations to you and the best of all possible blessings to your family.

As to the woods and fields, don't worry too much- everything will be there, somewhere, when you are able to get back to it_ though some things may change. For me it has been an absence of some 30 years, and I am several states removed from my native Alabama. I am not as quick as I once was, and no longer able to walk the miles I used to go in following a wide ranging pointer. Instead of the old family farm consisting of several hundred acres, here I have five and a half. All the dogs I hunted over in the past are long dead, and even worse some of the friends I enjoyed hunting with have joined them in the long journey home.

But I can tell you for a fact that having your very own dog locked into a bobbed tail- quivering point, rolling her eyes back at you saying "Come on boss, I got 'em right here!!" as you ease up, remembering to half- step with the left foot to be more ready to shoot- that flavor is unchanged despite not having been savored for decades. It is indeed different to hunt on ground you have never set foot on before, with a dog you raised but never hunted over, sure- but the dog and the birds are the same, the feel of a winter afternoon is the same, the warmth of winter sun still feels good, the sweet smell of a fired shotgun shell is the same, and most of all the arrythmia- inducing sudden roar of stubby brown wings is the same. The memories evoked by all these things are but sharper for the time that has elapsed, purified and distilled by the passage of years. Perhaps those memories are not quite as accurate as once they were, true- perhaps they bear less resemblance to actual events. But certainly they are no less delicious in the remembering.


OkieC,

The man who sold my dad that gun just died week before last- his first name, coincidentally enough, was Smith. He loved the old doubles, and had a real soft spot for L.C. Smith guns, though he had A. H. Foxes, LeFevers, Parkers and I can't recall what all else. For a graduation present from high school he gave me two boxes of AlCan shotgun shells in paper hulls- one of the best gifts I got. I reloaded those for years...

The shotgun is a boxlock double with a vent rib, mid bead/front bead and double triggers. It has 26" barrels, which I figure are choked IC and MOD- that seems to be the way it shoots anyhow. The gun is actually marked Fox Model B, Savage Arms Corporation, Chicopee Falls, Mass U.S.A, Patent Applied For on the top of the breech of the left barrel, and Proof Tested 20 Gauge, 2 3/4 Inch Chamber on the breech of the right barrel. It has no serial number. There is an etched scene of three ducks over a marsh on the bottom of the silvered receiver, and the word Fox is stamped in an ornate scroll on both sides of the receiver. The underside of the breech is stamped MB followed by an A and an F in circles under the right barrel, under the left is a large F stamped in dots. The wood is relatively nice walnut, hand checkered in a diamond pattern and has a plain plastic buttplate. It is box stock save the wear and scratches, as near as I can tell. It is a nice gun, in fact, nothing rare or expensive but nice. And it has a history.


Dave,

I'm working on it...

Thanks, all.

lpl/nc