Getting the gun hot

I filled the sky with lead last weekend, but few birds were harmed as a result. Some thoughts from Chris Batha via Shotgun World:

On the break point…

The ability of the hand and eye to accurately point at an object is phenomenal. We never miss! We have only to harness this natural ability to accurately establish the break point of any target. Pointing at the established gun hold and moving your eyes back to the visual hold, call for the target. Your eyes’ natural saccadic and pursuit movements acquire the target as it reaches your finger. This subconscious reaction to movement will maintain the eye and hand connection throughout the target’s flight. During this action, the eyes’ pursuit movements will peak, hard focusing on the target, making it appear both sharper and slower. This is the break point.

Chris Batha “Breaking Clays – Target Tactics, Tips & Techniques.”

Faults

A random list of field faults that I've caught myself doing at one time or another:

• Not keeping up with dog
• Pushing the dog down the course
• To much whistle
• Not quick enough on the whistle to help the dog out
• Calling the dog off game
• Not keeping the dog on course
• Trying to direct the dog on the course
• Handwaving
• Not standing up straight
• Staring the dog down

Sunday March 25

Larsen, Humphrey and Zelda at Circle W.

On his first turn:

1. Spent some time quartering Larsen. He responded crisply to the whistle.
2. I pipped him to a sit several times. Cathy thought that he was a little too casual with his sits. We pipped him several times, and I corrected him (by pushing a bit on his chest to move him to the point of infraction).
3. I modified my movements by taking a step toward Larsen when I pipped him to a sit. This put me right on top of him and allowed me to make a gentler, more immediate correction without risking Larsen's jumping back or leaving the scene.
4. We tossed birds around while he sat. I fetched them myself. Larsen stayed sitting. His tail wagged, so he enjoyed the show.
5. I tossed the bird behind me and called Larsen to me. He would have to pass me to get the bird. I pipped him to a sit and then walked and picked up the bird myself. Did this several times.

Toward the end of his first turn, Larsen started to break away a bit, and ignore the whistle. This might have been a good time for him to "find" a dead bird in front of me. I'll check with Joe to get his thoughts on that.

On his second turn, we did pretty much the same thing. Toward the end, Larsen started self hunting. I put the whistle and calls away and waited for him to drift in. Then I roped him and put him up.

Overall, some good turns, with breakdowns at the end as we pushed him. He is not sufficiently steady to move up to live birds.

At the water, Larsen broke. In part, there was a confluence of events (slow shot, me shifting my feet), but there can be no excuses. I did not dive in after him, though. On his next turn, he wiggled his rear end and so I roped him and put him up. We let him watch as his nemisis Humphrey was pickup dog.

On his third turn, he was rock steady. I read to him from the Book, as they say, when he monkeyed with the bird, and he brought it to hand. Cathy said he was quite chastized. I was a little concerned that he would only respond to harsh language, so I'll ask Joe about that.

On the Hunt Dead, Larsen found the bird and brought it in. During both turns, Larsen went out the full measure of distance, locked onto the scent and found the bird.

Humphrey hunted like a Master Hunter throughout the day. Zelda was a little indifferent, and Cathy said she seemed a little peckish that morning.

Notes from Sunday's session

Larsen and I met with Cathy and her five clumbers at 7:30 on Sunday at Circle W. Cathy ran Zelda and Humphrey, and I ran Larsen.

We took Larsen back to the basics. I sat him and heeled him. I tossed a (dead) bird around him and walked to pick it up. I walked a dead bird out 20 yards, walked back and then heeled him around. Then I sat him and sent him.

Larsen's heeling, sitting, and retrieves were sloppy. Cathy thought he was pushing me around. Larsen's tail wagged throughout the morning session, so we continued with some drills, and I became more exacting with my expectations. Cathy noted that my whistling was ambiguous -- here a sit, there a come-in. I worked to become a little more exacting myself.

On a true hunt dead, Larsen could not really find the bird. This means I have to work on communicating with him and getting him to follow directional commands, most importantly the "back" command. As Kim Parkman once said, he has to learn that he can trust you when you say there is a bird out there.

Larsen's water work was good. He broke once, but the cause of it was me shuffling my feet and moving my hand. The take-away there is to keep myself calm and organized.

At the end, and on a second water retrieve with the same bird, he refused to deliver by hand and went off to pluck the bird. I corrected him by being very displeased and pointing a finger at him. He backed off from the bird and sat.

Our home work is to work on sits on the 6' lead. I have to expect him to stop and sit immediately upon the pip of the whistle, or correct him with a little pop on the lead.

Cathy and I were on the field for a full five hours working the three dogs. It was an intensive and very useful day.

Larsen at five

There's a hint of silver around his soft spaniel eyes, as Welsh Springer Spaniels can gray early.

Larsen remains at once both a reserved dog and a bold dog; a quiet country boy at heart. More at home in the North Carolina mountains, a Mazomanie dell, or a South Carolina seashore than in the bustling north-western Georgia city.

Larsen is savvier in the field than he was as a rambunctious pup. He manages his time and efforts much better. He shows intelligence and control. He's been around the ring.

Larsen is a sometimes willful and always soft-hearted dog, and we love him.

Larsen at five is a handsome and mature Welsh Springer Spaniel.


Aki says, "I'll take this one," and her life changed more than she imagined.

Frank and puppy Larsen try to figure out what to do about one another.

A different finish

I walked Larsen through the field after the close of the Saturday Hunt Test in Bowman, Georgia.

The test was over, and we were not participants. I needed to pick up the flags at the end of the field and Larsen needed a chance to get out and breath in some bird scent. I had somewhat mixed feelings about what I was doing because I knew if he found a bird, Larsen would chase it to the ends of the earth and undo our steadying work. I brought him along anyway for some reason or another.

Larsen found and flushed a bird and then to the surprise of both of us, he hupped to the whistle. We watched the bird fly off, while he sat in the field.

This is where the finish could be different. I called him to me as I stood afar. Larsen broke, naturally, ran a mile over the hill, somehow trapped the bird, and retrieved it. I let him carry it with him as we walked off the field.

Here's how the finish could have been different. From afar, I let him fetch. He goes with my blessing. That way there is not that little foxy glance over the shoulder as he knows he is doing wrong.

Here's another, better finish. I give him the sit whistle as he sits. I walk toward him while occasionally (once every 3-4 seconds) pip the sit while signalling with my hand for him to sit/stay. Once I get to him, I pet him and praise him. This is an exercise we perform regularly. Then I would either loop him up and walk him off the field, or if I was absolutely sure that he was under my full control, call him to get on and continue hunting.

Either one of the alternatives would have been good, with the second being superior on all scores.

You don't only train the dog. You learn to think in real time about how to respond to the situations you are presented, many of which are not what you expect.

Bird hunting season in Georgia ends

Bird hunting in Georgia is over until next fall, as the grouse and quail seasons ended yesterday. Working with pen-raised birds on a private reserve is permitted in the upcoming months, of course, but rough hunting on public lands is ended.

Volunteer jonquils are blooming in patches along Georgia's upland country roads. The sun has gained strength and is quite warm on a clear day, but the chill returns in the evenings.

Mr. Mimms and the other bird growers will clean out their pens and make ready for a new generation of chukar, quail, and pheasant. The pen-raised game-bird shortage will get more acute, and the available birds will be of poorer quality and moulting.

We'll practice with birds when we can, and in the meantime get serious about firming up Larsen's basic obedience.

Jonquils bloom along a road near Bowman, Georgia last Sunday, an indication that the 2011 hunting season has ended.