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.