Dogs driving your trip choices?

icebreaker12 said:

I have multiple in state trips planned this fall for big game, but will be making numerous out of state trips to get the dog more diverse and just in general more work.

Plans to head to MT Phez/Ducks/Geese
Plans to head to SD Phez/Ducks/Geese/Swans
Potential for trips to KS (Phez/Ducks), ND (Snows), SK (Ducks/Geese/Grouse), and ID (Chukars/Huns) in there as well.

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Very good list!! Wow. My dog would be plum tuckered. I need to start working on making him a waterfowl dog too. I think he'll retrieve them, it's the sitting still part I haven't gotten him to figure out yet...

CampRipleyLF said:

Right on man! Love archery hunting but I do really enjoy getting my Brittany out to chase some grouse in the fall. Early season is typically when I run him the most because I have a lack of deer hunting trips planned then. Thank god I live in the Ruffed Grouse capital of the world.

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If I head back to MI for ruffed's this year, I'm going to wait until woodcock is also open. We pointed and flushed a few last year and I've never shot one. Fun hunting the aspens for grouse and much different than the prairie stuff.

Nameless Range said:

I don't think you're alone at all.

My lab is 12 years old and has bone cancer and will likely not make it to September, and my brother's dog is now deaf and near blind. They were both a lot of fun to take mountain grouse hunting. The lab got it right every once in a while but my brother's cocker spaniel through smell or some other sense would let you know they were in a tree nearby and was always right. He'd get real birdy and start stomping his feet and grunting. If you stopped and looked there'd be grouse roosted up within sight. One of the great predicaments of September is that upland grouse starts the same day as big game archery here in Montana, and I find myself deferring to grouse hunting more often than not.

Big Fin's phrase, "You're gonna run out of health before you run outta money," is powerful and applicable in the context of good dogs. Hunt with your dogs as much as you can.

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Dang. That sucks Bret.

I have a new dog, if you want to get out for blues this year. Just holler and we'll go.

Definitely not alone. I just lost my 13 yr old springer. My favorite of her habits was that she was a great driving partner. She never slept in the truck except in the big cities or after dark. The rest of the time she was looking out the window spotting birds or antelope, deer, or ducks. It got to the point where I would feel guilty heading out on big game hunts without her. I’ve got a new lab puppy started. She is asleep in the truck by the end of the driveway just like all my other dogs except one.

glass eye said:

I've always been a bird lover and I have not always had a dog. In 2010 my kids grew up and left the nest and the following year my lab died of old age. Since then my wife and I began travelling by air so we decided on no more pets of any kind so we won't have to look for sitters. That combined with my worn out knees has driven me to more bird hunts and fewer big game hunts. I still hunt big game but I don't plan backpacking wilderness hunts for big game. It's a whole lot easier to backpack in and out for birds and I still get the big adventure. People think I'm nuts to travel to Alaska every year for birds.

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Those are on my bucket list, but the dog wouldn't be making that trip unless we drove.

Our dog goes with us pretty much all the time. For big game she sleeps in the truck if we aren't packing in. If it's retrieval time, then she gets to come with. I'm tempted to get her a pack so we could put all that crazy lab energy to better use on those excursions. We even take her coyote hunting....she runs around and looks for birds but dang, the coyotes act dumb when they see her running around out there.

We haven't planned a lot of trips around her though. Quail in Oregon is about as exotic of a trip as she's been on. Would love to try quail in Arizona, but she's a big dog and hunting in even remotely warm weather is hard on her so I'm not sure she'd be up to that kind of trip. But after an abysmal pheasant season up here, I think she feels like we owe her some birds. After being out all day without putting up a single pheasant, the disgust on her face was evident. She would refuse to even look at you! Lots of attitude in that one.

With frost on the ground in Mearns country you have no worries about it being too warm for your dog. It was the first place my Llewellin discovered that sleeping bags are not necessarily for sissies. Temperatures around New Years were high teens low 20's.

If you go you will discover the most beautiful country for bird dogs there is.

TonyS said:

Temperatures around New Years were high teens low 20's.

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Hey, now we’re talking! This to about -20 is her happy place.

1_pointer said:

Very good list!! Wow. My dog would be plum tuckered. I need to start working on making him a waterfowl dog too. I think he'll retrieve them, it's the sitting still part I haven't gotten him to figure out yet...

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Won’t make it on all of those trips. But, I have gotten to a point that I like to fill the freezer with big game and spend as much time as I can outside that watching the dog work.

Don’t know what kind of dog you have, but I’ve seen a guy turn a GSP into a duck dog. Any dog can be a water dog.

icebreaker12 said:

Won’t make it on all of those trips. But, I have gotten to a point that I like to fill the freezer with big game and spend as much time as I can outside that watching the dog work.

Don’t know what kind of dog you have, but I’ve seen a guy turn a GSP into a duck dog. Any dog can be a water dog.

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Hank is a pudelpointer. He LOVES the water and has no problem going and getting things in it and bringing it back. Heck, his toes are darn near webbed! His biggest hurdles are 1. my ignorance on how to train him to be a duck dog and 2. my ignorance on how to hunt ducks were he a duck dog.

Clicking on the pics below should take you to a short video. Their quality makes it obvious why I'm not on Randy's staff...
First time ever with a duck:
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr

First exposure to water at about 5mos old.
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr