Piper Training

     Here is a video with Piper training to point. As I said in a previous post, I am not a professional trainer, in fact this is my first pointing dog. All videos that I post I hope can be useful to someone like me, someone training for the first time. In this video you will see me using a wing on a fishing pole. Using the wing to trigger a natural point is much like my beagle seeing a rabbit for the first time. I didn't teach her to point, she just does it. I don't know, maybe I am a tad insane or weird but seeing her point for the first time is exciting! Just like watching my beagle run a rabbit, its just one of those things that unless you experience it you won't know the feeling. In the picture below you will see a point; head down, steady gaze, tail up, and most of the time one of the front paws with come up too.

     I called as many game bird dealers as possible in order to obtain a wing. Many breeders in the region lost a lot of birds due to an early snow storm in October. I was getting frustrated trying to find a wing to use when I talked to one game breeder who told me I could buy a wing from Cabelas. So that is what I did. They were fairly inexpensive, 8 bucks for a pair. I bought a pair of wings from both a pheasant and a quail. I plan on raising live quail so I figured I would start with some quail wings as well. I obtained a permit from MA DEM. I can possess up to 25 live quail. I built the pen already and I used a very useful book, "Training the Versatile Hunting Dog," by Chuck Johnson. If you plan on getting a versatile hunting dog, meaning a dog that can hunt upland game as well as retrieve for waterfowl hunting, I would HIGHLY recommend buying this book. Read the book cover to cover and then reread each section as you prepare to train for each. In the book it even gives blue prints on how to build pigeon and quail pens, dog kennels, and training tables. It has all the information anyone, like myself, who is training a versatile gun dog for the first time, needs. In one of the photos below you can see the quail pen I built. All together building it probably costed around $300 and took 2 days to build. I am currently waiting for the spring hatch to obtain some chicks. "It takes birds to train a bird dog."

Harry Training

       Heres a video of Harry my beagle. The video is a couple quick clips I took from my phone while he was on a rabbit. When I first got Harry I tried to find something on how to train a beagle to chase a rabbit. I did not find a whole heck of a lot. I really could not understand why there wasn't any information on it until our first encounter with one. Upon returning home to my girlfriend's apartment one night in Newport, RI, I spotted a cottontail in the yard. I took Harry out from his crate, put him on a leash and ran him outside. Luckily the rabbit was still there in the yard unsuspecting. I slowly walked Harry over to the rabbit, his eyes were locked on to it. I got closer and closer until finally the rabbit took off. Harry leaped out of my arms and started after it. Luckily I still had him on his leash, as the tiny 3 month old puppy astounded me as he gave me a lesson on gun dog genetics. His DNA told him to chase that rabbit, not me. I was very excited and proud, the only bad thing was now he had the scent in his nose. Every time he went outside in the yard after that he had to be put on a lead because there is always a chance that he will find that scent again and be gone.
      Harry hasn't had a lot of actual hunting experience. I took him out around Christmas time while I was back home in the Berkshires. We didn't find any hare, but he at least got some exercise. I think he slept for two days straight after that.

More pictures of all my dogs. Smokey and Harry in the snow last winter and Piper kicking Smokey off his bed this winter.

       At this point in time, although as I am still gearing up for Turkey season, these are my two main priorities at the moment. The one on top is the newest edition to the pack. Her name is Piper and right now she is an 11 week old German Shorthair Pointer. We got her from a breeder named Bill Duffy in Ashby, MA. She was the runt of the litter but she is growing very fast. She is completely all legs right now. She weighed in at 13 lbs while on her vet visit last week but I would imagine that 1/2 of that weight is her legs and paws.
      The other puppy is a year and a half old beagle. I got him from a breeder in Swansea, MA, Hockomock Swamp Farm. He is actually considered a pocket beagle because he does not reach the 13 inch limit considered by the AKC. As a member of the Oak Hill Beagle Club in Rehoboth, MA, Harry loves to chase rabbits. However he does not particularly enjoy the cold. I don't know if this is because he is small or do in part because of how spoiled he is.
     I have always loved dogs. As I posted earlier the picture of me and my black lab, Smokey a few years ago on a duck hunt. I am by no stretch of the imagination a professional dog trainer. Having said that, I have accumulated as much information as possible on training, from obedience to becoming a gun dog. I have read literature, scoured the internet, and asked for advice from professionals in my area. I am going to post videos and experiences of training with the latest edition, Piper. This is my first pointing dog and I would like to show her progress. Any tips on training or any pictures or videos of your own gun dog and training can be sent to me at brubru2452@gmail.com and I would be more than willing to post them for you. After having her for only 3 weeks I am very excited to see what she can do.

Took a 5 point opening day of bow and took the four point 2nd day of shotgun.

All caught on the same fishing trip off Cape Cod in the 17' blue aluminum boat you can see in the middle picture.

Last year's spring turkey hunt. The 13 year old shot the second bird of the day... it was bigger than mine.

Gearing up for another big year in 2012 I figured I would throw up some picture from last year. I only hunted MA, but I filled both my turkey tags, both buck tags, and caught some monster stripers. This year I plan on hunting both MA and RI, and venture up to NH and ME this fall.

        I wanted to start off this blog for a number of reasons. One reason I wanted a blog was to see what all the hype was about "blogging." The second reason, and probably the main reason was when I thought about my blog topic.
        I have been hunting and fishing ever since I can remember. My father was and is still, an avid sportsman. Everything that I have learned about the outdoors has been from him. He has been hunting and fishing for his entire life. At one point he worked for the State Department of Mass in the parks division. I grew up in a small town in Western Mass.  Throughout my youth,  I have experienced and enjoyed a number of hunts. I hunted turkey in the spring, whitetail from October through December, as well as waterfowl, upland game, and hare in the winter. I have fished both saltwater and freshwater from offshore as well as kayak, canoe, and my father's infamous 17' aluminum blue fin.
      I love reading books and magazines about hunting and fishing. I am forever browsing the internet for better gear, hunting, fishing and training tips, as well as using google earth to survey better areas to go. I love watching hunting and fishing shows on TV as well and finding free episodes online. The one thing I have come away with all this is that there are very few websites, TV shows, and literature about hunting in the Northeast, here in New England. This bothers me in a number of ways. From a hunting perspective there is little to no coverage of what happens here in New England. When in my opinion, hunting here is the more challenging then the things depicted in the media.
      After graduating college in Rhode Island, I moved to the eastern part of Massachusetts. Living out here I have experienced a different kind of hunting. For some game, such as whitetail and turkey, the density of animals is much more. Land wise there is less habitat for them to live on, but with more agriculture there is more food for them as well.  Although this may seem obvious, the hardest part about hunting is figuring out where to go. This has been most challenging for me. Coming from Western Mass, there is no shortage of places to go. Public land is everywhere. Out here people are much more aware of where there boundaries are, and I might add, that they will die to protect them. I guess thats what happens when places start to become over crowded.
     Would it  be nice to see a 10-12 point buck every time I went out because of plot management? Could I pay thousands of dollars to take a trip to a ranch somewhere out west where they raise deer and other wildlife like cattle? Sure. However, I feel the excitement of hunting only grows more and more when hunting here in New England. Taking a 10 point buck here is such a point of pride. Something that might only happen once in your life, if at all. Venture outside of the New England boundary and its not the same. That is why I wanted to start something fellow New England Sportsman could look at, read, and share with other New England outdoor enthusiasts.
     Feel free to email me your New England hunting or fishing experience and I will be more than happy to share it.  Thanks and happy hunting.

brubru2452@gmail.com