The last series tried to get you excited about hunting over bird dogs… actually, giving basic
instruction on how to hunt over decent bird pointer. If you caught the bug, I’d like to help feed that
addiction. Believe me, it’s not a public service announcement. It’s only because I need to hang with
other addicts.
Since I’m writing for a cane-rod fly fishin’ web site, I’ll pretend you are wealthy. I’m not. I love to hunt
birds for the same reason you love to fly fish... why sit on your duff to find prey? For too many, fishin’
means sittin’ on your butt in a boat and drinkin’ beer. If that’s your mode, you are not a fly fisherman.
Same deal with hunting. If you are sitting on your frozen duff waiting for a deer, you are not a bird
hunter.
Bird hunters, like fly fishermen, focus on form. We’d rather see a good dog work a bird for a half hour,
only to point and find that it is a hen; rather than sit in a tree waiting for a deer to waltz past. It’s not
that we don’t hunt deer, we do. It’s that we have a great appreciation for the sport and effort it takes
to develop a hunting team. And a good bird dog is your best teammate in the upland arena.
That’s what this short piece is about: finding a good bird hunting teammate. To find a good team
member, you have choices to make. Will this dog live in the house? Will you need a flusher, a pointer
or do you think you can handle a versatile breed? More importantly, are you married and how good is
that marriage? Do you have a few acres on which you can exercise a gifted dog? Many more
questions are in the wings. But since you are a cane-rod fly fishermen – which means your spouse or
wallet already understands addictions - I assume this ground is covered. God speed, brother.
So it’s off to buy a pup. Best think again. I’ll say this once with emphasis: if you have no experience
training (and I mean real training), then DO NOT buy a pup. Buy a started or finished dog from a trainer
you know or – better yet - one who has a good reputation and a proven track record. You will be leap
years ahead of idiots like me who started with puppies and made hundreds of mistakes. Odds are you
have neither the time nor patience to make the mistakes I have. If you are a recovering redneck, you
may not have the money either. The upfront costs of buying a finished dog more than outweigh the
time, effort and expense of training your own. I admit I get a great deal of satisfaction from training my
own dogs. However, for wealthy dudes like yourself, you are best suited to buy a finished or started
dog. The decision rests solely on what your wallet can bear, much like a fine shotgun or cane rod.
Where do you find good bird dogs? NOT in your local newspaper. Forget it. Your neighbor couldn’t
raise a talented dog if he had a gun to his head. And as appealing as that may sound, unless your
neighbor runs his dogs in field trials, you are wasting your valuable time. Go to the source… people
who breed, train and run field trial caliber dogs. You could take a gamble and buy a dog by doing a
search on the web, but it does not have to be that random. Today, there are about a half dozen folks
who conduct dog training seminars. I won’t plug them here, but their names can be had for the
asking… e-mail this site and I promise to answer. They are true professionals, who know how to train
and breed outstanding dogs. They also have connections all across the US. Start there if you have no
contacts in your area of the country.
Here is the math. A decent purebred pup will run from the hundreds to about $1,000. Follow that with
a seminar to learn how to train dogs correctly – read, the dogs are not finished when you leave – for
close to another thousand. Then tag on the cost of birds needed to get them up to snuff, plus puppy
gear, food, etc., and you’re getting close to the true cost of starting with a pup. Let’s just say, if you
paid $2,000 for a good started or a few bucks more for a finished dog, you would not be getting
ripped. If you don’t already have all the gear and knowledge, you’ll pay less than it costs to do the job
yourself, plus save some headaches and the chance to royally screw up a decent pup. Think about it.
I have, and concluded that I am about as stupid as my dogs (see previous article).
| Get The Point Robert Reed |
Chip: I give thanks everyday for not ruining this dog.
He’s far from world class, but he hunts and finds
birds. Not too bad for a first try. You can do better.
He’s far from world class, but he hunts and finds
birds. Not too bad for a first try. You can do better.
RKP Cane Rods
989 348 2435
rkp@rkpcanerods.com
989 348 2435
rkp@rkpcanerods.com