Reflections

Republished in late 2018 by Strideaway, this book is a must-have for the field trialer and bird hunter alike. In this book, the now late, Ed Mack Farrior reflects on the great handlers and bird dogs of a bygone era, resurrecting them in narrative form for our reading pleasure. It's a hard-to-put-down read with a ton of great illustrations. The book is available at www.strideaway.com.

Derby Winners

Photo by Jamie Marks

Both Indian Head Pistol (Pete) and Indian Head Intrigue (Jill) are coming along nicely. Although not completely finished on their birdwork, both have the necessary ground game to be competitive at the derby-age level; which is approximately two-years-old and younger. At a recent field trial Pete and Jill placed 1st and 3rd respectively (the second place dog is not shown in the picture). Derby's are not required to be steady to wing and shot in the fall, but come spring they should be "broke" and act mannerly at the flush and shot; which is to say, they don't break and chase the bird as it's flushed and a shot fired, they wait to be released.

Familiar Country

Photo by Holly Higgins

We covered a lot of familiar ground last weekend in chukar country and as is the case more often than not, the birds won. The birds we came across were hard to get pointed and were flushing wild. Scenting conditions were great, allowing the dogs to be well off the birds when contact was made, but the birds were spooky and blowing-out at the twitch of a whisker. Of the 6 dogs we put down, 4 are less than 2-years old. They are covering the country well and we are very happy with their application, but they need more bird contacts; those dogs need to know why they are out there. Hunting chukar with young dogs can be frustrating because contact with birds can be pretty sporadic. Guess we just have to keep going back for more!!