Tom Sweetnam
Platinum Member
The National Bird Dog Circuit Finals were on TV last night. I've never seen the competition before. It consists of maybe a twenty acre plot of high grass plains in the US or Canada where pheasant naturally dwell and can easily hide, a bird dog (all of them I saw were labs), a handler/hunter, a competition judge, and usually a professional video crew to record the event.
The hunter and his dog have 15 minutes to bag 5 pheasants. That's tougher than it sounds...at least for most of the dogs, but not for a little 3 year-old female golden lab in last night's competition. She and her human hunter bagged 5 pheasants within the time limit using only two shotgun shells, and neither of those shells bagged more than one bird.
The dog didn't need more than two shells to fill the quota. She was incredible, stalking the birds so stealthily she didn't spook them into flushing till she was right on top of them. Then when the bird flushed, the little lab sprang several feet up and grabbed the pheasants out of thin air! No shotgun blast required. I can see why a good bird dog was so treasured by early settlers in North America. A dog like that kept food on the table, something we just take for granted in this day and age.
The hunter and his dog have 15 minutes to bag 5 pheasants. That's tougher than it sounds...at least for most of the dogs, but not for a little 3 year-old female golden lab in last night's competition. She and her human hunter bagged 5 pheasants within the time limit using only two shotgun shells, and neither of those shells bagged more than one bird.
The dog didn't need more than two shells to fill the quota. She was incredible, stalking the birds so stealthily she didn't spook them into flushing till she was right on top of them. Then when the bird flushed, the little lab sprang several feet up and grabbed the pheasants out of thin air! No shotgun blast required. I can see why a good bird dog was so treasured by early settlers in North America. A dog like that kept food on the table, something we just take for granted in this day and age.
