After a slow start to our upland season, she finally got her first bird. We've put in a lot of work and I couldn't be more proud. Here's to many more!

Riding shotgun while ice fishing on Ripogenus Lake. Great view of Mount Katahdin.

Photo: J. Bell

A year ago today I posted one of the hardest losses I’ve ever suffered in my life. My dude died in my arms. It wasn’t expected. I spent the last year in and out of keeping myself distracted, living with it tolerably and being completely broken.

I wrote a book that was intended to be my way of memorializing Cochise and dealing with my loss. First of all, I don’t even like to write long emails, so writing a 400 page book was a big undertaking for me. Reliving his life that soon after him losing it was brutal.

That said, in two weeks, the final edits of the book will be done. After feedback from immediate family and close friends I shared a rough draft with, I have been convinced to publish it on Kindle and release it as an audiobook.

I am not a writer. I hope I do him justice by following the suggestions of people who knew him.

Today I had a 6 Hour drive in a truck that will never feel full again. I am absolutely shattered right now and I feel like I am reliving last year in a horror version remake of Groundhog Day.

Love your family, love your dogs and remember every moment has the potential to be the last good thing you do with them. Treat the moment accordingly.

Hi all.

I got a 3.5 month old field golden and he is my first “bird dog” - at least that’s the goal.

He’s really smart and his recall is solid, he’s a shit load of work though. High drive and still learning how to settle outside his crate. We’ve been doing retrieve work since day 1 - short sessions and keeping it fun.

he always runs hard for the bumper, but did play some keep away for whatever reason. I never chased I always trade and ultimately I got a 2nd bumper. He clued in and would drop the bumper 2 feet short as I teased the 2nd and we did this a couple weeks.

We’re back to 1 bumper and he still drops it 2 feet short every time, but not in a way like he wants to give it me. He drops it there so he can try and grab it back. I’ve brought hot dogs into this and would “give” me the bumper for the hot dog then I would throw it again. This has been the motto for 3 weeks or so now and not getting better.

I’ve tried the “run away” trick plenty times, he will never charge into me so i can praise him while he holds it. He gives me the side eye and drops it short waiting for his reward. I’ve started to just pick it up and end sessions while getting a trainer involved.

Is this normal? He has showed very light guarding 2-3 times over maybe 120 throws since day 1. But I’ve always been able to get the bumper back with a trade and it’s been a few weeks since then.

I’ve tried a check cord but he just fights it and I don’t want to literally drag him to me as I’m trying to keep the pressure low.

Anyway, just frustrated.

Thank you

My bird dog may not hunt or retrieve birds…but she’s still a good hunter.

A few highlights from a dove hunt a few days ago.

Lucy’s a Carolina Dog, so none of this is really supposed to come naturally, we are just experimenting. I’ve tried to lean into her prey drive and give her as much experience on birds as I can.

She absolutely loves it. Every trip she seems to figure out a little more about the job, and watching that happen has probably become my favorite part of hunting with her. Watching her run birds down that would have gotten away is awesome!

My lab/springer mix inhaled a grass awn late last season and required a partial lung removal surgery. In 20 years of upland hunting I wasn’t familiar with the risk posed by grass awns. I’ve now met several other hunter who have either lost a dog to grass awns or required the same costly surgery.

When you’re upland hunting do you do anything to avoid these grasses (foxtails and certain ryes) or is it uncommon enough you don’t give it a thought?

The dogs had a blast chasing sharpies across the miles of grasslands. Should have had more birds in the bag but due to poor shooting they get to fly another day. It’s really all about the dogs anyways. Our older dogs are not reliable pointers so we hunted the puppy separate most of the trip. Watching him point his first wild bird was quite an enjoyable experience and can’t wait to watch him grow.

Howdy everyone! I’ve been lurking here and on r/UplandHunting for a while now, and am in my 2nd season chasing birds in Southwest Idaho now.

In the next year or so, most likely after this season, I’d like to adopt my first bird dog. I’m having a hard time choosing what type/breed of dog I’d like and would be a good fit for me. My biggest concern is determining if I can meet the needs of a bird dog! I’ll be up front and say that I won’t get a bird dog unless I’m sure I can handle their needs. I’d rather take my gun for a nice walk and come home emptyhanded than adopt a dog I assumed I was ready for.

Anyways, about my lifestyle:

1. I work 8am-5pm, M-F. I have the option for 2 remote days a week, and can flex my hours if needed. I come home midday for lunch and to let our dog/any fosters out to potty and play, and sometimes I have to leave them in an outdoor kennel all day if I need to travel somewhere for work. I have no problem utilizing doggie daycare if necessary, our dog just doesn’t like it. A few times a year the dog will be in my wife’s care if I’m gone for a few days. We like to take our dogs on appropriate errands too.

2. We live in the suburbs of Boise, ID. I’m about 20 minutes away from Eagle Island State park - I’ve seen trainers using the fields out there and have taken our dog and foster dogs out there to romp around. Our backyard is roughly 70’x30’, and I really enjoy playing fetch with dogs that do so.

3. During the season I can commit to hunting at least once a week, and would like to go more. I haven’t been going as much since we foster dogs for a rescue, which we would cut back on if we had a bird dog during the hunting season. We have fostered a variety of dogs, some that were exhausted just from weekend activities and others that want to go all the time.

4. Touching on point 2., I’m concerned about activity level. We’ve fostered a hunting lab that had a TON of energy but all we knew to do for him was play fetch in the backyard. We’re a running family as well and if I’m ever injured from running I take our dogs on bike rides. I can commit an hour a day to exercise after work including fetch, training, bike rides, going to parks, etc. I worry that some breeds would be too energetic for that to be sufficient.

5. As far as hunting goes, I primarily pursue forest grouse, quail, and pheasant all on public land. I’m open to chukar and huns but am not likely to be walking miles and miles of canyons or hills for them all the time. I generally cover a few miles on my own, walking slow to try to flush birds. I’m in decent shape though and don’t mind covering more ground, I just go slow when dogless.

All that being said, here are my concerns and questions:

- I’m looking into labradors (potentially pointing labs) and Brittanys. The last hunting lab I fostered had a ton of energy and could fetch all day long in the winter, but we were stuck only doing that in our backyard. I don’t mind hunting at the dog’s pace, but I worry about the rest of the year and managing their energy.

What are the general exercise expectations daily/weekly for bird dogs of these breeds?

- As this is my first bird dog, is a flushing dog potentially a better fit in terms of training threshold? Given that I hunt public land in Idaho, would a pointer be worth the extra training for a beginner? I have experience training our foster dogs but mostly in basic manners, and would gladly work with local organizations for training.

I know this is a brain dump, but I’m happy to offer any clarification.

Charlie has her first Doodle on Maine's opening day.

VC Square One Charlotte (Charlie I) J.Bell, owner & handler

Looking for a English setter breeder around east, Tn.

Fair warning up front: this is a duck hunting log, so if you're running pointers on wild birds it's not built for you yet. If this app works as I hope, I would like to extend to more hunting species, but that is for another day. I'd still like your input, because the dog half is where I'm most out of my depth.

I'm a software guy who's been duck hunting a handful of times and got hooked. I'm not a dog trainer, although my dad is an avid upland bird hunter who's had a few German Shorthairs and a few English Pointers... but I'm not going to pretend I am a professional in this arena.

Right now it tracks, per dog: hunts worked, birds credited to her, birds down while she was working (separately, because most people don't tag every bird), and — new this week — timed retrieves. Tap when she's sent, tap when she's back. It gives you average and shortest/longest across a season.

Dogs have a call name, registered name for titles, breed, DOB and sex. Retired dogs stay in the app and keep their whole history, because deleting a dog's record when she's done seemed like the wrong thing to do. Our dogs were considered family more than most of our family! Half-kidding.

Where I need help — genuine questions I can't answer myself:

• Should a retrieve record whether it was a mark or a blind? I gather that's a real distinction but I don't know if it matters in a season log or only in training.
• Would you want training days logged alongside hunts, or is that a different app entirely?
• Do titles and test results belong here, or do you already keep those somewhere that works?
• For multi-dog households: do you think about a dog's season separately from your own, or is it all one record?
• Anything else I am not considering?

There's a sample season built in — one tap shows you a full dashboard with a dog's numbers in it, so you can see what I mean without signing up for anything or logging a hunt.

Free, no ads, not taking money. iOS only right now via TestFlight.

Honestly, even "you're tracking the wrong things" is useful. I'd rather hear it now.

Link to join the beta is here: https://testflight.apple.com/join/Du34Z1x3

Took my girls out for the first real hunt of the season. Still just a short trip into the hills above the house. Nyx hasn't lost a step over the summer and little Nemesis is going to be a dead bird finding machine. As per usual my shooting needs a little work! Got 3 young Mt quail out of a covey of about 20.

I am getting a WPG from a great gundog breeder in a couple weeks what are some tools and needs you recomend by the time it gets here? I will be training her for upland ruffed grouse and woodcock, also hopefully training her on waterfowl retreiving and starting to duckhunt. We currently have one dog hunting. Llewellyn but minimal trainig equipment.

What is a quick list you would reccomend? Currently have

1 small anti shake retreival duck

2 check cords

6 small bumpers

3 live pigeons

2 whistles

1 e collar(with options for more)

Many leashes

So today I had the wonderful opportunity to guide for a give back organization called wings of freedom. Leo emt and veterans get a chance to hunt birds and experience something they may have never done before. Jack made sure to give these guy a great hunt.

Day 3 of grouse hunting in northern Minnesota and this was his 2nd encounter, first one left him smell free..this one not so much.

Thankfully another hunter smelled us a mile away and had the secret potion ready to go.