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Tip #1 - Dont post all your ads at the once, spread them out over time.
This is one biggest mistake I see people repeatedly making on the site. I'm all for you posting every single one of your dogs and puppies on Gundog Central, I just think it's a bad idea to dump them all on the site at the exact same time. I see people who have a litter of puppies they want to sell, so they'll post one ad for each puppy ... all on the same day. Great idea, right? It increases your exposure, lets everyone see the different puppies you have and kind of monopolies the front page with just your dogs. Wrong, not only is it poor online etiquette, because it forces a massive amount of other people's classifieds way down the page, but it's just poor, lazy marketing.
SportDOG: Gear the way youd design it
My dentist, Doc Biehn, was a waterfowler and I always got to check it out when I got my teeth cleaned as a kid. I remember one visit when he handed me a new, Marlin Super Goose he extracted from his closet. I'd never seen anything like the 10 gauge, bolt action shotgun that took a 3.5 inch shell and came with a two-shell clip and full-choked 34-inch barrel. That beast weighed a whopping 10.5 pounds, making it a virtual shoulder-cannon for waterfowlers. I could barely lift the heavy artillery let alone work the bolt without significant muzzle rock. My amazement turned to confusion, and in the end I couldn't see how that firearm would replace my side-by-side or pump in the blind. The Super Goose must have been designed by someone who didn't hunt geese.
Girls, Guns, and Gun Dogs!
Growing up in the south one gains an appreciation for late fall/early springtime bobwhite quail hunting behind a brace of pointers about as much as anything can be appreciated. The landscape here is dotted with private plantations, public shooting preserves, and small family farms that hold the elusive Gentleman-Bob...opportunities abound. In fact, I cut my gun dog teeth, as it were, training pointing breeds and stumbling around bottom lands I could access hunting quail. It would be some years before I switched my focus over to retrieving breeds entering the world of professional training and trial competition.
A Conspiracy With a Happy Ending
They had been rivals since 1916, the year of the first Yankee Field Trial, that trial held every Presidents Day by the Georgia-Florida Field Trial Club and called by its members (all quail plantation owners) the Owner's Trial. They were three adjoining quail plantations, owned by cousins now, once by siblings, children of the same Cleveland Robber Baron, a coal and iron ore man, fabulously wealthy, who owned them all and called it Heavenfield. Before that assembly, the ground had been owned by a dozen turpentiners and small-patch cotton farmers. They sold for $6 an acre in 1885 to a straw man for the coal and iron ore man.
Field Trials Matter
Most scouts yawn when linemen run 40's, but not at the 2020 combine. Mekhi Becton, a 6-foot-7-inch, 364 pound offensive lineman out of Louisville ran a blistering 5.1. Heads didn't turn so much as they spun off of heads, for what current lineman of Beckton's size runs what used to be speed of yesteryear's fullback? My, my have times changed.
Late Season Care for Gun Dogs
As opening weekend and memories of early fall rambles through our favorite covers begin to fade, winter settles in across the northern reaches, signaling the last call for many bird hunters. For many of us, hunting the last days of the late season are an anticipated tradition, as we take extra time off around the holidays to spend time with family or travel to western or southern destinations to extend our season. Much like us, who will hunt as long as we are warm, dry and comfortable, our dogs are tough and ready for these winter wingshooting wanderings. Hunting in the cold and snow can be enjoyable and rewarding but following a few simple considerations will help to keep your dog safe and end the season on a high note.
The Code by M.R. Thompson
We'd been walking for several hours, neither of us speaking a word. Even the dogs at heel sensed the tension in the air. Frank looked hangdog while he occasionally checked his cell phone for service. My feet were sore and only getting worse in anticipation of the ten miles back to civilization when all of a sudden we heard the gravel crunch and diesel roar of a truck coming toward us on the logging road. We looked at each other, grabbed our dogs by the collars and jumped off the road and into the underbrush. The truck roared by and I tried to puzzle out the day's events that brought us to this sorry state of affairs.
Midseason corrections
Next year's quail opener was set before the season ended. This year's was good, check that, it was really good, the best in recent history. There seemed to be birds everywhere we went, all of the dogs worked great, and that combination caused us to set the bar for next year very high. Ours was a reasonable goal, mostly because we had several months in which to prepare. And so we did.
The Great Debate: Pointing or Flushing Dogs for Quail
My wife said I winced when we pulled up to the only game in town. It was an old motel of a vintage that reminded me of the Golden Era of travel by car. Over the years families probably over-nighted here while on their way to any one of a number of the nearby wild quail Valhallas. No visible capital improvements had been done for a long time, at least I couldn't see any renovation. The 30-some-odd rooms looked sad while the adjoining restaurant and tavern was booming.
Cadillac Farm by Tom Word
My great friend Joe Prince, farmer and every-day-in-season quail hunter of Stony Creek, Virginia, died from a tractor accident I predicted in 1997. His brother, Dr. John S. Prince of Emporia, died of old age at 97 last month, having practiced as an Internist to age 90. They were alike as two peas in a pod, smart, hard working, opinionated. Both had served in WWII, Joe as an enlisted radar operator aboard troop transports to Europe, John as a Navy officer aboard a cruiser.
You Cant Just Have One
I love the saying 'anything done in moderation shows a lack of interest' because it's true. My gun cabinet, my rod rack, my decoy rack and my kennels are all full. I'm immoderate, just like you.
What you must understand about dog containment systems and e-collar training
Just like modern e-collars, the newest in-ground fencing systems, also known as containment systems, have improved life for dogs and their owners. A containment system helps keep your dogs from wandering out of the yard, which is great for their safety and your own peace of mind.
Joe and Denny and Me -- and Lucky - by Tom Word
In the summer of 1973, when I was thirty-five and a striving Richmond lawyer, I got an amazing gift from a more striving life insurance salesman hoping for referrals from me, an introduction to his brother, Joe Prince, perhaps Virginia's most striving grain farmer, and after his crops of wheat, peanuts, soybeans and corn were up, most striving quail hunter.
Running Spring Woodcock - By Tom Keer
A pro trainer recently asked me about my training bird bill.
Whats in a name?
I will call this an information session for all of you gundog enthusiasts out there, however some of you will more than likely call it venting and complaining. But nevertheless, here is my story. This article is about duel registration for your gundog. Specifically duel registration with the AKC and the NAVHDA. I will share my story here today with all of you in hopes that you will not run into the same misfortune that I have recently when trying to accomplish this with my new male GSP. First off, just a little bit of back story to set the mood. I had been in search of the perfect male to add to my bloodline for quite sometime. I mean I really did a lot of research, spent hours combing the classifieds, and some real foot work looking for that special litter that contained my future superstar. You know the kind, the pup thats pedigree contains just the right balance of proven master hunters and versatile champions, he had to have the perfect markings, and his tail had to stand at attention like a soldier when he meant business. After forfeiture of a couple puppy deposits due to not getting exactly what I wanted, I had almost given up when a boring day at work and one more scroll thru Gundog Central yielded what I personally considered perfection out in eastern Iowa. I was on the phone straight away and an immediate trip to the post office after work with deposit in hand began the long wait and picking process and picture messages leading up to eight weeks later when my lovely bride would make the not so short journey to pick up our new champion prospect. He was a beautiful pup. Over the years I have had a bunch of good looking German Shorthaired pointers, but this little guy topped em all. Now after waiting for several weeks, of course I had already named him before I had even met him in person. So a quick visit to the AKC website is all it took, and it was official, my new pup had a new name.........or did he?
