As some of you might already be aware, I bought a lovely wee Yellow Labrador bitch, called Sue, via Garry of Hunting Dogs Europe a few weeks ago.
Sue is approaching three years of age and was already field trial trained, but I wanted to try her on deer.
Over the short time I've owned her I have tried her on some simple trails and she loved it, she loves sniffing around, sometimes loves it too much - I can now understand why she wasn't considered as a future field trails champion like her sire & dam.
Anyway, the opportunity came up yesterday to go for a Chinese Water Deer on some ground that a good mate of mine has the rights to, so I took Sue along to see how she coped, if she would enjoy the real thing, behave and all that.
On the day I was pretty sure it was gonna be a waste of time with regards to deer stalking as the weather wasn't good. It was blowing a gale at times and we had a few proper nasty little squalls blow through too, the poor girl doesn't seem to like getting wet any more than I do.
I arrived on the ground shortly after midday, took a bit of time setting up, making sure my dog was comfortable & letting her settle. I spent quite a bit of time glassing about the place looking for any activity but there didn't seem to be much, in fact the only deer I had seen was one I bumped as I drove up the farm lane to where I planned to park the pickup.
When we finally got ready off we went for a leisurely walk to where I expected to see my first deer and on the way I used the chance to see if Sue walked nicely to heel on the slip lead etc, she did well, but seemed a little bored at times - but she seemed to know this was a different deal to a walk in the local park with the missus or one of the daughters, which was a good thing.
I'm definitely gonna have to change that harness - one on order already
A couple of times Sue pointed, now she reacts to birds a lot (as expected, given her previous life/training) so at first I didn't think much of it. That was the first and not only greenhorn mistake from me - it wasn't just the dog's first time out deer stalking as a team.
Before this I've been out with mates who had their own dogs or with guides who had deer dogs. I also had the privilege on many occasions to be out with Malc and Todd the wonder-hound, but on this occasion I was a learner too - I was dumb enough to have forgotten that.
The first time Sue "pointed" - I wish I had taken a photo of that - she had tail up, nose stretched out and front paw cocked up below her like a classic pointer pose. Like an idiot I ignored her thinking she had just got wind of a bird, but (there's always a but) she was actually pointing at a deer!
Now, before any of you start, I know dogs can & do point deer - but it still came as a shock to me that MY DOG was doing just that, FOR ME - I was super chuffed when the penny finally dropped, albeit a bit late
In the end it didn't really matter that I missed the cue cos what she was indicating was a lovely big buck, almost certainly medal class and therefore way out of my price league.
When I bumped that one - and Sue's reaction to that was priceless, yep Lab's can huff
- I thought I'd better keep an eye out for that again, and sure enough she indicated another two big bucks.
Unsurprisingly, given the weather conditions, strong cold wind etc, any deer she pointed at were tucked in nicely to cover. I probably would merely have bumped them by almost walking on to them if Sue hadn't shown me where they were.
The day went on pretty much like that, walk slowly, up with the binos, note no deer out in the fields - clearly only dogs or humans daft enough to be out and about in that wind.
We stopped occasionally in little spinnies to let squalls blow through, but it was pretty when they passed
But when the rain was actually falling I was tempted to call it a day.
However, sometimes patience pays off.
Eventually, I made my way with Sue to a favourite spot of mine where a good thick hedge overlooks the edge of a small wood, both the hedge and the wood are good holding spots for the little deer.
We settled in and Sue played a blinder, she sat to order then lay down, completely calm and clearly going nowhere. I think she was glad to be lying on a relatively dry clump of thick grass out of the wind. No matter, she was doing exactly what I wanted to her to do - another good mark
I set up and waited to see what if anything would happen.
Eventually a decent CWD buck showed on the edge of the wood about 100m or so away and started to browse along the side of an embankment. I told Sue to stay and moved to the side a few metres to set myself up with a clearer shot and backstop.
I took the shot and Sue stayed put - and another good mark.
I then got myself sorted, put her on a long leash and set off to where I was sure we would see the strike site.
We found it, straight away, in fact it was all I could do to hold Sue off the blood. So I made a big fuss of her, treat reward & lots of praise then told her to "find that deer" - more good marks
She went straight down with the nose and sounded like a vacuum cleaner on speed, head swinging side to side stopping only when she picked up blood - yet more good marks
I wish I had videoed her on the trail because her reaction upon finding the deer was hilarious, it was as if she was thinking "HS! I hope he doesn't think I have to pick up that thing!!" - could have been a better reaction I suppose, but this was a bird dog's first deer so I'm very happy
I made a real fuss of her, a few more treats went her way and eventually I had her sniffing the deer's hooves and the wounds like she had been doing it for years.
She was still a bit unsure about what she had to do with the deer but she settled down to watch me gralloch it and begged for bits of the diaphragm and heart, although she was a bit reluctant to tuck in straight away - she seems to prefer her venison cold
The time I spent getting her to the shot site, settling her and then making her track the deer delayed us a while - all that plus the effect of the phone's camera flash makes it look darker than it was - I was able to gralloch without using a head torch, which was lucky cos I had forgotten it
- remember I mentioned greenhorn mistakes? I've been shooting for close to 40 years and deer stalking in England for close to 15 years but some days I think I'm more like a newbie than I care to admit.
I spent so long setting the dog up that I wasn't set up properly myself - lesson learned.
So, I know it wasn't the hardest or most challenging bit of tracking that any dog had had to do, and I know that there were many aspects of it that I or the dog could have done better (and I don't just mean the torch) - but I don't care.
My dog found her first deer with me and I could hardly be happier, she seemed to love the time out in the field and she was asleep before I went to bed for a change
Sue is approaching three years of age and was already field trial trained, but I wanted to try her on deer.
Over the short time I've owned her I have tried her on some simple trails and she loved it, she loves sniffing around, sometimes loves it too much - I can now understand why she wasn't considered as a future field trails champion like her sire & dam.
Anyway, the opportunity came up yesterday to go for a Chinese Water Deer on some ground that a good mate of mine has the rights to, so I took Sue along to see how she coped, if she would enjoy the real thing, behave and all that.
On the day I was pretty sure it was gonna be a waste of time with regards to deer stalking as the weather wasn't good. It was blowing a gale at times and we had a few proper nasty little squalls blow through too, the poor girl doesn't seem to like getting wet any more than I do.
I arrived on the ground shortly after midday, took a bit of time setting up, making sure my dog was comfortable & letting her settle. I spent quite a bit of time glassing about the place looking for any activity but there didn't seem to be much, in fact the only deer I had seen was one I bumped as I drove up the farm lane to where I planned to park the pickup.
When we finally got ready off we went for a leisurely walk to where I expected to see my first deer and on the way I used the chance to see if Sue walked nicely to heel on the slip lead etc, she did well, but seemed a little bored at times - but she seemed to know this was a different deal to a walk in the local park with the missus or one of the daughters, which was a good thing.
I'm definitely gonna have to change that harness - one on order already
A couple of times Sue pointed, now she reacts to birds a lot (as expected, given her previous life/training) so at first I didn't think much of it. That was the first and not only greenhorn mistake from me - it wasn't just the dog's first time out deer stalking as a team.
Before this I've been out with mates who had their own dogs or with guides who had deer dogs. I also had the privilege on many occasions to be out with Malc and Todd the wonder-hound, but on this occasion I was a learner too - I was dumb enough to have forgotten that.
The first time Sue "pointed" - I wish I had taken a photo of that - she had tail up, nose stretched out and front paw cocked up below her like a classic pointer pose. Like an idiot I ignored her thinking she had just got wind of a bird, but (there's always a but) she was actually pointing at a deer!
Now, before any of you start, I know dogs can & do point deer - but it still came as a shock to me that MY DOG was doing just that, FOR ME - I was super chuffed when the penny finally dropped, albeit a bit late
In the end it didn't really matter that I missed the cue cos what she was indicating was a lovely big buck, almost certainly medal class and therefore way out of my price league.
When I bumped that one - and Sue's reaction to that was priceless, yep Lab's can huff
- I thought I'd better keep an eye out for that again, and sure enough she indicated another two big bucks.Unsurprisingly, given the weather conditions, strong cold wind etc, any deer she pointed at were tucked in nicely to cover. I probably would merely have bumped them by almost walking on to them if Sue hadn't shown me where they were.
The day went on pretty much like that, walk slowly, up with the binos, note no deer out in the fields - clearly only dogs or humans daft enough to be out and about in that wind.
We stopped occasionally in little spinnies to let squalls blow through, but it was pretty when they passed
But when the rain was actually falling I was tempted to call it a day.
However, sometimes patience pays off.
Eventually, I made my way with Sue to a favourite spot of mine where a good thick hedge overlooks the edge of a small wood, both the hedge and the wood are good holding spots for the little deer.
We settled in and Sue played a blinder, she sat to order then lay down, completely calm and clearly going nowhere. I think she was glad to be lying on a relatively dry clump of thick grass out of the wind. No matter, she was doing exactly what I wanted to her to do - another good mark
I set up and waited to see what if anything would happen.
Eventually a decent CWD buck showed on the edge of the wood about 100m or so away and started to browse along the side of an embankment. I told Sue to stay and moved to the side a few metres to set myself up with a clearer shot and backstop.
I took the shot and Sue stayed put - and another good mark.
I then got myself sorted, put her on a long leash and set off to where I was sure we would see the strike site.
We found it, straight away, in fact it was all I could do to hold Sue off the blood. So I made a big fuss of her, treat reward & lots of praise then told her to "find that deer" - more good marks
She went straight down with the nose and sounded like a vacuum cleaner on speed, head swinging side to side stopping only when she picked up blood - yet more good marks
I wish I had videoed her on the trail because her reaction upon finding the deer was hilarious, it was as if she was thinking "HS! I hope he doesn't think I have to pick up that thing!!" - could have been a better reaction I suppose, but this was a bird dog's first deer so I'm very happy
I made a real fuss of her, a few more treats went her way and eventually I had her sniffing the deer's hooves and the wounds like she had been doing it for years.
She was still a bit unsure about what she had to do with the deer but she settled down to watch me gralloch it and begged for bits of the diaphragm and heart, although she was a bit reluctant to tuck in straight away - she seems to prefer her venison cold
The time I spent getting her to the shot site, settling her and then making her track the deer delayed us a while - all that plus the effect of the phone's camera flash makes it look darker than it was - I was able to gralloch without using a head torch, which was lucky cos I had forgotten it
- remember I mentioned greenhorn mistakes? I've been shooting for close to 40 years and deer stalking in England for close to 15 years but some days I think I'm more like a newbie than I care to admit.I spent so long setting the dog up that I wasn't set up properly myself - lesson learned.
So, I know it wasn't the hardest or most challenging bit of tracking that any dog had had to do, and I know that there were many aspects of it that I or the dog could have done better (and I don't just mean the torch) - but I don't care.
My dog found her first deer with me and I could hardly be happier, she seemed to love the time out in the field and she was asleep before I went to bed for a change
