Well, maybe I should say he passed the final pre-hunting test. I went to my friends house who has about 50 acres over in Grayson and got Scooby about 200 yards away (per the gun dog book). On my signal, my buddy shot off the first round. That turned Scooby's head. I gave him a treat and called him a good boy and asked him "where's the bird?". We moved about 40 yards closer, I made him sit for round two. This time he looked up but was more interested in the horse muffins. The closer we got, the more rounds we shot off and Scooby was uninterested in the noise and more interested in the kids, a new place and a bunch of new smells. So Nate held Scooby on the leash while we shot skeet for 30 minutes. Scooby was not phased by the noise. I am excited that he passed this test. We're going to try to do it again before we leave on the trip. It was nice shooting the old model 12 again. My buddy noted that it really kicks compared to his over and under. I told him that "hopefully" my shoulder would be black and blue after the trip.
My shooting skill are about the same. I hit about 60-70% which is not bad with the full choke gun. Once again, when I let them get out a bit, my percentages go up. Nate was 1 for 2...excellent for his first 2 shots with a shotgun! He shot my buddy's son's 20 guage pump. All that BB gun training has paid off!
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13 comments:
Congratulations to you and the Scoobster! A young dog getting familiar with the sound a shotgun makes can be tramatizing unless done correctly. I bet we will have an awesome hunt this year. Your dog is not gun shy, David's dog is definitely not gun shy, and I believe that Bubba was broken in the same way by the Old dog.
BTW...I just checked the weather for WAHOO. They have a frost advisory for Wednesday night. That means that we should prepare for some pretty cold mornings. If it is cold enough to frost now, it will be about 9 degrees by opening day...with a 58 mph wind. Instead of shooting clay pigeons, I am practicing trying to shout at a Frisbee on a windy day after keeping my hands in a cooler full of ice. Feels just like the real thing.
Trailer pictures have been forwarded to LP. The camo turned out great. Fort Benning designed it.
Sounds as if Scooby will be fine. Bubba seems to be ok also except for one thing: he hasn't learned to lift his leg to pee yet. Maybe Scooby can give him some lessons. However he has learned the gun dog procedure of taking a big dump just before getting into the field. Speaking of leg lifting, I remember standing around once talking after hunting a field. We heard the trickle of liquid up close, looked down, and saw that one of the dogs was lifting his leg on Bill Shape's leg. Thank God for waterproof hunting pants. Even so, Bill was not pleased.
SP,
Sounds like Bill will be pleased that Bubba won't lift his leg. Maybe we should let him stay that way....
Scooby squats about half the time...just started lifting his leg about a month ago.
Sounds as if Nate will have to become a member of the team some day. Hitting 1 out of 2 is good. He'll put to shame some of the other team members. My first gun was a 20 ga. pump just like the one Nate was shooting. I still have it.
SP,
Nate popping 1 of 2 on the first try is pretty amazing. Especially if he has never fired the gun before. The hand to eye coordination he has would really help him in the future.
LP
When you next go out to pop some caps I gotta go!
I have not shot either my new 12 or Model 12 since last January and that was a DISMAL failure. However, I WAS using the 32 inch full choke barrel on the duck trip.
We are home from Great Britain, and I have some photos that will get your motor running and ready to go HUNDING!
We saw pheasant nearly every day we were there, and there was a "honey hole" adjacent to the property we stayed on in Great Sturton, Lincolnshire! Funny, now that I just wrote it down, I can see the similiarity between where we were in England and where we will be in 10 days. LINCOLN (NE/Shire). A prophetic omen to be sure.
LP, will try to download picts later today and e-mail them to you. Also, will begin to get equipment out and ready for travel. I have begun to break in my new boots but afraid they need more wearing before the hund!
I wrote BS last night and said we would take his "stuff" for $75 and save him enough for a couple cases of beer. My house is closer to him than that yours Len.
Also, let's plan on lunch, if you can tomorrow or Friday. Somewhere near Cisco is fine with me!
After England I am READY for Nebraska.
Can't wait to see camo boys trailer paint job! I just hope WE can find it after a hard day in the field! Might be easy to lose in that tall milo stubble!
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH..........Rah!
HB
"Soccer Wisdom" is the key to breaking in boots...or cleats. Smash the heels flat from every direction. Flatten the toes. Try to bend the soles backwards. Mine are like glove leather now. I just sit in fron of the TV and work them. It works great...in addition to wearing them. Once you wear them and feel where they bind, smash the crap out of that area. Sounds crazy but works great.
SP,
I wonder if they would break in that way if we just put them into the dryer on the "cool" cycle and let them tumble. It would make a racket, but I bet it would acheive the same results. The goal is to limber the leather. I bet that would do it...
Worth a try...but I only know about trailers.
WE ARE NOW BONA-FIDE! The team t-shirts have been picked up and they look great.
When traveling, ensure that your dog is secured with a harness or leash. Many of the trailers we like feature D rings inside to keep Fido in place. Dog Trailers
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