Hard working Red Bird Dog looking for work

"It says here on your resume Mr. Bailey's Wildest Dream, that you will run for hours in an attempt to fulfill the goals set for you on any given day and that you will work for only food and lodging."

 

"It says here your work history is located on the internet. You have created a website."

 

http://redbirddog.com

 

"We'll have a job for you at the end of September.  Please stay in top physical condition until then Sir Dream."

 

 

Chloe running around an alert Bailey. Birds?

 

 

Pictures from this morning at Hastings Island Hunting Preserve.

 

Pheasant Season starts September 20th.  We'll be ready to enjoy the fields once again.

Bailey and The Little Hunter

This is one of my favorite pictures of Bailey on point

Great mid-March day out at Birds Landing

Happy boy in his element

4-year-old Cassie and Bailey in the hunting fields

Cassie with her pheasant brought to her by Bailey

Tail Wagging the Dog

 First Pheasant Hunt of the season. 

 First bird of the season above.  I have now started my third hunting season.  On the first bird taken , I have always stopped for 10 minutes and sat in the field and reflected on how natural this feels to walk through open fields with my dog and find food for our sustenance. 

 A gift to us from nature.  

 There is NO WAY Bailey could ever be happier than during our 2 1/2 hour hunt this morning.  He was in Dog heaven.

Three birds taken.  Seven birds pointed and flushed.  Two missed and two were not good shots to take.  He handled his birds well and retrieved them all back to me wonderfully.

A great morning with the sun and a gentle breeze blowing in from the west.

So God Made a Hunter Video

Published on May 6, 2013 on You Tube

As hunters and outdoorsmen...there isn't a more important message we can stand behind. 

Help us spread the word about protecting conservation and the 2nd Amendment! 

I'm Home

If a dog smiles when he is happy; a 

Hungarian Pointer beams with 

exhilaration when he is hunting. 

 As Bailey sweeps by me in the field

 from the sides back in front 

at full speed, his head up with his 

nose to the air, the happiness just

pours out of him.  "I'm home!"

every ounce of his being exclaims.

Happy hunting.

RBD

Bailey the Hungarian Flusher

Sun came up just as we left the parking lot and drove out into the field today at 7:30.  Bailey was wound up when we entered the field.  He slammed into a pretzel point 15 seconds into the field.  Wow! I thought.  That was fast.  But it was just a scent point.
Bailey sprinted into the field as I walked behind with my CZ 20 gauge at the ready.  A wonderfully cool Autumn morning.

After about a half an hour into the fields we had come up empty.  The birds would be in the remaining standing corn fields or along the canals in the high reeds and muddy grasses that lie at the bottom of the water passages on this working farming island.

Bailey, as a Hungarian Pointer, is programmed and trained to point to the bird.  It is up to me, as the hunter, to flush the bird.  Today we took three birds from along the canals.  Each time, Bailey would go on point from the top of the bank.  He would be looking down into the deep reeds.  Not a place for a hunter to walk down into, even if it was possible.  Bailey knew the birds were there.  His points were hard and steady.

So, I went against all the years of training, and sent Bailey in to flush the hidden birds with a, "OK Bailey; go get the bird."  Down into the mud he went.  Each time a pheasant would flush out and take wing.  Over the next 90 minutes in the field I missed two but then took three Ringneck pheasant at about 30 yards.

Bailey did a great job on his retrieves today.  He would either have to jump back across the canal with the bird in his mouth or go down to a small wood bridge to come around to give me his prize.

One of many irrigation canals that cuts across the island

One highlight of today was a walk we did along a ditch next to a freshly harvested corn field.  Bailey was up ahead about 100 feet with the wind to our backs.  As he got near the end of the ditch I watched as 9 roosters took to the air.   They had run until they ran out of ditch.  Bailey had not chased them but "pushed them" to the end.  Bailey just stood and watched them take flight in front of him by just a dozen yards.  Next time maybe I hold Bailey back a bit or take a friend and have him station himself at the end of the canal.

At the end of today's hunt, there was a bird that Bailey had flushed and I had brought down on the far side of a wide canal.  This was along one of the main roads on the island.  As Bailey brought the bird from the field, running 50 feet on the other side, crossed a little bridge, running back the 50 feet to me and then handed the pheasant to me, a fellow hunter and his 10-year-old son drove by with  "thumbs up" signs and big smiles.  That's was a "brag" retrieve is all about.

Here is to three pheasant in the ice box and my Hungarian Flusher.

Vizsla Stalking Rabbit

Entertainment can be a mixture of boredom, anticipation and excitement. 

 The "what is going to happen next" moment.

Hunting can like that.  This video above was taken in an abandoned housing tract out near where we hunt pheasant.  Bailey loves to chase jackrabbits.  They are very fast and live on top of the ground.  The only way Bailey "thinks" he can catch one is to come up to it silently and by smell locate it before it sprints away.  Any minute, any second the chase could start (or not).

A pheasant hunt is a completely different activity.  Bailey charges to the field, nose up.  When he "gathers" in the scent of the pheasant, he slams to a stop thereby "pinning" the pheasant from running or flying away.  This is how a good pointer works with an upland-bird hunter.

An earlier post from last year about jack rabbit hunting:

.http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2011/08/jackrabbits-and-vizslas.html

Into the Field

Hastings Island is a working farm island.  Islands in the San Joaquin Valley Delta area were created in the late 1800's by building hundreds of miles of levees and draining the swamps. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs00500/pdf/fs00500.pdf

This has made the soil exceedingly rich for farming. Water is abundant from the channels that flow sometimes ten feet higher than the islands that are created behind the levees.  The crops are fed water through shallow ditches that criss-cross Hastings.  The fields that grow food crops get watered, but the farrow fields are left dry and just receive the rains that come in the late fall.   All this area hasn't seen any rain since April.  That is six months of dry.

On Thursday morning with Bailey out front, we entered our first hunting field.  The dew had developed on the grass and my boots and lower legs of my Levis became soaked.  The ground cover ranged from four inches to almost thirty inches high but under the cover the clay soil was cracked and very uneven.  The fissures in the soil was a couple inches wide and many inches deep.  How a hunting dog is able to run these fields without breaking a leg amazes me.  It is hard to even walk.  My ankles were twisting constantly making the going tough.   Thought about how my knees were going to hurt that evening.

The closest hunter was maybe a half mile away.   Bailey was in heaven again.  He ran hard staying about fifty yards ahead of me as he worked left, center front, right, then back to the center using his nose in the air.  He knew the objectives smell.  Pheasant.  He was on a mission.  My Acme 211 whistle was used to keep him working with me when he went off on a mission that did not include me.  We were hunting together.  Just had to remind him every once in awhile.

This is our second season hunting these fields.  Bailey, at 4 years old, is fully mature and trained.  He has been through all the skills training done professionally.  He knows how to find, point, be steady to wing, be steady to shot, retrieve to hand.   When just the two of us are hunting I find myself "judging" my dog on his skills.   Is that what I need?   A Master Hunter?  Bailey is not that and never will with me as his rookie hunting partner.

Within half an hour the dew was gone and the temperatures were raising quickly.  The air off the delta waters felt good as we walked into the wind.  Bailey working the scents on the breeze coming from the hidden prey.

Next: Part III  The Point.

Start of the First Pheasant Hunt 2012

This post will be without pictures.

 I took my little Nikon Coolpix.  "Batteries Exhausted" came up when I turned it on.  So no pictures. 

As I entered the fields, for the first time this year,  I decided to work on my "paint a picture" in my writing.  Wish me luck.  A post to RBD without pictures?  Like a bagel without cream cheese.

Opening day at Hastings Island was last Saturday.  This morning, as I got my club "20-bird card" I was talking to one of the employees of the club.  "So, how many came out for opening day?" I asked.  "It was good.  Well over 100."  On this fine Thursday morning, there were 8 hunters ready to take into the fields.  The weather was perfect!  55 degrees with about a 10-mile-per-hour breeze coming out of the west.  Couldn't have really wished for better conditions for a pheasant hunt.

I wrote to the management of my company from my office desk the following e-mail at 5:15 this morning:

Title:  Mental Health Morning

"Taking the morning off to get out into the fields with my dog pheasant hunting. (Season opened at the club Saturday.)  I'll be out by Rio Vista this morning for  a couple hours.  I'll have my radio off only from 8 until 10.  Should be back by noon."

In the dark, I drove an hour along the River Road out into the heart of the San Joaquin Delta to Hastings Island.  I was one of the first hunters there.  The sun was just coming up at 7 a.m. as I parked the truck in the clubhouse's lot.  Went inside the 70-year-old hunting club house where I got my "club card" and a couple slices of toast. 

Waiting for the starting of the hunting day: 7:30.

Bailey was ready.  I was ready.  The pheasants had been salted in the thousand-acre hunting preserve.

We headed out into the fields and I parked the truck after a short 1/4 mile drive.  We had a hundred acres to ourselves.  The air was crisp when we got out of the truck.  I got on my bright orange hunting vest, loaded my CZ 20 gauge, before I let Bailey off his leash.  Then I blew a quick toot on my whistle to send him out into the first of four fields we hunted today.

The tension of work was still heavy in my shoulders.  Stress is high at work.  I have been looking forward to the feeling of farm fields under my boots with a good shotgun in my hand, and a wonderful Hungarian Pointer heading out into the seed grass hunting the hidden pheasants.  I knew all this would happen. 

Part II tomorrow.  "Into the Field."

The Hungarian Pointer in the Minority

The Hungarian Vizsla is a great "family dog" according to some recent articles.  Good with kids and smart.  The ability to learn many things well.

The Hungarian Pointer (same name with different effect) is loosing the battle as a strong ancient hunting dog in my part of the world. 

Here in California, there are hundreds of Vizslas that live out their lives without ever seeing a upland bird or tapping into the talents nature and excellent selective breeding had created over 1,000 years ago.

Those of us that use our dogs as hunters are in the smallest minority.

A small band of misfits (Hungarian Pointer Owners) mingle amongst the more dedicated German Shorthair, German Wirehair, English Pointer, and Britney owners.  The ratio of hunting owners to "pet" owners in those breeds, in relationship to the Hungarian Pointer, seems to be overwhelming in favor of hunters.  Breeders focus on the hunting talent in the lines and not on what would be considered more trivial attributes.

The Vizsla is an amazing hunter.  My wish is for those who come across this post and have ever even considered getting out into the field with your dog, that you make the effort.

  Join your local Vizsla club. Take a Hunter safety course.  Attend some field trials.  Find a trainer.

The breed needs you.  Don't we have enough lap dogs in the world?   HSUS is focusing on California.

Freedom to hunt could be gone along with freedom to carry guns.  Being in a minority is tough but I'm alright with that. 

 Freedom to _________ is much more important

 than Freedom from _______.

"We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States ... We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped in California. Then we will take it state by state."

Wayne Pacelle, Senior VP Humane Society of the US (HSUS)

Words of Wisdom from Long-time Vizsla Breeders

"Ach...the very best bird dog is the one that hunts WITH you, in the manner that you prefer, with the type of birds you prefer, in the style that you prefer to hunt. Period."

Ms. Michel Berner
May 14, 2011 Yahoo group VizslaFT

Mira Vizslas, AKC Reg'd Breeder of Merit

http://www.miravizslas.com/

Thousands of posts are recorded on the Yahoo groups: Vizsla Talk, Vizsla Walk, and Vizsla FT.  I have read many of them over the last few years. 

 The quote above cuts to the core of Vizsla ownership (in my humble opinion.) 

More words of wisdom from another long time breeder:

"For those who have pups that you plan to hunt. Please, please, please don't wait until the hunt season comes and let friends talk you into hunting your dog when they have not been properly trained, because you have a "hunting dog". Why make a BIG mistake when its so easy to get them out to get used to guns, birds and other dogs in the field. Don't make that mistake and create a huge problem, or a couch potato. My personal feeling is it is never the dog, but owners, who don't understand the importance of field training."

Michelle Artis
May 20, 2011 Northern California Vizsla Club

On Point - A Pheasant - No Doubt

 These pictures are of Bailey's point.  Judges and handlers in the field call it: "dog standing."   Same as calling out "dog on point."

Once Bailey goes on point these still pictures could as easily be  motion pictures because they would look the same.

He is "rock solid."  His points today on pheasant were from an average of 25 feet away.  The boy has a great nose.

 We went to Bird's Landing Hunting Preserve today with a couple friends. 

http://www.birdslanding.net/default.htm


 A section was reserved for us and eight pheasant were planted.  The section was about the size of 40 football fields. One of my friend's brought along his 5-year-old female German short hair pointer.

Over the next 90 minutes Bailey had covered the ground with a couple 10 minute water breaks thrown in.

My friend, Tommy, watching with interest Bailey's steadiness

 Of the 8 birds, Bailey found and held through the shot on 6 of them. 

We took a break so the GSP could work a couple birds.

Bailey was being a pheasant vacuum cleaner covering huge tracts of the field at a full out run. 

A true "brag dog."

The breeding earlier in the week seems to not have affected him negatively.  Maybe I even saw a little more maturity in the field.  Of course, that could just be wishful guy thinking. 

Sex, food, naps and to end the week, a pheasant hunt. 

Not a bad week for the boy. 

The World's Largest Army - America's Hunters?

The below information was E-mailed to me by a good friend of mine who also owns these great dogs:

"The state of Wisconsin has gone an entire deer hunting season without someone getting killed.

 That's great. There were over 600,000 hunters. Allow me to restate that number.

 Over the last two months, the eighth largest army in the world - more men under arms than Iran;  more than France and Germany combined - deployed to the woods of a single American state to help keep the deer menace at bay.

 But that pales in comparison to the 750,000 who are in the woods of Pennsylvania this week.

 Michigan 's 700,000 hunters have now returned home.

Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia , and it is literally the case that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

 America will forever be safe from foreign invasion of troops with that kind of home-grown firepower.

Hunting - it's not just a way to fill the freezer.

 It's a matter of national security! "

 

Hunt for the dog or dog for the hunt?

As I get ready for a week on the prairies of the great Midwest, I know something about myself that not all others, who own Vizslas ,will agree.

(Internet picture in North Dakota)

I am going for a week hunting pheasant because I love watching my dog work a field in search of the birds more than the act of hunting and shooting the bird.  Maybe I will feel different when I get back.

I've been thinking of all the hunters that I know that get dogs to hunt with.  A good bird dog is like having a good shotgun.  It all about getting the best "tools" for the "hunt."  A water fowl hunter will get a good Lab and a upland bird dog hunter will get a tough German Shorthair Retriever.  Maybe a Britney, German Wirehair, Vizsla or other pointing breed.  A good dog is a good tool. 

(Internet picture of hunter with his Vizsla)

I'm not a "hunter."  When I go out into the fields, I do love the experience of watching Bailey search and then point the prey.  Then when he holds until he is released for the retrieve and then him retrieving back to my hand.  This is what "turns me on."

Looking forward to my week in South Dakota with my friend Ken and running three great young two year old Vizslas.   Hank, Scarlet and Bailey doing what they were bred to do.  HUNT.

I should bring back 15 pheasant for a great bar-b-que of roasted pheasant at work the week after I get back.  I have someone I work with that knows how to marinate pheasant.   It will be a great lunch for the staff at work.

A week after we get back, we head up in the motorhome to Hungry Valley, just north of Reno, Nevada, for a walking field trial.    We will then be doing field trials once or twice a month for the next six months.

Happy trails and trials.

I love the fall!

The Hunt

"One of the oldest and primitive instincts in humans has not yet disappeared, namely, the hunting instinct; lust for the hunt.

In civilized countries nobody has the necessary for its livelihood to go hunting. But many people still like to do it. One can think about it differently, but although it seems a contradiction, it is the hunting that keeps the wild alive in cultivated countries.

During the hunt, the man is still using the dog. There are a large number of hunting dog races with various branches of hunting customs on the whole world. For every branch of the hunt there are also specially bred hunting dogs available. By preventing equal prey's in widely separated countries they created many hunting dogs with a similar instance. Accordingly , the standing Hungarian hunting dog, the "Magyar Vizsla" was created.


In the large group of different kinds of hunting dogs, we can find the original hunting dog back.

The task of the drifting dogs is the game to drift the wild from the vegetation and chase it with loud barking. The drifting dog follows the wild tracks with the nose along the ground, he doesn't need to see the animal that he is tracking.

He needs to drift it to the hunter or he needs to hold it still untill the hunter comes to shoot the prey. Originally, they we're only packs. Because they have been crossing with a.o. sheepdogs they have made it more balanced and cooperative to handle. Thus arose the standing dogs.


Standing dogs, the collection of their tasks is enormous.
The following is required:

1. Methodical search.

2. Fixed standing; meaning that the dogs must stand and not chase the wild,
but they must stand quietly and point the hunter to the prey.

3. They must fetch the wild that has been shot out of the water and then they have to apport it to the hunter.

4. They have to follow wild that has been shot and apport it to the hunter.

These are not all assignments listed, but they are the main things which the standing dog should be able to do.

Standing dogs remain deadlocked for the wild, after searching the country with their heads against the wind to pick up a scent of the wild to catch. He drifts the wild after the orders of the hunter and works, unlike the drifting dogs, in close cooperation with the hunter.

There are few people left who hunt in order to survive. The desire to hunt, however, remained alive for all civilizations. There is therefore no country in the world where is not being hunted. The hunt has in our society contribute to his task the wild and the green space in which the wild lives to maintain. It is therefore an important part to focus on active nature. The modern hunter, is a wildlife expert and wildlife protector."

Copyright © 2008 "Gini Vadász" Kennel

Vizslas hunt their first gray squirrel

On today's afternoon walk Bailey and Chloe were having a fine run while I walked the trails.

The Vizslas were in "roam mode" covering the hills both sides of the trial.

As I climbed up a rise, Bailey and Chloe were on the ridge to the right. They came upon a low-lying tree, and first I watched a bird flushed.

The next thing I saw was a squirrel being tossed in the air by Chloe. Then both the dogs teamed up on the squirrel, and the hunt was over in 15 seconds. We don't hunt when we walk, but they are hunting dogs.

I picked up the squirrel by the tail like I do with birds and thanked the dogs for a good hunt. They were VERY HAPPY. They gave me that, "We did good, huh Dad?" look.

I walked a short way and disposed of the squirrel. After that both dogs went into "Hyper-hunt drive" for about twenty minutes. They covered ground like veteran hunting dogs.

Chloe, my sweet little 2-1/2-year-old girl, found her inner huntress.