Bob
Scammell
For The Calgary Herald
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Hunting guide keeps his Brittanies busy
 |
Bob
Scammel with Beau  |
In
more than 50 years hunting upland birds, I can't
recall ever knowing anyone who spent more time
at it than Dave Brown of Calgary and Fernie, B.C.,
does now.
Dave
and his six Brittanies make their home in
Calgary. The dogs' summer home is at Maple
Creek with a superb trainer in good bird
country while Dave is away running The Elk
River Angler, his guide service and trout
shop in Fernie. As fishing seasons wane and
hunting seasons wax, Dave and dogs start
guiding combination
"cast and blast" trips for anglers
who also like to hunt upland game with pointing
dogs.
This
fall Dave will be guiding and outfitting at
least one train tour of Alberta's choice venues
for ardent upland hunters. This trip was such
a success last fall that the first train for
this year is already full and booking another
is a possibility. When all that simmers down,
Brown hunts his A and B teams of Brittanies
nearly every legal day of the remaining season
in Alberta.
When
the seasons close in Alberta Brown and Brittanies
snowbird south, generally to hunt quail in Arizona.
But last winter he and his dogs guided hunters
for a big ranch hunting operation in Oklahoma.
Notwithstanding
all that dog work, Brown is a firm believer
in spring training and conditioning. "The
biggest mistake some hunting dog owners make
is to take their dog out on opening day for
the first time," Brown says. "Then
they wonder why the dog isn't in shape and doesn't
seem to know what birds are."
So
when Brown reported to me about mid-March that
the Hungarian partridges were paired up in his
favourite spring training fields and giving
better pointing chances for a young dog than
when they are in big, many-eyed coveys in the
fall, I wangled a try-out contract for me and
my new eight-month-old Brittany, Beau.
Next
best thing to a brain transplant to a new pup
when the good old dog dies, is being able to
run a pup on birds with an experienced dog.
That was easy for me to accomplish back in the
days when I had two kennels and two Brits about
five years apart, so I could get a new pup immediately
after the older dog died and let the five-six
year old do much of the training. The pup learns
mostly good things, from the older dog, particularly
the purpose in all that tearing around Wild
Rose Country and to do what comes naturally
-- point -- when a certain gamey perfume becomes
hypnotic.
So,
semi-bright and very early on two consecutive
Sundays, we loaded Beau into his crate in my
rig and drove down to meet Brown in bird country
near Calgary. Here wheat stubble overflows every
horizon and the fields are slashed with the
odd brushy draw: ideal Hun habitat, but with
the odd pheasant and sharptail grouse in the
mix.
Dave
was down to only five dogs, one having to remain
home watching TV while he recuperates from a
knee operation. He wired his three on the A
team, including the alpha female, Roxy, and
also my Beau with beeper collars, plus a 20-foot
red check cord for Beau, and off they raced
into the whole wide springtime world, sounding
like the backing competition at a truck rodeo.
They
beep while the dog is running, but when he stops
to point or poop, the beep changes to a hawk's
scream so you know where to look for your dog.
Quickly we got four hawk's cries. One of Brown's
dogs was pointing a pair of Huns and the other
three were standing still, backing, or honouring
the point, including Beau, who has never had
a lesson in his life.
If
both of a pair of Huns did not flush there was
always the second for the dogs to find and point.
Beau found one of his own and was so excited
that he became bored with backing and bored
in when another dog was on point, so Brown and
I tried walking him in on the check cord and
steadying him when another dog was pointing.
Then
Dave retired the A-team and turned out the two
young males of the B-team, including an engaging
tri-color (white, black and brown) French Brittany,
Quincy, with a short tail so waggy it tells
a long tale about how much fun he is having.
By this time Beau, who still has the short endurance
of a puppy, was through for the day and staying
slow and close to his happy human.
No
matter, I already had an expert opinion from
Brown that Beau is going to be a bird dog and
how he purely loves to see the dimmer switch
turning a pup on. Then we retreated to a couple
of excellent hostelries where we bemudded refugees
from that great spring outdoors cathedral brunched
with the church crowd and discussed where a
budding bird dog might get one of those two-tone
beepers.
©
The Calgary Herald 2004
