Saturday 7th November 2009

Co. Tyrone.
A dull but warm and humid day with the odd light shower.
I sit in the bath after a day like today and wonder was that the best day I have ever had in the field? By the time I’m finished I have usually decided that it wasn’t the best ever……………………. but today was very, very, very good. The final bag was seven pheasants, with another dead in the air but not picked, a woodcock, a snipe and a vixen.
Ryan, Norman’s young spaniel is a much harder hunter this year than the last and his manners are impeccable as well. All the dogs had a retrieve or two today but Ryan had the majority and managed very well.
Tam pushed a fair few birds today and more to the point till we hit the high heather he covered more ground than the pointer. This was more a question of a close hunting pointer than a wide-ranging Blunder. He even managed a retrieve of a very dead hen pheasant from across a stream, something he doesn’t specialise in. Runners , yes, dead birds, pick it yourself.
Chris gave us another master class. He stated off roading about two hundred yards at pace to produce a hen that was shot way out over the bog and followed it up with a point and retrieve of a snipe. This took some time to complete as the dead wee bird was held up in high heather suspended at the top of a high bank and the dogs both knew roughly where it was but couldn’t pick it. Eventually Chris found it and snatched it as he lost his footing stretching out over the drop off. He produced three woodcock from dense whinns and I saw one of them sitting about eighteen inches in front of him and him with his nose on the ground because the whinns were so low. He had several very impressive finds but I twigged something today. Just about every time he air scented outside cover(not really a point) either he or Tam would produce a bird from the spot.
The only problem is that it is very difficult to look past Chris when choosing a pointer to shoot over. He has the edge over all the other pointers because of his retrieving but none of the younger dogs will ever gain his experience if I use him all the time. Roxy is nearly as good a hunter but she doesn’t retrieve. I think I know the answer already. Use Chris till he’s done and then worry about his replacement. I’ll field my strongest team at all times. I think I will rename him ” The Postman”…………………………..because he always delivers.

Tuesday 3rd November 2009

Black Mountain.
WSW 10.4 < ? Low bright sun.
Ross and I took Chris, Flake, Roxy & Tam to the hill. The intention wasn’t just to give them a blow out but things weren’t quite what we expected so we just left them to get on with it. The secret is that once you decide that it’s a blow out you give no more commands, other than to pick them up at the end.
I took a wind reading down at the car and it was 10.4 mph but by the time we were up on the shoulder it may have been twice that. Scenting probably was difficult but in the end that mattered little. With the Hunter’s Moon the other night we expected there to be a few snipe but there seemed to be snipe everywhere and three woodcock to boot. There were at least two dozen snipe.
Tam was there to improve his fitness so he was allowed to hunt about on his own. I doubt if he was ever out of shotgun range and he flushed several snipe and a woodcock.
We started off running Chris and Roxy for fifteen minutes straight into the wind. I don’t remember when we started to hit snipe but it soon became obvious that the dogs were having difficulty pointing them so we just let them go. The first pair covered a heap of ground at pace and then we started to work down wind back to the car Flake was added to the mix. There were multiple flushes, finds and chases and the dogs at least got a really good run and seemed to enjoy themselves. Chris’ theme tune probably was ” I did it my way.” for he was doing it to please nobody other than himself. Roxy seems to be back in form very quickly after her second season but the star of the show was Flake. I would say she is a kilo or two heavier than when she came to Bangor and she is running with great pace and intensity. She pointed a couple of snipe and that can’t be a bad thing.
There won’t be any more of this for a while it will be back to a strict regime especially the Big Danish B*****d who seems to have his noncompliant head on at the moment.

Monday 2nd November 2009

The Round.
Ross took Chris, Roxy and Tam round The Round. It takes about forty five minutes to walk round it and it borders Clandeboye Estate. As they haven’t started shooting yet he couldn’t have expected to see that many birds but each dog had a find.

He’s not sure if it was a hen or a cock and that’s understandable given the cover.
“Chris’ pheasant”  by Ross O’Neile

The bird ran to the hedge.
” Roxy – The Round - 2nd Nov ‘09″  by Ross O’Neile

It’s difficult to find the time to get the dogs a find at this time of the year and very rewarding to get it near home. Well done Ross!

Saturday 31st October 2009

The Signal Centre.
The only thing I did wrong was not to take all the pigeons, I only took two.
Sometimes it can be difficult to decipher what you have seen. Lucky’s first hunt for the pigeon was one of those situations. At first I couldn’t have said he was quartering but the one thing that was obvious was that he was hunting and he was crossing the ground down wind of the bird. He eventually turned into the wind and headed for the bird at speed so I released it. It flew at him over his head and he turned to give it a chase but I got him back after about ten yards. He gave the releaser a good old sniff.
I placed the second bird further up the ground so he had more time to get to it and this time he was quartering. Not perfectly as he did turn back at the hedge a couple of times but only because he was so desperate to get to the bird. Unfortunately he took a long run at the bird as he was coming from behind me at pace boring into the wind. I saw his head go up and his ears go back so I knew he had the bird so I released it. This time he gave it a good course and it took time for him to come back.
The most telling thing was that when I was leading him from the car to the kennel the minute he turned the corner of the garage and saw the pigeon loft he pointed and I then walked him to the loft still on point. I think he’s got the message about the pigeons.

Thursday 29th October.

Co. Tyrone.
A disappointing day. I haven’t been shooting for some time now but just to see what mobility I had in my shoulder I tried to dry mount Steven’s gun. I couldn’t do it. I could just get the top of the butt below my armpit. The later on I slipped, grabbed a tree for support and couldn’t speak for about ten minutes. I was so sore that I decided to go home after lunch.
Tam seemed keen enough from the start but he wasn’t hitting the cover and seemed unfit. Mid morning I beat out The Orchard and Tam was performing a lot better pushing a number of birds but he didn’t get a chance at a retrieve.
I would have thought Tam was quite fit, having done well on the mountain several times lately but when I was packing up to go home Tam was lying on his back snoring, a sure sign he was knackered. Last night (Friday) Ross said he thought Tam looked too big and heavy so I will up his exercise levels but I’m not going to touch his food intake because already he gets less than any of the other dogs and he is considerably heavier than any of the Pointers.

Monday 26th October 2009

Black Mountain.

“Here!”  by Ross O’Neile.
Ross took Flake and Chris to the hill and ran them for nearly an hour. In that time he saw maybe ten snipe and had one find on a pair of them. Chris knew exactly where the birds were but then you would expect him to have the edge over Flake who probably hasn’t seen one percent of the number of snipe that Chris has. Flake hunted hard and covered a heap of ground at pace. She handled well and ran nice and flat….until led astray by Chris. Chris gave it a real go and started off hunting hard and running good lines. He had a find on a pair of snipe but he couldn’t produce them at first as Flake tried to steal his point but never really put them up. Chris then relocated and went on to produce his birds. Perhaps the dogs should have been picked up when they started to go native but my dogs are getting runs that I couldn’t give them thanks to Ross, and this all helps keep them right.

Sunday 25th October 2009.

Black Mountain.
SW  15 mph(ish) Dull and wet at times.

The minute you decide to demonstrate a dog you are letting yourself in for a hiding. It doesn’t matter if it is a competition, a sale’s pitch or just to show how well you are getting on, the minute you stick your head above the parapet you risk getting it blown off. I therefore was slightly nervous demonstrating Jalad to his prospective new owner but you know what, he did exactly what I wanted. He was beautifully flat, without any effort on my part. He covered all the ground available and was easy to turn. I made a point of dropping him a couple of times, just to show it could be done and I also turned him and sent him back out just to show he would do it. A snipe even joined in and provided an opportunity to show him on point. He took the bird well, stood till I got to him and then roaded straight in to produce his bird. The net result is that he’s on his way to Co Meath. Sad in a way to see him go but delighted with who has bought him and the sort of life he’s going to.

So now there are six……………………and one of these has to go.

Saturday 24th October 2009.

Beechfield.
Blowing a gale and persistent drizzle so the first day at the pheasants has been postponed till Thursday.
I’m threatening to go to Belfast for a gallop with Jalad but it is very difficult to be enthusiastic. I might just re-line the inside of the mews and relocate Bitch from the garage to the mews.
Black Mountain.
17c (joke) 16.4 mph S. Threatening rain.
Tam and Jalad.
Tam just hunted about, stayed well within gunshot and was compliant when required.
Jalad gave it a good go. Not having been out much recently he was a bit manic to start off but he was beautifully flat, once I had explained things fully and he covered a lot of ground at pace. We cut through the back of the quarry and then veered right to come along the shoulder, through the middle bog, over the top and down into the Big Valley. Just at the end of this run he had an impressive find on a running snipe. I actually saw it run left veering back down wind, not the first time I have seen a running snipe but this was the first for some years. Jalad’s work on the snipe was impressive, especially since I know for certain what he was up against. He pointed, relocated to the left when the bird went that direction, and when asked to produce he went straight down the line of the bird and dropped of his own accord notwithstanding that I blew the whistle anyway.
On my way down wind to the car I met Joe Dobbin with his ten month old Danish/Norwegian English Setter dog Jack. Joe let me see him run on his own and we then walked back to take the wind and gave the dogs a run as a brace. Jack is shaping nicely and only needs a bit more width to be ready to compete. Joe is keeping him tight so that he doesn’t take too big a bite as this leads to a tendency to turn back to look for the handler.
I turned back and Joe went on up the hill. I don’t ever remember running Jalad purposely down wind but he handled it well today even though there was no bird to prove it.
Back at Beechfield I did a bit more work on the mews at it is about three quarters done so what looked like a lost day turned out quite well.
#1 son Ryan is off to Australia for a year on Monday so there’s a “Meet the Fokkers” evening to offically meet Jenny’s parents and I suppose a few coldies may just be sunk. Then tomorrow Jalad may well be off to another home!

Thursday 22nd October 2009

The Signal Centre.
I took Lucky for a gallop at the Signal Centre. It was nearly all positives. He ran about quite well and didn’t baulk at the wet places. He has a better gait and action than either Chris, his sire or Roxy his mother and probably the best points from both. At first I thought he wasn’t using his nose but then he found some spraint, probably some sort of water fowl. Then just to show me that the whole package is bolted together properly he put up a lark of some description and the acceleration and ability to turn at pace is very fluent and he can put all of his considerable power into his effortless running. The one slight negative is that he is nearly too cocky. He doesn’t need to come back so he doesn’t, until it suits him. I’m not making an issue of it at the moment. I did drop him a couple of times but not in any sort of pressure situation. There’ll be a time for that and it isn’t now.

Monday 19th October 2009

Black Mountain.
The snipe are in, Ross tells me. He took Chris, Jalad and Lucky to the hill for a look see and saw twelve in total of which three were pointed by Chris with Jalad backing and stealing the odd point. Basically he ran the two adults from the car to the shoulder. Gave Lucky a skip in the middle bog and then ran the pair on up to The Paddock and back down again. He tells me the dogs handled the run a lot better than the handler did.

“Lucky finds his heather legs.”    by Ross O’Neile.