Free: Contests & Raffles.
I'm really leaning that way hard. It would be nice to have the bragging right to a couple of ribbons, but at the end of the day what I really want is a good bird dog. Frankly it's also about finances. I don't know if I can swing another month of training, and still hunt the Dakotas.
Addicted. I know a few of those old school guys as well. Most will tell you they would never go back to the old ways of training. I hunt with one on occasion, he was a Pro, and so was his dad. From a young age it was his job to "cull" the drop outs. You don't want to hear the stories because they will make you cringe. He will tell you he's much softer today than he was back the , and believe me, he and t soft now. He will also tell you they shot a lot of birds over dogs in training back then. Unfortunately, those birds were rarely in season when they were killed, but those old timers didn't care. I've been fortunate enough to see a bunch of different Pros work dogs, and some dams good amateurs as well. You can get a LOT of work done with a blank gun. If I had to chose between a Pro who worked almost entirely on killed released birds with very few wild birds thrown in, and a Pro who worked dogs on almost entirely wild birds with a few killed birds thrown in, I know who I'd choose, no questions asked. The key is getting the dog to enjoy the find, and not just the retrieve. Many, if not most AF Pointers and Setters never retrieve a bird, yet they are ridiculously nice bird dogs. How do you think that happens since they may never be allowed to retrieve?