Outdoorsman Thread

[1967redrider]

Yikes, Scott!!! Do you wear snake proof boots when you're out and about?

[TripleF]

Yikes, Scott!!! Do you wear snake proof boots when you're out and about?

No sir, but I do carry a snake stick....aka a hiking stick to some.

[treefarmer]

This is the way Eastern Diamondbacks end up around our camp:

This was about 58 years ago, me and the snake were both slim and trim.

Treefarmer

[1967redrider]

Nice, tree. That's a big 'en for sure.

[doglegg]

That's either a big snake or you were a lot shorter back then.

[bighomer]

Dadgum a bunch of snakes fellers. Momma has wean the twins, they are coming for corn by themselves now. The other momma is kinda kicking at hers although they are smaller. The momma with the triplets hasn't been around for awhile my neighbor sees them down in the his creek bottom though.

[Mumbleypeg]

One of the benefits of cutting hay at night. My chickens say “thanks”!

Ken

[treefarmer]

Good Job!!
Treefarmer

[Waukonda]

Ken, I was looking at your post, and after a few seconds it hit me! You have taken a page from the Shrike's book!

[Mumbleypeg]

Ken, I was looking at your post, and after a few seconds it hit me! You have taken a page from the Shrike's book!

I hadn’t thought of that! Actually it was near midnight when the first one was shot. I didn’t want to lose it in the field or stop cutting long enough to go dispose of the carcass. So I improvised. Then about a half hour later the second one showed up so it got the same treatment. Then I went out this morning and took the picture before dumping them for the vultures.

It’s amazing a man on foot can’t get close but they’re not much afraid of a tractor.

Ken

[Doc B]

Those guys look pretty big!!!

[Doc B]

Hunting, is hard work.

Anyone got a wad retriever? DJ has now been hunting, 3 weekends. I can't believe how good he already is. The first or second hunt...he found a wad and was on his way to devouring it. It took a treat to convince him to give it up. After 2-3 times (he learns fast)...he now actively brings me wads...for a treat, of course. What happened to the good old days, when dogs worked, for a pat on the head? He always goes for the bird first...but, after getting the bird, goes and finds the wads. Here's this weekends' haul. I may rent him out, to the TSA, during the off season, sniffing out gunpowder.

[garddogg56]

That how I like to see yotes

[Mumbleypeg]

A pat on the head and praise ranks lower on the reward hierarchy than food. With mine, giving them a retrieve is probably at the top followed closely by food. You can test this yourself by having a treat in hand, make sure the dog knows it’s there. Then throw his tennis ball. I’ll bet he forgets the treat and goes for the ball. Mine do. They go crazy over retrieving.

One day last Spring I threw a training dummy into the pond for Mazie. It was an overthrow (my bad) and hung in a willow branch about five feet above the water. She knew it was supposed to be her retrieve, and watched it go, but I didn’t send her to fetch it.

I turned and reached in to get another dummy out of the Polaris, and when I turned back around she was in the water headed for the dummy stuck in the tree. She could see it and swam to it, then tried to reach it, lunging from the water toward it, without success of course. All the while I was trying to call her back. She would not quit trying to get that dummy. I seriously was worried she was going to drown before I finally got her to swim back to me. Sometimes even the best training you can do doesn’t overcome their instinctive behavior. A few days later when we were back at the pond again the dummy had fallen from the tree and was blown over to the edge of the water at the bank. I sent her for it and she got her belated retrieve!

BTW, those coyotes were a pair. The male was a big one, probably 45 pounds. The female was average size, maybe 30 pounds.

Ken

[Waukonda]

Good photo Doc and good stories from Doc and Ken on dog behavior. My Black Lab is 10 1/2 yrs old and food is still 2nd to a retrieve. In his puppy year, as we were out walking one day down a field road, he had the itch to do some retrieving. Normally, I would throw a stick as we walked. On this day, there were no sticks along that particular route. It was around this time of year and we were walking next to a field of mature corn. I reached over and ripped an ear from one of the stalks and started a game of fetch with the ear of corn. He would have been roughIy 6 mos old at that time.

Fast forward a year, and that incident that I had forgotten must have been ingrained in his memory. He ripped off his own ear of corn as we walked past a field one day and brought it to me to toss for him. He has done this every year now for 11 years every time we walk past a cornfield, all because he watched me do it one time when he was less than a year old.

[Doc B]

Funny stuff! They definitely keep you entertained!!!

[treefarmer]

Hunting, is hard work.
Chillin.jpg
Anyone got a wad retriever? DJ has now been hunting, 3 weekends. I can't believe how good he already is. The first or second hunt...he found a wad and was on his way to devouring it. It took a treat to convince him to give it up. After 2-3 times (he learns fast)...he now actively brings me wads...for a treat, of course. What happened to the good old days, when dogs worked, for a pat on the head? He always goes for the bird first...but, after getting the bird, goes and finds the wads. Here's this weekends' haul. I may rent him out, to the TSA, during the off season, sniffing out gunpowder.
wads.jpg

Doc B,
That's funny. If the dove shooting is good, you better have a big sack of treats!
Treefarmer

[bighomer]

Ken, I was looking at your post, and after a few seconds it hit me! You have taken a page from the Shrike's book!

It’s amazing a man on foot can’t get close but they’re not much afraid of a tractor.

Ken

A few years ago up in Illinois, I was running a rotera busting clods up in front of my wife's uncle as he planted corn and coyotes were running around the tractor catching mice like crazy.

[Quick Steel]

DocB, that is very funny. I've sometimes wondered if these great retrieving breeds couldn't rather easily be trained for human tracking when someone goes missing. This, as an additional skill to their hunting. But perhaps such training takes much more focus and time than I imagine.

[Mumbleypeg]

DocB, that is very funny. I've sometimes wondered if these great retrieving breeds couldn't rather easily be trained for human tracking when someone goes missing. This, as an additional skill to their hunting. But perhaps such training takes much more focus and time than I imagine.

Labradors are frequently trained as "Search and Rescue" dogs, to find the lost, injured, or dead in the aftermath of disasters. Drug and explosive detection are other tasks at which they excel http://www.duckhillkennels.com/dogs/searchdogs.php
http://www.duckhillkennels.com/dogs/scentdogs.php
Ken

[Quick Steel]

Ken, I think I wasn't so clear. I realize they are widely used for rescue, all the things you mentioned. I was wondering if a person's hunting dog could also be used for human recovery work in emergencies. If the cross-training was fairly easy it would greatly multiply the number of rescue dogs brought into a situation. Owners of such cross-trained dogs could let law enforcement be aware of their availability.

This would evidently not be practical if training for human "retrieval" involves a long training period. Rescue from collapsed buildings is clearly highly specialized. But searching for a lost child or senior might be learned fairly easily. I speculate.

[Mumbleypeg]

Up to a certain point the training is the same, mainly obedience training, and conditioning to ignore distractions of varied environments like ramps, stairs, boats, machinery, various loud noises, etc. After that the training becomes specialized, so I doubt it would be easy, maybe not possible to have a cross-trained dog. It takes at least a year or more to develop a fully trained gun dog, so given a dog’s relatively short life span it’s probably not feasible to train one in multiple disciplines. I think a fully trained search and rescue dog is about a $10,000 investment.

I’ve been to the kennel in the referenced links (Duckhill Kennels, near Memphis) and observed their training facilities and dogs being trained. I’ve owned several dogs from there. It’s an amazing place, owned and operated by Robert Milner who has been training dogs for about 40-50 years. He has authored several books and a lot of magazine articles on the subject, and one of the nicest guys I have ever met. For those interested he has produced numerous YouTube videos also. I think his son is taking over the kennel management now but Mr. Milner Sr. still teaches several train-the-trainer classes himself, and trains all his trainers employed at the kennel. Next time I get the opportunity I’ll ask him about the possibilities of cross-training dogs for multiple disciplines.

Ken

[Quick Steel]

I appreciate all the input Ken.

[Doc B]

,,,or maybe I could spend winters in avalanche=prone ski areas...and have skiers put a couple of the collected wads in their pockets...and when the big one comes...DJ could find them. For a treat, of course.

[bighomer]

An afternoon at Homer's homestead. the twins have just about lost all their spots