In the old days I would still be looking for Buck, but with this new fangled GPS it's sure a whole lot easier. I drove the mule over 300 yards yesterday to get this picture and flush a big west Texas covey. If it hadn't been for GPS I may have never know he had a find. Now some credit to Buck for finding and holding till I got there but what an amazing tool...........

I love mine. We were working a scattered covey last week and Cracker disappeared. I heard the beep looked am my Garmin and saw that Cracker was on point at 320 yards. I started walking. You could just see the yards coming down. The ride pocked me up at 30 and we could finally see Cracker on point looking like this.



There is a thread on the Gun Dogs forum about a newer cheaper Whistler tracker. It works off your cell phone. I hope to keep using my Garmin until I hang it up.
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Buck rolling out 300 yards at 8 mos and sticking and holding a covey deserves a shout out too!

Bingo.

I hope to trial him as a derby this coming fall and he will need to run some but 300 yards now is a bit to far out (though he did a good job). Virgil and I like to keep them closer till whoa broke and standing for the shot. Hope he isn't reading this But thanks for the kind words.

Chet,
I certainly understand you and Virgil's thought process of keeping the pup closer as a derby. Question....how do you go about pushing him back out on range? I know you have heard the old birddog adage about race.

My theory is that Buck's nose took him there.

Yep you can shorten a dog but can't put run in them. The trick is getting a pup with run in their blood and trying to keep them close as a young pup. My job in getting pups ready for Virgil to break is to let them be pups. No "whoa" no collar (these pups were bought to trial not bird hunt but bird hunting can be part of the program) just birds and getting them to go with me (only give them water out of the mule and a dog bisket now and then keeps them looking for the mule). If I'm successful they will learn all they can from the birds and learn where the front is (I never stop the mule, always going forward and changing direction fairly frequently). And when things are right like the last 3 years the birds will teach them to use their nose, take birds out for a while, some longer than others, and then flash point. If I can get them holding their birds that's a plus and with enough time on the ground it usually works.

At this point in their young age 9-12 months they have some come back in them, know the front and have learned to point from the birds. Most will now be going with me and are ready to be break. Virgil is very good at breaking the young dogs without taking anything out of them and a summer up north allows him to push them off horseback and bring out the run they were bred with. Now doesn't work for all but does for most. And some run from the time mom drops them in the welping box and you can't slow them down. They're all different. The whole exercise is to make the breaking process easier with less run, more control.

This is what I've done with Beau (RU Champion), and most recently Frank(Winner at Arkansas Derby Classic). Both ran bigger as they matured and Virgil worked them on horseback. Hope this makes sense.

+1 for the shout out. IMO greatest tool bird ever made for quail hunters. Says a lot about your pup, Chet. We've had several 400+ finds with bird still there. Longest was 510 with birds. Would have never found these dogs without Garmin. Keep them going.

I keep my dogs close with a check cord

At 8 months old while hunting wild birds from a vehicle?

All depends on the dog. Those special ones handle it well.

You got it bill. If my UTV don't run I ain't walking

Bill, I worked my 6 month old off my ranger, pointed 6 coveys and only looked for me for water. I'm hoping to work him horseback soon!

With a CC?

Not following Bill, What is CC?

Check cord

Herein lies a perfect plan to me and the results are evident. Good job Chet!

Buck is the stuff!
I have lost count of how many times in the last two years I have located dogs holding coveys using my equipment. With the cover being thick this year, some of those finds were well under 100 yards but of course those long range finds are the more memorable. If it were not for the mule we could not hunt but a day here and there. This wonderful equipment came along just in time for me. My hunting life has been extended and I am enjoying it like never before. Every point and covey rise are lagniappe!

This was a Garmin find;

Here's another Garmin find. My Gator seems to interfere with the direction at a distance. We were running dogs across the road in the fog. We kept circling Cracker on point. We finally found her like this.

Only thing better than the garmin is the fenix watch. I watch my dogs on the watch face and never look at the handheld.

I am glad you guys are having a great year!

Save me a click onto google and tell us how it works.

Bill it's made by garmin it links up with the alpha or astro. I can watch my three dogs on the watch face tell direction and distance. I just leave my alpha in my vest and watch my dogs on the watch. Much hander than using the hand held.