Kennel Talk

Summer is suddenly upon us. Did April showers bring May flowers? Spring was awfully dry and the backwater sloughs along our stretch of the Wisconsin River valley were as low as I can remember in the past thirty years. Hopefully, by the time this reaches print, enough rain will have filled the sloughs and potholes we train our dogs in.

Much needed rain should have nourished our grassland fields that were burned and planted last month. With luck, the food plots and prairie grasses should have established themselves, making way for planting pigeons, quail and pheasants for training our bird dogs.

Summer is suddenly upon us and it’s time for summer camp for gun dogs. In northern climates like the Badger state, the growing days are short and so is the time allotted for training dogs before the leaves turn color in fall. With that in mind, we need to plan a strategy to accomplish our training goals over the next four months.

First of all, I recommend joining a gun dog club. If you’re lucky, you might find a breed club in your area that meets on a regular basis. Since that’s easier said than done, you’re more likely to find a club that caters to retrievers, flushers, or pointing breeds. You won’t find them listed in the yellow pages, so you’ll have to check out publications like Bird Dog & Retriever News, 563 17^th Ave. NW, New Brighton, MN 55112, or on the web at www.Bdarn.com. In their latest issue, I counted ten Wisconsin club activities for April and May listed in their calendar of events section.

Next, if that doesn’t work out, consider joining a hunt club, or game farm in your area. Not only does that give you a good source of birds for your dog, it also guarantees a place to train without competition. Many of these establishments provide for dog training and some have experienced trainers on-site. For a fee, they will help you and your dog with training problems. Again, Bird Dog & Retriever News lists a large selection of hunt clubs and game farms throughout our state. In their classified section, the Wolf River Game Farm in Shiocton (Outagamie County) even advertises a self-service dog training facility.

Do-it-yourselfers will need to locate a good source of training birds and a place to train. Some game farms sell quail, chuckars and pheasants. The best source of pigeons, if you don’t have access to a silo, or barn full of birds, might be someone in the area that races homing pigeons. Our best source raises a surplus of homers each year and sells us his excess young stock.

The state of Wisconsin, under Chapter NR 17, has five class 1 dog training grounds open to the public including Bong (Racine County), Mead (Marathon County),

Mazomanie (Dane County), Dundee (Fond du Lac County), Ottowa (Waukesha County) and Pine island (Columbia County). Training on these posted state lands is permitted year-round. Several smaller, class 2 dog training grounds are also available by contacting your local DNR station for locations.

If you use game birds for training, be sure to obtain a bird dog training license from the DNR. This gives you the authority to possess and use for dog training purposes only, pheasants, quail, gray partridge, chuckar partridge, red-legged partridge and mallard ducks. No permits are needed for using pigeons.

Last month, the DNR held hearings in several locations across the state on changes to Chapter NR 17, dog training, trailing and dog clubs. For a current copy of the revised rule, contact Keith Warnke at (608) 264-6023.

Last fall, on more than one occasion, our pointing gun dogs encountered turkeys while hunting woodcock and grouse. In heavy cover along the edge of the woods, the large birds held tight as we approached. The explosion of a small flock of turkeys in front of a pointing dog is enough to make a grown man’s knees grow weak.

At last month’s Spring Fish and Wildlife Rules Hearings there were several Conservation Congress Advisory questions. Question number 77 dealt with fall turkey hunting with dogs. The question read, “Fall hunting of turkeys with dogs has been a tradition in southern states for many years.

Other states are now legalizing this hunting method as well. Several reasons favoring the adaptation of this hunting method include; allowing another opportunity method for turkey hunting, a turkey could be legally taken while grouse hunting, dogs can aid in the recovery of wounded birds and dogs aid in the scattering of fall flocks. Would you support legalizing the fall hunting of turkeys with dogs?”

The vote passed in our county. Unfortunately, the final tally of votes statewide was 1,537 yes, 1,656 no. Oh well, it will still take my breath away as I watch those big birds fly away again this fall.