UK Invasion

[Dean Weber]

Trying to squeeze every day out of this bird season, Oz and I headed out on a mild day where the work schedule allowed some tolerance. Oz is an Irish-bred labrador and the gun is a Scottish MacNaughton.

Since I know we like our guns, the MacNaughton is a round action 12 bore with 28" barrels. These were the first birds with this gun (I have been fortunate to have a number of these events this season), however, I shot the gun poorly and I am not enamored with the swivel safety.

The real story here is the dog work... in a couple ways. One highlight is that Oz has begun to "point" more and more as our seasons have progressed. These have mostly been flash-points for up to several seconds. Yesterday, he went on "point" with head and tail high for the amount of time it took me to walk 40 yards and then wait and then wait some more! I finally told Oz to get 'em and the bird flushed with a clean kill. I was pretty shocked but Oz went on to point multiple more birds (mostly hens) throughout the day. Who knows, he may have been trying to help my poor shooting by letting me get closer!

2nd highlight was trying to hunt a piece of cover I knew the birds would flush wild at the end of the cover. So, (last picture), I sat Oz at the end of a short tree break and told him to stay. I went to the other end (maybe 500 yards) and walked it against the wind. My strategy was to have Oz block for me (fat chance....). To my surprise, he stayed exactly in the spot I put him and as luck would have it I flushed a bird at the end of the break, killing it. I was able to get a picture of Oz standing guard as I was leaving him.

I was a bit surprised on both highlights, but I was happy with both outcomes. And, on top of it, I got to blood a gun. If I had Garry Gordon's wife Elaine along, I may have been able to capture the events more clearly. Enjoy!

[Harold Pickens]

Great pictures Dean, congrats. Beautiful gun and dog. I'm up in Huron now, got in last night. Wind was brutal today and looks like will get worse with plummeting temps.
Got 2 today with a Fox SW 16 and Boss fiber wad 5s.

[Chris Pope]

Interesting idea using a dog to post up! We usually use one of the members of our party- 2 of which are well into their eighties! They don't bark, they do complain sometimes and one of them can mark the birds well but not good at retrieving. But they'll do it faithfully if you supply them with a good whiskey at the end of the day...
It won't be long now and I'll be right next to them!

[Ken Hill]

Dean,

Looks like a nice hunt.

The pendulum safety is not as easy as the simple sliding safety. I was told to roll the inside of your thumb over it. I never could get use to it. Like the greener safety it takes a lot of shooting to get use to it.

Ken

[Dean Weber]

Originally Posted by Chris Pope

Interesting idea using a dog to post up! We usually use one of the members of our party- 2 of which are well into their eighties! They don't bark, they do complain sometimes and one of them can mark the birds well but not good at retrieving. But they'll do it faithfully if you supply them with a good whiskey at the end of the day...
It won't be long now and I'll be right next to them!

This was the first time I have tried this. Doubt it would work on a longer walk or if the dog could not see me, which he could. I had hunted this land before and knew the birds like to blow out. Since I was by myself I was unsure how to handle. Parking the truck at the end would have spooked the birds for sure.

[Chris Pope]

I've been known to put an orange vest or hat to accomplish a similar thing but a dog would be best as long as you can move the birds through the covert. Really nice photos by the way. Looking forward to next November!

[Big D]

Wow! How many bars on the bird's tail feathers?

[Dean Weber]

Originally Posted by John Dallas

Wow! How many bars on the bird's tail feathers?

Right about 45…

[mobirdhunter]

I have met Oz. He is a big bear of a dog, but very well trained and obedient of his man. I have little experience with labs, but the biddable nature of Oz was impressive.

[Big D]

Yikes! My Lab years ago had over 1200 retrieves, mostly at a put and take hunt club. Not sure I ever saw 45 bars. Well done!