Winter Blues

In South Texas.

Just got back from a couple weeks of working dogs with some friends on a 48,000 acre ranch in South Texas, what an experience. In the 2 weeks I was there we ran two 12 dogs loads per day, 6 days a week and never worked the same ground twice. Living in Ontario it was hard to fathom having exclusive access to all that land with so many wild birds. We averaged 10 coveys of quail in a 3 hour workout with the best being 17 coveys in that time period. There are 27 dogs on the trip consisting of Pointers, Setters, Viszla's, a German Wirehair Pointer, a German Shorthair Pointer, a Red Setter, a Drathaar, and a Griffon. They should all come back with lots of wild bird experience and the good ones will be true wild bird dogs by the end of the 2 month trip.

Pictures can be seen at

https://www.facebook.com/HayCreekKennel

It is an open page so you don't have to be a member of facebook to look at the pictures. Pictures of the trip will continue to be posted until late February so keep watching.

To cool Jake, It's great turning a pack of pups loose and just watching them do their thing, no handling , letting them figure it out, and yep, in Ontario good luck exposing your dogs to that kind of workout, how's your dad making out with his Britt?

You are a lucky guy! Really enjoyed the video and those pups. :)

Wow. You sure do walk the talk. I really find the cover interesting, looks amazing for bird hunting. Other than quail what is available out there?

There are lots of doves to hunt along with hogs and Javelinas (Peccary). There are also Nilgai that were brought into the King Ranch in the 40's from India as a food source so they wouldn't have to feed the ranch hands beef. The Nilgai have since spread out to surrounding ranches in the area. The whitetails are thick as well. We would usually see at least one shooter a day (10+ points) and anywhere from five to ten 4-8 pointers each day along with 20+ does or more on a good day. It was like being on a safari driving around the ranch, there was always something to look at.

Very cool Jakezilla.

There was another pro down with there with a load of pointers and brittanies. He also had a springer that he used for retrieving on his guided hunts, she was a neat little dog.

Looks like a great time. Did the Pointer in your Avatar come from Hay Creek?

No she is from http://www.pinehillkennels.com/index.htm

Haycreek usually has 2 or 3 litters a year and produces some nice dogs.

I checked out the Pine hill kennel website, very nice dogs. I am a firm believer in breeding to an outstanding female line also noted on the Pine Hill website. I may have to add an English Pointer in the near future to my family.:)

Attachment 28253Attachment 28254Attachment 28255

A couple more pictures.

The first is a typical sight on the edge of one of the ranch roads. That buck would only be a shooter on the last day of a hunt if you were getting desperate, there are much nicer ones down there.

The second is South Texas puppy development. Those pups are about 10 weeks old. The older dog points a covey and the pups are cut loose off the truck to explore, find, flush and chase the birds.

The last picture is the hunt truck we were running the dogs off. There is a seat attached to the front bumper for the dog handler while someone else drives and the hunters ride up top. There are 4 dog boxes are under the hunters seats and the angled boxes near the back have leather gun scabbards inserted for the hunters firearms.

That's a great way to give pups an opportunity to learn and to have an opportunity to enforce the older dog being steady no matter what's going on around him. Great idea.

Jake,
i just got back from Kansas and we thought 4 coveys a day was great, sounds like Texas is the place.
Was hunting season for quail still opened in January?

dave

I think the season goes to February 23rd down there.

I was thinking about the snakes, now I see there's photo of one on FB.
So what about the snakes?
I was talking to some FT in an airport couple years ago, she told me they lose pups to snakes every year...

There are snakes down there but they are hibernating at the moment. The one you saw on FB was a blue indigo that was about 7ft and he lived in the back yard. They are a predator of rattlers so they are good ones to have around. All the dogs get a snake vaccination when they get down there. By the end of the trip in February I think the snakes start to some back out but it has been several years since anyone has lost a dog on the ranch due to a snake.

Has the Griffon been able to keep up with the pace of the other breeds?

Very cool place indeed. Thanks for sharing.

Where abouts in south Texas. My sister in law lives in Conroe about 30min north of Houston.

The ranch is South of Corpus Christi.

Nothing can keep up with the pointers, but hunting quail in the south is what they were bred for so it's no surprise. The versatile breeds are all about the same with the exception being the GSP's. The Vizsla's can run with the pointers but don't share their bird finding ability.

Found it....wow. $3200 for a few days of bird hunting. Might have to save up for that. Looks like a good time.