ALMOND FARM AFTER THE RAINS

[DOA 0]

Met with my buddy Eric 1/2 way down to the farm at a parking lot. He being the young man that he is was draggin ass after partying the night before and called to say he'd be a little late so I took my little crossed bitch out of her box and emptied her out and figured I'd get a few pic's for you guys seeing how I enjoy seeing your dogs as well when they are off duty when you can get a better look at em. They are 13 mo.

My bitch below

 

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Another shot of her

 

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Eric arrives and we throw all of the dogs and our shit in his truck. After we make a stop at a bakery to pick up a few pies for the farmer and his family and we are on our way.

Today we brought Sinner (griz stuff), her son Zeus and my bitch (pattbulls).

Farmer Jim was cool as ever and I was glad he wanted to hunt with us. He informed me that the skunks have been breeding like mad and asked us if we'd seen them littered along the road in. He also told us they got 3 inches of rain this week and the creek is pretty blown out. We let the dogs loose and we're on our way.

 

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A lot of the berry bushes we worked prior were now flooded or recovering from the flood and many were sitting in standing water. Below is a spot that has beavers.

 

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On the edge of a steep sloop along the creek Sinner finds a hole she likes. She is digging like mad to open up the hole wider.

 

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The hole was wider than a ground squirrel hole but not big enough for her to glide through so I helped her clear some dirt and allowed her back in. She was about 2 to 3 feet down and about a foot and a half to the left digging and I removed her again. I took a dead stick and probed the tube she was working. It still felt small and figured it could only be one thing. Skunk!

I told Eric to put her on lead while I bury it back up. I know I probably should have worked hard with her to get what she was on due to she wanted it REAL bad but I am pretty sure it wasn't anything note worthy due to the size of the tube and without getting on anything yet I didn't want her to get B'LASTED. Did I do the right thing?

 

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Now on the other side of the creek we work our way back. The dogs really liked this pile of logs. There wasn't anything home but their energy doubled when they checked it. Something must have recently occupied it?

 

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After that we hit a large brush pile. It appeared to have no sign of life and remained quiet for a minute or so while the dogs pushed through its maze of debris. Next thing we know there are quail being flushed in all directions. If that was our goal and if we had a shot gun we would have had dinner and then some. I can see if you are a quail hunter how valuable a dog can be out in the field. If we were hunting without a dog for quail we would have never known anything was in there.

As many of you know I am new to hunting dogs and many things they do impress me weather it is that big of a deal or not? Anyway as we were hunting through out the day I began to notice Zeus. He is the crossed male that was climbing a tree after a coon in the video I posted a few days back. Today I really noticed he wasn't following his momma as much and was instead free lancing a bit more on his own while working ahead at times bustin the berry bushes. He was less interested in what his mom might catch and more focus and greedy about getting one of his own.

 

At the end of the day the highlight for me came. All 3 dogs became very interested in a BIG bunch or berry's that were not on the creeks edge but instead in the middle of the field. They were all smashing around in those bushes making the same amount of noise when I heard one dog on the opposite end of the berrys begin to lunge and dart around in there very quickly. This went on for about 5 seconds and then a cotton tailed rabbit bolted out haulin ass across the field and went into the brush pile the quail were in at least 50 yards away. Zeus came out shortly and looked around quickly and then put his nose to the ground and did a funny zig zag pattern. 10 feet or more to the left followed by cutting right while gradually zig zagging across the field and right on the path the rabbit had taken?

(example of what it looked like to me below. The rabbits path in Yellow and Zeus in Red)

 

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(curious why Zeus tracked the rabbit like this? I don't know shit but assumed when a dog tracks they stay on the preys line of travel and follow it?) What does it mean when a dog tracks like this if anything?

He went all the way to the brush pile where the rabbit was now hiding before Sinner caught up to him. Once he saw her at the pile he ran back to the starting point? I was hoping he would work that pile again and bolt the rabbit a second time but he didn't. At any rate I thought it looked kind of cool watching him follow that rabbits trail the way he did even though he hadn't seen were it went. Having eyes six feet off of the ground I saw exactly where it ran along with the exact path it took. Watching Zeus track it was like seeing someone take a test and you have a cheat sheet with all the answers. lol

 

Like I said I don't know much about hunting dogs and don't know why he tracked the rabbit like he did or if that is good or bad. I know terriers aren't supposed to be into rabbits but tracking the trail of a rabbit that was skidding the surface of the earth while it bolted I thought was neat. Especially for a pup that has only been out two times prior? Thoughts?

He was a lot more focused than my bitch his sister and seems to be getting it quicker? My bitch seems to be hunting at times and imitating the other dogs at others?

Anyway,

we didn't get on a coon today...But it was a cool day just the same. Do big storms with flooding get coon out of the bushes for a while?

 

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Good Hunting, MA

 

 

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Edited February 3, 2010 by DOA

[DOA 0]

SORRY GUYS THE LINKS TO THE PICTURES ARE KIND OF LAGGY, SOMTIMES THEY WORK SOMTIMES THEY DO NOT. I AM STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE SITE. ALSO THIS IS A REPORT FROM MY BUDDY MA, I WAS WITH HIM ON THE HUNT I AM ERIC AND MY DOG IS ZUES THE MALE TERRIER CROSS.

[Buch 145]

Nice post mate.

[darrell jnr 16]

welldone fella.s and cool write up ...the more you,s get out hunting your dogs the more you,lllearn ,that goes for the dogs too...cracking terriers too ...atb...yis..darrell.

[goldfinch2007 2,331]

as darrell said,youll learn more and more everytime your out.why the dogs can find some days and struggle on others.what makes a good scenting day etc.we all learn something new every day, welcome to hunting

[DOA 0]

Thanks, we will keep workin the dogs. it looks like a few pups from this litter are going to do alright. time will tell. We have made sure everything we do is very controlled at this point. time will tell.