Hunting season is here! (Eastport, Topsfield: best, teach, permit)

[Maine Writer]

I take my farmcollie because she enjoys flushing them but she's not a bird dog. I don't know anyone who uses bird dogs for partridge, just pheasant and woodcock.

[dmyankee]

Saw a dozen birds in two days. Too much rain and wind is making them skiddish right now and the foliage is tough to see through yet. When we get a few sunny days soon, they will be eating gravel and sitting on the sunny banks.

Usually, they are just standing in the road like a bunch of dumb hens, eating their gravel. We just travel around in low gear and can hear them scratching around on the banks.

Yesterday, we were up in Shawtown area and thought we would come back around through B pond, KI and Hedgehog, near Mock hill. It is a neat little pond with a small Arts and Crafts style lodge and a few old Maine camps at one end.

Right at the concrete pillars at the entrance to B township, there now sits the most massive gate, you ever saw in your life. Both pillars are marked for no vehicular traffic what so ever. I think it might be something the obnoxious AMC picked up lately. I will have to look into it. It's humongous, yellow and nothing short of a LAW rocket will penetrate it.

So we doubled back came around through 3rd and 4th Roach to stop at 2nd Roach where the AMC owns the Medawisla Camps now. No one was around that could answer any questions and the whackjob that was there looked at us like we had two heads.

We came back through Kokadjo area. The place has so many improved roads with camps now, the bird type roads are decimated. There is a ton of logging going on the north side of 1st Roach and they are taking everything! There's almost nothing there but hard and soft wood pecker poles. Nothing for dimensional lumber, hardly. My guess is they are chipping to beat the band.

[tcrackly]

Hey RANGER.101ST Where can someone from Wells find some good partridge hunting with our dog in the Caratunk- Twin Forks area without bothering the neighbors?

[Nor'Eastah]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

I take my farmcollie because she enjoys flushing them but she's not a bird dog. I don't know anyone who uses bird dogs for partridge, just pheasant and woodcock.

Of course, there's no law that you need to take a dog for any type of bird hunting.

But down here, we have folks with lots of nice hunting dogs! It is customary to take your dog out as much as possible to keep him/her in practice, and just to give the dog and owner a nice outdoor experience together. I don't have a bird dog, just a Shep, so I hunt with partners who do.

Traditions differ in various states.

[RANGER.101ST]

Originally Posted by tcrackly

Hey RANGER.101ST Where can someone from Wells find some good partridge hunting with our dog in the Caratunk- Twin Forks area without bothering the neighbors?

any where above plesant pond,or go in past moxie pond and your on plumbcreek land the hardscrable road is just above the forks off 201 20000 acre of plumbcreek land.

[tcrackly]

Thanks, Ranger 101st. We'll be sure to check it out this month. What few birds are here in southern ME flush well beyond where you can see or get a shot at 'em. It's trained the dog to have an extra sensitive nose, though!

[island mermaid]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

Of course, there's no law that you need to take a dog for any type of bird hunting.

But down here, we have folks with lots of nice hunting dogs! It is customary to take your dog out as much as possible to keep him/her in practice, and just to give the dog and owner a nice outdoor experience together. I don't have a bird dog, just a Shep, so I hunt with partners who do.

Traditions differ in various states.

My brother who lives in Portland has always hunted with his chocolate lab, Tucker. Tucker is amazing and doesn't only flush well, he also lunges! There have been a few times when my brother hasn't even need his gun as Tucker snatched them in mid flight. He works as well with ducks. Once a year my brother and his buddies will take a bird hunting trip to the out to mid-west, he always brings his dog. These trips have often yielded more birds than anyone could ever want. The place he goes to will clean the birds and then ship them back to my brother who will then freeze them for future meals. I've always admired a great hunting dog.

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

But down here, we have folks with lots of nice hunting dogs! It is customary to take your dog out as much as possible to keep him/her in practice, and just to give the dog and owner a nice outdoor experience together. I don't have a bird dog, just a Shep, so I hunt with partners who do.

What kind of dogs do they use for partridge? I'm not interested in woodcock or pheasant but I do love a partridge breast on top of a pot of beans. Our youngest dogs are eight. I think I'd like to have a bird dog eventually.

I've always admired a great hunting dog.

They fascinate me. There's a clearing next door to me. Two men come to hunt woodcock with a vizsla and I'm enamored of her. Part of it is newness. I didn't know the breed existed until two years ago. Part of it is how well she works. We have friends who hunt with spaniels that I like a lot too.

[island mermaid]

I've just recently become aquainted with the vizsla as well, having seen them in some of the dog shows. Nice looking dogs.

I've seen an uncle ( not the quirky one) hunt with a springer before. Those dogs are wound up pretty tight. He had one that would take off and not return forever. He'd end up going home and leaving his jacket on the side of the road. He'd come back hours later and sure enough, the dog was laying on his jacket.

[Nor'Eastah]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

What kind of dogs do they use for partridge? I think I'd like to have a bird dog eventually...They fascinate me.

And for a good reason - they are fascinating! I have shown them in the ring, many of the sporting breeds, and you could not ask for a sweeter dog. I love my German Shepherds, but the sporting group is my favorite to handle!

In answer to your question, there is no one bird dog for any particular bird. My club-mates have all manner of spaniels, pointers, retrievers, setters, and Labs. Yes, they do use vizslas and weimaraners. Those are closer to the pointers, and if you are interested in a good all-around bird dog, you can't go wrong with a well-bred pointer. I'm speaking of upland hunting here, not duck/goose hunting.

Look at the different sporting breeds, usually one breed will be attractive to you, then the rest is all in the training - although, as you might expect, much of the hunting instinct is bred into these dogs. My next dog may very well be one of the pointers, as when I get up to Maine, there may not be a club with members who have so many dogs!