I picked up my eight-week-old yellow Lab puppy in Minnesota last week. The drive home took a straight 17 hours and my body still feels like it’s moving. She is a cute little white ball of energy called Rosalee. After having her home for a week, we are thinking of changing her name to White Tornado. If she’s isn’t chewing something, she is depositing something messy where it shouldn’t be. It’s been eight years since we’ve had a pup in the house and I’d forgotten how someone has to have eyes on a puppy at all times. Lose her for a second and something bad is going to happen. Our lives have just changed to revolve around this little Labrador retriever for many years to come. My eight-year-old Lab is a real gentleman around the house and is highly offended by this new little interloper with her brazen attitude. He wants nothing to do with her and has told her so a few times as she tries to bite his ear or lick his food bowl. I’m hoping her incredibly adorable cuteness will wear him down and they will soon become best buds.
Why did I go to Minnesota when there are plenty of good Lab breeders in New York? I was looking for a particular bloodline that I have had much success with in the past. My eight-year-old Lab came from Wildrose kennels in Mississippi (uklabs.com). They import many of their stud dogs from the United Kingdom. Breeders in England, Ireland and Scotland breed for the calmest nature, biddability, hunting desire and ability to scent game. I love his smaller size and calm temperament and the switch he turns on when the guns come out, he inherently knows it is game on. When I contacted Wildrose for another pup, I learned that they were booked for yellow female pups for the next two years so I looked elsewhere. I found Rosalee at Diamond J Kennels in Minnesota (ukbritlabs.com). It is a much smaller operation than Wildrose, but with many similar bloodlines.
I look forward to training Rosalee over the next year and will keep you updated on her training progresses. I have trained numerous hunting dogs over the years including Labs, springer spaniels, beagles and even a few coon hounds. Once you’ve trained a hound dog, whether it be beagle or a coon hound, every other breed is a breeze. Most hounds are blockheads. They hunt for themselves and if you happen to be with them while they are hunting, good for you and if you’re not, that’s your problem … not theirs. Bird dogs, on the other hand, hunt for their owners. Labs in particular have a tremendous desire to please, biddability is the word they use in breeders’ circles. Labs want to do your bidding and make you happy.
The million-dollar question is if it is even worth owning a bird dog here in Western New York anymore. There are plenty of ducks and geese for retriever breeds, but as for your other bird dogs it’s tough to justify owning one when there is nothing to hunt. Sadly, the days of hunting wild pheasants in Western New York are long gone. Bird hunters over fifty years of age will tell you how good this area once was for wild pheasants; however, New York has no wild pheasant hunting to speak of anymore. You can hunt ruffed grouse if you travel to the Southern Tier or to the Adirondacks, but that hunting is spotty at best. That’s about it for wild bird hunting in New York. The DEC does release pen-raised pheasants on numerous state lands around the state and there are also a number of game farms where you can hunt pen-raised pheasants, quail and chukars. These are great for training a young dog but the actual hunting is a far cry from hunting the wild birds of my youth. One other option bird dog owners have is to travel west in the fall. I drive my Labs to northeast Montana each October just to experience the wild pheasant hunting I had enjoyed in Western New York as a kid.
However, there is now a potential bright spot on the horizon for bird hunters in New York. There is a bill in the Senate now (A0777) that would open a dove hunting season in New York. Hunting doves is a great way to get a young dog, or better yet a young person, started in hunting. The season usually opens in September while the weather is still nice; no freezing in a duck blind for a young person or dog. There is usually plenty of action to keep both pup and young hunter interested and it is something you can do as a group, so the comradery level is high. Not to mention that these grain-fed birds are extremely tasty. New York is one of the few states in the country that doesn’t currently have a mourning dove hunting season. If you would like to help get this bill passed to hunt doves in New York call your Senator or Senator Flanagan at 631-361-2154 and tell them you would like them to introduce a Senate version of Assembly Bill 7778. This bill would allow dove hunting in New York. If you actually get to speak to a Senator, tell him/her that there are many of us in the hunting community who want the law changed. Chances are you will get someone working for the Senator. Ask to speak to the Legislative Aide that handles hunting issues and speak your mind to them. New York’s upland bird hunting has severely declined over the past forty years and a mourning dove season would give it a boost,
When all is said and done most bird dogs make great family pets, hunting or no hunting. Before you go out and buy a hunting dog, do your homework. Remember the choice you make is a dog you will have to live with for the next fifteen years or so. When picking a breed of bird dog keep in mind that no matter how much of a hardcore hunter you are, the dog you choose is still going to be a family dog 95% of the time.
As I am writing this article, Rosalee has finally settled down and is napping. It won’t last long so I must quickly finish before she wakes and gets to gnawing on my computer cords again. I will keep you posted on her progress as the year goes on.
Now call your State Senator’s office and let’s get this dove hunting bill passed. If you don’t know who your Senator is you can go to (nysenate.gov/find-my-senator.com).
Let’s make Western New York’s bird hunting great again.
