This Week's Hunting Dog Pointer Pictures

Honey, it is hot in Midland, Texas on an early fall day at 7 a.m.!! Every Saturday morning, we’ve been taking our dogs out and working them on quail. Those dogs love, love, love their jobs, though, and they get to it, and quickly. Hunting dogs are such a pleasure to watch. When I’m through working Zack, I grab my camera and go trekking out behind the next competitor. Here are some pix from this past Saturday.

Here’s Zack the Wonder Dog – ready to go for his second time. If we didn’t give him a rest, he would go all day. He loves hunting.

I haven't quite figured out how to take pictures of him and shoot over him simultaneously, but here's one pix of Zack on point. I may have to get Awesome Photographer Extraordinaire Eric out to hang with us one Saturday so I can get good Zack pix. What do you think, Eric, are you up for it?

Ace is an English pointer. He is beautiful. He stops well away from the bird, giving you time to get up to the bird to flush it. Ace will not move - if he could talk, he would say, "It's up there, go get it, so I can do my job!" And in the field, this boy is a machine. If a bird acts like it’s going to flush, he stands. He may flinch, but his feet do not move – he will not move prematurely. Amazing.
Here, Ram is bringing the bird to his master. Notice any similarities to Zack? Ram is Zack’s littermate. Ram’s really a sweetie, but he’s not much on this practice penned birds game. He’s a wild bird man, himself. Ram wants the real thing – he wants quail season to open. Still, he did his job, and did it well. Meet little Miss Tracy. She’s a young pup, but let me tell you – the girl is automatic. Yesterday, there was no wind. She would get past the bird bag, and just lock down – her body would be facing the way she was heading, but her head would be pointing back at the bird, as in this picture below. The orange bag has a live quail in it, which the shooter releases in flight. And Tracy would not move until you let that bird go. She’s so precise, it’s almost comical.
Tracy’s owners moved to West Texas from California, and decided to get into the field trial and shooting sports. We are enjoying getting to know them, and I think they’re settling into Texas life really well! They drove up from San Angelo yesterday to meet us at dawn so they could work their dogs. That's dedication to their dogs and this sport, I'm telling you. I'm proud of them.

It's a good thing I don't have to choose between hunting dog photography and shooting sports - I am loving both.