On a warm day, Cash, drinking from my hydration pack.

Just a quick reminder to all of you who are running your dogs in the off season, in regards to excise and training. As temperatures rise lets all be conscious of the heat. Making more water available to our dogs, shortening the length of their runs, and trying to use the cool morning and evening hours for their exercises will help keep them safe, healthy, and happy. Every year dogs die from heat exhaustion that could have been prevented, and sadly it is nobody fault but the dog handlers. Lets make sure that this does not happen to any of our dogs...

In most parts of the country snake season in now upon us, so lets be conscious of that as well. I have bumped into one rattler already. Any unusual swelling or unusual behavior during, or after, a run this time of year earns an immediate trip to the vet. Running your dogs in the early morning hours always gives you the best the best odds of avoiding snakes. Snake bites can happen at any time though, so be prepared. There is a ton of good information on the Internet regarding snake bites and dogs, and obviously you veterinarian in the best resource to answer all or your questions. So, if you haven't already, please take the time do do a little research. It could save your dogs life.

This is a great time of year to take your dog(s) swimming. It is great for their health, their joints, and their overall conditioning. For you guys with retrieving dogs this is standard practice, but for us pointing dog people it can be part of our summer conditioning program as well. I have seen a few pointers that hate to swim, but most love it. My dogs love to swim and are very good at it. They have had lots of opportunities to swim since they were just puppies, so now when the rare opportunity arises for them to make a water retrieve, they are all over it. And at the end of the day, hunting dog or not, most dogs just love to play in the water.

Jay Kincaid

For a couple of years now I have been telling myself that I am going to do this 50K/32 mile foot race here in the spring. Every year I have come up with a good excuse to not do it. (The mileage is a little scary, but the 5800 feet of climbing is really scary.) This last Saturday I ran about half of the race course and it felt pretty good. Like always, the dogs ran with me, and together we had a good time. We ran through some areas that really looked like they should be holding quail, but the dogs didn’t find any. It is amazing how good at hunting that dogs are. I guess they have to be, as in the wild that is how they make a living. Whenever I would see cover that looked like it could be holding quail, sure enough I would notice that the dogs were already checking it out, or were on their way to check it out. They have pointed enough birds in their life time to probably have a better idea of what looks “birdy” and what doesn’t than I do. They sure have a one track mind… I could be out in the middle of the Sahara Desert and they would still be looking for chukar and quail. All of you with bird dogs know what I am talking about. They are nuts! Scratch that… I should say, all of you with dogs know what I am talking about. They are ALL a little whacko, but that’s why we love them.

One of the things that I like about running is that it really gives me the opportunity to do my clearest thinking. I really should run with a voice recorder so that I can record my thoughts, although that might be a little coo-coo. As it happens more often than not my mind wonders to all sorts of places, but inevitably I find myself reflecting on old bird hunting memories and old friends. Below is a short video clip that I took this last season of Porter and Cash while hunting chukar. I had forgotten about this video, as a result I never posted it to my blog, but this morning I was reminded of it when I saw it on another blog;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpn_phC5crU

Jay Kincaid

I was fishing the lower river on the Truckee yesterday and it reminded me so much of the lower Owyhee River. It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, 70 degrees, and if I didn’t know better I could have just as well been standing in the banks of the Owyhee River in October. My favorite place in the world to hunt is the Owyhee River because of its beauty, it hunting opportunity, and most of all because of the memories that I have in that place. I had a really hectic hunting season and life in general this year with the arrival of twins at the beginning of November. I was still able to get out and hunt a lot, only one day less than the year before, but my days were short and close to home. Because of the crazy season, yesterday was the first time since the bird season closed that I really missed it. It got my mind thinking about next season, and it gave me the opportunity to reflect back on this last season. Last night I went through some of my photos from the year and I pulled a few out that stirred my memory.

Paolo, Darin, and myself went grouse hunting for three days in September and we had a really good time. There were lots of birds to be had, the dogs had a great time, and the hunt was all around filled with a lot of great memories. This picture is of Cash retrieving a Blue Grouse on the first morning of our hunt. I believe we shot 8 birds that day, and that evening we sat around the fire with tired legs eating our game and laughing about the day.

The stars of all of my bird hunting trips, Porter and Cash. I believe that I took this picture the second evening of the Grouse hunt. At this point in the evening the dogs had full belly’s, just the right amount of tired in their legs, and had to be the two happiest dogs in the world, cuddled up under the sleeping bags with one more day to hunt.

It is weird, but I remember when I took this photo thinking that if Cash was to fall over dead right there, he would have died a very happy dog in one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen. Cash was on point for some time in this exact spot as I stopped and just stared at him for a while. Something about this view, with him on point, was really special for me.

I had my limit of Chukar early in the day, so in the afternoon I decided to take the dogs along the river for a short hunt to see if we could get into some quail. We ended up having a really nice shoot, but I have one memory from that hunt that I will remember forever. Both dogs were on point and I could see the covey running in the deep sage brush in front of me. One bird busted out of the covey to fly across the river, and just when the bird was almost out of range I finally got on him and shot. The bird immediately hit the water, but just as fast as it had gone down it jumped back up out of the water, flew across the river, and crashed into the bushes on the other side. Both of my dogs will happily retrieve out of the water, but I was sure that this bird was gone as it was now over 100 yards away on the other side. Next thing I know I hear a big splash and I see Cash swimming across the river. I thought that he was just going to swim to where he saw the bird first hit the water, but as he got to that spot he just kept going. As he hit the bank on the other side he was within 5 feet of where that quail had crashed into the bushes, and in short order he had the bird and was swimming back with it. I stood there in amazement until I realized that I had better take a picture or nobody would believe what my “pointing” dog just did.

On this day I first hunted a couple of spots that had always held good numbers of birds, but with no success. I showed up at the next spot on my list, let the dogs out, and killed my 8 bird Oregon limit in about 30 minutes. I had situations where I had dogs on point on one covey, and there where so many other coveys around that birds that were not even being pointed would get confused and run right through my dogs on point. I am talking about within feet of my dogs. Did I mention it is nice to have steady dogs… Anyway, on the way back to the four wheeler, with my limit in my bird bag, I just took pictures of the dogs going on point every 100 yards or so. I would take a few pictures, walk over and flush the birds, release the dogs, and repeat the process. Very fun.

This was really cool. I had just had a good point up the hill from this rock pile, pulled the trigger twice but only killed one bird. I thought that I had missed the second bird clean, which it turned out I had. We got down to this rock pile and both dogs went on point right on top of the big rock with the empty shotgun shell on top of it. I walked around in that rock pile for probably 5 minutes, and nothing. I tried to release the dogs and they wouldn’t move, I crawled around under the rock looking for a cripple, thinking that maybe I had hit that second bird from early. Finally, after all of that, one lone chukar came busting out at my feet, and I was able to swing around a knock him down. Cash retrieved the bird and both dogs kind of looked at me as if to say, “duh, I was trying to tell you that it was right here the whole time”.

On this day I was hunting with my Dad. We were fallowing Cash up a hill, and I kept blowing the whistle for Porter to come because he was way down the hill to our right and I wanted him hunting this particular spot in front of us. Finally I realized that he wasn’t coming because he was on point. Feeling like an idiot, and rightfully so, Dad and I found Porter with the GPS and sure enough he was on point. I flushed the covey and we killed three birds.

Porter and Cash were the stars of the show this particular weekend as we were filming with a television show. Quail were the game of choice on this particular day, and we had a great time. We got some really good content for the show, laughed a lot, had a lot of good opportunities for birds, and in general had a really memorable day. This picture is of Porter on point with my buddy Derick shooting. When you are in so many birds that you are happy to just put the gun away for a few minutes and take pictures, you know it is a good day.

I just really like this picture of Cash. He had just made a great point in some really swirly winds, retrieved a crippled bird, and was just standing there next to me with the bird like it was no big deal.

It seems like Cash is always in my pictures, and I don't show as many pictures of Porter, in comparison. The reality is that because of Cash's color he really just shows up better in pictures. Porter really blends in, and even in the best of pictures doesn't look as good as Cash would in the same situation. So, here is another picture of Porter doing what he does. His dog work is very good even if he doesn't look as good in photos.

Jay Kincaid

Upland Bird Season is now over here in Nevada. I had a great last week of the season, and really a great season in general. I definitely added some great memories this year that I hope I never forget. I will reflect more on those at a later time.

Once again I made it through the year without any major injuries to the dogs which is obviously very important. It really is amazing that year after year they can cover literally hundreds of miles of really nasty terrain without any major injuries. Nothing more than some bumps and bruises, the occasional sore pad, and a few minor cuts. I attribute that to four things:
• First, my dogs run year round with me, off leash, at least three days a week. I like to run, so I always take them with me to places that they can run too. This not only keeps their muscles, tendons, heart, lungs, and feet, in great shape but it also believe that it teaches them how to run efficiently in the high desert terrain. There is no “getting in shape” for hunting season, because they always have a very good base level of fitness. With conditioning you can increase muscle strength in a dog in a couple of months, but you can’t increase tendon and ligament strength in that same amount of time, and that is generally where injuries occur.
• Second, I always feed my dogs immediately after I am finished hunting before we load up and drive an hour, or up to three or more hours home. Anyone who has ever been an athlete knows that recovery is the single most important aspect to fitness, and the most effective time to refuel your body for recovery is immediately after it has been depleted. I can’t imagine running a marathon then climbing in the back of a cold truck for three hours on a completely empty stomach. That is a lot of stress on a body that is already under stress. I believe that this kind of stress causes injuries, and will ultimately shorten the length of your dogs hunting life. Food, water, and a warm kennel will go a long way, and they certainly deserve it as hard as they work.
• Third, I feed my dogs raw food. There is simply no better way to feed your dogs than raw food, without question. The best endurance athletes in the world are not fueling their bodies with McDonalds, filler foods, preservatives, meat byproducts, etc… With that said, there are some really quality dog foods on the market these days that I would feel good about feeding my dogs. A lot of manufactures, though not necessarily major brands, now have grain free dog foods with quality ingredients. Please do a little bit of your own research, and learn for yourself about dog nutrition. Do not believe the advertisements that you read in your favorite hunting magazine without doing your own research. And if I could recommend one book that every dog owner should read it is called, Food Pets Die For. A dogs life is far too short, and if we can extend that life, or the quality of that life because of better nutrition, I am all for it.
• Fourth, a little bit of good luck goes a long way.

Enough about that, here are some pictures from the weekend.

Cash Retrieving.

Porter Retrieving. I could have finished up early with my limit if I did not have my camera in my hand. As I was taking pictures I had singles jumping up all around me. Oh well, I am glad I got the pictures, and I just had to work a little harder for my limit.

Cash after a long retrieve. This is one of my favorite pictures from the season. The lighting makes the photo.

My buddy Justin knocked this bird down crippled, little P-Dog got on its track and I knew that he would get it. We both stood there relaxing while I watched Porter on my GPS. He tracked it for about 200 yards, then I could see on the GPS that he was coming back, and just like he does 9 times out of 10, he came back into sight with the bird. That dog can track a crippled bird down as well as any dog that I have ever seen. Paolo and I watched him track one over 400 yards last season. That particular time we could see him the whole time as we were up on a rim above him. I sure wished that I had a video camera with me that day because picture do not do it justice. I have been around hunting dogs for much of my life, and I am constantly amazed by them. I am sure that you can all relate.

I hope that you all had a great hunting season, and that you have a bunch of new memories with your own hunting dogs. Whether you have been bird hunting for years, or you are just getting started, I really appreciate that you read my blog.

Jay Kincaid

After hunting really hard last weekend only to have little success, and this being the last week of the season, I had to take yesterday off work so that I had a chance to redeem myself. My buddy Darin picked me up yesterday morning at about 6am, we drove to a new spot that he found for quail, and from there proceed to have a great hunt. All of the dogs got a lot of good work in and everyone was very happy at the day’s end. At the end of every season there are always a handful of unique moments in the field that you remember for years, and yesterday definitely had a few of those moments. Big thanks go out to Darin for sharing a great day with me.

I don’t think that there is anything more fun than hunting upland birds in the snow. There might not be much snow here, but seeing tracks on the ground was a sight for sore eyes. This season has been exceptionally dry and we need a lot more moisture.

The result of a good day in the field. These birds are going to be tasty.

Jay Kincaid