The cat that was at the cabin during deer hunting season has a new home and a new name. Annie Cat for Orphan Annie.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
The cat at the cabin found a home.
The cat that was at the cabin during deer hunting season has a new home and a new name. Annie Cat for Orphan Annie.
More on Turkey dogs (No, not the kind you eat.)
Life with half of a turkey dog
By Bill Cochran
Someone found the abandoned puppy along the highway and picked it up and took it to my son and daughter-in-law’s house. They had just lost their beloved dog to cancer. They agreed to keep the puppy overnight, then decide if they wanted to adopt it.
They might as well have had a sign on their door that said: “We are suckers for strays.” You know what happened.
The puppy had a pudgy face, was fat as a furry football and black as coal. They named him Bear.
He was of unknown lineage, but you could tell he had Lab in him and who knows what else. As he grew up, he proved to be an opportunist looking for a good time, the kind of dog that jumps up on you, runs off for long periods and pays scant attention when you call. But Bear had a way of calming your anger and winning you over with a couple thumps of his tail.
I don’t know what compelled us, but my son and I decided to take Bear hunting one day. We discovered that he was first class when it came to locating and flushing turkeys. Before long, both my son and I had killed a turkey or two with Bear’s help. Fact is, we seldom went into the woods without Bear finding and flushing turkeys.
Years earlier, I had hunted turkeys with dogs owned and trained by Kit Shaffer, a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist. Friends would give Kit failed bird dogs, usually renegade setters that would rather pounce than point. He would give them a home and turn them into well-disciplined turkey dogs. Such critters were rare back in the 70s.
Later I ran into John Byrne, a Southern Gentleman cattle grower in Bedford County, who trained and hunted turkey dogs with his son J.T. At the time, these were the only sportsmen using turkey dogs that I knew about in Virginia.
What you need is a wide-ranging dog that will trail, scatter flocks with hard-charging enthusiasm, bark to announce the location of the flush, then have the discipline to recline perfectly still, maybe while zipped into a camouflaged bag, as the turkeys regroup to your calls.
Such a beast is rare, because you want them running headlong and barking one minute and perfectly still the next. They are the product of intelligence and training. Yet there appears to be more turkey dogs now than, say, 20 or so years ago. Maybe because there are more turkeys and turkey hunters.
I am aware of a few such dogs and their proud owners:
> Carson Quarles, a banker and former DGIF board member who lives in Roanoke County, had a Boykin spaniel named Brandy that was a member of the family and a superb turkey dog. Ill health overtook her and at age 14 and she had to be put to sleep this fall.
Carson and his wife, Norma, did the best thing you can do when you are grieving over a lost hunting buddy. Get another one. Just in time for Christmas, they have in their home a Boykin pup from South Carolina named Amanda Belle, or Mandy for short.
> Dennis Campbell owns a 6-year old Brittany spaniel turkey dog that has been on the Outdoor Channel. Campbell, who lives in Waynesboro, was a staff member of the National Wild Turkey Federation for a number of years and now is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of the Quality Deer Management Association.
> Gratten Hepler, who lives in Covington, has trained and hunted turkey dogs for more than 30 years, and written a book on the subject titled “Turkey Dog Tales.” It is published by Author House, www.AuthorHouse.com.
Back to Bear, he has a great nose for turkeys, his broad chest and muscular legs make him a flushing machine, but, alas, he doesn’t bark and he isn’t about to cast aside his natural inclinations and lie still in a camo bag when turkeys are approaching—even when turkeys aren’t approaching.
So when Bear flushes turkeys, one of us has to take him back to the vehicle while the other is just about guaranteed a shot. You take the risk of drawing the short straw when you have just half of a turkey dog. But some days that is better than none at all.
THE LAST LEG of Virginia’s fall turkey season opened Dec. 11 and continues through June 6. Virginia is one of a dozen states that permits turkey hunting with dogs during the fall season.
By Bill Cochran
Someone found the abandoned puppy along the highway and picked it up and took it to my son and daughter-in-law’s house. They had just lost their beloved dog to cancer. They agreed to keep the puppy overnight, then decide if they wanted to adopt it.
They might as well have had a sign on their door that said: “We are suckers for strays.” You know what happened.
The puppy had a pudgy face, was fat as a furry football and black as coal. They named him Bear.
He was of unknown lineage, but you could tell he had Lab in him and who knows what else. As he grew up, he proved to be an opportunist looking for a good time, the kind of dog that jumps up on you, runs off for long periods and pays scant attention when you call. But Bear had a way of calming your anger and winning you over with a couple thumps of his tail.
I don’t know what compelled us, but my son and I decided to take Bear hunting one day. We discovered that he was first class when it came to locating and flushing turkeys. Before long, both my son and I had killed a turkey or two with Bear’s help. Fact is, we seldom went into the woods without Bear finding and flushing turkeys.
Years earlier, I had hunted turkeys with dogs owned and trained by Kit Shaffer, a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist. Friends would give Kit failed bird dogs, usually renegade setters that would rather pounce than point. He would give them a home and turn them into well-disciplined turkey dogs. Such critters were rare back in the 70s.
Later I ran into John Byrne, a Southern Gentleman cattle grower in Bedford County, who trained and hunted turkey dogs with his son J.T. At the time, these were the only sportsmen using turkey dogs that I knew about in Virginia.
What you need is a wide-ranging dog that will trail, scatter flocks with hard-charging enthusiasm, bark to announce the location of the flush, then have the discipline to recline perfectly still, maybe while zipped into a camouflaged bag, as the turkeys regroup to your calls.
Such a beast is rare, because you want them running headlong and barking one minute and perfectly still the next. They are the product of intelligence and training. Yet there appears to be more turkey dogs now than, say, 20 or so years ago. Maybe because there are more turkeys and turkey hunters.
I am aware of a few such dogs and their proud owners:
> Carson Quarles, a banker and former DGIF board member who lives in Roanoke County, had a Boykin spaniel named Brandy that was a member of the family and a superb turkey dog. Ill health overtook her and at age 14 and she had to be put to sleep this fall.
Carson and his wife, Norma, did the best thing you can do when you are grieving over a lost hunting buddy. Get another one. Just in time for Christmas, they have in their home a Boykin pup from South Carolina named Amanda Belle, or Mandy for short.
> Dennis Campbell owns a 6-year old Brittany spaniel turkey dog that has been on the Outdoor Channel. Campbell, who lives in Waynesboro, was a staff member of the National Wild Turkey Federation for a number of years and now is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of the Quality Deer Management Association.
> Gratten Hepler, who lives in Covington, has trained and hunted turkey dogs for more than 30 years, and written a book on the subject titled “Turkey Dog Tales.” It is published by Author House, www.AuthorHouse.com.
Back to Bear, he has a great nose for turkeys, his broad chest and muscular legs make him a flushing machine, but, alas, he doesn’t bark and he isn’t about to cast aside his natural inclinations and lie still in a camo bag when turkeys are approaching—even when turkeys aren’t approaching.
So when Bear flushes turkeys, one of us has to take him back to the vehicle while the other is just about guaranteed a shot. You take the risk of drawing the short straw when you have just half of a turkey dog. But some days that is better than none at all.
THE LAST LEG of Virginia’s fall turkey season opened Dec. 11 and continues through June 6. Virginia is one of a dozen states that permits turkey hunting with dogs during the fall season.
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