hello, from Sacramento

[JonBailey]

I am 50 years old and new to wing-shooting and gun dogs. I have been squirrel hunting and deer hunting in the past. I have also owned a couple Labrador Retrievers in the past as pets who have now passed on.

I am considering a pair of new Labs in the future which are to be trained as all-around good bird dogs for dove, pheasant and duck in northern California.

I also have to learn and master wing-shooting with shotguns.

I will not get into field trialing or fancy pedigrees. None of that crap for me.

I want to keep my hunting endeavors as thrifty as possible while still having a fairly good
chance to be productive in the field. No fancy double guns for me either. Just a good
Mossberg or Remington 12-ga. autoloader. I like the idea of decoying doves in hot spots
as a good feeding field or a water hole.

I have read a few books on feathered-game hunting and Labs, lately:

1. The Labrador Shooting Dog: Training the Labrador Retriever as an all-around Sporting Dog, Mike Gould, 1998
2. Charly "bleep"'s Dove Hunting, 1976
3. The Orvis Guide to Beginning Wingshooting, Tom Deck, 2013

A couple of the books above are too women's lib for my tastes and the Labrador book above has a lot
of drivel and little technical how-to information to actually train a gun dog, step by step.

To be thrifty, I want to master training my future pups properly MYSELF until they become finished gun dogs.

Some good books and how-to videos on detailed gun dog training would be a boon to me.

[nikegundog]

I am 50 years old and new to wing-shooting and gun dogs. I have been squirrel hunting and deer hunting in the past. I have also owned a couple Labrador Retrievers in the past as pets who have now passed on.

I am considering a pair of new Labs in the future which are to be trained as all-around good bird dogs for dove, pheasant and duck in northern California.

I also have to learn and master wing-shooting with shotguns.

I will not get into field trialing or fancy pedigrees. None of that crap for me.

I want to keep my hunting endeavors as thrifty as possible while still having a fairly good
chance to be productive in the field. No fancy double guns for me either. Just a good
Mossberg or Remington 12-ga. autoloader. I like the idea of decoying doves in hot spots
as a good feeding field or a water hole.

I have read a few books on feathered-game hunting and Labs, lately:

1. The Labrador Shooting Dog: Training the Labrador Retriever as an all-around Sporting Dog, Mike Gould, 1998
2. Charly "bleep"'s Dove Hunting, 1976
3. The Orvis Guide to Beginning Wingshooting, Tom Deck, 2013

A couple of the books above are too women's lib for my tastes and the Labrador book above has a lot
of drivel and little technical how-to information to actually train a gun dog, step by step.

To be thrifty, I want to master training my future pups properly MYSELF until they become finished gun dogs.

Some good books and how-to videos on detailed gun dog training would be a boon to me.

Welcome to the forum, a lot of great information can be found here about gundogs and hunting if people come here to learn. Every so often someone new comes here to piss off friendly members at every turn (can't imagine what they hope to accomplish by this), just hoping your not one of those guys. Good luck in your new endeavors.

[Ez4]

Welcome to GDF. I'm also in Northern California. I've spent some time following pheasant outside Roseville with my Chesapeake.

As for training resources I haven't made it through everything I have yet, but I do really like two of the books I picked up not too long ago. You can find paperback on Amazon for a reasonable price.

10 Minute Retriever by John and Amy Dahl - All around fantastic and easy to read due to being so well written and organized. Breaks things down into 10 minute sessions as a starting platform. One can always do more, but it's very efficient for a busy professional with bird dogs. Elements of both upland and duck hunting. Also talks about the subtle differences between the retriever breeds which I found fun.

Water Dog by Richard Wolters - An old school waterfowler's book, has a lot of great information and exercises in it.

Good luck with your future pups.

[slistoe]

If you just want to teach your dog to "get stuff" and be a personable, reliable companion, James Lamb Free's book "Training Your Retriever" still works. A good part of the book talks about trials so you can ignore that part and the bit about women in there will teach you a little humility.

[Sharon]