Frankie chukar hunt recap 9/24/16

I haven't done any riding posts lately...mostly because my rides as of late have been boring/frustrating/generally crap. My dog, however, is amazing. 

We took Frankie for his first official hunt this weekend. The preserve where we took him for training was having a special hunt for training customers, this was a nice opportunity to get him out and on birds before pheasant season on public land gets started. This was also a totally new experience for John and I and I found out that I really like preserve hunting because 1) you know how many birds are out there for you to find (and that there are birds out there in the first place lol!) and 2) You have a specific area to work with and don't have to worry about bothering other hunters, which is great because we are still learning. I'm not sure if there is a "right way" to do hunt recaps but I will give it a try! 

Weather: Low 70s, clear skies 

Bird 1: Frankie found and pointed his first bird almost right away! John flushed and hit it over some thick cover. Frankie did a great retrieve, yeah! 

Bird 2: Frankie pointed this one but not quite as strongly as the first, I ended up asking him to relocate and he got a steadier point. John flushed and missed, Frankie listened to the "no bird" command and stayed close (this is a big deal as it took him a little while to learn to do this). 

Bird 3: A nice point by Frankie and he stayed really steady while John flushed and shot...I don't remember if he hit this one or not! 

Bird 4: Frankie was getting a bit tired at this point (it was warm and the cover was higher than he is used to). He pointed this one in a clump of grass...I think John hit this one as well.

Bird 5: We must have walked by this one at least 3 times! I ended up accidentally finding if for Frankie when I almost stepped on it! 

Bird 6: Was running along the ground in front of us...no one knew what to do! Frankie stayed close to me while John walked up on it, flushed and hit it over thick cover. Frankie retrieved it with a little help.

Overall I thought this hunt was a great, positive experience for all! I hope we get to do some more preserve hunting this season!

I am holding the gun for the picture, but John took all the shots :)

Additional Frankie picture