54 American Shooting Journal // August 2019ROAD HUNTER
bird up after that,” was the consensus
I got. That didn’t stop me, for I figured
that was easily remedied.
When Echo brought the first dove
to hand, she sat on command. Quickly
I picked the feathers from her mouth,
gave her a drink, and promptly shot
another dove, then another. We
repeated the feather picking from her
mouth, followed by a quick drink, aftereach bird.
Even before the hunt, I felt confident
Echo would retrieve a dove, no matter
how many feathers came out. She was
taught to retrieve multiple objects early,
and had never questioned my direction.
Why would doves be different?
The next big test came a few minutes
later, when a string of doves flew by. I
connected on a double, with the firstbird falling in short grass. Echo marked
it and was off. She didn’t see the second
bird, which fell in waist-high dry grass. I
eventually directed Echo to that bird by
using whistles and hand signals, which
wasn’t easy because she had her head
down in the tall grass. But soon Echo
found the bird and brought it to me. It
was her first double retrieve.
We would leave the hills with a limit
of doves and band-tailed pigeons. It was
a good start to the season, and I couldn’t
have been more proud of my pup.
I’ve hunted around the world,
behind many dogs. I always love the
experience, and the dogs. The fact that
my first game bird, taken at age 12,
was a dove, and now Echo’s first game
bird was also a dove, gave even deeper
meaning to the hunt.
The next day we hunted a different
area. We were still in the Cascade
foothills of western Oregon, but this time
in big timber, a place I’d hunted band-
tailed pigeons since I was a kid. There
are mineral springs in this hideaway, and
they attract pigeons for miles.
Knock a bandtail from the sky, and
the feather trail that slowly trickles to
earth makes it easy for a dog to mark,
even a pup. Though the limit is only two
birds, the effort is more than worth it.
Echo marked one bird that fell through
a gap between two towering Douglas fir
trees, and promptly brought it to hand
without my saying a word or blowing
the whistle. The second bird took more
work, as it fell in thick brush.
By the end of September, Echo had
retrieved over 60 doves, and several
limits of bandtails, for both myself and
some buddies. Progressing to grouse,
ducks and geese came easy that fall.TWO YEARS LATER, and a multitude of
birds to Echo’s credit, my wife and I
decided to get another pudelpointer.
This time we got a male, a black male.
Only about 4 percent of pudelpointers
are black, and after seeing the
demeanor of this pup’s mom – who was
also black – I knew I had to have one.
Her drive, aggressive nature and fun-
loving ways sold me.Mourning doves are plentiful and the perfect
size for a pup to retrieve. By quickly ridding
their mouths of loose feathers, and providing
water, the pups will continue to hunt.Kona, the author’s 12-week-old pudelpointer,
on his first dove hunt. Hunting in short grass
allowed the pup to mark and retrieve a
number of doves on his first hunts as a pup.