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Cocker Activities => Working => Topic started by: Mez on January 18, 2010, 03:05:34 PM

Title: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: Mez on January 18, 2010, 03:05:34 PM
I had been asked to stand in for a gun who was unable to attend at the weekend,
so decided it would be a good opportunity to take little Brie along to experience the sights & sounds of a shoot.
 
She spent most of the day tethered on peg with me, she remained steady & quiet as birds were flushed over us, walking between drives she heeled beautifully & listened to every command I gave her, so as reward I allowed her to work the dyke's & hedgerows, where she flushed a couple of snipe again remaining steady as they flushed. :D

Through out the day she attracted lots of attention from everybody saying what a bonnie looking dog she was & even managed a few cuddles from one of the teenage beaters. :lol2:

One of the guns son's who is 7yrs old took a real shine to her & after one of the drives he was showing her a woodcock which had been shot, he gave her a short retrieve with it & after initially sniffing it & returning to me, I sent her back for it & she delivered it to hand which I was really pleased with as lots of dogs can be funny about picking up woodcock. :luv:

She did give just about every lab on the shoot a telling off for sniffing her bits & rightly so! :005:

All in I was really pleased with her & she was a little :angel:

Brie is not a natural retriever, however whilst training yesterday she made my day, by not only retrieving a cold pheasant for me but completing a blind retrieve with one & also making a marked retrieve from a fenced in area, which required her to jump a low fence on her return, she really is a little star & I'm so proud of her at the moment :luv: :luv:

Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: Helen on January 18, 2010, 03:29:13 PM
I heard all this from another source  ;)  I think she did brilliantly, what a little starlet and a great start to her working career  :luv: :luv:
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: EmmaA on January 18, 2010, 03:47:40 PM
I also heard this already  :005:  :005: Way to go Brie  :banana: :banana: :banana:
Glad you had a good day, I'm suprised you made it after having drunken women  gossiping slurring in your house the night before  :005: ph34r
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: hollyd443 on January 18, 2010, 04:19:55 PM
Way to go Brie you little star!!  :D :luv: :D
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: Crazy Cocker Gang on January 18, 2010, 04:24:58 PM
I also heard this already  :005:  :005: Way to go Brie  :banana: :banana: :banana:
Glad you had a good day, I'm suprised you made it after having drunken women  gossiping slurring in your house the night before  :005: ph34r

 :005: :005:

He got a good nights kip I passed out on the sofa and slept with the dogs  ph34r

Never drinking again
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: supergirl on January 18, 2010, 04:25:37 PM
Well done Brie wtg  :luv: :luv: what a clever girl.
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: millrace on January 18, 2010, 05:23:38 PM
showing her a woodcock which had been shot,.......ummm and there was me thinking there was a complete ban on the shooting of waders (woodcock and snipe) :shades:
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: Crazy Cocker Gang on January 18, 2010, 05:30:54 PM
showing her a woodcock which had been shot,.......ummm and there was me thinking there was a complete ban on the shooting of waders (woodcock and snipe) :shades:

its a voluntary ban and as this area has 100s of them one woodcock was allowed per person on the last drive and only four were shot  :shades:
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: wrenside on January 18, 2010, 05:43:52 PM
showing her a woodcock which had been shot,.......ummm and there was me thinking there was a complete ban on the shooting of waders (woodcock and snipe) :shades:

its a voluntary ban and as this area has 100s of them one woodcock was allowed per person on the last drive and only four were shot  :shades:

Blimey! Didn't know about the ban!! Thank goodness it's voluntary otherwise we would be in the bad books!!  ph34r
I think we shot 5 woodcock and 6 snipe during two days of rough shooting we did over Christmas, although we saw about 25 woodcock and 19 snipe in all  :blink:

(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x165/Maryaskew/Wrensidepics018.jpg)

Cockers are fantastic at finding woodcock, we're not so good at managing to shoot them!  ::)

I too have heard that woodcock are difficult to pick, but our two cockers don't seem to have a problem with it.

Lovely to hear how well Brie is doing  :luv:

Mary xxx
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: Crazy Cocker Gang on January 18, 2010, 05:47:49 PM
BASC are only asking for restraint in england and wales if local conditions merit it  ;)

Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: Nicola on January 18, 2010, 05:57:43 PM
I heard all this from another source  ;)  I think she did brilliantly, what a little starlet and a great start to her working career  :luv: :luv:

Same here, I think she's fab and off to a great start :shades: :luv:

Scotland's a bit different and there has been a Government imposed temporary ban on shooting woodcock and other waders/waterfowl up here this month, I think it was for 2 or 3 weeks and I'm not sure if it's been lifted yet but it only applies up here, I hadn't heard of a similar total ban down south. I haven't seen many woodcock in general around this area this season.
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: SkyeSue on January 18, 2010, 06:05:27 PM
Well, I know nothing about the ins and outs of shooting, but big congratulations to wee Brie for being so good....I remember one post where Jo said she was almost acheing to work, so its great that she's got the opportunity.  Well done little Brie  :luv:
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: Mez on January 19, 2010, 01:23:42 AM
showing her a woodcock which had been shot,.......ummm and there was me thinking there was a complete ban on the shooting of waders (woodcock and snipe) :shades:

As others have already answered in England & Wales the suspension of shooting wildfowl & waders has been on a voluntary basis,
B.A.S.C were calling for restraint to be shown where local conditions merited it,
however in Scotland & Ireland the suspension was statutory, it has now been lifted in Scotland & Ireland's will be lifted 8am on Wednesday the 20th!

On the shoot I attended it was decided to allow a limit of one woodcock per person on the final drive of the day unless the opportunity for a left & a right presented itself, in which case both could be shot, snipe were to remain off limits, we also operated this system the previous week, before the voluntary suspension was put in place.

Thanks for all the positive comments regarding Brie's progress she really is doing well bless her :luv:
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: nickycnc on January 19, 2010, 07:53:48 PM
Well done Brie....what a little star
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: milly on January 19, 2010, 08:00:51 PM
You must be so proud, she sounds like she did well bless her.
We've got 1 walked up shoot and beaters day left. I am so looking forward to next year and hope to get my little man out with me, I briefly toyed with the idea of taking him to beaters day but he isn't ready for it. Roll on next year, and think what a star Brie will be by then.
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: Wendy G on January 20, 2010, 01:48:34 PM
Congratulations. it sounds as though you both had a memorable day
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot
Post by: Top Barks on January 21, 2010, 10:13:46 PM
Just seen this although your mum mentioned to me on the phone you had done well congratulations little Brie :luv:
Title: Re: Brie's first time on a shoot (& now a few more days under her belt)
Post by: Mez on January 31, 2010, 02:02:36 PM
Just a little update to report on Brie's progress,

Since her first time on a shoot where she mostly sat on peg as I shot, she has now been out on 2 proper shoot days beating & a walked up rough day.

She did surprise me a little on her first proper day beating as on the first drive she refused to enter some brambles, now anybody who knows Brie will tell you that she is usually to be found pushing her way through thick cover just for the fun of it!
However as the day progressed she got into the swing of things & started to work quite well, flushing both pheasants & woodcock whilst remaining steady.
I did notice that her quartering wasn't as good whilst working as it is in training & she was tending to just run from one piece of cover to another, on occasions she ran a little too far ahead & had to be recalled back with the whistle.

On the walked up rough day she had her first encounter with a deer & it didn't go
quite as well as it could've done,
Brie had been working a wide dyke between 2 fields & had her nose firmly planted in a tuft of grass when all of a sudden a roe deer ran up the dyke towards us missing standing on Bries head by inches, Brie looked up with a "what the heck was that" kind of look on her face then she caught sight of the deer & ran off after it, she did come back but not until she'd followed the deer to the end of the dyke.

For the rest of the time she was really well behaved & although there are a few things that need work I now know what they are & have until next season to work on them with her.