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Lost and Found

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by Keith Schopp This one goes out to Mary, my friend’s two-year-old English Pointer that went missing one morning last January. Just a month ago, in late December, I watched Mary point a wild rooster in Central Illinois and retrieve that bird.  Good potential. But potential lost one Friday morning when she didn’t come back after her routine morning airing. “Mary’s been missing all day,” Bob texted me that afternoon – nearly eight hours after the pointer disappeared. “What the heck?” I responded.  “I’ll come over to help look.” We drove around the country roads. Walked the 40-acre property. Surveyed the landscape looking for a...

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Hidden Dangers in the Uplands: Poisonous Plants and Grasses That Threaten Your Bird Dog

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by Britney Booth, Covers Magazine Editor-in-Chief Many poisonous plants can be found out in the field, and include common shrubs, trees and flowers that can make your dog very sick if consumed. Some can be deadly, while others can cause discomfort or make your dog feel downright miserable. No matter your location, it’s critical that you’re aware of the dangers of poisonous plants while upland hunting. The most prevalent and dangerous plant in upland bird hunting covers isn’t a chemical toxin in the traditional sense. Foxtail grass awns, especially from barbed varieties like wild barley, cheatgrassandgiant foxtail, pose a serious threat to upland...

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Tick Talk: Tracking birds, not bacteria — protecting dogs and hunters in the grouse woods

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by Tom Keer The seaside woodcock cover lay at the bottom of the lowlands and right below the dunes where the mooncussers walked. Coastal regions get more rain than snow, and that moisture is why the woodcock – those original shorebirds – were searching here for worms. Ticks liked the moisture, too, and that’s the challenge of running dogs on spring woodcock. Those several weeks of training pay big dividends come fall, but they can come with a cost – Lyme disease. I’m proud of the fact that not a single one of my dogs has ever contracted Lyme disease and,...

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The Woes of Professor Longhair

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by Tom Keer There was so much dog hair on the stairs that I dang near slipped my way down to the coffee pot. I looked around and saw that it was everywhere. There was a pile of white fur in the corner by my bookcase, another bunch surrounded my desk and more was everywhere I looked. The date on my calendar said March 5, but I knew spring had already arrived. The “spring shedding season” was officially here. Owners of short-haired dogs are immune from the kind of pre-and-post hunt hair care that is common ground with long-haired breeds. Burdocks don’t...

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The Long Road to Greatness: Training Slow-Starting Sporting Dogs

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by Keith Schopp My Labrador retriever Flora is still a youngster and she often sticks to me like glue in the field and the forests.  She’s a bit hesitant to charge in and flush. And she might be a little too obedient – often waiting for me to release her with an “OK” or “Free” before she hunts and quarters. I can see the lightbulb starting to turn on. However, I often say to my wife, “Flora’s no Emma.” At least not yet. Comparing Flora to Emma is probably my biggest mistake. Emma is that one dog you’re blessed with. The one that never...

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Field-Tested, Tick-Infected: Protecting Sporting Dogs from Disease

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by Keith Schopp Something was terribly wrong with Claira, our four-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer. Just 30 minutes into a Southern Illinois quail hunt, she came hobbling back, tail tucked and barely able to walk. Her lymph nodes and neck were swollen, and her front legs were stiff at the shoulders. Claira was a dog that never quit hunting – until she did that December day in 2008. The initial diagnosis after preliminary bloodwork: Cancer. I was devastated. Claira – the sweetest and best bird dog I ever had and only four! We were referred to a specialty clinic. They tended to agree with...

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