Scott Linden Outdoors

DOUBLE BARREL RANCH near Spokane, Wash.: It was one of those days. Buddy had spent our coffee-drinking time getting to know Ron Olmstead’s string of five dogs, socializing, acting like a pup, and otherwise being silly. Unfortunately, once in the field to make this episode of Wingshooting USA, his attitude didn’t change. We braced him with Ron’s Wirehaired Pointing Griffon named Scruffs, a deliberate, cooperative mop-top whose style just made Buddy look even worse than he was.

And he was. Unsteady, trying to steal points, morphing to spaniel on one bird and grabbing a mouthful of tail feathers as it flushed. Deciding discretion was the only part of valor left to salvage, I put him up.

Ron pulled in the big guns to augment Scruff: Evie, a wide-ranging smooth coated wirehair, and his pride and joy Wesley, a shorthair I’d hunted with years ago. He’s the “front seat” dog, entitled to spiffs the others aren’t due to seniority and skill.

There followed a series of scrambles up hill and down dale, through draws of canary grass, wild rye, cattails and alder, pursuing running ringnecks handled gracefully by the dogs. One memorable chase started in a ditch and ended on a knob where the rooster had no choice but fly as he exhausted his cover and hit bare dirt.

But of all the birds and dog work, one chase will remain etched in memory. You’ve read or heard some braggart claim he’s trained his dog to cut off a running pheasant, right? Whether training or instinct or a melding of both, Evie pussy-footed up one draw toward a farm road, then promptly broke off pursuit and headed for the top of a nearby hill. That beeline turned into a big curve, and she ended up above her point of departure and upwind of the bird.

Two more dogs followed the usual route, until all three locked up. Seeing little in the way of options, the ringneck emerged from the thick stuff to try making a break up a bare hillside. About then, it spotted the other two dogs and launched.

It was our last bird of the day, and fell, appropriately, to Ron’s gun.

Remember to vote for your favorite dog, non-profit, and breed and help them and possibly yourself in our Wingshooting  USA features …

www.wingshootingusa.org … Take one of your kids hunting on the show next season. Click on the “Win a Shot on the Show” icon.

www.blackswingandclay.com… Cash for your conservation group, Cabela’s gear for you! Click on the “Hot Dog” icon.

www.nativedogfood.com … a TON of food for a hunting dog rescue club. Click on the “”Win a Ton” icon in the upper left corner.]

Thanks sponsors: Black’s Wing & Clay Waterfowl, Irish Setter, TriTronics and NSFF/www.wingshootingusa.org. Leave a comment, you might win a pair of Irish Setter boots!