Ripley's First!

Due to some subpar shooting on my part and a couple of tough trips lately, I’ve struggled to get Ripley’s first official wild pheasant. Sure, he’s had game farm birds, but wild roosters are another monster. I decided to make a run at the golden hour today. After almost 2.5 hours of seeing nothing, I was getting discouraged. We had about 15 minutes till sunset, and all of the sudden, he did one of those super abrupt turns that told me he caught a whiff and struck a nice point on the edge of some cattails. Then, he started in–we had a runner! I heard the flush and cackle, pulled up my gun, BOOM, and down went our first wild rooster! Finally. It’s such a good feeling to have it all come together. No sooner had I taken a pic and stuffed it in my vest than Ripley froze in another beautiful point! This time, I flushed a hen, but it’s still fun to watch him work.

So, today was a great day for us!

Special day for both of you!!!

Congrats Ralph, sweet pic too!

why would your tag be “life is too short to hunt with an ugly dog”? Cool pic but there are so many breeds that make yours look ugly. Not really fair to paint that picture. Have a great thanksgiving and there are no ugly dogs as long as the owners take care of their best friends.

eyeguy507 wrote:

why would your tag be “life is too short to hunt with an ugly dog”? Cool pic but there are so many breeds that make yours look ugly. Not really fair to paint that picture. Have a great thanksgiving and there are no ugly dogs as long as the owners take care of their best friends.

Thanks, Mr. Buzzkill. Who peed in your Cheerios?

Seriously eyeguy?

Happy for you Ralph and Ripley-I’m not a hunter (yet) but can understand how special this must have been!

Rich

PS I think Ripley’s pretty cute. And there’s nothing wrong with a little pride or humor.

Twins Guy wrote:

And there’s nothing wrong with a little pride or humor

Well, I’m glad it wasn’t lost on someone.

Great job, Ripley and Ralph! Nothing like that first wild bird.

I’ve had German Wirehaired Pointers/Drahthaars for about 25 years and they are affectionately called “Ugly-Dogs” by many in the bird dog community (even by us). It’s all tongue in cheek.

Awesome. Congratulations to both of you.

thats awesome Ralph !! nothing like watching your best friend connect with birds in the wild the first time !
with each bird he finds the desire to hunt them gets stronger and they will about knock themselves out doing so,when you get home they will absolutely collapse at your feet.

you will find you have much to learn from him as your time in the field grows.
I know this to be true myself,I once had a male yellow lab out of a pair of chocolates that no one wanted because he was yellow.
he came from a breeder in sconnie and I got him for free and I think the breeder didnt realize what he had.

when Sam and I went hunting there were many times in a new field he would just walk behind me acting like he had no interest in hunting that field,I would turn out of his path hoping he would take the lead which he would for a bit and then he would fall in behind me again,I was starting to think I ended up with a dud for a dog,oh well,he didnt cost me anything,stupid me.

after several times of this happening it dawned on me that each time he did that I never saw a rooster or hen in those fields,mind you this happened most frequently when the breeze/wind was coming at us.
he was trying to tell me by walking behind me that there were no birds there.
when we hunted with the wind at our backs he would hunt clear to the end of the field.

now,my GSP Gracie would hunt every twig,blade of grass,bush,fallen tree,ant hill,you get it.
it didnt matter what the wind was doing,she was hunting till the cows come home.
hunting with dogs never gets old,I get more out of watching them then anything else,the birds are just a bonus.

That’s a trophy, Ralph! Congrats.

(I won’t hunt with ugly dogs either…. )

Sweet!

That is an awesome picture and a cool looking dog.
Thanks for sharing!

Congratulations Ralph, that memory will stay with you forever!????

Awesome!

Good job R&R. Looks like you make a great team. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I’ve seen some ugly dogs and Ripley isn’t one of them.