Hi,

I'm new to this topic on AR, but not to AR itself.

At the suggestion of Bill/Oregon, he asked me to start a thread on ESSs, so for what its worth, here goes.

I've been training/hunting with ESSs for about 25 years now. My wife and I are on #7 currently, and we still have #5 & #6. They are 4,7 and 10 years old. We began with dogs after we decided to try a guided hunt in Colorado after a long lay-off of not hunting birds. I hunted them in Nebraska growing up, but never with dogs. Took many years off due to college and starting work. My wife was not allowed to have guns in their house, as her father was blinded in one eye by a hunting accident (not his fault) and was crippled in his hand in a shooting accident (his fault). So, when we were married, she was keen to learn about guns. She was a 'tom boy' growing up. So, we did this guided hunt. Wow. What an eye-opener for me. I couldn't believe how handy a dog was for bird hunting!

Our guide was a breeder/trainer and a field trial competitor of ESSs, and an AKC judge and gun captain. He causally mentioned the dog he was using for the hunt was for sale. We jumped on that like a duck on a June Bug. He was beautiful, good, and big (50 lbs.) for a Springer. He was so sweet. We became good friends with our guide and joined his ESS hunt club as well. He helped me train that dog, and he became the first AKC Master Hunter (field tests) in Colorado. We were hooked. He then began training me to be a field trial gunner. Did that for many years until he recently sold his business and moved away. Sad day.

We've only hunted Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, Kansas and Iowa. These days, I train my dogs alone in Colorado and hunt Iowa. I'm 66, so I don't know how many years I have left of bird/dog hunting and training, but I'm hoping for a few more before I'm called home. We'll see...

There's my story Bill. Let's hear yours!

Friend, thanks for sharing. You've got some serious gun dog bona fides and a lot of field experience. Mine is long and exceedingly thin.
We got our first Brittany, Mollie, about 1967 in Tacoma, Washington. Dad tried to train her using the old Richard Wolters "Gun dog" book, and did reasonably well, but Mollie had great genes and that helped. She lived to 15 and hunted until she was 14 -- quail, pheasants, grouse and chukars. She wasn't very interested in retrieving dead birds, but she sure loved finding them in the first place.
I went about 20 years without a bird dog -- had mutts -- and then got another Brittany, the Watson, about 2000. I never got around to training him for hunting and he was a stubborn, wide-running scamp. I haven't seriously hunted birds in decades.
I have come very close the past couple of years to getting one of the "ugly dogs" -- a
Pudelpointer or a wirehaired pointing Griffon -- I love a tousled mop and big mustache -- but then got a big surprise with an unexpected request for a divorce last spring. Switch gears from mild and temperate Oregon to the northern Chihuahuan desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico. My intel says this is German shorthair country, but I haven't the interest in a great big bundle of energy that can weight 70 pounds. This is a young man's dog. I will be 65 in March, and can't walk so good thanks to a second round of back surgery last April. I refuse to throw in the towel completely, and believe/hope I have time for one more bird dog. There are Gambel's, Montezuma and scaled quail to hunt in these parts and I mean to do it. The Brittany is probably No. 2 after the GSP in actual use here for quail (season Nov. 15-Feb. 15) and I have found a breeder in Phoenix who breeds French Brittanies -- closer working, more biddable than Americans -- and I am very nearly sold. I hope to get a pup from a winter or early spring litter and "learn to work" my little Weatherby 28-gauge gas gun on local quail and whitewings.
I know we are all partial to the dogs we have loved, but I will not concede there is a more beautiful dog than an American Brittany. RIP Mollie, you sweet girl.

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Well, Bill, I see we have a few things in common.

First, sorry to hear about your second back surgery and divorce. Hope you recover enough to walk the uplands some more. I've only had two surgeries in my life, and luckily only one divorce. Both are tough, but if you're like me, the divorce was the hardest! I'm lucky to have remarried to someone who shares about all of my interests in life.

My brother taught school in Alamogordo many years ago and I saw the town/area when I visited him. I remember skiing close to there. Does Sierra Blanca sound familiar? Something like that.

I too hunt quail (years ago) with a Weatherby 28 ga. (and a Beretta Gold Pigeon 28 ga. also) but mine are both O/U. I started bird hunting as a kid using my Dad's Marlin 410 lever action in NE. I then bought two 12 gauges in high school. When I moved to Colorado to go to school, I sold them both and concentrated on my studies. After a 20 year layoff, I bought three shotguns in 12, 20 & 410, Remington 870s. Thought I was in tall cotton. My friend in Iowa invited me to hunt his farm, and he intoduced me to Browning Sweet 16s. I used those until I started training dogs and field trial gunning. The AKC required O/U, or at least break open shotguns. I then switched to Browning Citori 12s. Later on, I discovered Weatherby grade III & V shotguns. Both brands work great and fit me. I bought them in 12, 20 and 28 ga. The 28 is perfect for doves and quail.

Isn't it amazing how strong, and long, the love of a dog can last? My first dog was a German Shepard, and my first hunting dog was my first ESS. My GS has been gone now for 40 years and my first ESS for almost 10. I still mourn the loss. I think of them often, almost daily. I admire those dogs more than some people I know. When I lost my first dog, the pain was so unbearable, I decided to never own another. After hunting over my guide's dog 20 years later that was for sale, I relented and bought him. The old saying, 'better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved' comes to mind. I am certainly happy that I got back into dogs again, especially hunting dogs. Huge part of my life now.

Well, Bill, here's to your Mollie, and to all of the dogs we have loved and lost, and to the ones we are still blessed to have with us today! Truly, man's best friend.

Glad to hear about other people with ESS.

#4 ( 7yrs ) is asleep at my feet and the young, ( 6 month ) old pup # 5 is bothering the cat.

Just love them, have had ESS since 1994

I have used them for Ducks, Grouse and the odd Pheasant here in SW Washington.

Have been working with the pup a lot more and she will be ready for anything next summer.

J Wisner

Surefire, yes, Sierra Blanca is close to the resort town of Ruidoso, and the Mescalero Tribe runs the Ski Apache ski resort up there. I hear the skiing can be very nice in snow years, and the ziplines they offer in the warmer months are supposed to be wickedly good.
As to dogs in general, it has been really tough for me to be without at least one for the past couple of months. I have been tempted to go rescue some sweet mutt, but then I get to thinking how unfair it would be to leave the mutt home alone when I take the bird dog hunting. Until the divorce, we usually had at least two and often three dogs -- not much more trouble than one, and they make such a pack of good friends and help keep each other in good shape by constant play.
Sure do wish you guys would put up some photos of your Springers. J, let's see your 6-month old!
It has been said before: If there are no dogs in Heaven, I ain't interested in goin' ...

Bill,

Wow, can't believe I remembered the name of that ski resort correctly after 40 some years. I usually can't remember what I had for breakfast!

I hope you get a dog soon; a hunting dog. Whichever, they're too good of companions to not have one at your side. Good luck, and hope it's soon!

I've never posted pictures on AR before. Too technically challenged and too old to start. I have tons of pictures of them though. Proud poppa/momma here. They come back to visit us through memories, and photos help.

Not looking forward to leaving this earth, but on the flip side, there's some folks and a whole lot of dogs I'm anxious to see again...

If God is perfect, then the Heaven he created must be also. That means there's dogs in Heaven! No worries mate.

Surefire, thanks for the encouragement. I will get a dog soon -- just waiting for the right litter. I miss a dog terribly. Lots of dog walkers in this part of my new home town, so I get to have dogs vicariously, but that's a darned poor substitute for having a wagging tail sitting next to you.