My last post got me thinking about unlikely hunting dogs. When I was a kid hunting in Rexford, Kansas, one of my hunting mentors, (Mr.) Carol Gould had a great little cocker spaniel that would shag doves as long as you would shoot them. He was like a ferret working up pheasants, though Carol didn’t take him too much because his coat would get so tangled with cockle-burrs.
A friend of mine recently took up hunting and converted his mongrel dog, Tyson, to hunt grouse and rabbits. There’s no telling what breeds Tyson descends from, at least not from any hunting stock I recognize. But he does a great job.
The funniest though, was a guy we ran into duck hunting along Farmington Bay near the Great Salt Lake. He was hunting with an Australian Heeler. It was bitter cold; he had a neoprene vest on the dog, and the dog seemed to be loving the outing. The owner, I never did catch his name, had shot a merganser and it had sailed way way out on some thin ice, where he was still up and alive. (My favorite part was the dog’s name, “Kowalski.”) Kowalski was sent on the retrieve. He blasted out there, then when confronted with a large hissing duck, instead of picking it up, he started circling and driving it back to the blind. I can still hear the owner yelling, “fetch it up, Kowalski!” He looked at my hunting partner and I and said, a little sheepishly, “He doesn’t exactly come by it naturally.” We still laugh about that today.
The fact is that all dog are canines and are related back to wolves and wild dogs, so it shouldn’t be suprising that with some work, they all can hunt. On the other hand, hard-wiring (genetics and breeding) can’t be overlooked. It’s what makes a cow dog circle the herd and a retriever fetch.
Send me your stories about your unlikely hunting dog.
