For The Birds

                                        Having birds right at home was essential for me for a couple of reason's. First of all I was training 3 Setter's all within 4 month's in age. Then I was frankly busy with my job and had to make wise use of anytime I had to spend with the Setter's. Also keeping birds at the farm was an experience I wanted to have and learn from. Love Creek Valley farm was a perfect place to do it.

                                          Granted it would have been convenient to join a club and go to scheduled training dates versus maintaining a brood of pigeon's and keeping Quail on hand but that didn't fit my schedule. There also were lot's of people with versatile breeds around but not as many people as active as I was with Setter's so I just wasn't comfortable with the club setting. So as deep as I was in the game I needed everything right at home to make it work.
                                          Work it did. The brood of 5 Homer's I started with in the spring of 2003 was now a pretty stable group of 15 and growing. Later on in 2005 I would supply another friend with a number of birds to jump start their own program as well. In the off season I would periodically set out birds for the dog's using release traps in varied location's. The dog's loved this and after they were all well on their way in their development I did it mostly for the fun of seeing them point birds. Also I liked watching my birds fly around the valley overlooking our place then swooping in for the landing. They'd pick gravel in the driveway and hang around sitting on the buildings. The Setter's if out would stalk and point them around the yard then I'd have to go flush! Mick and Molly especially loved to hang around the coop or the quail pen standing or sitting as sentry's waiting for something to happen. Beau being the one that was funny about training birds wasn't quite as enthralled with them but would join the stalking if the other dog's got "birdy" then he would of course honor. So the birds made life interesting around the farm.
                                             However it wasn't without it's problem's. Those being predator's. The pigeon coop was built with a one way entry door at the peak of the coop in front. Often times I would leave this door open during the day allowing the birds to come and go if I was around and then close it at night with a piece of plywood that fit over it. After time I got careless and would forget to close the door once in awhile. I came home one day in late afternoon and as I was driving into the yard noticed something that looked unusual in the outdoor cage attached to the coop. It was a bird but taller than a pigeon. My radar went up and I quickly stopped my van and went over to inspect the oddity. It was an adult sparrow hawk which had gotten in and couldn't figure out how to escape obviously. I hoped when I opened the door that the damage wouldn't be severe but the hawk had killed two birds one of which was an original the other being a young bird. I caught the hawk with a net and put it in a bag and drove 5 miles away and let it out. Later friends laughed at me and said the hawk probably beat me back to the coop but at least the door was shut! Other trouble makers causing much more damage were the two tom cats that managed to again get in but were trapped once they got there. This happened on two occasions over the 5 and 1/2 year's I had the birds but both of them killed several birds and were both dispatched. Sorry cat people but these feral cats do untold damage across the countryside and in Dairy farm country every farmer contributes to the problem by letting them breed uncontrolled. I resorted to having two live traps out at all times to catch them as well as coons and possums. My number 1 bird Red survived all these attacks somehow. Amazing!
                                             The Quail I really loved having around as the dog's really liked pointing them and I grew fond of their shrill call that pierced the air. There was a Quail farm an hour and a half south of me so I'd pick up 25 birds at a time. So I was shooting Quail for the dog's from August through November usually. Having never hunted wild Quail I never really understood what the attraction was with that sport until I became familiar with these birds. Even the flight conditioned birds I was using were exciting to watch burst into flight and I would sometimes set out multiples as well. A trip to hunt wild Quail was soon on the schedule after that!
                                            I didn't keep Pheasant's at the farm but had a guy raising several hundred a year about 45 miles away and would get birds as needed during the fall and into March usually a dozen at a time. I did this just to mix things up and also if the kids would come out I'd set out birds for them to shoot with the Setter's. The 200 acres of CRP around me made it perfect for this. I'd band the birds with a permit sticker and a fluorescent ribbon to make sure we weren't shooting wild birds out of season. This was legal to do under my bird dog training permit.

Red our Number"1" flyer was with us for 5 years!

                                           So despite having a pressure cooker job that could call me away at anytime having everything I needed for the Setter's right out my front door made this all possible and work very very well. It was definitely "For The Birds".