We pulled into the parking lot. I could hear the gravel
under the tires and the cackling of pheasants in the nearby pens. The noise of
the gravel was quickly drowned out by the excitement of the 106-pound yellow
lab, Gunner. He was anxiously anticipating a chance to stalk a rooster
pheasant. The cold December air immediately hit my face as I stepped out of the
warm Ford Expedition. My friend Jordan and I both reached for our heavy orange
hunting coats on the back seat for the walk to the lodge door.
The freshly fallen snow was barely stomped off of my hunting
boots when the aroma of freshly brewed coffee activated the olfactory senses.
The proprietor of Lone Oak Pheasant Farm, Bill Oman, was feeding hickory into
the wood stove. All of these stimuli were accented by the smell of pipe
tobacco. The lodge is a perfectly
decorated cabin with multiple duck mounts, old duck decoys and seven monster
bucks. We can’t forget the pheasant mount! As you enter, there is a beautifully
finished long wooden table with every magazine you would want to read about
shooting and hunting. Bill keeps a refrigerator by the front counter stocked
with soft drinks, water bottles, and candy bars. The adjacent room is the
sitting room with more mounts and living room furniture. There always seems to be a least one small
group of hunters drinking coffee and laughing at the ineptitude of their
shooting prowess!
Bill has a list of safety rules posted at check-in. All
hunters are required to wear hunter orange, and vests are available if needed.
The owner also insists on the use of shooting or safety glasses. There are
safety glasses available as well. Another point made on the list of safety
rules is a shot size limit. No hunter is permitted to use shot larger than six
shot. A sign reads that number four shot can travel two hundred yards.
We signed in and received our field assignment. After
gathering our guns, ammo, and dog, we headed for the field. The fresh snow was
the reason we called Lone Oak that day. New snow makes the birds hold their
position which is better for pointing dogs. If we get a runner or a crippled
pheasant, we can track it easily in the white powder. My pointing lab wasted no
time working the field. He was back and forth on the prowl. No commands were
necessary. He knew why we were there. He worked in front of us about 20 to 25
yards. His walk was more of a bounce with a quick trotting pace. He lifted his
head and sniffed the air occasionally then back to the snow, head working side
to side. Suddenly, his head jerked to the left, and his entire body fell in
line! His tail went up, neck stretched out, and he froze like a statue!
“Point,” I yelled over to my companion.
I let him get into position. Gunner "held point"
as I walked into the brush. A robust male pheasant erupted into the air with a
cackle! One thunderous response from the smoothbore of my orange-clad hunting
partner and Gunner made his first retrieve of the day.
We released eight birds that afternoon, shot 9 and had 11
flushes. Gunner worked the field magnificently. The birds held for him and yes
he held point! He is a “pointing lab.” I am told that some labs have a genetic
predisposition for pointing. I am not here to argue that point (no pun
intended), but I know his father and grandfather do not point. I can tell you
that as a ten-month-old pup, I took Gunner pheasant hunting with my friend’s
English Setter. The setter was a seasoned pheasant dog. We took the dogs on two
public land hunts. Both times Gunner followed the setter for 4 hours when Apollo
would go “on point,” Gunner would stop and sniff what was ahead. The bird would
flush, we shoot it, and Gunner would retrieve it. This sequence went on for two
state land hunts and one pheasant farm hunt.
We thought we had a good team. Apollo would point the birds and Gunner
fetched. For some reason, Apollo would not retrieve. The fourth time out I got
the surprise of my life. Gunner went on point! He has been pointing ever since.
The second remarkable thing was that by the end of the pheasant farm season,
Apollo was fetching birds!
I have no idea if this was bred in him and Apollo just
brought it out, or if Gunner just learned it from Apollo. Two weeks before we
were on Buckeye Lake duck hunting. I spent quite a bit of time training him to
hunt waterfowl. Gunner jumped in the water with skim ice on it and retrieved
five ducks. I tried to keep him dry off, but he had icicles hanging from his
vest and fur. He didn’t care. The next week we went goose hunting. We couldn’t
find a goose field, so we walked out on the ice. He loved it, and we appreciated the dog
making the long retrieves across the slippery frozen lake water!
Most of the training that Gunner has received for pheasant
hunting has been through his pheasant farm experiences with Apollo. You could
call it "on the job training."
There is no substitute for experience. Now when we take the dogs on
state ground, or wild pheasant hunts out west, they are well-seasoned veterans.
In our state, it would take longer than the average dog's working life to gain
that much upland game experience.
The bottom line is, if you want to develop a versatile bird
dog in Ohio, you need to hunt bird farms. There are some such farms in our
state that have pheasants, chukar, partridge, and quail. Simple obedience
training and basic whistle commands are a good start.
Lone Oak is located on Panhandle Road just east of Route 23-
-north of Delaware, Ohio. Bill Oman can be reached at 740-363-7219. He has
September hunts where he will set out a few "flagged" hens. The
remainder of the season there is a three bird minimum, any combination of
roosters and hens.
