Give us a try!
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Heading to Potter in 2 weeks
- Thread starter Allmyne
- Start date
Rusty Spinner
Active member
I was just out there the other week on a TU eastern staff meeting and we fished Slate Run, Cedar Creek and Pine Creek. Low, low water and fishing was tough to say the least. We caught more smallies (little ones) than trout in the afternoon we had to fish. Kettle by the reports we got was the same. Without much rain, expect tough fishing, I'm sorry to say. I'm headed to Potter on Thursday, but for grouse and woodcock hunting with the dogs.
Hey Brian, what kind of dogs do you run? I'll once again be out there chasing pheasants with my now 10 1/2 yr old black Labrador. Man, I love being out there watching good dogs work. Just like an old athlete, my big ol' Lab's been slowed by arthritis but he's still a good bird dog and lives for it. Eh, it's easier walking and hunting a little slower anyway. Good luck on the hunt.
BIGBOW
Wilderness Fanatic
Potter County is definately more productive in the springtime than the Autumn. I've gone in early summer only to find much of the water dried up aready. Im sure some locals can find water, but many of those smaller streams and creeks dry up fast. Im guessing with the little rainfall they've been recieving that this holds true right now. Nevertheless, you might be able to find action somewhere.. good luck.
Rusty Spinner
Active member
Ryan,
I'm a Brittany man myself. Love to see a wild bird being pointed by a good dog. I've been blessed to have owned two very special Brits in my life so far and the young dog will be 2 next month. I had him out yesterday for woodcock and he pointed two birds solidly and with some nice flair to boot.
I'll be spreading the ashes of my current dog's great uncle in Potter on Friday in my favorite cover, "Ho-Che-Minh" so named for its thousands of aspen whips that act like pungi sticks when you try to walk through them. My dogs have been pointing grouse and woodcock in that covert for more than 15 years and I've seen some memorable points from my old man, Jed in there over the years. It will be a tough moment, but he would have wanted me to spread his ashes in that exact spot. Jed was a completely finished dog, steady to wing and shot with all the fancy training (backing, stop to flush, retrieve to hand, the whole works). He could hunt from horseback and compete against pointers and setters - he never seemed to understand he was a Brittany and wasn't supposed to be able to hold his own against those other dogs...
Time to dust off the 28 gauge side by side!
I thought you might have Brittanies, you may have mentioned it previously (on that other now-defunct forum). I've taken mine out for grouse before but other than two grouse up in NH as a 2 yr old we haven't met any success on grouse in Pa.
Mine isn't exactly classic or finished and it's no guarantee he'll even retrieve the bird for me! He's so jacked up over finding and flushing, many times he'll be sniffing for the next flush before the first bird even hits the ground after the shot! He's got good instincts and a helluva drive to find birds. Unlike many bird dog hunters I've met though I'm not concerned with perfect flushes and retrieves. If he's eager and finds the birds and flushes them, I don't mind picking them up. He's obedience trained but everything else he developed on his own, even following my whistle & hand signals from great distance. I just started putting him over birds and he took off naturally from there!
I hunt in a club with several guys and some really nice, finished labs, golden retrievers, spaniels and some high-priced pointers. The first time I brought my Lab to hunt within the group nobody was expecting much and were apprehensive at having an "untrained" dog hunt with their dogs. We had two finished goldens and two supposedly finished GSP's plus my freebie Lab. This is no exaggeration, my dog put up the first 4 birds within an hour, catching one by the tail feathers in mid-air, and by the end of the hunt he and the two awesome little Goldens ran circles around the two overweight and expensive GSPs. After that, nobody has ever shaken their head at the thought of hunting behind the big, goofy Labrador named Fish! Some of the guys actually check to make sure I'm bringing him!
He's hell on the farm-raised pheasants but I always wanted a chance to hunt him some place like South Dakota over wild pheasants and see him work.
Mine isn't exactly classic or finished and it's no guarantee he'll even retrieve the bird for me! He's so jacked up over finding and flushing, many times he'll be sniffing for the next flush before the first bird even hits the ground after the shot! He's got good instincts and a helluva drive to find birds. Unlike many bird dog hunters I've met though I'm not concerned with perfect flushes and retrieves. If he's eager and finds the birds and flushes them, I don't mind picking them up. He's obedience trained but everything else he developed on his own, even following my whistle & hand signals from great distance. I just started putting him over birds and he took off naturally from there!
I hunt in a club with several guys and some really nice, finished labs, golden retrievers, spaniels and some high-priced pointers. The first time I brought my Lab to hunt within the group nobody was expecting much and were apprehensive at having an "untrained" dog hunt with their dogs. We had two finished goldens and two supposedly finished GSP's plus my freebie Lab. This is no exaggeration, my dog put up the first 4 birds within an hour, catching one by the tail feathers in mid-air, and by the end of the hunt he and the two awesome little Goldens ran circles around the two overweight and expensive GSPs. After that, nobody has ever shaken their head at the thought of hunting behind the big, goofy Labrador named Fish! Some of the guys actually check to make sure I'm bringing him!
He's hell on the farm-raised pheasants but I always wanted a chance to hunt him some place like South Dakota over wild pheasants and see him work.
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Rusty Spinner
Active member
I've hunted grouse and woodcock over some nice close-working Labs before and it was a joy to see them work! They are great with pheasants who like to run as good Labs have that sixth sense about cutting off running birds. Keep him out there having fun and you'll be rewarded! The obedience training is actually the hard part - the bird work is bred into them (or not). Just give them good manners and make sure that carries over to the fields and you'll have a firecracker on your hands that others will admire. Sounds like "Fish" is already there!!!
Mine is starting to shake and whine since he saw me packing the guns this morning...he's going to be hell to live with tonight until we leave in the a.m.
. Sounds like "Fish" is already there!!!Mine is starting to shake and whine since he saw me packing the guns this morning...he's going to be hell to live with tonight until we leave in the a.m.
