Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Reminiscing

This is my first blog and I have to admit I'm no English major so bear with me. I'm a 26 year old guy from Minnesota. I have a passion for pheasant hunting and the dogs that find them. This blog will focus on my two English Springer Spaniels(Gus and Mack) and our lives together in the field and on the couch. They have both taught me so much about hunting, life and as corny as it sounds love.

I've been fairly outdoorsy all my life but like a lot of kids these days that don't live the rural life organized sports takes over your free time when you are growing up. I fished a few times a year and hunted every now and then growing up. My dad was the guy who I did all of this with me but with him passing when I was 18 and being fairly sick for the 2 years prior our time to spend time together in the great outdoors was fairly short.

The next four years I spent at college I longed to be in the field pheasant hunting. Most of my friends didn't really hunt much so most of my time was spent wandering the prairies of Western Minnesota by myself.

We had owned dogs all my life which included a very old springer spaniel in my early years and two great Bulldogs. After the death of our first Bulldog I pleaded with my parents for us to get a hunting dog. These request fell on the deaf ears of my parents mostly because my dad knew the time and commitment it took to train a good hunting dog.

Well my itch for a hunting dog hit me again in the fall of my senior year of college. I was sick of hunting by myself and I felt I had the time and flexibility to raise a pup myself.

I began doing research on all types of hunting dogs but kept coming back to one breed that did "it" all for me. That breed was a Springer. I began talking to breeders about their dogs and eventually found a breeder that really wanted to keep one of her pups to breed but couldn't justify keeping it. Her deal to me was if I would breed the dog later she would let me have the dog for free. So the Friday before Thanksgiving I headed down to Fairmont to pick my new buddy and what was to follow I could have never predicted.

Like I said before this blog will be about me and my two springers and our lives together. I will continue to flash back to catch us up to the present but I will also be keeping you update with our current adventures and experiences.