TMAC

I am not a professional trainer but wouldnt wait until 6months of age, start now! I used Wolters game dog as a guide and it starts out right away, but its baby steps and you need to assess your dogs personal growth before you start doing more advaced things. Your mantra: sit stay come, over and over and over again because without those fundamentals nothing else works, and I dont mean once in a while it must be all the time in any situation. At six months of age my Lab was getting into hand signals working on blind retrieves, and 3 months later he was pretty decent. Depending on your diligence with the training and your dogs ability to learn you could probably hunt him this fall.

At this time my lab Tread is fully recovered, he looks and acts like his normal self but the vet wants to keep him on meds for a few more weeks. The vet told me the Lymes virus will always be with him and he will not become resistant to Lymes like we would to Chicken Pox, and in times of extreme stress the disease could act up again. No other long term effects seem visible at this time. I am now a little paranoid about ticks, and keep him well protected with Front Line and a spray on touch up after water activities. Two weeks ago he came home with 10 ticks on him, I almost flipped - only common wood ticks but after you spend all that money and see your pet so sick you get a little jumpy. The tick season ran well into fall in WI last year, so take care of your hunting partners.

He looks good, keep up the good work. The paw size can be misleading, my lab has some pretty big hooks and in the end afte two years he only got up 60lbs. The lab in him might make him a big eater, so watch in intake then again with the Weimaraner in him who knows. Have fun.

Cool it Liberty, this is just the internet not real life or death here. I know HG is what he is but take it all in stride. Not worth Having Nelli Girl boot you out of here. This is my escape from reality during lunch, dont ruin it.

Here in WI there are also some changes pending to allow only a licensed firearms dealer to sell new or used firearms. To us this means the every day guy can no longer sell a firearm through the news paper or at a gun show, must go through an FFL. With this all gun transactions will be documented and registration will occur. Not as extreme as what skidaho is showing us but steps in the direction of more gun control.

I have been hearing some gobbling birds her in WI, also spotted a few groups in fields last weekend. Problem here is we are in the midst of a big cold snap with snow on the ground, hope it warms up a bit before my 4/18 - 4/22 slot time. More snow in the forcast this week, may be a few more inches possible. burrrr

Liberty, Easy on the Mexican. You may have never had a chance to visit a foreign country, but someday you might appreciate what he is trying to do. I have traveled throughout Europe and a little Mexico, and can honestly say my language skills are barely enough to get by. So I would only imagine this guys lives somewhere in Mexico, and not a bad job with English in my opionion. You could do no better in Spanish, Latin, Greek, German or any other language - he gets credit for trying. Still not going down there for a hunt, no way.

I like what your doing kendal! I am also an engineer and have often considered copying a few of my gun parts for remanufacture, I have tinkered with coatings on a few just for rust prevention. So I fully understand what your doing between solidworks and mastercam, very nicely done with CNC control and quality metals you will have very nice parts. Anyone who knocks the US craftsman ship here is a fool, we often manufacture parts for our German owned company and make them far better than they can. Good luck to you.

Personally regardless of which brand you by Benelli or Browning I think the 7mm Mag or .300 WSM are a bit overkill for whitetail in medium to short distances (100 - 300 yards). You may find the 30-06 much more flexible in terms you variety of different bullet types and weights you can choose from. I have all 3 calibers and prefer the 30-06 for whitetail in Wisconsin, the other two do nicely out west and on larger game animals. If you have a 30-06 then try the big boys and see if you like it better. If its your only rifle then the 30-06 can do all from cyote to Elk.

My Lab was recently diagnosed with Lymes disease, and if you have the chance as the gets older maybe consider the vaccine. The vaccine is not 100% reliable but it might ward off some chances of your dog getting Lymes. My vet did not reccomend it when my dog was new, and after he got Lymes I got a new vet. The shot is cheap but the diagnosis and treatment is expensive, could have bought a new shotgun over this bill easy. Just somthing to consider.

Stay away from the firecrackers, I have seen perfectly good dogs who were not gun shy bad after a few fireworks incidents.

My own humor, I was ready to toss my M2000 in the lake last Thursday. I just had it repaired for the second time and it functions worse now than ever before. Going back a third time, hopefully a new gun is returned and not a repaired gun.

Sorry to hear that, I have a nice Stoeger M2000 you might have been interested in Ha Ha. Ready to throw it in the lake!

I read and used game dog. From what I can remember the book suggested covering obedience first, then water training and lastly upland bird hunting. I believe Game dog is kind of a combination of training forms, so it may be a good place to start. Either get the book or the DVD, which ever you prefer. Relax on all the specialized and advanced training at first and concentrate on the basics of obedience, without the basics you cant do anything. Believe what he says because I know it works, and dont get too hung up if your pup isnt moving along at the same pace as his in the book. Be patient and good luck.

Thanks for the info Tucker. I did do some research last night and found some of the same written documents. Good news is the vet said he is doing alright and passed the kidney and liver function tests, and he is upright eating/drinking/peeing/pooping and all of that within 24 hours of recieving antibiotics and fluids. I will pick him up tonight and medicate him for the next 28 days. For anyone interested I will try to put together my findings once he fully recovered. Regards, TMAC

My two year old yellow lab was diagonosed with Lymes disease last night after work. He was vomiting on Saturday night and didnt each much on Sunday, he did walk with me Sunday night and crashed pretty hard that night. By Monday night he could hardley get off the floor, walked with a limp and needed to be carried into the truck to go to the vet. At this time I dont know much about what to expect other than there is treatment for it, but the long term effects are a bit of a mystery to me. I hope to find out more tonight, but if anyone has had past experience I would greatly appreciate your input.

You wash your hunting cloths? A llittle rain usually cleans mine right up. I think your right about seeing in the UV spectrum, and I believe deer are also similar even thought they are supposed to be color blind.

I recently patterned my Stoeger M2000 for Turkey using the factory supplied extended Turkey choke, and had fairly good results. At 40 yards with Remington Nitro #4 lead in 3" 1 7/8oz, I averaged 10 hits in the kill zone and roughly 130 hits on a 10" circle. When switching to Federal #6 lead 3" 1 3/4oz the kill zone hits averaged 6 but the the number of hits on a 10" circle fell off around 100. Either I try another choke or shell and repeat or do you think the results are acceptable out to 40 yards?

I also prefer a mask, a mesh one on warmer days and knit mask for the colder weather. I am not into scrubbing that stuff off, I know it works but dont care for the clean up.

Absolutely Tucker!! You can wear some pretty ratty looking stuff and as long as it breaks up your shape your in buisness, a face mask to cover your white face and a hat are a must. After that it gets into want over need, and granted we all have some of the wants over needs - guess its part of the fun.

I do agree Wolters is a little time table oriented and it kind of bothered me at first but what you realize later on you can use his method just stretch the time table out to match your dogs learning ability. Marshhawk it right on with the reward you get training your dog, and like he said a little each day in place of what ever you did in your free time before will go a long way.

Liberty, You can do it! Read the books by Wolters talk with a mentor and and start from there, it seems daunting at firs but its really not that hard just keep your patience. I bought my lab in December a few years ago, and you can do a lot with a puppy inside or even after dark abit outside. Your training sessions should last real long with a young dog or he will get bored and confused. Short sessions and lots of repetion until he gets it, then move on. I work a full time job plus 3 kids and a wife, trust me you have lots of time to train a pup - I know your a young man and are still in school so it shouldnt be a problem. Training your own dog will be a very gratifying experience for you, after the first year it you wont believe the difference and the same after the second. Good luck and no fears.

The 3" #2's would also be my choice, steel or hevi-shot is up to you and your budget. I finished the duck season off here shooting my 20ga 1100 with 3" #2's Winchester experts, and had no trouble killing ducks but I would skimp on shooting the 2 3/4" shells. Ducks are way tougher than Pheasants, so give everything you got with your 20ga.

The Richard Wolters books are an excellent choice, I have read both Game Dog and Water Dog - the techniques described in these books does work. I trained my Yellow Lab and my black before him using Wolters books and if you stick with it they bring nice results, everything may not happen in the time frame described in the books but if are persistant you will get the results your looking for. There are other resources that cover similar techniques but in the beginning keep it simple and just follow the directions. I believe you are rather young and single, so believe me you have lots of time to do this right. Each dog has its own personality and speed at which it learn, so your results will vary a little from the text but in the end it will work. If you purchase a pup soon I would expect him/her able to hunt this fall if you stick to it, dont expect miracles the first year but they will keep learning as each season passes. My Lab Tread is two right now and he had a really nice year retrieving ducks, geese, and later in December he did a nice job flushing/retrieving pheasants. Keep it fun for both of you and good luck.

Personally I like the Lab, any color you want or either sex - just a nice all around breed. Dont rule out a Golden Retriever, a good friend of mine has one and he hunts equally well as my Yellow Lab. Pay what you can afford but in the end the time you spend training is was matters the most, a little everyday will go a long ways after your first year.