Hunting Dogs

Our philosophy at Montana bird hunts starts with Safety. We prioritize Safety above all else -- Safety of the hunters, the guide, and the dogs. Our dogs are very important and valuable to us, and are more than just a tool to aid in the hunt. For many of us the dogs are what drive us to hunt the upland birds. My dogs have shared adventures with me in Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Kansas, and Arizona. We have chased Chukar in country so steep that it made me wish for two more legs. I’ve chased five species of quail from brushy bottoms of the Salmon River in Idaho, to the plains of Kansas, and the deserts of Arizona clear to the fence on the border with Mexico. In our adventures there have been stitches, staples, broken bones, porcupines, skunks, and lots of near misses with injury or death. Our dogs are the real working-class heroes of Montana Bird Hunts.

Dogs have a simple and beautiful quality about them. They don’t complain, they drive through injury, and constantly put themselves at risk. As I like to say, no dog has ever woken up and thought, “you know, I think I’m going to take it easy today.” They might make mistakes, or do things that make us use profane language, but it is never due to a lack of effort. I wish the same thing could be said for people…

 We could hunt without our dogs, but to me, that would be akin to a blind man going to an art museum. For many of us, the dogs are why we hunt.

Our guides have their own dogs, and their own preferences. Most of us use English Pointers, or English Setters or both. Some of us have Labradors, English Cockers, or Springer Spaniels. I also use German Wirehaired Pointers. In Montana, we like dogs that can cover a lot of ground, and hunt with “Style”. I came across a passage in a novel by Montana author A.B. Guthrie Jr., where he refers to style in regard to a thing of beauty possessed by a talented individual.

“I was taken back to my college days and a paragraph written by the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead. He had said something about style, citing it as the ultimate morality of man (mind). Style, not stylishness. Style in the sense of economy in action, in attaining ends.”

Many of our clients bring their own dogs, and we are happy to have them. After all, that is a big reason many of us hunt.