A good friend recently invited me to join him for a bird hunting trip to Argentina at a pretty reasonable price. Ducks, doves, perdiz and even a little fly fishing for Dorado. It is no doubt a hunt of a lifetime for most folks. While my buddy is jacked up about the trip, it affirmed that I'm a "Bring Your Own Bird Dog Hunter." In other words, if a hunting trip is too far away for me to drive with my pup kenneled in my truck, then I'm not interested. Perhaps it's a narrow-minded world view, but too much of my hunting enjoyment comes from walking behind my pup to "cheat" on her for some Argentina fling. The other thing this conversation taught me is that I'd better start planning for a back-up bird dog. If my hunting enjoyment is so significantly tied to my own canine, then I'd better get dog number two in the works. While I would certainly choose an Idaho pheasant trip over Argentina, I wouldn't give up a whole season of bird hunting if my dog landed on the disabled list. It's about priorities and adding bird dog number two just went up the list with a rocket. Are you a BYOB Dog Hunter? The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever's Vice President of Marketing.
