Reading Water in Late Season

By late season, the easy birds are dead and the survivors are educated. Spreads that worked on opening day stop pulling. The dogs that finish strong are the ones who learned patience early.

A few things we work on with our advanced dogs through January:

• Holding cover without breaking — late birds will circle and circle. A dog that fidgets blows the set.
• Picking up cripples downwind — once a bird hits cover with a foot of life left, scent is the dog's only tool.
• Quiet returns — splashy retrieves spook the next flight. Calm dogs put more birds on the strap.

It's not glamorous work. It's not the long blind across the lake that wins ribbons. It's the small, boring, correct behavior that makes a dog welcome in every blind for the rest of their hunting life.

That's the dog we're trying to build. Every time.