The dogs knew the quail were in the crate and we were excited to work them:
We headed to the regular training area and George (owns Comet) wrangled the three dogs - good luck!
So we setup 3 launchers and put in the quail. It was warm, no wind, but lots of mosquitoes. Dogs wanted to get onto the birds and we wanted them as well.
First up was Chuck - shorthair. He was on point quickly
Next up was Roxy - Pointer. Like Chuck, she was on the quail very quickly.
Unfortunately, the quail didn't cooperate - they wouldn't fly. The launcher would shoot them up in the air but then gravity would take over and they'd fall to sky like a rock. Frustrating because our goal was to steady the dogs to the shot and then have the dogs retrieve the birds. Needless to say the hopes for shooting quail didn't quite work out like we hoped. We won't be purchasing birds from this guy again. Rocky kept the quail and is fattening them up so hopefully they will fly so we can shoot them over the dogs.
Unfortunately we ran out of daylight once Comet started to run so there are no pictures. Sorry George.
One good positive thing for myself and Roxy is that I learned she does retrieve birds. I purchased her two months ago as a started dog so I wasn't sure if she'd retrieve. I asked my friend if I should buy a bumper and he said she wouldn't retrieve it.
Rocky threw a quail in the air and Chuck snatched it like a center fielder and bit down on the quail killing it. I picked the bird up off the ground and showed it to Roxy then I threw it. She ran over to it - picked it up and brought it back. I'm thinking that it was luck - so I did it a few more times and she brought it back a few more times.
My friend Rob - who I purchased Roxy from - took her to Wyoming on a sage grouse hunt and said she had a good retrieve on a sage grouse. This picture is her at his feet with the grouse - he was too busy shooting at grouse that had just flushed but I'm pretty excited that she did this on a wild bird:
