Pass Along PDJ
September 2008

Get the Point?
by Steve Smith

"This season, I'm only shooting over points – if my dog busts a bird, I'm not going to shoot."

You've said it, I've said it, but do we make it stick. You may; I don't, at least very often. We don't get into the field as much as we'd like, the bird may be the only one we see today, yada yada etc, etc.

The truth is, I think, that it depends as much on the bird as on anything – woodcock? Only points, pal, and nothing else. Ruffed grouse? Hmmm. That might be different.

I suppose one way of disciplining ourselves not to shoot unless a bird's pointed is, simply, not having something in our hands to shoot – leave the gun behind for a day or part of a day and have someone else do the shooting, but at your direction while you watch the dog.

If your pal will listen to Shoot! Or Don't shoot! (Don't use "no" if you use that as a command to your dog), and if he understands on the front end that the day or the  first couple hours or so are going to be devoted to your pup, it's the only system I've seen that actually has a chance of working with people who have my lack of willpower.

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