Ariadne pointing

[Dimitri]

My first great love in hunting was wingshooting. My best man from my wedding breeds GSPs and on Saturday I had the privilege of spending the day wingshooting with him over two of his amazing GSPs - Ariadne and Piros. And what a great day it was. Great company, plenty birds, more than 25 points, some great shots and a good subsistence bag of spurfowl. We walked 18km on the day so we got some good exercise too. But watching the dogs work and seeing them on point is absolutely wonderful.

[tripodmvr]

It is something to experience. Friend of mine has English Pointers and the work rates of the dogs is something to see. Great way to spend a day out in the open.

[Frederik]

On my list to do but first need a shottie in my safe.

[Dimitri]

It is something to experience. Friend of mine has English Pointers and the work rates of the dogs is something to see. Great way to spend a day out in the open.

When I was 12 years old our English Pointer had puppies and my dad said I had first choice to pick a puppy. I have wonderful memories of hunting with that English Pointer. I called her "Jess" (like Jock of the Bushveld's mother).

[Dimitri]

On my list to do but first need a shottie in my safe.

Frederik I think you will love it. If you get an opportunity to tag along with someone who has good dogs then take it even if the shottie had not yet been sorted out. The host will in any case most likely offer you his shotgun at some stage and invite you to have a go when the birds flush from the next point. It is an amazing thing to experience the whole find ... point ... flush ... shoot ...retrieve process. Assuming, of course, that you hit your target. Otherwise it can also be extremely humbling. It happened to me in the E Cape when I arranged for a half-day's wingshooting while on a hunt for fallow deer and eland. It was an absolutely freezing day with sleet falling softly. The birds were scarce and it took us probably about 2 hours to find the first birds. I was feeling a bit bad making everyone (wife, sister-in-law, farm owner, dog handler, 1 English Pointer and 1 Lab) endure those conditions high up in the Andriesberge just so that I could shoot some greywing francolin. Eventually the dogs went on point and I walked forward to flush the birds. All eyes were on me and there was an air of expectation. About half a dozen greywing exploded out of the grass. These are reputed to be our fastest flying gamebirds and are challenging to shoot. However, one bird flew directly away from me - offering the easiest shot in the book. After all that PT to find the birds in those conditions, how I wished there was an "undo" button or that the earth would just swallow me up when I promptly missed with both barrels! Very humbling. Fortunately I made up for it with a double later on but I wont forget that first flush and my classic misses.

Beware, wingshooting can become addictive and you could soon find yourself negotiating with the wife to get your own pointing dog.

[Lategan1]

Hi Dimitri and other.

To hunt with these dogs, is an experience that is difficult to convey to other. The emotional connection with one’s dog, becomes a working day where he/she will only ‘stop till drop’ to please you, his beloved handler.

Ek jag voëls met ‘n 5jr oue Weimaraner, koppige Duitser, maar hy doen uitstekend. Sy veldmaats is GSP, English Pointer en Brittany’s. Van die lot is hy die hardhorendste, point redelik, maar gaan soek en haal waar min ander kan. Ek is ook nie noodwendig die beste hanteerder nie, sy instinkte is baie goed en laat mede-jagters verstom.

Ek sou baie graag meer met hom wou veldwerk doen. Plek en tyd is maar altyd probleem.

Op die misskiet, verseker hou dit mens nederig, ten aanskoue voor almal! Soos ‘n vars wind hou op die gholfbaan. Ons doen graag die ‘Natal surround’.

Beste.

[Ranger]

If I could only ever do one type of hunting, this would be it. Due to business and family commitments, my two GSP’s are so unfit and out of practice.

Thanks for sharing the photo

[Forester]

On my list to do but first need a shottie in my safe.

Frederik I think you will love it. If you get an opportunity to tag along with someone who has good dogs then take it even if the shottie had not yet been sorted out. The host will in any case most likely offer you his shotgun at some stage and invite you to have a go when the birds flush from the next point. It is an amazing thing to experience the whole find ... point ... flush ... shoot ...retrieve process. Assuming, of course, that you hit your target. Otherwise it can also be extremely humbling. It happened to me in the E Cape when I arranged for a half-day's wingshooting while on a hunt for fallow deer and eland. It was an absolutely freezing day with sleet falling softly. The birds were scarce and it took us probably about 2 hours to find the first birds. I was feeling a bit bad making everyone (wife, sister-in-law, farm owner, dog handler, 1 English Pointer and 1 Lab) endure those conditions high up in the Andriesberge just so that I could shoot some greywing francolin. Eventually the dogs went on point and I walked forward to flush the birds. All eyes were on me and there was an air of expectation. About half a dozen greywing exploded out of the grass. These are reputed to be our fastest flying gamebirds and are challenging to shoot. However, one bird flew directly away from me - offering the easiest shot in the book. After all that PT to find the birds in those conditions, how I wished there was an "undo" button or that the earth would just swallow me up when I promptly missed with both barrels! Very humbling. Fortunately I made up for it with a double later on but I wont forget that first flush and my classic misses.

Beware, wingshooting can become addictive and you could soon find yourself negotiating with the wife to get your own pointing dog.

The rolls royce of game birds!!!

[Carl]

Dimitri lovely story. When the dogs are well behaved and trained they are a joy to shoot over. Just seeing a GSP reminds me of my dad. As a kid I did not enjoy the Field Trails, days in the veld with dogs on leashes being towed to the front but shooting with them is great. And my dad had a few GSP who were good trackers.

The shooting of birds over trained dogs is such a civilized way to hunt.