09/12/2025
Your Friday Tidbit: If Your Effort Is Minimal…
I often get asked what’s the key on a hunt to be more successful with your dog or anything in life for that manner. There’s many ways to address this question. Of course the first most obvious question is how well is your dog trained? Let’s say the dog is trained to a good hunting level. What we call a Foundation dog. They find Upland game stay in range and deliver the bird to hand. They sit still on a Waterfowl Hunt go out and pick up ducks they see fall in easy to moderate situations through decoys. Just a nice standard hunting dog.
So let me help you understand this simple concept. What makes a dog better on a hunt?…………… Think about it for a minute………. What truly makes your dog better?……….. SIMPLY- Bird Engagement! Every dog good bird dog isn’t just good automatically. (although you could argue that good genetics have more natural traits- but that’s for another time) They get better and better the more birds they become engaged with and learn how to problem solve the engagement of each bird thru experience.
If you hunt your dog twice a year and on those two hunts you don’t harvest any birds, how do you expect the dog to get better? All this training is to teach him the standards of “Engagement on a Bird.” Think about this…… We spend all this time training, yet we aren’t putting in the effort to help the dog be successful with Bird Engagement on a Hunt.
If you’re a Waterfowl enthusiast that means lots of miles on your truck to find birds, door knocking for permission, building relationships with land owners to scout for success. It means walking back in as far as you can to get away from people in public marsh areas. It means buying a boat to get areas others can’t. Why do you put in so much effort?? To get more “Bird Engagement” for your dog. If you don’t have time to do all of this, then it means hiring a guide.
If you’re an Upland enthusiast it means finding out the states and areas of the states with good bird numbers. Putting miles on your truck, checking into local hotels, stopping at the local bar to have a burger or drink and get the low down with the local farmers. It means getting up early to see where birds are coming from and staying out late to see where birds are feeding and returning to. It means understanding what type of cover birds are in for what time of year it is in the fall. Sometimes this can change weekly. Then it means you better have strong legs and a strong mind…. Why you may ask?……. Because to make a good bird dog in the Uplands you need to wear out your boots. If you don’t have time for this, then you need to go to a lodge where they guarantee good numbers. Still you have to find them.
Let’s analysis real quick here…
Waterfowl: Let’s say you journal all your hunts and out of 10 hunts you shot 50 birds, an average of 5 birds a hunt. That’s 50 REAL- LIFE, REAL- WORLD; Bird Engagements that build you and your dog’s confidence. That’s priceless experience for your dog and priceless memories made! The gift of memories you get to cherish for a lifetime.
Upland: Let’s say your journal all your hunts and out of 10 hunts you shot 20 birds. That means you didn’t limit out each time you went. However in Upland Hunting even bird engagements you can’t shoot, like a hen pheasant, teaches the dog something. That’s 20 REAL- LIFE, REAL-WORLD; Bird Engagements that you and your dog experienced out smarting birds in their own environment. Once again, that’s priceless experience for your dog and priceless memories made! The gift of memories you get to cherish for a lifetime.
I once was feeling down on myself about where I was in life. I just didn’t feel like financially I was getting anywhere and that I wish I had the fancy truck, gear and guns that I seen all the “successful bird hunters”
have. When will I get my break? You know, the normal self sabotage crap your brain does to you. I was in North Dakota pheasant hunting with Winnie and this well-off guy joined me on the hunt. The day was over and Winnie put on a Wingmaster seminar on Roosters. Doing what she did best, outsmarting Roosters as easily as eating her morning breakfast. This guy was a well off businessman and we were discussing the success of building a business over getting a late supper. I was expressing my frustrations with growing a business. He said to me, how much for Winnie? I’ve need seen a dog like that in the Uplands before. I laughed and said, “she’s not for sale”. “No, seriously how much?” “There is no price”!! He told me, “if I gave you all the money to make you successful right now, and all you had to do is sell me Winnie, would you do it?” Of course I said, “NO.” “Well then it seems like you’re already living your success then.”
He taught me an important lesson. He had everything I thought made a successful bird hunter or businessman from the outside… I had everything he thought made a successful bird hunter, a great bird dog.
Every bird hunter wants the same. That phenomenal dog that can do anything you ask it to. Those are hard to find!
Rarely after a hunt does someone say to you, “that dog was great, but my truck is better than yours.”
The fact is that if your “Effort is Minimal, Your Success is Minimal.” Your dog is like putting money in the bank. The more money you put in the more your bank account grows. The more time and effort you put into hunting with your dog. The more time you spend training and hunting your dog the more the dog grows. The only problem with your dog is their time is limited so every day counts.
Your dog doesn’t care about what truck you drive, how expensive your gun is or the clothing that you wear. All he/she cares about is there enough gas in the tank to get to the next hunting spot.
Michael D Vaughn
Wingmasters
