# Ruger the Red Devil Reaper



## tigerpincer (Dec 5, 2009)

Had an opportunity to get after some Chukars this past week. Twas a pleasantly warm day, enough sun to tan the hide on my mug a good bit. We were able to locate a couple of coveys thanks to some fine nose work by my younger 2yr old pup Ruger. He was the first to get on the first covey with Bronoc a short step behind. They tracked these birds clear accross the face of a large canyon. Perhaps 400-500 yds from where he first pointed them to where we finally flushed them. Both Ruger and Bronco slowly and patiently pointed, relocated, pointed, relocated etc.... until the birds reached a spot where the hill side took a steeper decline and the birds held nice and tight for the 2 gunners to move in good n close for the flush. 1 single bird exploded into flight straight away from me. I took aim and fired just a 1/4 second before my companion had. We both nailed this bird hard and you could actually see the impact of the lead from each blast as it reached the bird. We watched as the dogs raced down to attend to the fluttering devil. I turned to my hunting partner and said " I cannot believe we just tracked all the way down this hill for 1 bird" when suddenly another took to the sky in a feable attempt to escape. This time we both fired simultaneously and the bird crashed back to the steep, rocky terrain of Utahs West desert. Both of us certain we had each hit this bird. Several seconds passed before 4 more birds flushed. One to my side and the other 3 to my friends side. We both took aim and fired, my bird exploded with feathers, fluttered mightally & began to fall a bit before catching itself and sailing to the bottom of the hill where we were later unable to locate it. My friend was deadly with his only shot and the bird dropped straight to the ground. I was most pleased with this exchnge by Rugers retrieves. He promptly located and retrieved to hand all 3 of the birds that had dropped at this location before we moved on to look for the one that had sailed down the hill. Stupidly I forgot to snap photos of Ruger as he retrieved these birds to hand, DOH!!! Bronco was already down the hill looking for the escape artist but to no avail. Later in the afternoon Ruger again slammed on point as we came upon a small saddle in the mountain. Bronco was well below us on the mountain and way out of posiion for this covey. Ruger was pointing down hill with his head high. He clearly was catching them in the breeze from a bit further down the hill. As we cautiously crept in Ruger must have seen the birds running on the ground. He broke point and charged at the birds fouling up this opportunity to add more birds to our days bag. Although I was dissapointed that Ruger had broke point like that and charged the birds I have overall been very pleased with his progress this year. He really seems to have come in to his own. He is now finding more birds than my older more experienced dog who is saddly starting to slow down a bit in his eigth long year of serious bird hunting. Makes me awfully sad to think about whats coming with Bronco as I watch him lose a step in his energy levels and hunting Mojo. Ruger has had some excellent hunts this year especially on the Pheasants and Chukar. I often get the feeling that both Bronco and Ruger prefer hunting Phez and Chukar over any of the other species I take them after. They often seem to be at their best when pursuing these two birds. I wonder if dogs have a favorite bird hierarchy as many of their human companions do? I for one have always held a special place in my heart for chasing Chukars, as of late Quail are starting to creep in on the Chukars territory on my list. Phez is of course another favorite but Chukar and Quail get me the most excited to go after.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

Very nice story, really like the pics too! I also run an older dog (9yrs) that I bought a couple months ago and a younger pup (1.5yrs) I have had since 8wks. It is fun to see the younger one develop and to see the maturity and intelligence of the older dog. My pup has really came into his own the last 2 months and we were able to take our first limit of Chukars together last weekend. It was a treat; I really didn't think I would have enjoyed owning a bird dog as much as I do. Congrats on your hunt!


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## tigerpincer (Dec 5, 2009)

Once you have owned and hunted with a good bird dog you wont ever want to go without them. Watching them work birds by tracking, pointing and retrieveing is my favorite part of the hunt anymore. Shooting is of course fun but I much prefer shooting birds over a good solid point than luckily stumbling upon and flushing a bird on my own. 

What kind of dogs are you running?


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

I run pointers, love how big they run, they are definitely all business


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