condor broken out of the box [Archive]

fezman

12-02-2003, 10:12 PM

i just bought a condor o/u 12/28 and it was broken right out of the box. it seems that there is somthing wrong with the safety and after reading the comments on this board i can see that i'm sadly not the only person experiencing the same problem. my gun has missfired from shell one. also it wont fire both barrels in succession. i also had to move the safety back and forth to get it to fire the second barrel. at first i just thought maby it was gummed up with packing grease but evan after a good soaking in PB Blaster (the best stuff ive ever used) it still did the same thing. After hours of tinkering (but not takeing all the way appart) i found a way to miss every time... first tip the gun to the left then open the very stiff action then close it, sill keeping the gun tilted to the left, dissengauge the safety and pull the trigger, the gun will not fire, but as you bring the gun up to 12 or 1 o'clock the gun would fire. also if i shook the gun i could hear somthing rattling around in the acton cocked or not. another thing that i noticed was the fact that the fireing pins stayed exposed after the action was oppened ive never seen a fire arm that did that. un less the pins retracted as the breach was closed but if that is the case i will have to say it is a poor design and not very safe. to top it off i sent it to service as instructed on the warrenty card. when i called service over a week later so make shure that my gun had arrived i was told that i needed an r.o. # to do this. and if my gun was there it most likely was laying in a pile someware. NONE of the paper work that came with the gun says this. NOTHING in the paper work evan states you have to call service but it does say not to take it appart but to send it back postage paid with the recept and a note i have done this and ive been waiting over 2 weeks now and ive heard nothing from stoger or who ever runs this multinational corprate mess. i will have to say that im not very happy at this point. but i'm keeping the fires burning because i have many friends that are dieing to try this gun and maby buy one. because the price cant be beat but we all use our guns and we dont want to ruin a 1000$ toy in the mud. but if this isnt worked out by xmass i dont think i will be able to recomend a stoeger any thing to any one. that goes for all the other nok offs that this company owns or imports. :confused:

House

12-06-2003, 12:36 AM

Fez, I would call and ask to speak with the customer representatives supervisor, then that person's supervisor, and so on and so forth. The fact is that not everybody knows the net and the instructions with the gun sometimes is all you have to go by. For them to keep the gun and not track it is total shight! They know where it is based on the numbers and registry papers for inventory purposes. Just some ol' bull shight for them to delay and not fix the problem. Keep on those sum biatches and hopefully you'll get yer piece back and enjoy some shooting! Good luck!

birddog

12-07-2003, 01:47 PM

fezman, House is right! Your situation is a bunch of CRAP indeed!! Get on the horn and make your voice heard to the upper management... take names also! This will put responsability on some ONE person to look into AND rectify the situation. I feel for your situation... it must be frustrating as H-E-'double hockey stick' to have to go through this kind of B.S. with a new product!!!!
I've owned and shot several Benelli's, Beretta's, and Franchi's but, have not had any experience with Stoeger ... and have to say I've had absolutely no problems with any mechanically but, have had to send in my Franchi sporting o/u to get restocked due to a crack and chip that was said to be due to a stress point and funky graining in the wood .... would not have happend if i wasn't wearing cotton gloves I was holding the gun by the barrels. I didn't have a firm grip and the gun slid and hit the top corner of the hardplastic no-catch recoil pad... thus putting too much force on the particular point in which it broke (near the reciever and trigger) it was clearly my doing in my eyes but when i brought it in and had it looked at - the shop at which i do my purchasing from told me that if the company charges for it ...they charge for it....I left it at that and within two weeks i had my baby back with a new stock beatifully matched to the fore with NO CHARGES to me and a note explaining the stress point and graining being the culprit. Needless to say, i was a happy boy!
Whether it be growing pains of the company or the time of year it is. We sometimes forget that this time of year is the busiest time for the gun industries repair and service departments but, the folks at Stoeger should at least be able to give you a conformation that they at least have recieved it!

Again, like House stated, "... Keep on those sum biatches and hopefully you'll get yer piece back and enjoy some shooting! Good luck!".

[ 12-07-2003, 11:49 AM: Message edited by: birddog ]

fezman

12-07-2003, 11:11 PM

well i finely got an answer from stoger after a call on friday. i was told that it arived on 11/26 only 6 days after the post office said that they delevered it not bad i guess but i haven't gotten it back yet but i'm keeping my fingers crossed that ill have it by the 26th thats reopening of small game/birds in pa and my dogs and i are getting a little antsy im shure its wishfull thinking but it would be nice to get it back in the two weeks promised. i just wish that i had taken it appart and fixed it my self or at least knew what was wrong with it. its only the 2nd time ive ever accualy had to send a gun back for warrenty service. i accualy shot so many rounds through my glock that the springs had to be replaced when i got that back they had re sprung the entire gun and cleaned it (it was filthy when i sent it back) and ive never had a problem with it in 8 years since

House

12-09-2003, 07:14 AM

Right on Fezman........let me know how the girl shoots when you get her back!

birddog

12-09-2003, 11:09 AM

fezman- Glad to hear it! Fingers are crossed for ya and good luck for the remaining seasons.

pssssst .... take the pups out anyways and bring a camera if she's not back by the re-opening. it's nice to have some photos of the dogs working to reflect on and you're not fumbling between gun and camera ;) .... but, I hope she's back by then.

User92

12-09-2003, 09:40 PM

Sounds like why I posted the topic about how do O/U guns work because in dry firing it out of the box(haven't had a chance to fire it for real yet) I'd pull the trigger and fire one chamber but then I'd have to cycle the safety to get the second chamber to fire. Is this similar to others?

fezman

12-10-2003, 01:51 AM

http://glassartists.molten.org/3000/Img3477_Picture_041.jpg this is a photo of my field wiem DOC (i have 2 the other one just keeps my bed warm and eats and poops all the time) as for the opperation of the condor im starting to have the sickest feeling that the safety has to be flipped back and forth to fire the second barrel if not there is a way to check if it has an internal switch that works off the recoil of the 1st barrel first **** the gun then flip off the safety then dry fire the gun then bump the butt of the gun briskly agenst a padded hard surface like the living room floor you mite hear a click then try to fire the second (top) barrel if that dosent work i would have to say that its either broke just like myn or we both got ripped. after the intial shock of myn not working the way that i felt it should i set out on a mission to make it fail with out breaking it. in the end (about 3 hours and a few beers) i figgerd out a way to make it miss almost every time. First tip the top of the gun to about 9 o'clock then open the breech. close the breech keeping the gun tilted at 9 close the breach keeping it tilted. disengauge the safety and pull the trigger (note: squeeze the trigger like dad tought you) myn would not fire. but as i pulled the trigger if i tipped the gun up to about 12 or 1 it would go off. also if i cocked the gun and shook the heck out of it i could hear somthing rattleing around inside the breech like somthing was loose or not adjusted right. i'm not a gun smith but i am a fairly good mechanic and i know when somthin an quite rite and to me that anin't quite rite.
check out this site its a good site with lots of info
http://www.chuckhawks.com/index2.guns.htm
Ma ma always said oppinons are like ******** every bodys' got one and they all stink tongue.gif

fezman

12-10-2003, 01:53 AM

Originally posted by fezman:
http://glassartists.molten.org/3000/Img3477_Picture_041.jpg this is a photo of my field wiem DOC (i have 2 the other one just keeps my bed warm and eats and poops all the time) as for the opperation of the condor im starting to have the sickest feeling that the safety has to be flipped back and forth to fire the second barrel if not there is a way to check if it has an internal switch that works off the recoil of the 1st barrel first tilt the gun then flip off the safety then dry fire the gun then bump the butt of the gun briskly agenst a padded hard surface like the living room floor you mite hear a click then try to fire the second (top) barrel if that dosent work i would have to say that its either broke just like myn or we both got ripped. after the intial shock of myn not working the way that i felt it should i set out on a mission to make it fail with out breaking it. in the end (about 3 hours and a few beers) i figgerd out a way to make it miss almost every time. First tip the top of the gun to about 9 o'clock then open the breech. close the breech keeping the gun tilted at 9 close the breach keeping it tilted. disengauge the safety and pull the trigger (note: squeeze the trigger like dad tought you) myn would not fire. but as i pulled the trigger if i tipped the gun up to about 12 or 1 it would go off. also if i cocked the gun and shook the heck out of it i could hear somthing rattleing around inside the breech like somthing was loose or not adjusted right. i'm not a gun smith but i am a fairly good mechanic and i know when somthin an quite rite and to me that anin't quite rite.
check out this site its a good site with lots of info
http://www.chuckhawks.com/index2.guns.htm
Ma ma always said oppinons are like butt holes every bodys' got one and they all stink tongue.gif

timb99

12-12-2003, 07:36 PM

fezman,

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Stuff should work right out of the box.

To clarify one point, the Stoeger does not have an intertial reset on the firing mechanism. It is mechanical. If everything is correct, you should be able to take the safety off, pull the trigger once to fire the bottom barrel, and pull the trigger again to fire the top barrel.

If that's not happening, the gun needs to be sent back (which you have already done.)

I would not expect to see it for a couple of months, if your experience is the same as mine. I had a bluing issue, and they had it for over 2 months.

On the up-side, I bought my Condor in January of 2000 and have put over 4000 rounds through it. I use it for upland hunting and skeet shooting in a league.

This fall in my skeet league, I had problems with the top barrel firing, but I took the stock off, cleaned the heck out of the mechanism, oiled it, and have not had a misfire since.

So far, so good. Hope you get yours back soon and all is resolved.

Tim http://www.pheasantcountry.com/photos/images/Img_0606.jpg

fezman

12-13-2003, 03:51 PM

http://www.glassartists.org/Images/UserImages/Thm3477_Picture_041.jpg ok me thinks i figgerd out this infernal machine this is supposed to be DOC also i'm still waiting for my gun it was supposed to be back this week i'm glad the fireing mechanism was explained as a mechanical and not recoil opperated thank you

birddog

12-14-2003, 11:22 AM

timb99 - Thanks for clarifiying the Condors trigger assembly and firing sequence. As i statted before, i havn't had any experience with them and the doubles I own have either double triggers, single/selective triggers or single triggered with barrel selection on the saftey. Again, thanks for the info and good luck.

great photo by the way..... who's happier you or the pup?? :D

timb99

12-14-2003, 12:38 PM

birddog,

That's Katie. She's always happy. I was pretty pleased in that photo too. That was a bird I downed in South Dakota in December 2002.

Tim

birddog

12-14-2003, 01:48 PM

timb99 - I was out there in December last year too. Their gun/deer season in the area i hunt changed dates setting my second trip further into the season. What area do you hunt out there? I've got life long friends in the eastern part of the state that I make sure to pay a few visits to each year. Always a great time there!

timb99

12-14-2003, 03:40 PM

birddog,

I am lucky enough to have a cousin who lives in Sioux Falls, and he has a friend who owns several hundred acres just west of Parkston in Douglas county. Parkston is just south of Mitchell. The landowner has spent lots of time, effort, and money to groom his land specifically for pheasant habitat, and it shows. It's wonderful hunting.

I went up again this year the weekend before Thanksgiving. Cold and snowy, but many birds. When you're into lots of birds it's easy to forget the CRP is 6 feet tall, it's 15F, and the wind and snow are hitting your face at 40 miles an hour.

Luckily, the landowner is not charging us anything to hunt his land so far. He hunts with us, and was the photographer in this photo.

Go to www.pheasantcountry.com, (http://www.pheasantcountry.com,) there are more photos of last year's hunt, and lots of other great pheasant hunting info on that site. Hope to post some photos of this year's hunt soon.

Tim

birddog

12-15-2003, 02:19 PM

timb99 - I'm between Mitchell and Watertown east of Lake Norden in the Bryant-Erwin area. Been going out there for close to twenty years now with a few missed seasons in my college years. I've been blessed with the relationships made out there. It's like my second family - been to a few weddings and graduations over the years and really appreciate them for even thinking to send invites knowing that it might not be possible to come but, the invitation is there if time is available.

You're absolutely correct on the weather! ha ha! When we walk into the lounge at around 8 for breakfast we chuckle 'cause it'll be nice and calm out knowing an hour later when we walk out it's going to be blowin' like a banshee (9 times outa 10)! Then when you're out in the field and the dogs get birdy ... "What a BEAUTIFUL day!".. HA HA!

How was the population doing down there? I know a few years ago when the heavy snow and ice came through I was told the birds suffered a bit around the Mitchell area. But it all depends per parcel...if there is good wintering cover or not.

I'll get some photos on here of the motley crew and the wolf pack. I havn't bought a digital camera yet so I need to scan them first.

Have a good one!

[ 12-15-2003, 12:21 PM: Message edited by: birddog ]

timb99

12-15-2003, 04:51 PM

birddog,

Birds were plentiful. The public areas had birds, but they were skittish.

We got some out of road ditches too. (Road hunting is a no-no here in Kansas...)

The private land of my cousin's friend was spectacular. At one point we sat in the car and watched while 100 yards away, pheasants crossed the road from a picked corn field into his CRP (that we were aboout to hunt.) We stopped counting at 40 birds.

FYI, nowadays most photo processing shops will make a CD for you with jpg images from your regular camera.

Tim

fezman

12-15-2003, 05:56 PM

well the plot thickins i once again called customer service to see were my gun was and now ive been hit with the latest... it seemes that they only work on guns every once in a while there. so evan though my gun was receved on 11/20 (as per my return recept from the postoffice) the gun wasnt checked into the armory till the 11/26 when i called on 12/1 i was told that the gun would be in getting worked on for 2 weeks well its been 2 full work weeks. so i called again today. now the story is that they only took guns in on 11/20 to work on them and untill those guns are fixed they wont be getting to myn for at least 5 more working days. and then its going to be at least 2 weeks. so it looks like im going to be hunting with my single shot .410. this season. :mad: i think that im going to call again tommrow and ask to speek to a superviser evan though i know that wont get me any were. i have freinds in the customer service industry and if you ask for a superviser they just put you on hold explain your complaint to the dude sitting next to them and just hand the phone over so you get no ware. i shure hope this gun works when i get it back or im gona bee realy steemed :mad:

Drifty

12-17-2003, 05:19 PM

Hi Fezman,
I was told by a service representative it would be a 3 week turnaround I sent my stoeger in and it was received over a week ago so I don't think they will look at mine until February 2004.
Mine missfired a little and fired twice (both barrels) one time.....I hope all works out I shot mine well pheasant hunting in Maryland with my son.

fezman

12-17-2003, 08:55 PM

i guess the squeeky wheel gets some grease i guess. yesterday i got a call from customer service saying that they were sorry for the "run around" about my gun and i was assured that they were working on it ... blaa blaa blaa. and some one was repremanded for this and what ever.. realy that wasnt the point of me complaining, all i wanted was my new gun fixed with out a problem not to get some one fired for incompitence. also today i got a call from a gun smith from benelli but i could'nt get back to him before 4:30 est. so i guess ill just call tommrow and find out what the hold up is. personaly i think that a new gun would have just cleared up the problem but im shure that would be a mountan of paper work that know one wants to do. the real shame in all of this is quite frankly the dammage is already done and realy nothing will resolve it evan if i do get my gun back the sour taste of this whole thing will stay in my mouth for a long time to come. customer service got that from me when they called. i think next time ill just buy a remington or a winchester.

birddog

12-18-2003, 01:00 PM

It's a crying shame fezman! I know I'd have the same after taste too. At least you're getting some attention now and hopefully the gunsmith that called has the girl right infront of him and is getting the situation resolved.

Good Luck

[ 12-18-2003, 11:00 AM: Message edited by: birddog ]

fezman

12-20-2003, 01:02 AM

well i got my gun back... and guess what its still broke / not right. first it still missfires and it wont let off the top barrel with out tapping the gun on the ground to set the switch. bumping the gun dosent bother me to much but i realy have to whack it to go off. i guess ill either have to ***** first thing monday morning or i'll have to drive it down and show them that it dosent work right. i only live about 3hrs away from the service center and i'm shure that thats the only way im going to get any satisfaction. if i **** the gun and pull the trigger with the safty on i have to reset the action to get it to fire after the trigger has been pulled also if the gun isnt in a fireing position ie. streight up to my sholder it wont fire. i had a funny feeling that this was going to happen. the gun does work if you are fairly carfull about how you **** it and fire it but if you arnt it wont work. i was always under the impression that if the safety was off and you pulled the trigger it should fire no matter what angle the gun is held at. i can t beleve this crap. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER THING FROM THIS COMPANY OR ITS HOLDINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT INCLUDES BERETTA

birddog

12-20-2003, 11:44 AM

Take it back to where you bought it and GET your money back.... B.S. !

rrozewicz

12-20-2003, 12:28 PM

(HELLO Stoeger Customer Relations are you at all intrested in any of these complaints/issues with your products?!?) :confused:

Fezman - I posted a similar issue regarding my Uplander Supreme. Bought it new and out of the box it failed. Sent it back to Stoeger and waited approx 2 months for it's return only to be let down by the SAME ISSUE....both barrels WILL NOT FIRE! I feel your pain as it unfortunalty seems like way too many of us on this handy dandy forum site are frustrated with one common voice. Stoegers are NOT worth buying! I am an advid Wing and Clay shooter and here's a question....what good does a GUN do if it won't fire when you pull the trigger?? My humble answer.....It is garbage!

Sorry for the b-yotch session but I felt the need to join in and share my thoughts. Plus, misery loves company! :D

[ 12-20-2003, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: rrozewicz ]

birddog

12-29-2003, 11:57 PM

Hey guys - I finally got this figured out.. here's a beautiful S.Dakota afternoon with Penny and a few birds w/Franchi Alcione SL Sport. Penny's a bit beat-up at this point in the trip. She'd tabulated a skunk and a couple Coyotes by this point.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/084098.jpg

[ 12-31-2003, 05:22 AM: Message edited by: birddog ]

fezman

12-30-2003, 09:43 PM

thats a beautyfull thing. we went out on sat for late season birds but didn't see a thing. to top that off i bought doc an orange neopren vest with the chest protector and i didnt fit it right and it rubbed under his legs real bad but i think he'll survive. i think we're going out at least 2 more times to see what we can scare up before the season closes.

birddog

01-02-2004, 03:43 AM

Thanks fezman ... beautiful is right... what was even more beutiful was the fact there were hens all over the place. It's a treat to see that the egg layers are doing well too.

I can see how Doc would be hard to fit correctly ... that boys got a chest on him! I have a vest for Penny but she hates the thing (Gus and Jude don't mind it tho)... so i keep spraying her legs and titts with Blue-coat ... messy but, it works well and it seems she's more comfortable licking scratches then wearing the vest. It's amazing how tolerant most dogs are to 'war woonds' ... even though it may bother me ... it seems their threshold is much higher than what you'ld like to think.

...and good luck next time out in the field. Late season is always fun!

birddog

01-02-2004, 02:03 PM

Penny and I right up the road from the last picture with the ditch bird that filled our nine bird limit.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/084843.jpg

fezman

01-04-2004, 11:57 AM

i bought some velcro patches and busted out the sewing machine and "custom" fit Doc's vest but i havent realy run him in it yet. and boy are you right about pain treshhold on a dog he ran threw a fence at my nabors one day and put a huge gash in his side i didnt evan notice it till my son told me that he was bleeding. Doc let me shave him scrub it out and put 6 stiches in him i was amazed he didnt evan yelp or try to bite me now you cant evan tell he ever was cut.

birddog

01-05-2004, 01:18 AM

it's cool that 'beer bottle engineering' can make a misfortunate purchase something practical ... I have to laugh - I bought 3 of Orvis' ToughChew Dog Nests a little over a year ago that are gauranteed a lifetime chew/tear proof and none of the dogs wanted to lay on them. This ticked me off cause they were around $80 a piece. it stumped me for the longest time. I thought it might have been the codura material they used but, came to realize that the polyfil foam beads and cedar crap they stuff 'em with becomes hard as a rock when they lay on them and noisy as heck too. So i went down to the craft store and picked up some of that pillow stuffing and replaced all three with it... now i have to brake an action open or rattle the treat lid to get 'em off them.... who knew.

timb99

01-09-2004, 06:47 PM

Guys,

I put my shorthaired in a K-9 Topcoat.

Check this.

http://www.k9topcoat.com/info.asp?what=hunting

The fabric tears on barbed wire, but better the fabric than the dog's skin!! it's not neoprene, and it has a soft lining so it's not too hard on skin.

Mine's black, but the new ones are orange (see the shorthaired in the black suit.) She hates it, but once she's in the field, she forgets it.

http://www.pheasantcountry.com/photos/images/0531179-R01-026-11A.jpg

Photo from 22 November 2003 in South Dakota

Tim

P.s. Going to hunt the painted chickens on Sunday near the Kansas-Nebraska border.

[ 01-09-2004, 04:55 PM: Message edited by: timb99 ]

fezman

01-10-2004, 07:02 AM

better make shure you were your long jons. i just was watching the weather channel and i think im going to pass on hunting this week end.

birddog

01-11-2004, 07:04 PM

hey guys - tim, do i see that correctly?? is that suit cut full down the legs to the knee??

It was going to be close to 40 here so went out this morning and hunted scratch birds at the club. Gus and Tank worked great together for only thier 6th time out as a pair. Gus actually honored a point on his own today. Big step for the two boys only being 10mo. old. Needless to say the house could burn down and I'd still be happy about that... wish i would've remembered the camera in the truck!!!

timb99

01-12-2004, 11:17 AM

Originally posted by birddog:
is that suit cut full down the legs to the knee?? Yeah, it goes down below the knee. See that link to K-9 Topcoat for a better look.

It was 50 degrees yesterday so I didn't have my shorthaired wear the suit. Probably should have, looking back now. I thought she'd get too hot. Unfortunately, the dogs got into some quail on the other side of a barbed-wire fence, and I couldn't stop her in time, and she bolted through. Now she has a cut along her sternum that looks like she had open-heart surgery. She never yelped, never stopped hunting. I never saw the cut until we were done and she was in the kennel. Luckily it's superficial and not through the skin.

Saw 0 pheasant, neither hen nor rooster. Bagged 4 quail, though. Still, a so-so day in the field beats sitting at home and watching the Chiefs get beat.

It was kind of neat, though, our group of 6 hunters included 3 women (well, one woman and two girls, including my 14-year-old daughter and my friend's 11-year-old daughter.) Now that doesn't happen often.

Tim

birddog

01-12-2004, 02:44 PM

ok i see now... I've had mixed feelings on vests and the likes cause one of my fathers pointers got rubbed real good when a sorgum stalk broke off and got lodged inside the vest. Indy was too much of a hard head to stop. He didn't want to be inspected when in the field while he was working. When we finally got out of the field he was laced open pretty good. There are other times where I've seen the vest get hung up on stuff to but another one was grouse hunting... the colar and leg openings of the vests kept getting hung up in briars and thickets jambing the dogs instead of just rolling off... guess there's advantages and disadvatages to both.

You know Tim it may not happen very often that you get the girls out but, I can imagine they had a good time... just hope it wasn't too stressing.. haha.

How long is your bird season down there in Kansas?

*note: 4 quail in the hand is better than 8 in the bush ... or something like that
;)

timb99

01-12-2004, 07:55 PM

Our pheasant & quail season ends at sunset on Saturday, 31 January here in Kansas.

Planning to go again Saturday. Will try a little further west, north of Manhattan, on some private land this time Katie will be wearing the suit.

Will try to remember a camera this time.

Tim

birddog

01-13-2004, 07:15 PM

Good luck on Saturday Tim!

I'll be heading for the grouse woods in western Wisconsin friday afternoon and hunting both Saturday and Sunday. I hope the weather cooperates! Last time we tried this in mid-December we had a good amount of flushes but it rained on us most of the weekend which made for tough hunting. Going to try the 28ga. out this weekend and see how I do with it this late in the season ... the 20 will be in the truck just in case though.

Have a good one!

timb99

01-19-2004, 03:17 PM

It was a wonderful day.

Colder than I expected, overcast and windy, and the wind was chilling.

We only had 4 people, plus 2 dogs.

We walked a huge CRP field, saw several pheasants, but none close enough to shoot at.

We decided since we didn't have enough to properly push a big CRP field, perhaps we should quail hunt instead....good idea.

We flushed and chased at least 5 different coveys of at least 20 birds. The biggest covey was probably on the order of 35 birds.

Between the 4 of us, we bagged 10 birds. Knocked down a couple more that we didn't retrieve. I got 4 myself, but accounting for poor marksmanship, should have had many more. I think I took 15-18 shots.

I have gained a new appreciation for quail hunting, as that's the first time I've actually hunted specifically for quail, and found lots of them. Flush a covey, shoot, watch where they land, follow, get a point on a couple of singles, then find the covey again, repeat...

I have also gained a new appreciation for my dog. Katie is a quail hunting dog, as is my friend's Brittany. They both had some spectacular points, and some good retrieves. I have never experienced such dog work. It was impressive.

Great time had by all. May do it again next week.

Tim

birddog

01-20-2004, 01:21 PM

Sounds like you had a great day Tim. sure makes for fun hunting when there are birds and the dogs are working well!

We had gotten to the cabin a bit later on Friday night than we expected due to an ice storm that moved in but, arrived safely. I brought both Gus and Jude (10mo old litter mates of Penny) up with me this weekend. Saturday morning we got out around 9am and walked some near by logging roads that we got 6 flushes out of. Jude broke point on the first two which we had no shots at. Heard the flush and saw a flash of brown cut through the poplars was about all that came of those (insert 'training' session here). The next bird was a wild flush that came left to right across the logging road maybe 20yds out and over the trees. Got a clean shot at it and downed him. Both pups headed for the retrieve and in mid stride gus locked up on another bird. I had my gun broke open and re-loading when he flushed...snapped it shut and popped off both rounds into the trees. miss/miss - Gone. Jude came back with the one which I was happy with. After lunch I left Jude at the cabin and walked a 5-6 yr old clear cut next to a pine woods with Gus and got two more birds up and down. both good points but we worked hard for 'em. Swear I got slapped and poked by every tree branch out there. So I ended the day with three birds.

Sunday we got out an hour earlier around 8 and headed for some forestry land that I hadn't hunted for a few seasons. Looked great. Jude got birdy a few times but didn't get any birds up. Had a few flush out of trees ahead of us but no shots at anything. Drove to a different clear cut about 10yrs old and saw a bird in the roadway. So we drove down a few tenths of a mile more then geared up and headed in. Had a point no more than 100yrds off the road. As I approached Jude he was locked up with his nose into the wind off to the left twitching slightly and moving his eyes back and forth. got within 5ft of him and the bird busted out maybe 10yrds out in front. A clean quartering shot that ended in a puff of feathers and a big smile. Had a few more points and flushes but I shot into trees both times.

all in all a great weekend for being as cold as it was.

birddog

01-28-2004, 03:23 PM

what loads were you using on the quail hunt?

fezman

01-28-2004, 07:59 PM

we went out on sunday to a pay to play farm in salem NJ in the shadows of the cooling towers of the nuke plant. we had a blast evan though it was below freezing all day (it was 7deg when we left in the morning) we hunted over a britney and an old engilsh setter. the guide let me take doc out for a while and he was quite impressed with him. there was a bit of a question about Doc's ablities you know the old saying the BS stops when the tailgate drops. it was my first time hunting with this group of guys and they had never seen my wiem hunt and they were afraide that he would take off. boy were they wrong he hunted hard and intence the entire time. his points were rock solid and he found birds in the field that the other dogs walked over i was quite happy with him evan his retreves the only thing was he ranges a bit because his was trained for horse back hunting. but when he got on the birds he just stayed it was great and i cant wait to go again. i hate to admit it but i did use a couple of #6s in the second bbl just incase i missed on my first shot and had to reach out and touch something. we were hunting farm quail and chuckers i did get a hen phesant that must have been a left over from another hunt.

birddog

01-29-2004, 02:36 PM

sounds like a you had a good time fezman! I'm usually shooting 7's backed up with 6's too on grouse, quail and chukkars.

Sounds like you were a bit sceptical of Doc? what's up? You said he was started for horseback trials/hunts. How old was he when you got him? The way it sounds is that you've been working him a good amount. Just wondering I guess.

take care.

fezman

02-01-2004, 12:31 AM

i didnt have any doubt of doc's abilitys, it was the dudes that i was hunting with. one of them was my nabor and the other three dudes and the guide were friends of his. all my nabor see's is doc dumping on his lawn and rooting threw his trash. they are nice guys just a little slow to accecpt that maby the "green horn" has a real bird dog. it gets a little anoying but doc impressed the guide and thats all that mattered to me he's been working pointing dogs his whole life. after the hunt we hit the bar and talked dogs for a couple hours and i convinced him to come to the field trials with me in the spring to pick out a new dog. his english setter is 12 and he wants to get another before this one dies to help train the pup

birddog

02-04-2004, 01:56 PM

Gotchya. There's not too much I can say about that fezman other than I've been there ... guys have done the same with me. Other than folks who know the dogs now I run into a few guys a year that will look down there noses at me when I tell them I've got Drathars that I'll never sway away from .. and not in a cocky way either .. i usually follow it up with some critical fact. Like you said, the saying goes, " The BS stops when the tailgate drops!". Glad to hear Doc gave them a perspective to chew on.

Don't you love the fact that he trailed the other dogs and stuck birds that they missed... I love it when that happens! Especially with cocky ba$$tards! I've done it on purpose a few times at the club to a few guys that are cocky 'money hunters' and it just gets their goat that their professionally 'finished' & 'hot wired' labs, brits, shorthairs and setters run over birds only to have an ugly Wirehaired stick 'em and point 'em out. I actually got so annoyed with one guy that I brought Elle (13yr old) out and let her run behind his 4yr old setter that he paid hansome $$ for with the same results... now I'm startin' to sound like him - I better stop here.

[ 02-04-2004, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: birddog ]