Gundog Training for the Duck and Goose Hunter (Hardback)

Begbie, Eric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1409215326 ISBN 13: 9781409215325

Publisher: Lulu.com, 2008

Eric Begbie has been an enthusiastic waterfowler for almost 50 years and has trained retrievers for most of that period. The gun dog training methods that are encapsulated in his famous Gundog Training Broadsheets have received worldwide acclaim and have been used by thousands of dog owners on five continents. In this book he combines the training lessons from the Broadsheets, specially adapted for the duck and goose hunter, with a wealth of additional material and some highly evocative waterfowling tales. The book provides a structured training course that will enable the wildfowling enthusiast to train his own retriever from being a puppy to the stage where it can play a full part by his side on the marsh.

From the Author:

Whether hunting ducks from a blind on a freshwater marsh, gunning on a coastal estuary or decoying geese on a corn stubble, every wildfowling trip is greatly enhanced by the companionship of a well trained retriever. This book is a "must" for every waterfowl hunter and dog owner.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

It is hard to know where to start in acknowledging all the help I have had throughout many decades and which have culminated in the production of this truly international little book. Quite obviously everyone who taught me anything about wildfowling and gundog training deserve a share of the credit. If, in reading this book, you find information and opinions that are stimulating and useful, the credit goes to those mentors and friends. If anything upsets or annoys you, the responsibility is entirely mine.

Some, indeed much, of my thanks must go to my dogs that have, over most of a lifetime, taught me more than any book. Scrapie, Meg, Moy, Moss, Flight and Teal, another Meg, Bess, Rusky and a second Flight have all been great teachers.

But, as far as this particular publication is concerned, I need to pay special tribute to Tom Kennedy of Nova Scotia and David Wielicki of the South Carolina Waterfowl Association who introduced me to fowling in Canada and USA respectively.

On the gundog front, there are so many people, on both sides of the Atlantic, who have contributed to my Gundog Forum on the Internet and, thereby, greatly expanded my education. It is invidious to single out individuals but I do think that Jeff Boston and Pippa Mattinson in UK, together with Jim Barry and Jim Schaefer in USA have broadened my horizons more than most.

Finally, my own photographic skills being severely limited, can I acknowledge with thanks the help given by Craig Miller, whose dog Axl appears on the front cover, Doug Bruning of Mustang Creek Kennels, Andrew Inkster and Mirren Begbie.