Vacation - are you sure?

After meeting Joe some 20+ years ago, I learned that vacations were not always about sitting on the beach and relaxing. It used to be wilderness hunting, camping and canoing, maybe skiing or scuba diving. Now it’s running dogs. We’re winding down our 2nd week here in Timber Lake, SD, where we have been riding horses and running our bird dogs on the open prairies.

This has been an annual tradition since we started field trialing, mostly for Joe because of my business. This is my second trip. I get more determined to get away when we have young pups. The last time I came was 4 years ago when we had Annie’s pups to start.

We are camped here with a professional trainer, his 30 or so dogs and our 6 dogs and 4 pups. We have our living quarters and he has a 90 year old farm house. Each morning we are awakened before sun up by the sound of all the dogs barking in anticipation of the day. We come out of season so we can ride horseback and don’t need to shoot for training anyway (except for a blank pistol). The main objective is to expose the dogs to wild birds which are so plentiful here to make them better bird dogs.

We generally ride and run dogs for 4-5 hours each morning, and then back to camp to do the dog and horse chores. I nominated myself as camp cook since the alternative is hamburger helper every night.

Bet has been one of the stars this trip, she has had several nice finds and good manners. I guess she likes wild pheasants better than pen raised quail. A couple of the pups are looking very promising.

The weather is warm but a nice change from the Houston sauna. I wish I had some pics, but I'm not able to carry my camera on the horse.

I know it is work, and no wonder that you and Joe stay so slim. But riding horses for 4 or 5 hours, following beautiful setters doing their work, and seeing such different country than here--------------Can I go next time??????

Thanks for sharing. I have read your description several times and James and I have enjoyed imagining what it must be like.

Sounds like fun! That's the kind of vacation I would like to take!