I have been hunting with, and breeding my Oldchap English Pointers since 1980. I have hunted grouse, woodcock, and ducks with them in the past. I have been especially interested in the ruffed grouse, because it is the most challenging bird of all to hunt. This bird is difficult to approach and it will run and hide as long as there is plenty of foliage to conceal it from the hunter. I have found that most good dogs are adequate for woodcock, but it takes a cautious, gifted and especially cooperative dog with an outstanding nose to hunt grouse successfully. Such dogs are very rare. I have managed over the years to breed several excellent grouse dogs. Two of those: BISQUIT and TARAN, were truly great. I will devote a future article on this page to these two dogs and their manner of hunting and I will discuss the selection process I have used to produce them. As of 2007, however, I am ceasing all hunting and breeding activities with my Pointers to concentrate on my Hounds. This is the end of my line!
 

I have had hounds since 1996. With them, I chose from the beginning to hunt only the Snowshoe Hare, as other animals tend to travel too far in the wilderness. Hunting hare also has a special appeal: I believe that it is technically the most difficult animal to hunt with hounds. The hare has the most delicate and ephemeral of all scents and to complicate the matter, it rarely travels in a straight line. It is an expert at dealing with predators and it devises the most diabolical schemes to foil their attempts. My dogs are very fast, but to this day, they have never captured a hare. Unless I decide to shoot one for supper, the hare is always lost and it always wins in the end. It is always a challenge for the dogs to trail successfully, even on good scenting days. I started hunting hare with a couple of Beagles, but I knew that I would soon seek another type of hound. It was a matter of personal preference. I wanted a larger hound with longer legs that could handle all the snow that we get here in New Brunswick and would not be troubled by the coyotes that are now numerous in this area. I imported several hounds from France and Switzerland to produce my Oldchap Hounds.

Hunting hare with hounds is a wonderful pastime. It has provided me with hours of enjoyment in the outdoors and allowed me to witness the most interesting and unusual behaviours. Hare are more intelligent than one might think. Since I rarely shoot a hare, I have come to know individual hares quite well, and I marvel at their strategies to fool the hounds. Hunting hare with hounds is probably the friendliest type of hunting one can do: The hare does not have to be killed. The dogs get to do what they love. You have a good reason to take them out and get a little exercise. The hare, at most, gets irritated and annoyed at the hounds.

I invite you to come along with my dogs and I in this world of virtual reality and I hope that through my articles, photos and short video clips, you can get, as I do, a sense of wonder, reverence and admiration for nature and the creatures that live in the wild. I hope as well, that you will share my affection for the dogs that help us understand and appreciate wild creatures in this unique way and allow us to witness and be part of the astonishing dramas that go on daily in the natural world.

2008 LITTERS

PREVIOUS LITTERS - (2007) -- Hound puppies

PHOTO ALBUM

Questions, comments, suggestions

NEW! DVD4-E - 2007 season

This is my newest and probably my best DVD !!

The hare is seen 23 times in this new DVD. There are several full scenes, shot in extreme conditions (-20 C)on snow. There is some unique footage where a hare collides with me on purpose. In one section, I express some thoughts on hound work. Another section shows the new Garmin® Astro 220® Dog tracking GPS in action. This DVD not only shows my hounds in action, where you can judge their speed, style, etc. but it also shows their temperament and how they behave in the house and the kennel. There are also some nice wildlife scenes. This DVD will please you if you are a hound enthusiast. It is an absolute MUST for anyone considering the purchase of a pup. Get the DVD, then decide if you like my dogs enough to get a pup.

LIST OF ARTICLES AND VIDEO CLIPS :

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ARTICLES:

The Hare and The Hound
 

About Training your Pointer Pup I want to thank all the people, pet owners as well as hunters, who have purchased Pointer puppies from me in the past. Some of the pups have gone to people who have been buying from me for almost two decades. These people do not require any help. Others, however, have just acquired their first bird dog puppy and they have many questions about training. For their benefit, I will try to answer the most frequently asked questions on this page and offer some general principles to guide them with their training.
 

About Training your Hound Pup This page is for the benefit of people who have never before hunted with hounds. Training a hound pup to hunt is extremely easy if you have acquired a pup from good hunting lines. On this page, I will outline some general principles to guide you with his training.
 

This page is updated frequently. For the latest version, press the Ctrl and F5 keys at the same time
 

JOURNALS

Training and Hunting Journal 2005

Training and Hunting Journal 2006

Training and Hunting Journal 2007

VIDEOS:

Note that all videos have sound. If you do not have sound, check your sound settings, change the properties of your Media Player or upgrade to a newer version of Windows Media Player available for free on the NET

clip1 HOUNDS-HARE HUNTING VIDEO - Chloé was just 3 years old at the time and the pup behind her was Voodoo, just 10 months old. It shows her innate ability to resolve a check quickly, even in dry, windy conditions.

clip2 POINTERS-GROUSE AND WOODCOCK HUNTING VIDEO - A pointing dog must have many natural talents to be useful in the grouse woods of Eastern Canada. It must have excellent scenting abilities, a strong pointing instinct, great endurance, the correct natural range, and above all a strong desire to please. The clip shows Willow on grouse and woodcock. Note her speed, range and level of cooperation.

clip3 POINTERS-WATER RETRIEVE VIDEO - Pointers are not normally used for water retrieves; nevertheless many have a great love of water. In this clip, Pierrot was retrieving the leather from an old baseball in muddy water. This is a demonstration of how dogs can use their sense of smell to find submerged objects or birds.

clip4 POINTERS-DUCK SEARCH AND RETRIEVE VIDEO - It is almost incredible that dogs can track on running water. This clip shows Bisquit tracking a duck released 20 min. earlier on the river, finding it and retrieving to hand.

clip5 POINTERS-TRACK AND RETRIEVE VIDEO - Pointers are not normally used for tracking. They are specialists at air scenting live birds. However, they can easily be taught to track. This clip shows Bisquit, on a hot windy day, following a long difficult track with sudden changes of direction across fields and into the woods. The track was laid 3/4 hour earlier. Notice the speed of tracking, indicative of this Pointer's extraordinary sense of smell.

clip6 POINTERS-TRAINING POINTERS VIDEO This clip shows a training session on quartering ( a dog with the proper instincts should search in a zig-zag pattern in front of the hunter). This can be enhanced with a little training. Tobi's first scent point on a pigeon at 4 months of age, and 4 pups sight pointing an old sock on a string.

clip7 POINTERS-INTRODUCTION TO WATER VIDEO - This clip shows 3 young Pointers being introduced to water. After some time, one of them swims back a short distance with the dummy. That's all it takes. After the pups start swimming and get comfortable in the water, the distance can be increased gradually.

clip8 HOUNDS-HARE HUNTING VIDEO - This clip shows Voodoo, just 7 months old at the time, doing it all alone. She searched, struck a track, and ran the same hare for over 40 minutes by herself. This in itself is quite extraordinary. What is noteworthy in this clip is how she comes back to the point of loss, slows down, concentrates and recaptures the track quickly.

clip9 HOUNDS-HARE HUNTING VIDEO - This clip shows Voodoo,Uma and Pastelle trailing a hare. Hare are not usually too worried about the hounds, as they are quite confident in their ability to evade them. In all my years of running hounds, I have never yet seen a hound catch a hare. The hare in this clip is an old hand at fooling the hounds. I recognize him by the unusual white spot on his forehead and by the area where he is usually found. He was definitely irate at me for being in the way. This hare had a beautiful strategy for losing the hounds: each time he was pursued, he searched for another hare to travel with and eventually the hounds would switch track. He would then beat it back quietly to his usual hideaway and stay put.

clip10 HOUNDS-HARE HUNTING ON SNOW VIDEO - This shows 2 two year old pups following a hare on snow on 4 different days at -22C,-9C,-8C and +4C. They are by no means doing a good job, as the running is too fast, there are too many checks, and there are long periods of slow tracking with only an occasional cry when the hare is way ahead of the dogs. This is not satisfactory hound work!

clip11 HOUNDS-TRAINING SEASON HAS ARRIVED- This clip shows Chloé, Voodoo and Uma in hot pursuit after 1¾ hr of hunting on September 13th

clip12 HOUNDS-VOODOO ON THE LINE- This clip shows Voodoo on the line, temporarily ahead of the other hounds- See how precise she is on the line after 1½hour of hunting the same hare. For a description of the hunt, go to Training and Hunting Journal 2005- October 13, 2005. You can view this clip at 100% display size.It is a big file of 5.8Mb and may take a few minutes to download.

clip14 HOUNDS-BADGER AND 3 HARES - This clip was shot on January 06, 2006. Badger, just 8 months old, had steadily chased what I thought was a single hare up and down in thick woods for about one hour. I took position on a beaver pond and waited for an opportunity to see the hare and the hound in a more open area as they crossed a path in the distance. To my surprise, not one but three hares were running together in front of the hound. The first crossed at one end of the pond, and within a couple of minutes, the other two crossed at the other end. I have witnessed this often and commented on it in my 2005 Journal. Note that this video was shot at a great distance from the action (20x ZOOM). This is the reason why the sound level is so low. Badger really has a huge voice. You can view this clip at 100% display size.

clip15 HOUNDS-UMA ON THE LINE - This clip was shot on December 26, 2005 during a period of freezing rain, strong wind and ice pellets following a heavy snowfall. Uma had chased that hare steadily for 2 hours and had circled him 5-6 times already when this clip was filmed. She was not running fast, but the chase had been very smooth.

clip16 HOUNDS-NADIA ON THE LINE - This clip was shot on January 30, 2006. Nadia, one of Chloé's daughters, was just 9 months old at the time and had not had a lot of experience hunting. Yet, she demonstrated that she could handle the job. When she was just 6 months old, Nadia opened on the first hare scent she ever encountered and she chased the hare for 10 minutes! Note the VOICE!

clip17 HOUNDS-CHLOÉ ON THE LINE - This clip was filmed on Feb 02, 2006. It shows Chloé on a difficult scenting day. She ran the line as fast as conditions would allow and as slow as necessary during a long check. In this instance, she recovered the line 5 minutes after the hare had crossed the path! She ran several hares steadily during the 2½ hours that we were out.

clip18 HOUNDS-HARE HUNTING VIDEO - On January 26, 2007, Chloé trailed several hares, slowly but steadily, at -23C (-5F) during the 2 hours that we were out.

clip19 HOUNDS-HARE HUNTING VIDEO - Here are Badger and Chloé on January 30, 2007, at -20C (-2F). Badger is going too fast and is too reckless, but then he is not yet 2 years old! This chase lasted at least 20 minutes.

clip21 HOUNDS-HARE HUNTING VIDEO - Badger at -21C (-2F) with wind - Here he is again later, on the same day. The wind had increased and he had to trail more carefully.