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I am now without a bird dog for the first time in 35 years. My last Boykin lost her battle with father time recently and it surely does not get any easier to watch them go. My pair of Boykins were proceeded by a lab and an incredibly capable springer. I got my start with a couple of beagle mixes that would hunt anything. My memories are wonderful and I am glad to have had the pleasure of hunting with all of these dogs. My life and access to land have both changed dramatically and another bird dog is not in my immediate plans. Once again, my memories are wonderful and I would do it all over without hesitation. Thanks for reading.

That's good and I understand. But there's a dog out there somewhere wanting to make some new memories when the time comes.

Birds have been dwindling in my immediate area for years and it makes it hard to have a great Bird Dog with that situation.

I'll still try and come up with the best one I can, and eventually I'll leave before one of them does. I have plans where it will go, but living without a Bird Dog just isn't living well.

A new Dog is looking to the future and hoping it can be better. Anything else is living in the past and there isn't much good that comes of it.

Well said. Just picked a puppy to replace my dog.Waited a year but realized life is too kphuggin short to not spend time in the field with a good dog.

Hiking fishing boating with dog in off season plus the training is challenging but a blast

oznoq,
I'm in the same spot that you are & feel the same pain! After 32 years & 3 Golden Retrievers , I put my last down a week ago. 14 years & 7 months. We hunted birds in 4 states & 11 species of game birds. His hunting days ended a couple of years ago. I still hunt Gambel quail when I am in AZ but his passing ended for good that chapter in my life. I got old as well.

I would get another Boykin in a minute if I had access to wild bird hunting. The number of pheasants and quail in my neck of the woods are at terribly low numbers. I used to guide on a hunting preserve and that was fun, but I am not willing to pay to shoot released birds at my expense. There seem to be a bunch of rabbits arpund and a beagle is a distinct possibility.