Episode #50 Ten Off-Season Habits For Better Bird Dogs

We lay out ten practical off-season moves to build safer, steadier, hunt-ready dogs while scouting smarter across Arizona. From e-bikes and live-bird reps to rattlesnake avoidance and mentorship work, we share the plan, the partners, and why it matters.

• e-bike conditioning and habitat scouting on public lands. Check out Electric Bikes of Flagstaff, talk to Luke, tell them, Ryan sent you! They are also called Rides N Motion. Located 14 E Birch Ave, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, 86001

• structured bird work at Desert Creek Sportsman with chukar and pheasant
• budget training with trapped pigeons for steadiness and delivery to hand
• clinics with pro trainer Guy Molicone Jr for handler and dog tune-ups
• annual rattlesnake avoidance in Cave Creek covering scent, sound, and sight
• low-impact water conditioning with lake retrieves and pool work
• travel to higher country to normalize road life and new environments
• focused obedience, woe, and reliable recall before wild birds
• careful dog-horse introductions for calm, safe movement
• building community and sponsors to mentor fatherless boys through quail camp.

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Connect with us: Email us at ryan@azquailtoday.com —we'd love to hear from you! 
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Transcript

Welcome And YouTube Livestream

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Arizona Quail Today, your go-to podcast for all things quail hunting in Arizona. We're dedicated to educating and inspiring the next generation of Quail hunters. A big thanks to our supporters and proud partners. Now let's dive in today's program.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Alright, guys, welcome back to another episode of Arizona Quail Today. I am gonna be gosh, this is I'm recording actually the first YouTube live video. So if you want to move on over to our YouTube channel and watch basically this podcast on video, you can. I mean, I don't think there's anything special just sitting there looking at somebody, but for maybe some reason you like YouTube a lot, that's fine. I am sporting a cool little marsupial Suntech hoodie that I think is really cool. I'm also sporting uh an Arizona Quail Today hat, which I need to make an easier way for you guys to get those right now. You just got an Instagram message me, and then your donation of $25 or more. It really does need to be at least $25. These hats cost a freaking arm and leg, and then sending them are expensive too. So $50 would be awesome if you can help out. That just makes it all the more while worth it. Um, yeah. So I'm wearing one of those leather embroidered errors on a quail today.

Off-Season Plan Overview

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Anyway, today in the podcast, here's what I want to cover um 10 things I'm gonna be doing in the off season. Or maybe you want to think about 10 things to do in the off season with bird dogs. So here we go.

E-Bike Scouting And Conditioning

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Um I'd say number one, just conditioning and scouting uh with my bike. And when I mean um my bike, I mean in e-bike, I've got a big fat tires on these things, huge, and love to go out and travel. Yesterday, I think I did 10 miles or so in different parts of good quail country, and it's nice. So I'll do that. I'm gonna put on a lot of miles on my mountain bike uh this offseason. And then uh in certain areas, I can take my dogs with me and get them to run. So this gives me a chance to scout out new quail habitat and mark out promising land. I mean, just yesterday I was in an area and I was like, dude, I'm dropping a pin on this bad boy. And it was state land, but state land's good, and it borders some kind of big park, and um just excited about that, actually, because sometimes in different areas of you know the state, you're just gonna get more water, and so um, there's gonna be different uh vegetation and uh bird numbers, you know. So uh anyway, there's a lot of factors into that. So, you know, one of the things I'm gonna be doing is conditioning and scouting, getting that cardio up and getting a lot of miles on on the bike and out in the backcountry. So I love I love going in my truck, don't get me wrong. But uh yeah, I'm looking forward to that. Just getting out on my e-bike a bunch. And uh, thanks to the friends up in Flagstaff, um Flagstaff Electric Bikes, um, really good folks. I'm gonna try to find out who who is my contact up there. I forget. Uh my mind's going blank. Flagstaff e-bikes. This guy um is really, really good. Gosh, what's his store? Uh it's right there downtown. So if you're ever in Flagstaff downtown, um you gotta check him out. I'm trying to think of where this guy is. Jeez. Oh, I think here it is. Rides in motion. Let me see if this is it. Uh no, this is not it. He's gonna kill me for not knowing his store name. Okay. I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to find it. Let's see. Maybe it is. This maybe it is the rides in motion. No, that does not look like it. Maybe maybe it is. Maybe it's not. Anyway, if you haven't done the e-bike thing, it's actually really, really, really cool. Um I've been able to cover a lot of ground. It's quiet. The um and I'll tell you more about my e-bike

Structured Bird Work At Desert Creek

SPEAKER_02 5:27

another time. So I've totally butchered this. So in my show notes, I'll be sure to try to I will get the bike store in there. So I apologize. And I I would be digging in my phone right now to look for the contact on the podcast, but I can't because I'm doing live recording. So anyway, I'll get back to that and give you much more information. And and because I royally butchered that, I'm gonna have to uh get back and do a lot better job to rep the e-bike world. But that's a new thing for me, and I'm excited about that. Um scouting out new habitat. I did not use it as much as I was thinking I would uh during the coil season. I did use it some, but um yeah, some of the country is just too rough for a truck, and and I don't have a razor. So if you have a razor, I mean that's great, but I don't. So I think it's cool. I'm gonna get a razor eventually, but uh, you know, those things are pricey. Or get something like that. So anyway, scouting, conditioning, that's number one. Conditioning and scouting with the e-bike. Number two, I'm gonna do structured kind of bird workouts. Um, I'll head over to Desert Creek Sportsman. Uh, those guys over there. Apparently, Tony is back in rolling. I think he uh got some big plans for some upgrades in this next season, which is really cool. But I'll be out there real soon. In fact, I'm gonna go out there. I've got some guys coming from the Fathers in the Field program, the ministry that we run, fatherless boys and mentor father's gonna take some guys out there, and we're gonna do some dog work out there, working with Chuckers and Pheasant. These are uh obviously, you know, pin-raised birds, but it'll be a lot of fun. So Desert Creek, I'm gonna head out there, uh, just get some time, focus on you know uh bird contacts with these dogs, you know, fine-tuning and kind of just keeping their their skills fresh, pointing, holding point, you know, recall, woe, all the basic steadiness and controlled environment. So I like that. Another thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna do, you know, I'm gonna work with uh Riley Cross, and uh he's got Quail up in Black Canyon City, I think it is. Uh he's good dude. So I'll be I got a bunch of birds. Um actually I think I have a bunch of birds with him still, so I'll be doing some of that. Um looking forward to that. So that's all pr can be pricey. So you can buy your birds from Riley Cross, uh, Black Canyon City. Um you can go out to Desert Creek. I think they run till sometime in March. Um they'll kind of close down for the season and then they'll kick back up. They just kind of run as kind of primetime cool season in the Phoenix Valley. So out towards Buckeye. Might have the marsupial guys out there with me too. We'll see.

Budget Training With Trapped Pigeons

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Um, another thing I'm gonna do, so that's number two. Number three, I'm going to do live birds on a budget. I'm gonna do pigeons. So I trap pigeons and uh I do I do out of like this pizza joint. It's pretty funny. So special thanks to an old bird dog man named Marty showed me how to trap pigeons. I love it. It's a total redneck. I love doing that kind of stuff. You know, they get pigeons are can be nasty, and so um it helps them out. They give me free food. I get gift cards, take my little girls out, um, my my daughters, and they love it. So uh pigeons, I'll I'll I'll have some pigeons. You know, I'll use pigeons for something. I just always do. So I I I'm only trapping pigeons when the pizza joint has a problem. And then I'll trap a bunch of birds and then be done. I literally trapped, I think, a hundred pigeons one time in about two months, you know. So sometimes you just gotta wipe them out, bro. They're in there, and they'll come back like in a cycle. Like there'll be no birds for six months, three months, and then all of a sudden they're all back. Uh, just kind of fly in and kind of take over. So I use them for training, I use that for all sorts of steady work and um just building the dog confidence, and then uh I'll go out with I'll take my birds, sometimes pigeons, and um, this is the fourth thing I'm gonna do is partner up with a pro. I'll work with Guy

Clinics With Pro Trainer Guy

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Molicone Jr. and do some clinics. So I'll bring pigeons. Sometimes I'll just donate some to him, or um, I've got a group of guys coming with the Arizona Quail Today crew, uh, folks coming in and I've helped organize a clinic, and uh I'll be a part of those doing that. And as far as location where we're gonna do that, I'm not sure. We're gonna meet up early in the morning. Um I think it's a hundred bucks for the morning or something like that, and then you get some one-on-one training with Guy Molycun Jr. And it's great. You just get another set of eyes on handling and creeping and breaking and sloppy retrieves, uh, you know, you get other you get the chance to kind of though work, work with guy and then him see your dog and you work with your dog and all that stuff. So I'm looking forward to that. So partnering up with Guy. I'm planning on doing that. That's number four. Uh Guy Jr. And we'll go as yeah, I don't know how many times we'll do it. If we just do it a handful of times, it's great in the offseason. So if you want to be a part of that, then uh just let me know. So uh you can reach out to Guy directly if you want to. I'm just I just kind of helped kickstart it a little bit. So there's I don't get anything out of it other than just learning. So number five, here we go, safety

Rattlesnake Avoidance Training

SPEAKER_02 12:16

first. Uh I'll be working with Cody out there at Rattlesnake Ready. Uh take dogs of Cody and his wife, Rattlesnake Ready. They're a great couple, um, pretty awesome folks. So um, yeah, I I did not encounter any rattlesnakes this season. I was really grateful for that. I mean, it was hot too, so it had me nervous several times, a little spooky. But I didn't encounter any, so I'm actually really glad about that. That's really good. Um, but uh, he's got a spot out there in Cave Creek, and you know, it doesn't take very long. You just go out there, uh, he'll have some live rattlesnakes. Literally, it looks like he wraps like dental floss around the snake's head, and so it can't bite the dog. I think he defangs him as well. I mean, Cody's a real deal. A dude's been bit in the hand by a rattlesnake, and you know, that's why when he waves at you, he's like like this, like, hey, you know, he's missing all sorts of fingers and stuff. Uh check it. No. But his wife, she's got like, no, I'm joking. So uh it is interesting because I think his his family lives on the property, so you can imagine those conversations like to the little kids, like, don't go over there. That you know, when daddy's training, there's snakes on the ground. I mean, I wonder if he's he's probably got some stories to tell. I'll have to do a podcast with him. Like, has your daughter ever wandered off into the snake, the snake aquarium or whatever they call it, the snake sanctuary. I think he's got one of the largest rattlesnake collections in the southwest. Seriously. Uh if not the country. Like, it's like crazy. So he is a snake dude. I mean, yeah, it's pretty cool though. Pretty cool, and they're a great couple, like super high quality, un I think b unlike unbelievable, like just great facility. I I like the quality of the work that they do. So I've taken my dogs there several times. Um, I think it's a good tune-up once a year, you know, and just get your dog like fully, you know, uh of avoidance training, kind of the scent, sound, the sight, like the gut, like the guy works with all the senses of the dog. Scent, sight, sound, all of it. So and you guys that are out of state, like that'd be good for you to come in town and just get that done. Like, I would encourage you to do that. Tell them Arizona Quail today sent you. If you're up in Flagstaff with this e-bike store, I've been telling you about tell them Arizona quail today sent you. It does help. If you work with Guy, tell them Arizona Quail today sent you. If you work with Desert Creek Sportsman, tell them Arizona Quail sent you. If you work with Riley Cross, tell them Arizona Quail today sent you. And see if they'll give you a deal. I mean, hey, it's worth asking. Just said Ryan said you you you you're gonna be treated right. And uh, you know, hey man. I was thinking, probably, you know, the first five years or so. I I'm just thinking, man, I just hope that people get a vibe that I'm just trying to help. I love learning and sharing. So anyway. Alright, rattlesnake ready. That's number five. Number five. Um what else? Number six. Oh, this is an interesting one.

Low-Impact Conditioning In Water

SPEAKER_02 16:00

I'm gonna do uh low impact conditioning, and it's swimming. I'm I'm actually not I mean, I'll swim a little bit, I do, but actually in the community I live in right now, we have a lap pool. I'm looking at moving and so um up to New River area. Uh and I think um yeah, there won't be no lap pool out there, that's for sure. New river's got water problems anyway, so there will be a pool, hopefully. But anyway, I'm gonna do some swimming and specifically working with my dog swimming. So I do a I get out on the lake, paddle boards with my wife. Um I actually am an old whitewater raft guide uh in class three, four, five whitewater. So, not five, class three and four. Uh, not guiding at least for five. Um, and I did last summer. I I just guided my family. I'm not uh doing it for pay pay anymore. Um, but I'll get out on the water quite a bit. So I'm planning on doing that. It's good for the dogs. Um, it's nice because it's hot in Arizona, so it's a fun way to get out, get those dogs swimming. I'll do a lot of I'll have my dogs do a lot of retrieving in that water. And uh it's not so hard on joints. My dog Zona, she's got some joint problems and she's seven. Um, so uh I think it's gonna be a good one. So I've always done that. I love that. So we do a lot of a lot of lake trips and stuff like that. So low impact conditioning swimming. That'll be fun. Number seven, I'm drinking coffee while we're doing this. Um

Travel And Road-Life For Dogs

SPEAKER_02 18:02

number seven, I'm gonna be doing some traveling, uh, new country, cross country exposure. So I don't know. I'll I'll head out to high country, get higher elevation, um, take my camper. My wife and I like to go. We got a little airstream. It's a beautiful little rig. Uh little what do you call it? Um some kind of a Bambi sport is what it is. It's a short little sucker. But um, it's great. It's great. Works great for us. We love that. Um you know, I'll put the dogs in the back of the truck and all summer long and um, you know, keep the windows open and they got shade and some wind and just getting the dogs traveling on trips like that, new locations, new experiences, just get them comfortable kind of living on the road. Living on the road, my friend. Yeah, not gonna sing that. Uh but that's a Willie Nelson. Get them comfortable living on the road before season, you know. I mean, I think it's just good. It's the dogs like to be with me, and I like being with the dogs. So, and that's a fun thing about quail hunters, is like they're they're just there's a lot of dogmen. They're like they just like dogs. So, anyway, somebody asked me that one time. I I think it was Jim Graham. He's like, he's like, you bird hunters are funny, you guys are like dog people, like big time. I'm like, yeah, I may agree. And it's funny, like, how many of you guys are sleeping with your dogs? It sounds so racy, but I I hear that. I hear guys telling me, like, like they sleep with their dogs, especially in the dog trials, like all those nice campers and rigs, those guys are there sleeping with their bird dogs. That's funny. I don't go there, dude. That dog, my dog is not getting in my camper unless it's freezing cold outside, and I don't want my dogs to freeze, so then I'll put them in the bathroom. And uh, you know, so it is funny though. There's a kind of a culture shift that's happened within dog dog handlers, like uh from like the the pin to the being pampered, from the pin to the palace. So it's hilarious. Uh but yeah, I'm gonna be doing some new some country cross-country travel. I don't know where I'm gonna go. Like to go up to Colorado. Um I don't know if we're even gonna get up there this year or not. We've got a lot going on. We got kids getting married and all sorts of great stuff. So we'll see. But I'm definitely gonna go to higher country and uh spend some time in that camper and uh do a little writing projects. I'm a full-time pastor in North Valley, and I'm writing a number of books. Here's one I'm working on right now. I mean, this is crazy. Thinking Biblical about the geopolitical and uh Israel, Iran, and America's future. Just lighthearted reading, you know. Uh and I've got a book I put it out for Arizona Quill today, Bible readings for bird hunters. If you haven't picked up a copy of that, I think it's very entertaining. Uh, I enjoyed, I wrote that one time just sitting in my camper and uh just uh doing a little study break and some rest and reprieve, and it was real easy. Wrote that and gosh, probably probably three or four days just. Kind of noodling around. But it's good lessons for you know ethics on hunting and stories

Focused Obedience And Steadiness

SPEAKER_02 22:07

and kind of weaving in. I tell a little bit of my personal testimony in that book, Bible Readings for Bird Hunters. You can pick it up on Amazon or Audible. So yeah, it's cool to listen to audio, audio. Like I do that just for myself too. Like just listen to a like a three or four minute little, it's a little tiny little chapters. And uh good stuff in there, all sorts of good truth woven in there. Uh elevate your hunt 21 days. So um travel, new country, cross-country exposure. Number eight, I was just gonna say focused obedience, retrieving, and steady work. So I'll do like little short sessions to deliver, you know, uh delivery to hand, especially with my dog happy because he's like not been doing that, he'd been dropping it further away. Um, so I'm gonna clean up kind of his retrieve, his return. Like I said, I'll do some some steady work, woe drills in the yard and field, steady through flush and shot and bird setups. And I'll say sometimes when we get to wild birds, my dogs just don't do that as well. And uh, I don't know. I'm gonna I I'm gonna go to the experts on that. Um but overall I was pleased with my dogs this season. Again, I don't have you know the Tom Brady dogs in the dog world. I've got some decent dogs, and uh I like them. They're great. So I'm a gun dog guy, I'm not a trial dog guy. So um, you know, if you're a trial dog guy, then I get it, all those points matter tremendously. Um but at the end of the day, here's what my dogs are doing for me. We are locating birds, and we are getting a couple more birds in the bag, usually, than I would by myself. So either they would retrieve it and I couldn't find it, or or um they would just help pin one down that I didn't even know was there. So, anyway, that's number eight.

Introducing Dogs To A Horse

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Uh number nine, I'm gonna be working with a horse. So I'm spending time getting the dogs and the horse comfortable together, um, working on dogs running in front or in back behind the horse, minding the horse, staying safe around legs and tack, and I'll start slow, controlled, and then build towards a more natural horseback kind of uh outings together. And where will this go? I don't know. I might do I might do one day where I'm kind of like riding into quail country and have a hor have a dog with me. I'd love to shoot off my horse and do all that, but I just I don't see this horse doing that. That would be really cool, but I I don't I don't think so. Um that's a lot. Yeah. Number 10. Uh, what am I gonna do? I'm

Community, Sponsors, And Mentorship

SPEAKER_02 25:29

gonna be building kind of community. I'll be working with uh looking for I'm looking for new partners with Arizona Quail today, working on gaining new partners and sponsors uh throughout the year. I uh I use these partnerships to kind of help m grow the upland community and help provide uh support for uh mentors uh uh uh that are mentor fathers and uh support as well to the field buddies, these fatherless boys. So if you're not familiar with one of our programs, um our ministries that we work with, I work with specifically, and you guys have helped financially support and sponsor that is uh the fathers in the field, and you can go to their website that I uh fathersinthefield.com is where you can find a website and defend the cause of the fatherless. And so I just spoke at one of the donor meetings gatherings just recently, and uh a hundred plus people from around the country were there. It was really cool. And uh defending the cause of the fatherless. More than fifty percent of boys today are growing up in America without a dad in their home, and these boys are you know at the highest risk for incarceration and juvenile delinquents and crime and teen pregnancy, abortions, you know, just all sorts of trouble and tragedy. And so, you know, when when a when a mentor father intervenes, it literally kind of changes the cycle of uh brokenness. And so it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. I've worked with many mentor fathers and seen the men's lives transform and then see these boys' lives transform, and we we'll support them as in the hunting world. So I'm like the guide for them, um, kind of like the the sponsor uh support. And so I've harnessed lots of support from uh Marsupial. These guys have been unbelievable to help me to help them. Um we've done everything with gun. I mean, we that these boys will get them into um, we'll get them into like Ben Avery's and they'll shoot a bunch of clay targets. We'll get them into hunters education, and this isn't like a an event. We're not into an event. This is like three-year commitment. This is like deep, this is like hunters discipleship mentorship. It is a big deal, and uh I put my stamp of approval on the guys that I can trust, you know, trust with a young boy, and uh these guys are guys in our church, and any church can have this program. So um it's basically like kind of like you partner with fathers in the field if you're a local church and you can get that program running, and then we work with the single moms, and the single moms bring the boys, and then you know, we gotta make a big commitment, and they make a commitment, and we do one year at a time, and uh it's unbelievable. I love it, it's great. So all the Spark uh sponsors and partnership go to that. There's probably that's the majority of the financial resources that are required for Arizona Quill today, is just working with that because we'll get them, you know, bird vest, guns, shells, uh hunting experiences, and we've got a few new boys in the program, and we support the mentor fathers as well. Like I said, I'm doing a hunt with Desert Creek Sportsmen. I'm taking a couple of the mentor fathers out, and that's important. You know, these are the guys that are putting in the time, they're the real heroes. So I'll be working with them, and uh yeah, so help me help them if you want. Uh, you can make a donation, tax-deductible gift, Arizona Quail Today, AZQailToday.com. Be really, really cool. And if your business or something wants to partner with us, I'd love to explore that with you. So I'll continue to put out educational content with uh podcast tips and tricks throughout the offseason. Um looking forward to that. I'm gonna host a quail camp as well, and the quail camp will be for specifically. Um, you know, I'll tell you another sponsor that we got to help with a quail camp was uh those guys up in Flagstaff that uh that hike store, um, Babbits. Babbits outdoors, yeah. Babbits outdoors, I'm pulling them up in Flag. So yeah, Babbits Backcountry Outfitters. So if you're up there in Flagstaff, go in there and tell them um your friends with Ryan, Arizona Quail today, and do business with those guys. They're sponsoring our our work, they'll sponsor our quail camp. And uh Riley Cross is a big sponsor as well. So Babbitt's backcountry outfitters. That guy Keith, I met him out in the field one day uh hunting, and we just became friends. I sent him he I sent him a marsupial vest, so he's got one of those. It's really cool. He's a good guy. He's got a great I think his daughter works there as well, and uh they're just a great family. So anyway, go visit Keith up there and uh and thank you, Babbitt's backcountry for sponsoring us. Oh, dude, and I got some really cool I'll have to do a podcast on gear, you know. So I'll have to do that and show you some of the cool gear that I got. And then the YouTube channel actually becomes all the more valuable because you can actually see it.

Quail Camp And Gear Plans

SPEAKER_02 31:51

So um, anyway, I'll be doing a quail camp. It's not open to the public, it's just for our mentor fathers, it's for the boys. Um, they're small little operations, uh, lots of quail, um, lots of dog work, lots of opportunities for the boys to shoot their first bird. And uh it's pretty amazing. So um, man, yeah, I'm having fun. Hopefully, you guys are enjoying this content and it's helpful.

Closing And Donation Request

SPEAKER_02 32:22

So um that's about it. So that's what I'm doing in the off season. Those are some ideas to maybe get you going. So we'll see. We'll just keep taking it step by step. All right, friends. Well, have a good one. That makes another episode. We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Thanks for listening in. To help further our work, please consider making a tax-deductible gift. Visit us online at azquiltoday.com and be sure to follow us on social media for the latest information and updates. Till then, remember to get outside.