Member Profile by Hagen Kruger

Transcription

1 Member Profile by Hagen Kruger My name is Hagen Kruger and I am a bird hunting fanatic. I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in In 1964 my parents moved to the West Coast and settled in North Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia. My Father discovered duck hunting in Manitoba and brought his passion with him when he moved to the West Coast. We hunted in another suburb of Vancouver called Richmond. Richmond is a farming community, a giant island in the middle of the Fraser River delta. We hunted the Richmond foreshore directly opposite Vancouver International Airport. This was part of the Pacific flyway and there were thousands of ducks and geese migrating, heading south. The community of Richmond is surrounded by farms growing a multitude of crops. As the birds migrated they would spend the evenings in these fields gorging themselves on grains and in the morning they would fly back to the foreshore where we were waiting for them! Flight upon flight of birds, wave after wave, unbelievable! We had our decoys set out and called to them trying to get groups to break off the main flights, the action was intense. After a day of hunting when you finally went to bed and closed your eyes, all you could see were images of birds flying, instead of counting sheep we counted birds! I started hunting the first day that I could fit into a pair of hip waders, probably about 8 years old. As a kid I remember opening day, lying wide awake at three am waiting for my alarm to go off at six. We had everything, duck punts, decoys, camo, guns, ammo, and a dog of course. We would pile up all our hunting gear in the middle of the basement floor so that we would not forget anything and our chocolate lab Brandy would lie right in the middle of the pile so we wouldn t forget him!

2 My father owned and read the book ``Water Dog`` by Wolters, that was his bible, and he trained Brandy according the methods in this book. Training was more like a military exercise based on force rather than encouraged by praise! Despite that the dog responded well, Brandy was an intelligent, good natured family dog and the ultimate hunter tough as nails! He retrieved many ducks from the cold muddy waters of the Fraser River. Those were good days.some of the best days of hunting I have ever experienced! Growing up in Vancouver during the 1970s and 80s was not easy; it was a big city with many distractions for a young man. I admit I may not have been the best youth but eventually I discovered girls, slowed down a bit, and met my wife Kerry. So what was one of the first dates we went on? A duck hunt of course! We spent the morning together hunting ducks (how romantic). Kerry is probably 98 lbs. soaking wet so when the first flight of ducks came overhead she fired, no bird fell, I heard a splat so I turned around and there she was lying horizontal in the mud, my shotgun was still on her shoulder pointing vertically at the sky. Would you believe, she never got any mud on my shotgun! I knew then.she was a keeper! She was laughing, I was laughing, I think even the dog was laughing! We never went duck hunting together again, but for 32 years this woman has encouraged me to hunt and fish at every opportunity. I studied piping, electrical, and structural steel drafting in college and shortly after we moved to Calgary, Alberta. The Alberta economy was dependent on oil and gas and this place was booming, lots of work and money around! On weekends my brother and I hunted ducks east of Calgary in Strathmore. We hunted a series of lakes and potholes surrounded by grain fields and the hunting was incredible. In Richmond we had lots of American Widgeons or Bluebills, medium sized, twisting flight with their whistling call, here we had fat grain fed Mallards and Pintails. The season was short in the prairies, after the first frost the fresh water was frozen and the birds were gone. As is the case with any place that is booming, it is either boom or bust and the bust came in the early 1980 s. We had many Englishmen working in our office that had moved here with their families and bought homes in Calgary. Interest rates sky rocketed to 20%, there was no more work, they lost their jobs, their homes, everything! Very sad, it was time to get out of this place.

3 My father was also in Engineering in Vancouver and things were slow even for him, so he decided to take a couple weeks off, jump in the car and go duck hunting. He grabbed his shotgun, his dog, his wife not necessarily in that order, and came and visited my brother and me in Calgary. We had a great time catching up and going bird hunting. On their way to Calgary they had stopped to see a friend who lived in the Okanagan Valley, he was semi-retired, and owned a small vineyard. My Father was also an amateur winemaker in his spare time so the idea of owning a vineyard really appealed to him. My brother and I were ready to get out of Calgary, so when dad pitched the idea of starting a vineyard together, we jumped at the opportunity! In 1983 we purchased a 10 acre vineyard together and the whole family moved to the South Okanagan, the warmest place in Canada. Those were the pioneer days of the British Columbia wine industry, or what little there was. As a family it wasn t like we got up one morning and decided to be in the grape and wine business. There was no infrastructure in place, but eventually the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. We bought more land, planted more vineyards, legislation came available so that we could start a small winery. Those were busy days, building and growing the business, bringing up my own family. There was not a lot of time for bird hunting, but the wine business would eventually fuel my passion. I always say things happen for a reason. My brother happened to get an American German shorthair from the Mars kennel. He was busy bringing up his own family so he never really had time to hunt the dog. Quoting Brandon Rhome, These dogs are not feed and forget dogs and Cinder with her high energy found her own outlets, which got her into a bit of trouble. Kerry and I lived on acreage so my brother asked us if we could take the dog. Cinder was a beautiful dog, our kids had mostly left home so we took the dog and our love of shorthairs began! Unfortunately, by that time most of Cinder s best hunting days were behind her and shortly after she passed my wife started looking for another. But where to start? I had more free time so I wanted a dog I could hunt. As luck would have it I met Jeff Martin for the first time at a wine tasting. He came over to our booth and talked to my brother and I for about 20 minutes, having recently arrived from Australia his accent was still quite fresh. After he left I turned to my brother and ask, What did he just say?!? Jeff was here working for a winery in Kelowna. It was not until some years later, once Jeff and his wife had settled down in Canada and bought their own vineyard and winery, that we discovered his passion for German Shorthairs. Jeff had come to our winery looking for me when he intercepted my wife who was still distraught about losing Cinder. Jeff assured her that he would help us find a new dog and suggested we look at the

4 NADKC website. It was probably a couple months later that we purchased our first Deutsch Kurzhaar from Brandon Rhome, Quira(Kira) vom Delme Horst that was in Jeff is an amazing trainer and every weekend we went out and trained the dog, or did Jeff train me?!? The number one rule, Never blame the dog, it s all on you! And Praise, praise, praise Force is the last resort, what are you going to do if the dog doesn t respond to that? Your lead and choke collar are your control. We worked on developing the dog s natural abilities and after a few weekends of training we were ready for the Derby. The Derby is the first natural ability test that every DK should take. The test is held in the spring and it tests the dog s nose, search, pointing and cooperation. The test was held somewhere south of Spokane in the desert. The day of the test the conditions were terrible, hot, dry and no wind. When it was our turn, Kira started with her search, she was ok. Next pointing and with no wind she had to get within three feet of the bird before pointing, held her point long enough but eventually picked up the bird! At the end of the day she got a Derby 2. I was happy with that but we could have done better, just remember it is one day out of the dog s life and some days the moon, the sun and the stars don t align! But I was hooked and wanted to do the Solms, the next natural ability test. We trained during the summer and by fall we were ready. The Solms test is more advanced with water work, game drags and more handler involvement. The test was held in Idaho and the conditions that day were perfect, no excuses! We started with a search which was perfect, then on to pointing. Kira sensed the bird, did not point but moved in and flushed it. I had often asked Jeff what to do in a situation like this and I responded appropriately. I yelled Nooooo! and gave chase; I threw my hat, my glasses, anything! Caught the dog and gave her a little shake (did I say something earlier about force?) but I think she got the message. The judges came up behind me, picking up all my pieces, and they reminded me that you get two chances. Definitely not the kind of stress I needed first thing in the morning. The second attempt was absolute perfection, I searched the dog up to the bird, she locked on point and didn t move. Why wasn t it that easy the first time? Next were the game drags and I watched as the judge, Tom Skinner, dragged a rabbit up and over the hill. I got Kira into position, let her go and she followed the

5 drag up and over the hill and disappeared...i waited and waited and was beginning to have my doubts and then there she was running toward me with this big, ugly rabbit. I was very happy but then a crack began to emerge in her performance, during her delivery. She was very hesitant to deliver the game right to me, I had to reach to get it from her and it was just kind of sloppy (I know what you re thinking, should have force fetched her!). The water work went well but it was just her sloppy deliveries and at the end of the day we received an Solms 2. As a first time handler, I was satisfied with that. As I said earlier, it is one day out of a dog s life. The judges were not there when I downed a mallard and it glided 100 yards across the channel and into a thick marsh on the other side. I sent Kira and I thought there is no way this dog is coming back with that bird. It took her a while and she kept coming out of the marsh and looking at me across the river like she was trying to line up how the bird fell. It took her 20 minutes, it was starting to get dark but the next time she emerged from the marsh the mallard was in her mouth. There is no feeling to describe how I felt, I just got chills down my spine. This was super dog, a hunting machine, the dog that I always wanted and she was my dog! Since then we have hunted various parts of North America; British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming. When does the story end? As long as I can hunt and fish, spend time with my dog, my family and friends (not necessarily in that order) it never does! I suggest you do the same. Good Luck, Waidmanns Heil! Cheers, Hagen Kruger In Memory of my Father, Adolf Friedrich Kruger Oct to Nov