English Setter Hunting Photo Gallery IX

"Setter Fest I" began on a clear, sunny, warm March day with 3 of Zak x Sable's puppies, Jackson, Jersey, and Hilda, gathered with their respective owners to talk and laugh and tell stories about the upcoming Woodcock Banding Season. To discuss how the year old pups were doing on birds and to let the "teenage littermates" wear themselves to a frazzle. It was a fabulous time being with 7 setters and 7 humans that love them and revel in each antic and happily watched their exhuberance. The photos below tell the story!

The true hunter/hobbiest makes hunting more than a sport and their appreciation of watching their setters in the field or woods is what takes them afield. Each precise creep forwards. Each sway of the head, as they scent for their birds. Each pose. Each point is etched in their brain. Like the soft scent of the Earth when Spring arrives, subtle soft enticing. That is the joy for them. Not always the kill but the setters. The chance to see, to watch, to appreciate and the bloodline is the gift, the Ryman Song the fulfillment for themselves and for the dog. It is like no other melody and with these dogs you have an opportunity to know it. Each hunt. Each time out. As the setter-with just a word, a whistle or a motion starts its ballet like dance to find the bird. The Ryman Song is pure and wonderful. I get it. I love it. I want it. It is Peace to the Soul. It is dynamic. If I do not have it any other time I can feel some of that Peace on a cool Saturday morning afield with my setter. It is what they are bred for. The magic wonder of the nose meeting the instinct and the awareness reaching the eyes and that glory of the ah ha moment is something unforgettable shared between dog and owner.