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© (c) Matt Laur 2008

Hunt Test Gunners


Matt Laur

ISO 400, 340mm, 1/500 sec, f/4.8.

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© (c) Matt Laur 2008

From the category:

Sport

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A pointing dog, contending for a field title, remains steady as her

handler and two official guns work. The dog ran long and hard to find

that bird in the cover, and the handler flushes it up through the

grass. If the dog can properly retrieve the bird to hand (and to the

dinner table), it might impress the watching judges. Thanks for

walking along with me. Don't forget your blaze orange hat.

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No, Nikolai. But I do eat meat, as so many people do. I do enjoy working with highly specialized breeds of dogs, and great care is taken to make sure that it's possible to evaluate their skills without having them simply running wild and taking game for their own pleasure (which, of course, they would do, left to their own devices). Personally, I'd much rather eat the nice lean, drug-free meat from the partridge you see in this image than the meat from any of the billions of factory-farm-raised/slaughtered chickens that are consumed every year. Most gamebirds are virtually fat-free, and do require a thoughtful approach in the kitchen, just as they do in the field. Most, of course, are killed by foxes and hawks before their first year is up.

 

Of those birds that are encountered in circumstancss as you see here are, the majority end up flying off into woodlines, where they will continue to live a short life of avoiding other predators. It's much harder to capture an image like this where, instead of a dog and her handler, it's a fox and her kits killing the bird - though perhaps one day I'll have the skill and time to capture that sort of predation, as well. Like the foxes, though, the hunters in this case do not waste a very nutritious meal. For what it's worth, I can assure you that cats, foxes, coyotes and hawks are far less concerned about how quickly or in what manner they dispatch the untold millions of birds they kill every year. Conversely, the two gunners you see here apply years of practice and much focus on their ability to be instantaneous about it. A talented gun dog, like the Pointer shown, will work itself tirelessly to make sure that such a shot bird is found and recovered for that spot in the freezer.

 

Thank you for asking, Nikolai.

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Posted

This photo will never be accepted here, it is a site full of wild life photographers. No matter how well this photo is done and how detailed your story is you are barking up the wrong tree! This is coming from someone who lives in southern PA in deer country, your photo has such detail I can tell you one 12 is a s/s the other one is an o/u and I think it is a 16 in the middle. Something I would like to throw in, I find it interesting that most art is critiqued by those with money and a knowledge of other artist, but most art work is done by those who struggled and found beauty in the world that most pass by never taking a second look! Like the photographer Ken Rockwell, has noted; Someone with a camera who has a few bucks takes b/w photos of homeless people, instant art! So the title of your photo, "who's really calling the shots here!" Regards.
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Well, it's a great and admirable capture; the rest of it doesn't belong here: it's about photography.
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John: good eye on the hardware - you're exactly right.

 

Tim: Thanks. Actually, given the portion of my portfolio that touches on this sort of stuff, I'm surprised it doesn't come up more frequently. Shots like this (if you'll pardon the pun) are outside of most people's experience, and I'd be lying if I were to say that I never mean to be provocative. I do mean to, sometimes, but in a constructive way. Such images are meant to celebrate the skill, effort, canine stoicism, and drama involved in the field... but I should probably put up a few more before/after shots to go with the hunting end of it. This particular bird is destined for a plate like this, and a nice glass of dry Reisling.

6195366.jpg
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man, do you know how to take a photo. Everything just in one shot. It's absolutely brilliant.

 

Although..... my eyes say this one is best. My glands tell me it's the second one.

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Thanks, Ton, and thanks, Marc. I was fortunate to be in a position to anticipate where this particular scene was likely to unfold (the dogs never lie!), but for safety was back quite a ways. The 340mm focal length really compressed the scene, as longer lenses do. I DID have some more background to crop away, here - and chose the slightly more crowded composition specifically to bring home the explosive and slightly chaotic feel of what was happening. Usually, these tableaus are more spread out, and it's harder to present it in a way that allows the viewer to feel like part of the group. This was an unusual morning, that way. Thanks so much for stopping by, and for having the perspective to take in this image!
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Apart from being politically correct or not, I like this shot. Compositionally it is sound. The dog in the foreground conmes along as the master of ceremony and as if she is behind it all and looks as if she has extended a favor on the hunters. Good work. By the way Matt, two days ago I finally made up my mind and bought the AF-S 105 mm Micro Nikkor 2.8 VR while I was in Shanghai. Trying out just some test shots I realise how difficult macro photography is. DOF is virtually non existent.
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Matt another great shot ... Great use of telephoto compression to make this look so incredibly close, but judging from your other shots, it is actually quite close anyway!!

 

I'm sure being able to anticipate such a shot is something you have in common with the hunters!

 

One thing I miss about living in the UK is that I could go out and buy a delicious freshly hunted bird for the Sunday roast, free of disease, antibiotics and steroids. I'm happy to see these birds are able to roam free and have a free life before coming to a natural end as dinner for another animal.

 

This is educational for many people, who perhaps, have never even eaten a whole fish in their lives. People need to be more aware of where their food comes from and should demand it comes from areas as depicted above.

 

- Paul

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Matt, this photograph is fantastic - everything about it. It's like one of those hunting paintings from years gone by where everything needed to tell the story is in one frame - the dog being there too is a great part. Nice work.

 

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An interesting and well captured shot. Personally I would have liked it better with the gun still mounted, but then of course the Partridge wouldn't have been in shot, so I suppose you can't have everything.

 

I don't shoot for food myself, the only live animals I shoot are foxes, to give our free range hens a longer life, and I get a bit sick of the people who think that a high powered rifle (or a 12 bore at short range) is somehow cruel, and by implication letting a fox grow old and starve to death is kind. My view is that the only people who should criticise shooters are vegetarians, because they are the only people who practice what they preach. Unfortunately though, here in the UK, so few of us shoot that we're becoming a despised minority.

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What a brilliant image! I captures Autumn in a photograph. I really like your work. But after seeing all your images, I'm hungry for pheasant.
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