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Jan 8, 2025 | 
gundogmag.com | Tom Keer
It’d been quite a while since I had seen Lemon and Apple run, but dang if those pointers didn’t look good. One look at their chiseled muscles flexing and extending as they hunted their way out, and you’d swear we were judging a body builder’s competition. They were so jacked up that I could feel their drive, power, and intensity in every movement—and this was just at the start. Once their excitement burned off, and they settled in to go to work, we were going to see one outstanding performance.
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Jan 1, 2025 | 
gundogmag.com | Tom Keer
The Colorado kennel was nicer than any I had ever seen. There were 100 indoor runs, four stainless steel sided washrooms, and three whelping rooms that had as many supplies as most Emergency Rooms. Solar panels powered the climate-controlled building. I thought it’d take nearly forever to open the door of each run when it was time to air out the dogs, but it really was simple. The pull of one lever, just like the kind you’d see in movies, simultaneously opened each door.
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Dec 31, 2024 | 
gunsmagazine.com | Tom Keer
; . I had to suppress my glee at Susan’s misfortune. Evidently, one of those pesky fall hurricanes toppled the 100-year-old black walnut tree growing in her yard and she didn’t know what to do about it.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
themeateater.com | Eli Fournier |Kubie Brown |Tom Keer |Travis Hall
One of America’s most iconic fish species is in continued decline, new data shows. In the Chesapeake Bay, biologists are reporting that this year’s striped bass spawn was dismal—for the sixth straight year in a row. The Bay is the largest spawning area for stripers on the entire East Coast, and it’s news that doesn’t bode well for the future of the species. The data is based on a survey conducted in the Bay every summer.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
gunsmagazine.com | Tom Keer
; . Growing up in the middle of the Connecticut River “Gun Valley” meant I was always surrounded by Winchester, Marlin, Mossberg, Hi Standard, Parker, Colt and the like.
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Nov 29, 2024 | 
shootingsportsman.com | Tom Keer
Sunrise had been two hours earlier, but dang if it wasn’t still dark. Rain wrung out of the gray, low-hanging clouds in such a fury that if it continued to stream through the blind’s roof, we’d have to ditch our shotguns and start bailing. Of course, that’s always when you spot ’em—and there they were on the horizon: an enormous knot of geese. Our black Labs, Rip and Beamer, had been training for this all summer. Wings cupped for a final approach, the geese glided toward our blocks.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
shootingsportsman.com | Tom Keer
On July 14, 2024, Lt. Col. Robert Milner Jr., US Air Force, Ret., passed away, leaving a tremendous void in the gundog world. Milner fought a rare kidney disease for five years, and he died peacefully surrounded by his family. He was 79. Milner cut his teeth training bird dogs with his late father. When his Vietnam War draft card was punched, Milner enlisted in the US Air Force and served five years of active duty.
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Nov 7, 2024 | 
gunsmagazine.com | Tom Keer
; . There was always work to be done on our dairy farm, especially around milking time. When I was young, I tried to be like one of the older guys and help out by closing the stanchions around a cow’s head.
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Oct 22, 2024 | 
gunsmagazine.com | Tom Keer
;. I’ll never forget the hunting season when I missed so much for so long that I thought about wrapping my shotgun around a tree. A poor workman blames his tools, right? Well, the way I figured it my stock must have had too much drop, the fixed chokes should have been opened and my loads had to have been off. I eventually realized I needed to focus on my shooting mistakes. You know the kind — cheek not on the stock, too much muzzle rock — and all the rest.
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Oct 20, 2024 | 
gundogcentral.com | Tom Keer
Just because a gun dog can’t speak doesn’t mean he’s not saying anything. Reading the dogs’ body language is key for elevating performance levels, so here are some things pro trainers look for when they cut loose their string. Chris Akin, Webb Footed Kennels, Jonesboro, Arkansas says that anyone can read a dog, especially because they’re a lot like reading a teenager. The Eukanuba pro trainer says, “dogs are like teenagers, and their body language tells it all.
