By Chad Love

I'm in the process of packing for the first extended bird-hunting trip of the season. I thought it would be interesting to list a few of the less obvious things I always take with me on these trips, and then solicit your essential items - since I always enjoy learning from you.

I carry a fairly extensive first-aid kit, but one thing I always keep in the bag are several syringes of an injectable antihistamine. Even though my dogs have the rattlesnake vaccine, an antihistamine can help stabilize a snake-bitten dog until you can reach a vet. Many guys carry Benadryl tablets for that purpose, but in the event of a snake bite I don't want to mess with trying to get a dog to swallow a pill. Plus, an injection will go to work much more quickly. Talk to your vet about it.

And speaking of vets, I always make it a point to have the phone numbers of local vets handy when I'm hunting away from home. In an emergency that can save you precious time.

By Chad Love

A while back Phil Bourjaily had a really good blog post about downsizing your hunting rig that generated a ton of comments, both pro and con. Now, I haven't spoken with Phil and can't say for sure whether he's going to take the downsizing plunge or not, but for me, the issue's (mostly) been settled for a while. I inherited my wife’s beloved 2000 Subaru Forester a few years ago when she decided to buy a new car. The plan was to use the Forester as an economical daily driver and save my big, gas-guzzling, full-size four-wheel-drive truck as a dedicated hunting/fishing/wood-hauling rig.

By Chad Love

Does your dog have a soul? And if you answered yes, should you be able to sue an unscrupulous breeder for your dog's pain and suffering caused by genetic defects?

These are just a few of the interesting questions being raised by a lawsuit now making its way through the New York legal system. This lawsuit seeks to reclassify dogs as "living souls" so their breeders can be held accountable for any pain and suffering the dog endures from genetic defects (A big hat tip to Patrick Burns at the always provocative and entertaining Terrierman's Daily Dose dog blog for the find).
 

From this story on cbsnews.com:

When Elena Zakharova took home her 2-month-old female Brussels Griffon from the Raising Rover pet store in Manhattan, she was excited about the new addition to her family. But, according to the New York Daily News, just a few months later in July 2011, the dog began whimpering and limping in pain. Now, her owner says despite expensive surgery, she will never run or walk like other dogs. Zakharova is claiming that the pet store sold her a dog with genetic abnormalities that could have been avoided if the pup were not bred from other dogs with disabilities. She is suing the business in a New York small claims court for the pain and suffering of the now year-old dog, which she named Umka.

By Chad Love

There are tradition-steeped sacred cows so deeply ingrained in the American sporting psyche, that to admit you haven't actually done them is grounds for turning in your red-blooded American male card and setting sail for France. Things like: shooting a deer with a lever-action .30-30. or owning at least one Zebco 33. However, one of these "musts" I've never completed is hunting rabbits behind dogs.

Pointing dogs, retrievers and flushers are what first come to mind when you think gundogs, and as such they - fairly or unfairly - get the vast majority of the sporting dog press (and this blog is as guilty of it as any). But at one time, back in the sepia-tinged days of yore when small-game hunting reigned supreme, there was only one way to hunt rabbits - with beagles. Sadly, this is no longer the case. For better or worse, we are now a deer nation and the idea of driving out to a small, idyllic family-owned farm, loading up a plain ol' walnut-and-steel shotgun and letting a pack of beagles out of the back of the wood-paneled station wagon is as quaint and old-fashioned as the rotary-dial phone, letter-writing or three channels of television.