Our friend Tom in West Virginia has given Luke, a May 2018 son by Parker out of Dixie, quite a first season of cross country travel, notching four species of upland game on his collar before he was eight months old.  With the season winding down, Tom brought his brother and son along for a 20-bird shoot at a local preserve.  Tom writes, "We killed 15 birds this morning: 7 quail and 8 pheasants.  If (we) could shoot, we would have had all 20."

Then Tom sent along a photo of Luke in which this hard-hunting young Llewellin isn't pointing with his customary high style.  "For whatever reason," Tom writes, "he doesn't care for preserve pheasants and doesn't usually have a high tail when he points them."

In our experience, that's not unusual for a puppy that's cut his teeth on wild birds.  Preserve birds, depending on the release method, have been handled to one degree or another,  particularly pheasants that are often dizzied and tucked into cover.  It's not uncommon for wild bird veterans to show less intensity on pen-raised birds carrying the added taint of human scent.

Some clubs net, hand capture, and dizzy quail as well, sometimes planting them in pairs with the notion that they are more likely to stay put with company.  A better choice is the club that traps quail in the pen and either walks or flies them into cover;  however, in the pay-for-play preserve world, this is a far less cost/time efficient means for presentation, regardless of how much "sportier" quail are that haven't been handled with the related stress and feather breakage.

Luke did his job and gave his people a good day of shooting.  His puppy season's "busman's holiday" may not have preserved some of the hot intensity of his wild bird work, but every outing in the presence of game is a chance to grow into his Llewellin legacy.  Keep up the good work, Luke and Tom!