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Bird Dogs Forever, the TV show, was first aired on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) during 2001 and 2002. Since then it has been in re-runs on various domestic and international networks. While no longer available in the US, they are free for the viewing if you live in Canada or the former Soviet Union.
Click Here to hear the Bird Dogs Forever theme song.
Our first season was a blast. Traveling from North Dakota to Oklahoma, saw a bunch a great dogs and met some truly wonderful people.
Making a television show in the field is a daunting task. You have to take several things into consideration before you get to finding and shooting birds. Where is the sun? How bright or dull the day? What comprises the background? Where is the wind coming from? How strong (i.e. noisy) is the wind? What other noises like trains and airplanes do you have to take into account? Where do we position the cameras? And then we ask, where are the birds?
Taping is but the beginning. It usually takes at least four days in the editing suite to put the show together. We often have over five hours of tape to make our half hour show-which means 22minutes 26 seconds of actual show. But don't get us wrong. This is the greatest job in the world.
Click on the below links to see a summary of each of show shot in the Fall of 2000. The ten shows of our first season. We summarize them in the order they were shot, not in the order they will be seen on OLN.
That's our first season. We hope that seeing the shows from our angle only increases your pleasure in viewing them. That's why we do this. We want to provide warm, wholesome entertainment for people who love good dogs and the hunt.
We say among ourselves (somewhat tongue in cheek):
Bird Dogs Forever is a state of mind and being where
All the hunters are honest
All the birds are elusive
And all of the bird dogs are above average.
Traveling for our second season took us all over the United States. We put almost 16,000 miles on our
van and ate a whole lot of fast food. Of course, we couldn’t hunt everywhere in the country, so our
major travels were to Montana, New England, Arizona and the great plains destinations nearer our home
in Colorado. For our next season we anticipate traveling to the Deep South, the Upper Midwest, and the
Pacific Northwest.
During our first season, your feedback about what you liked and wanted to see on Bird Dogs Forever was very clear:
1.) Keep introducing a wide variety of bird hunting dog breeds - while you have enjoyed seeing the common hunting breeds, you have been equally emphatic about seeing some of the lesser known breeds as well.
2.) Shoot shows from as wide a variety of locations as possible - you enjoy seeing the country and the wide variety of birds to be hunted as much as you have enjoyed seeing the dogs.
3.) Hunt wild birds wherever possible. This was an emphatic theme. Many of you said you can hunt pen-raised pheasants or chukar near your home. What you want to see is the thrill and the uncertainty of hunting wild birds..
Jessie and I hunt the following birds for our second season: Sage Grouse, Sharptail Grouse, Blue Grouse, Ruffed Grouse, Pheasants, Hungarian Partridge, Woodcock, Bobwhite Quail, Gambles Quail, Scaled Quail, and Mearns Quail.
The following pages are the order in which we anticipate the shows will be aired on OLN in 2002, not the order in which we shot the shows.
Click on the links to the view details of each show.
First Show: Colorado -- Blue Grouse / Pointing Labrador
Come hunt blue grouse high in the Rocky Mountains at 10,000 feet. Join Dr. Hageseth and Jessie as they host Rex Eaves and his pointing Labrador Retriever, Harley.
Second Show: Maine -- Ruffed Grouse, Woodcock / Braque du Bourbonnais
This week meet a rare French pointing dog, the Braque du Bourbonnais. This dog was thought to be extinct in the mid twentieth century, watch now as it tests its skills in Northern Maine hunting ruffed grouse and woodcock.
Third Show: Wyoming -- Sharptails, Huns, Pheasants / Curly Coated Retriever
One of the oldest retriever breeds, the curly coated retriever plies its skills hunting a wide variety of upland game birds. Join Dr. Hageseth and Jessie as they host Joe Maher at the Rockin 7 Ranch in Easter Wyoming.
Fourth Show: Vermont -- Woodcock / Red (Irish) Setter
Come along and meet the true hunting Irish Setter. This strain of Irish Setter looks different from the more common bench strain of the breed. Dr. Hageseth and his guest Bill Mooney hunt Woodcock in Northern Vermont just as the flight of woodcock arrives.
Fifth Show: Montana -- Sharptails, Huns, Sage Grouse / Weimaraner
Join Dr. Hageseth and his guest, Rick Cabral, as Jessie and Jennifer, Rick’s Weimaraner, seek out a mixed upland game bag under the wide Big Sky of Montana.
Sixth Show: Nebraska -- Pheasants / Small Munsterlander
Rarely seen in North America, the Small Munsterlander is an excellent pointing dog. This week Dr. Hageseth and his guest, Dean Rasmussen, hunt pheasants in Nebraska over Dean’s Small Munsterlanders.
Seventh Show: Montana -- Sharptail Grouse / German Wirehaired Pointer
Dr. Hageseth and his guest, Dan Michna, hunt for Hungarian Partridge but succeed only with another upland game bird. Come and witness Jessie and Dan’s German Wirehaired Pointers as they hunt through a fall day on the Crow Indian Reservation in Southern Montana.
Eighth Show: Arizona -- Mearns Quail / German Shorthaired Pointer
Southeast Arizona is the one place in the world Mearns Quail are found. Dr. Hageseth and his guest, Don Lee, find many of these small trophies as a winter blizzard closes in on them on the Mexican border.
Ninth Show: South Dakota -- Pheasant / German Shorthaired Pointers
The middle of autumn in South Dakota can mean only one thing: Pheasant Fantasyland. Dr. Hageseth’s guest, Jerry Thoms, is a writer for outdoor hunting magazines. He, and his pair of prize German Shorthairs, pursue ringneck pheasants the way it was meant to be.
Tenth Show: Nebraska -- Pheasants, Quail, Prarie Chicken / Brittanys
The Brittany is thought by many to be a close-in working bird dog. On this show you will experience Brittany’s who cover the land from horizon to horizon as Dr. Hageseth and his guest, Jack Higgins, hunt pheasants, quail and prairie chicken in Southeastern Nebraska.
Eleventh Show: Kansas -- Pheasants, Quail / Vizsla
The Vizsla is a pointing dog originally from Hungary. Jeff Hill of the Beaver Creek Ranch guides while showing off the talents of his Vizsla, for Dr. Hageseth and his special guest, his son, Chris the fourth.
Twelfth Show: Arizona -- Gambles, Scaled Quail / English Pointers
The desert quail of Southern Arizona are the quarry as Dr. Hageseth and Jessie join Jim Schultz and his English pointers. Very wide ranging dogs are necessary to find these birds spread out all across this high desert.
Thirteenth Show: Colorado -- Pheasants / French Brittanys
A cold January day forms the backdrop for this late season pheasant hunt in Northeastern Colorado. Dr. Hageseth’s guest, Steve Hilbers, shows of the talents of his experienced close-working French Brittanys.
Fourteenth Show: Kansas -- Pheasants / Springer Spaniels
A warm January day at the Smokey River Rendezvous in Western Kansas finds Dr. Hageseth joining Tim Lindsay and his several fine English Springer Spaniels as they hunt for ringneck pheasants and bobwhite quail.
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