Honestly, I don't know anybody who's doing it like I do. And basically, I just really bombard the dog with birds.

I just go out with a bag full of pigeons and I just have the dog running loose. Talk to me about launchers, how you use them and really like the timing, sort of being liberal with flushing the bird.

That's the mistake that I see a lot of trainers make. Are there drawbacks or pitfalls that the beginner or amateur handler would need to watch out for? You just got to put the work in. It doesn't take a lot of time, but you kind of have to be consistent. When I work with a bunch of dogs, if you're smart, you do learn from your mistakes. And I made a bunch of mistakes. 2010, I started working dogs for the public.

Yeah, I just enjoyed it.

What would you tell the person that is kind of like, yeah, I could have pigeons, but I'm not

sure.

I don't really know what's involved and I don't know how to build a coup.

What would you tell that person?

What I like about pigeons is it.

Hey, everyone. Hey everyone, Nick Larson here, host of the Birdshot podcast, the show where we go beyond the flush to explore the full upland-hunting experience with guests from all across the uplands,

from shotguns, the bird dogs, to habitat and conservation, and the traditions that connect all of us to a life of field. The Birdshop podcast is presented by

Onyx Hunt and supported by folks just like you via our Patreon community. If you want to stay

up to date and not miss any of our upcoming episodes, be sure to subscribe and follow the show

in your podcast player,

YouTube, wherever you're listening or watching today. Go ahead and tap that button. Thank you

for doing so. And with that said, let's get into today's conversation on the Birdshot

podcast. Today, I am very excited to have Mark Payton joining us on the show. Mark, thank you for joining us. Thanks for being here today. I appreciate it. Oh, you're very welcome. Thanks, Nick. I am excited. We were just talking before we hit record, and we started getting into stories right away, and I was like, wait a minute. We got to hit record. This needs to be captured. Yeah, let's do this raw. Yes, exactly, exactly. So Mark is on the show. And for those that may be familiar, because Mark, you do have a YouTube channel. And in fact, I was watching some of your videos today. And that's where some of my early questions were going to come in. But we're going to be talking plenty of bird dogs today and dog training. And man,

I don't know about you, but it's August 6th today. We're recording this. I'm getting pretty excited about yourself. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So why don't you just kick us off with a little bit of an intro. Tell us a little bit about you and as it relates to bird dogs and upland hunting and the things Okay. Well, you know, I hunted as a kid, but we didn't have dogs. And then after college, a friend invites me to bird hunt. Where'd you go, I'm Mark? Louisville, Kentucky. And I still live just right across the river. I live in southern Indiana now, you know. But never had dogs. And a friend invites me to hunt. And so we go bird hunting

and I was absolutely hooked. I mean, watching those dogs hunt and point and back and retrieve,

I was just, you know, utterly hooked. And so I decided that I wanted to get a dog. But, you know,

not just any dog. I figured if I was going to have to pick up dog hair or shovel kennels for the

next 10 years, I wanted a good one. So basically, I was starting a new dog every year. And so I would keep the best

...