While many owners at Brays enjoy taking their own dogs out for a quail hunt, others prefer to go on a guided hunt with a Brays Island guide, a pointing dog, and a flushing dog that are just waiting for their turn to hit the hunt units.
The Brays Island hunt department is led by Marion Gohagan, who is joined by professional dog trainer and bird dog hall of fame inductee Scott Miller, seven guides, and an extended team of bird-men, a groomer, a processor, and kennel technicians. The stars of the show, however, are the 35 pointers and English cockers that round out the hunt department.
Located amid the 3,500 acre hunting preserve, there are two kennels—one for the Brays Island pointers and flushers, and the other, a very convenient owners’ kennel, hosts a variety of dogs who are boarded, groomed and trained while their owners are away.
While pointers have been a mainstay of Brays Island for decades, in 2013, Marion introduced the English cocker to Brays Island after discovering their knack for effectively flushing birds from the dense grasses. Once the pointer identifies the location of a bird, the cockers are then sent in to flush the bird (as opposed to a guide going in to flush). The cockers then retrieve the bird and return to heel until it is time to flush the next bird.
While many dogs are trained before calling Brays home, Scott Miller provides expert instruction and ongoing training for both Brays Island’s dogs and owners and their personal dogs. In fact, he is a field training legend with more than 90 National Bird Hunters Association (NBHA) championships and more than a thousand placements in field trials.
In addition to bird hunts, Brays dogs also showcase their abilities at events like the annual Brays Flushing & Pointing Dog Trials, where owners enter their talented canines in the events to compete for the title, while spectators get to watch the dogs work the field.
And when groups embark on a covey hunt, they can ride in style with dogs in tow in Brays Island’s new quail rig, designed to accommodate groups for these popular hunts that often sell out as soon as they are announced.
The sporting dogs of Brays Island are one of the most cherished aspects of the community, and treated with the love and respect deserved of such a hard working and loyal group of canines. It is safe to say our pointers and flushers play an integral role in the success of the Brays hunt department, and have the most fun out in the fields.