| Located in western Pennsylvania, Joe McCarl specializes in the development, training and handling of English setters and pointers. In the spring and fall, he competes in walking grouse and woodcock trials. During the balance of the year Joe takes on a limited number of gun dogs to do everything from starting the steadying process of youngsters to conditioning and sharpening the skills of veteran dogs who will be trialed or hunted.
In spring and early fall, dogs are trained on several species of wild birds including grouse, woodcock, sharptail and pheasant by traveling to some of the premier upland bird locales in the nation. During the summer months the training is done with liberated quail on his Pennsylvania training grounds. During the winter months, Joe takes a small, select string of dogs to west Texas to train on wild coveys of quail. He believes wild birds are very important in developing a dog to it's highest potential: “Nothing excites me more than seeing a good wild bird dog and it takes wild birds to make a good bird dog.”
Joe has been training upland bird dogs since 1980, entering his first trial in 1986. He has been very successful on the Cover Dog circuit first as an amateur, then as a professional, winning major championships like the Ontario and Pennsylvania. Most recently he won the 2006 Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational with his exceptional pointer female, Hard Driving Bev. With this win, Bev and Joe are the only dog and handler team to have won all three National Championships on ruffed grouse - including the National Amateur Grouse and Grand National Grouse Championships.
Joe's success is attributed to hard work, experience, patience, a great rapport with the dogs supported by a thorough understanding of a finished birddog. Hard Driving Kennels takes only a limited number of trial and gun dogs so each dog receives the individual attention and time needed to produce the desired results.
For more information, contact:
Joe McCarl
Hard Driving Kennels
13306 Maplewood Road
Guys Mills, PA 16327
814-789-3715, 814-547-2153 (cell)
www.harddrivingkennels.com |
