Any of you guys started working with your dogs yet? I used to love this time of year to train. Hot weather and starting with short sessions really gets a dog in shape. Just have plenty of water. Better yet, train near a lake or river where you can dunk a hot dog. Hot weather training really pays off in early season hunting. Any dog can run in moderate temps, a dog needs to be in great shape and used to hot weather to hunt the warm early season.
Ya got birds? Pigeons are the best training bird you can get. When a pigeon gets up, it lands on a wire or tree, not on the groung. Also bad things may happen and the dog might associate it with the bird, let it be a pigeon, you'll likely not hunt them on the ground any way.
Pigeons are tuff too. I had one years ago that got beat up pretty bad by a pup, thought it was dead. Put it on the wood pile while I went in to get a drink and when I came back out it was walking around. Week later it was good as new. You can catch them in barns and under bridges with a long handle net at night. The price is right!
haven't brought myself to go through that again,though have started looking at them.i to started my baby on pigeons she loved them to 
