As an avid deer hunter, Jeff Scanlan wasn’t interested in smaller game. It took a bird hitting him upside the head, quite literally, to hook him on bird hunting.

As the story goes, a few years ago, Scanlan's friend John Griffin coaxed him afield in pursuit of pheasant. Suddenly, some birds flushed right in front of them, and one flew into Scanlan’s head. 

He fired once without even shouldering his rifle, missed, and still managed to take down the bird on his second shot. The adrenaline-charged encounter changed his mind about hunting fowl. Now, he’s trained his own chocolate lab, Chloe, and says there’s nothing like hunting with your own dog. 

Brian Black also trained his two Brittany spaniels, 6-year-old Maggie and 17-month-old Otis, and agrees the dogs enrich the whole experience. 

“I enjoy watching the dogs work as much as the excitement of the flush,” Black said.

Guns.com photographer Don Summers was able to capture the three hunters (all U.S. military veterans, by the way) and their dogs on a recent outing to flush pheasant on Pennsylvania state game lands. We think you’ll enjoy seeing these canine scouts at work.