Tunica, Mississippi - Beaver Dam Duck Hunting and Bird Hunting at The Willows
Tunica’s Odd Couple
 Editor’s Note: Mike Mize of Holly Springs, Mississippi, hunting guide and director of TheWillows Sporting Clays and Hunting Center at the Grand Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, takes out new groups of hunters to hunt quail and pheas ant on The Willows Shooting Preserve each day. Mize has the most-unique pair of bird dogs you’ll ever hunt with, and these dogs remind me of the odd couple of stage and TV fame.
Most bird hunters won’t have a bird dog that leaves a point, especially if the dog gives that point to a yellow Labrador retriever. However, Roscoe and Daisy of the Willows have developed a system of hunting quail, pheasant and chukars that’s productive and solves many quail-hunting problems. “Roscoe and Daisy developed and learned this system on their own,” Mize says. “I don’t think you could teach it to them.”
As I watched the two dogs work, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Roscoe, a German short-haired pointer, worked the field to locate the quail, as Daisy, a f emale yellow Lab, bounded along playfully behind Roscoe. But when Roscoe locked-up on a covey, Daisy moved in and took the point, freeing Roscoe to swing around, get in front of the covey and block it from running on the ground. With a covey of quail locked-up tight between these two dogs, Mize told Daisy, “Get ‘em up, Daisy.” Then the Labrador sprung into the covey and flushed the birds. 
“Using this system, I never have to get in front of my hunters to flush the birds,” Mize explains. “The birds won’t run when the two dogs point and block them. Too, after the gunner shoots, Daisy retrieves the quail.”
But how have these dogs learned to work a covey of quail or pheasant in this unorthodox pointing, flushing and retrieving scenario? We’ll learn tomorrow.
For more information about Mize’s dogs and hunting The Willows, call Mike Mize at (662) 357-3154, or email him at mizem@grandcasinos.com. Go to www.visitmississippi.org or call 1-866-see-miss (733-6477) for more information on visiting Mississippi.
Tomorrow: How Roscoe and Daisy Work
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