Editor’s note: This column is an excerpt from V. Paul Reynolds’ book “Backtrack.” Since this was written some of his bird gunning companions have moved on, including two of his closest: the late Wiggie Robinson, a Millinocket guide; and Reynolds’ English setter, the late Sally of Seboeis. Reynolds said the grouse coverts have never been quite the same without them.

For upland bird hunters, especially those with dogs that hunt, October is the month of months.

Out in the covers, amid the alders and poplar groves, the sumac and mountain ash berries, men and women with whistles and high hopes will work their wonderful dogs. They call, coax, coerce and cuddle these tightly wound canid creatures with two-syllable names like Sadie, Dixie, Maxie and Otto.

At the end of the day, spent, mud-covered dogs will be watered, fed and kenneled up. A few birds will be dressed. And then tired but happy hunters will relive the whole day, and talk — usually about dogs.

They do it for the dogs, you know. That’s right. Most upland hunters do it not for the meat, but for the dogs: the English setters and pointers, the springers, the brittanies and the German shorthairs. As a lifelong meat hunter who has taken up with a bird dog late in life, I, too, am heading for the bird covers with Sally, a whistle and high hopes.

Sally of Seboeis, my supple little 18-month English setter, is as ready for the hunt as I can get her. We’ve put in our training time, she and I. We’ve had a legion of help and counsel from experienced dog handlers such as Ed Brooks of Brooks Ridge Kennels in Newburgh, Wiggie Robinson of Millinocket, Steve Forrest from Hampden, New Brunswick Guide Doug Hawkes, friend Ron Hastie of Longmeadow, Mass., and even a word of advice from flushing dog expert Jo Ann Moody of Waldo.

Here are 10 things I’ve learned from the professionals who have patiently helped me and Sally through Bird Dogs 101:

1. Keep it simple, stupid.

2. Repetition and short training sessions are key.

3. Dogs have good days and bad days, too.

4. Start a dog from puppyhood and forge a bond. A “bonded dog” that wants to please will compensate for a multitude of training sins.

5. If properly understood and responsibly used, electronic training collars can be humane and very useful.

6. So much of what bird dogs do in the field is natural. As a novice trainer, I at times have been unwittingly the greatest barrier to my dog’s learning curve.

7. There are almost as many different theories about training gun dogs as there are dog trainers.

8. A whistle will save your vocal cords.

9. Bells are no good on windy days. There’s no romance in beeper collars, but they do the job.

10. Learn to laugh when dogs, birds and shotguns don’t do what you will them to do.

In New Brunswick, dog handlers often recount the legend of an English pointer named Gemstone Abby. On a windy late October day, Gemstone Abby locked up on a bird at 4 p.m. Her handlers tried in vain in the dark to locate her. Giving up the search, the handler returned at daybreak to find his famous dog after a few inches of snow fell during the night. At sunup, they found Gemstone Abby still on point. And there were no tracks around her in the snow. True story, they swear.

Now get out there in the briars and the brambles, all you upland hunters, and make the most of Maine’s finest month. May the memory of Gemstone Abby be an inspiration to you and your best bird dog.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network. He has three books .Online purchase information is available at www.maineoutdoorpublications.com.