ELLIOTT LABRADORS - ourfacility

OUR FACILITY

Angie and I purchased the "Diamond E Farm" as part of a dream to own a place of our own to train and enjoy our dogs. We looked all over the area and found a place only 1 mile from our home. It was grown up with briars and vines like you wouldn't believe but we knew that it was a diamond in the rough, thus the name Diamond E. After days and days of tough manual labor and several track hoe hours in the pond we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We'll never finish because we love projects and as soon as we finish one we start discussing and planning another.
This farm was converted from a standard row crop farm to a farm specifically for retriever traing. The ponds were dug, pastures seeded, fields planted and natural habitat managed to enhance our capabilities and produce as near natural waterfowl hunting scenarios as possible. There are many bonuses that come along with that such as the dove hunts, watching the ducks and geese come in and especially the peace and quiet.
We have a large technical training pond built specifically for retriever training, a small technical pond built specifically for retriever training, an impoundment style pond, sunflower, grain sorghum and corn fields for the doves and dog training , a couple of large rolling pastures, a beaver/stick pond with platforms for wingers, a green tree reservoir pond, a swim by pond, a tractor shed, a cook shed and a barn converted into a cabin with kennels on the side. This is not only a training facility but a refuge for Angie and myself. We enjoy having friends over for training, hanging out at the cook shed and sharing hunting and dog stories.

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This is a July, 2010 aerial shot of the Diamond E Farm. We have 6 ponds that are used specifically for retriever training. We also have a dove field and various rolling pastures.

The barn has heating & cooling, a full bath, a kitchenette and a great room with a pull-out couch for sleeping. The left side shelter is for kennels and the right side shelter is used as a patio. This makes a convenient place for buddies that visit and train.

What could be more fun than sittin' up on the deck with a cup of coffee and looking out at your buddies train their retrievers?

The "cook shed" overlooks the sunflower field and the stick pond in the rear. It has a really big live oak which provides nice evening shade for both the cook shed and the fire pit.
This picture is before we closed it in. The next picture shows the "after" look. There is always a project it seems.

The screen enclosure made the cook shed a lot more enjoyable during spring and summer evenings. Along with the retractactable blinds it added more shade and keeps the bugs out of the burgers.

A great place for both man and dog to relax after a hard day...........not bad for a quiet, early morning cup of coffee either.

One of my simple pleasures in life is going from the sunflower field to the grill with a bacon wrapped dove breast. It's a grand southern tradition.

Our hay ride around the farm is the best way to see all the ponds, fields and natural habitat for retriever training.

This is a view from the other end of the large Technical Training pond which offers several challenges.

This is one of several challenging casting points on our 5 acre technical pond which is designed specifically for retriever training.

We plant sunflowers and corn which allows us to have a dove shoot and cover to train the dogs in.

Sunflowers have become a summer tradition at the Diamond E Farm. They are a reminder that fall and the big opening day dove hunt are getting closer.

The beaver pond (stick pond) in the back has 4 of these blinds. The trees have this pond blocked on the aerial photograph.

We have several duck blind style winger stations on the property that have walkways out to them. This makes for quicker and simpler reloads of the wingers. This one is in the beaver pond (stick pond).

This is a view from the stick pond looking back up towards the cook shed.

This is one end of our new Green Tree Reservoir. We'll add some more pictures once the grass starts coming up.

The water depth in the green tree reservoir is pretty shallow and allows the dogs to run or lunge in a lot of it. We will drain it using our water control device in the summer for the health of the trees and to also faciliate planting some millett or other waterfowl food source.

Our new green tree reservoir is going to add some new challenges to our water training. It's also attracting ducks.

This is another duck blind style winger station. It is in the green tree pond and since it protrudes out into the water it allows us to throw birds in either direction down the shore.

This small Technical Pond sits in the valley of a 30 acre pasture. It has several fingers, points and an island to add to retriever training possibilities.

This is a wide angle view of our south pasture.

Our pastures have small rolling hills and the grass is cut at different heights so that we can vary the difficulty of land marks and land blinds.

This is a shot from up the hill looking down across the pasture in the direction of the small Technical Pond. We have strategically planted some small food plots in various places in this pasture around the pond to provide more bird placement posssibilities in training.

This is another angle of the south pasture looking over one of the food plots and the small technical pond.

This is our "impoundment style" training pond. Once the grain sorghum matures and heads out we will flood it. The dogs enjoy the running water and the ducks enjoy the grain. It's close enough to the small technical pond that you can use both in the same set up.

This is a multi-use pond for us. We use it as a swim by pond and also when we are mixing land/water marks.

More sunflowers and a reminder that Labs could be running anywhere.