Fall Hunting Update

Well, we obviously aren’t great about keeping up with this blog thing. There is much updating to do since our last post.

Our Wisconsin grouse and woodcock hunt back in October went well. Grouse were very spotty- some covers had lots of birds, others that should have been just as good had almost none. Despite the reported high drumming counts this spring it seems like the peak was probably two years ago, at least where we hunt. We did hit the woodcock flights very well and overall it was a good hunt.

We find it difficult to put the guns down and carry a camera instead, but here is a shot Cliff managed to get of Camas pointing a woodcock.

The highlight of our WI trip was bringing the younger dogs in the kennel along. We have two males and a female from our 2010 breeding of Smoke to the Llewellin male Houdini’s Man O’War, and another female out of the Sky x Heath litter from the same year. They are having their first serious hunts this year and they pointed and handled grouse well. We were happy with the performance of all four, but the two Llewellin crossed males, Clip and Doc, were phenomenal. They both acted like puppies until they realized there were birds to be had, and then they put on quite a show. Both pointed almost all the birds in the covers once they figured out what was going on. The hunt that Clip turned on was particularly impressive. He went from puppy to slamming points one after another.  We came out of that cover awestruck- the best performance we’ve seen from a young inexperienced dog.  We only intend to keep one of the males, and it’s looking like it will be a difficult choice.

This is a photo of Lisa and Doc coming out of the cover a few minutes after a big bear crossed the road in front of them. If Cliff wasn’t at the car at the time we would never have known we were chasing a bear.

Seeing friends from around the country is also a large part of the trip. The next photo is of grouse dinner at the hunting camp. On the left are our hosts Julian and Terresa, owners of the “Sweat Shack” we congregate in. To their left in the back are Lisa, Frank Thompson of Classic Setters, and friends Bill and Zeke from MA. In the front are veterinarians (and long time Ryman type owners) Walt and Mac.

We spent the month of November at home putting some venison in the freezer, and are currently camped in Idaho’s Owyhee mountains hunting chukars, huns, and the occasional covey of quail. It’s extremely dry this year and the chukars are not hanging out on the usual south facing slopes, but we are finding enough to make the hunting interesting. Clip and Doc’s sister Lizzy is looking like she will be the equal of her brothers. She pointed the first covey of huns she has ever seen, and also the first covey of quail. Hopefully by the end of the season we will know whether the three of them, plus Sky’s daughter Suzie, are going to make the grade as breeding dogs. Their performance in the field is looking good at this point, but they also have their final health clearances to get through in the spring.

More on chukar hunting later….

Hope everyone is having a great Holiday season.