Old Bo

11+ years old and still pointing the partridge!

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Bandit hits a Porcupine!

Only about 100 quills. He was a real trooper and let me take them off the roof of his mouth. He recovered well and was hunting the next day.

Hunt day along creek

Hot weather hunting garb includes plenty of water for the dog, too!

Hot Day in Wisconsin

The morning chill didn't last. By 9:30 am, it was hot. The biggest problem was keeping the dogs hydrated. We both carried water bottles and they were usually gone after an hour. Bandit, the pup, hunted great and only got out 350 yds this time before coming home, scared and tired. Bo, the old dog, found and pointed the only bird today! But, of course, it got up behind a tree and was a flash of gray in the woods. Ace hunted strong and hard in the heat of the day and came up dry. we knocked off at 3 pm to watch football and rest the dogs (Who am I kidding? I am beat! )

Another day tomorrow. We'll slay 'em then.

Bandit on Sharpies

Here is Ace's 18 month old puppy working Sharptails in Montana. He did a good job!

Day 1 in Wisconsin

It started out pretty nice at 55 deg. Boy, it got hot in a hurry. Ace and I and Dennis and his Lab, Gracie, took off down a great grouse trail. Within an hour, we had 5 flushes over points. The birds are definitely here! It was a technical problem that kept the game bag empty. Ace was finding the birds and holding them off the trail in the thick cover. He has a Garmin tracking collar on him, which worked as advertised and I am extremely pleased with. The problem arose when the beeper collar he has on, which I can turn on and off remotely, started turning itself to very minimum volume all on its own! I can still find him OK, but the beeper would have allowed me to get there much earlier and the birds wouldn't have moved so far. The birds are there and the dogs can find them- if only the equipment would be OK. Thankfully, I have another beeper. We'll see how the afternoon goes.

OH! Get a Garmin Astro! It is the best thing going for bird hunters with a dog that gets out more than 20 yards. I've used it now in Montana and now in the Wisconsin grouse woods. It works!

Great Grouse Cover!

Ace is whining and pacing and sampling my coffee. The sky is blue and the temp is 55. We are on the way to one of my secret coverts.

Opening Day!

Sage Grouse

Here's the Ace-man with a Sage Grouse. Huge bird that it is- they fly well and they will hold tight for a pointing dog. Ace did a great job on this one! I'm getting the "What's the big deal?" look right here.

Day 4

We got up very early and decided that we'd be waiting for the birds when they got to the fields to stuff themselves with grasshoppers. We've determined that 90% of the birds are full of them. It was a great day! We shot Sharpies, Sage Grouse, Hungarian Partridge and had a great time doing it. The dog work was exceptional for such a hot day! We had to knock off at 1 pm due to the heat, and watched the temp rise to 95 degrees. Right now the wind is howling and the temperature is dropping. Tomorrow the high will only be 65! Bring it on.

Day 3

Hot!!!!!! We hunted hard until about 1pm then we took a break that lasted the rest of the day. Bandit is a hard hunting little Brit that is get his hunting legs under him. Yesterday, he did really well and here are the pictures to prove it. Today, he managed to point 3 bulls and 1 meadowlark. To his credit, he wanted to have a go at the bulls..."I can take them, boss! Really!" he said. Ace is hunting with his usual style and excellent sense of where to hunt and where the birds should be. Bo ran for a while in the morning and I'm rooting for him to find a bird......

Day 2

This is what the well dressed, Montana, Sharpie hunter is wearing these days!

Weather: windy and drizzle- 50 deg AM with clear and sunny 70 deg PM

Bo hunted in the morning and we stayed out for about an hour. We didn't find any birds, but he looked pretty good. He's not gettting around that much anymore, but just because the body ain't willing doesn't mean you can't try.

In the afternoon, I put Bandit on the ground and headed off to the hills. after about an hour of wlaking through alfalfa fields, we heased to the tops of the hills. Once over the top, we worked down some coulees. Finally, Bandit locked up! About 30 yards away 7 birds got up and we dropped 2 of them. Later on, he found a 20+ bird covey and we chased those for hours. He was great! We ended up with my 3 and Terry's 2- all found and pointed by Bandit. He's really coming along!

First Day

We started out hunting in areas I was familiar with from the last few years. The birds are here, but not in the numbers of the last few years. When we would get 15-30 birds in a group last year, now we would see only 8-15 birds. There is green everywhere- lots of food for the birds, but a wet, cold spring, right at their nesting time, cut back the population significantly.

The dogs are great, but out of shape like me! Bo is showing his age, and I think his hearing is suffering, too (although it may be that "man disease"- selective hearing). Ace is powerful and classy and finding all my birds. Bandit (Ace's pup) at 1.5 years old, is full of vinegar, but is still working on that first lock down point. He found a few groups of birds yesterday, but "assisted in putting them to flight" as we say. He is showing great promise though and I look for him to put it all together today or tomorrow.

Water is a major consideration for the dogs (and hunters). We water them at the truck constantly and carry two water bottles with us every cast. I'm also using an energy replacement powder that I am evaluating. We'll see how that works.

Day One

We found our motel to be a cozy, charming, fixer-upper- "as is".

Can you spot the Sharptail Grouse in the picture?

Way Up In N. South Dakota

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How tall is the corn?

The picture doesn't do it justice. It's every inch of 8'.

The Mecca for Bird Hunters

You have GOT to love this place!

Video of Soth Dakota Interstate

South Dakota Interstate. Flat, flat, flat!

Cruisin'

Sun is coming up over the Iowa hills on my right. The Missouri River is on my left with Nebraska past that. I would sell a bird dog cheap for a Venti Starbucks right now- or perhaps Pete's Coffee. I'm approaching Sioux City, IA and rumor has it there is civilization there. Coffee!!!!

Traveling Companion Ready for a stop.

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Just made it to Iowa!

Right as the sun is setting over Nebraska on my left and Iowa on my right. Its time to find a soft bed!