Grouse Season Wrap-Up
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:17 pm
We had an email going back and forth amongst some U.P. grousers and thought it would be nice to post a season summary here:
I had a great season save the pain of putting one of the best dogs I have ever owned down the third week in October.
Early season was tough with a lot of cover and poor scenting conditions that seemed to last until the end of October. The best part about that was two fold. The younger dogs got an education on how to handle running birds that pen raised hens and launchers could never provide and my theory on teaching stop to flush first worked.
Come the last week of October I was blessed to realize that I have been in the presence of a very fine dog with a choke-bore nose. On the day Baron died, he pointed a grouse and a woodcock with a desire that even cancer couldn't diminish that morning. The ride to the vet after the hunt was the longest ride of my life. However, the next morning, I killed a grouse over his first son from the very same spot where I killed the old man's last grouse over him...I now call that cover "closure."
Baron:
A week later I was blessed with a son named Evan who will hopefully share our passion for the woods, the smell of a wet dog, and the acrid yet sweet gunpowder smell found in a fresh empty hull. He will hear stories about dogs and perhaps one day ask me for a pup from one of our litters.
Evan Michael:
Talk about a roller coaster ride... but thanks to FMLA, I was able to hunt the first two weeks of November and found that to be the best hunting I had all year.
Panzer became a grouse dog. As mentioned before, early work on running birds and stop to flush training brought me to actually kill pointed birds over Panzer at 17 months old. The dog has a nose, brain, and locks solid. Except for his occasional 200 yard runs that are monitored via Garmin, he looks to be a nice, nice dog. A bird dog was made this year...watching that unfold is special to me and well worth the price of admission.
Panzer:
Gunner has a face full of gray hair that would lead one to mistake him for a mall Santa this time of year, yet he led the season once again. If I could clone that dog, I would be a rich man but not as rich as my spirit when watching him work a grouse cover. He continues to amaze me and still shows the same drive and ability he had when he was 2 years old. At 9, his time left is shorter than his time here but man did he put on a show one night the second week in November. If I could shoot, I would have walked out of the woods with my limit, including two doubles...but I suffer from being an average shooter who spends more time watching the dog than the bird. On that run, I watched him swap ends on a bird in the semi-open. Please put me to sleep when there comes a day where that doesn't make me feel like a 5 year old kid with a new bike under the Christmas tree.
Gunner:
Gretchen matured nicely and proved her worth. Her best day came during a steady rain the first week in November. Again, it was the swapping of ends and then a stare down with a bird caught in the wide open...then again 15 minutes later on the road back to the truck.
Gretchen:
All in all, as an author once wrote, it was the best of times and worst of times. But somehow, birds were plentiful when we needed it the most and it was one season that my son will hear about for a long, long time.
Dennis
I had a great season save the pain of putting one of the best dogs I have ever owned down the third week in October.
Early season was tough with a lot of cover and poor scenting conditions that seemed to last until the end of October. The best part about that was two fold. The younger dogs got an education on how to handle running birds that pen raised hens and launchers could never provide and my theory on teaching stop to flush first worked.
Come the last week of October I was blessed to realize that I have been in the presence of a very fine dog with a choke-bore nose. On the day Baron died, he pointed a grouse and a woodcock with a desire that even cancer couldn't diminish that morning. The ride to the vet after the hunt was the longest ride of my life. However, the next morning, I killed a grouse over his first son from the very same spot where I killed the old man's last grouse over him...I now call that cover "closure."
Baron:
A week later I was blessed with a son named Evan who will hopefully share our passion for the woods, the smell of a wet dog, and the acrid yet sweet gunpowder smell found in a fresh empty hull. He will hear stories about dogs and perhaps one day ask me for a pup from one of our litters.
Evan Michael:
Talk about a roller coaster ride... but thanks to FMLA, I was able to hunt the first two weeks of November and found that to be the best hunting I had all year.
Panzer became a grouse dog. As mentioned before, early work on running birds and stop to flush training brought me to actually kill pointed birds over Panzer at 17 months old. The dog has a nose, brain, and locks solid. Except for his occasional 200 yard runs that are monitored via Garmin, he looks to be a nice, nice dog. A bird dog was made this year...watching that unfold is special to me and well worth the price of admission.
Panzer:
Gunner has a face full of gray hair that would lead one to mistake him for a mall Santa this time of year, yet he led the season once again. If I could clone that dog, I would be a rich man but not as rich as my spirit when watching him work a grouse cover. He continues to amaze me and still shows the same drive and ability he had when he was 2 years old. At 9, his time left is shorter than his time here but man did he put on a show one night the second week in November. If I could shoot, I would have walked out of the woods with my limit, including two doubles...but I suffer from being an average shooter who spends more time watching the dog than the bird. On that run, I watched him swap ends on a bird in the semi-open. Please put me to sleep when there comes a day where that doesn't make me feel like a 5 year old kid with a new bike under the Christmas tree.
Gunner:
Gretchen matured nicely and proved her worth. Her best day came during a steady rain the first week in November. Again, it was the swapping of ends and then a stare down with a bird caught in the wide open...then again 15 minutes later on the road back to the truck.
Gretchen:
All in all, as an author once wrote, it was the best of times and worst of times. But somehow, birds were plentiful when we needed it the most and it was one season that my son will hear about for a long, long time.
Dennis
