Gun Dog Forum

Working fall camp trips on a beautiful northeast Oregon river got a little bit in the way of our hunting this year, but hey, who can really complain about getting paid to take your dog rafting down a river . Once the raft season ended, we managed a few good hunts around the Grande Ronde Valley and over near the Snake River. At two years old and in his second hunting season, the pup and I are learning more and more how to hunt together. Last year I was a little tentative to let him range, but this year I've learned to trust him and read his body language to see how serious he's hunting and how hot the scent is. Other than a few bouts of youthful hardheadedness (maybe on both of our parts at times), he's been very responsive and his pointing has been great, especially when hunting chukars and huns and now that pheasant hunting is over out here, I plan to get in as many more chukar hunts as possible this month. Watching him work this season, I've often wondered what I did to luck into such a gifted dog as my first bird dog and I just keep praying we have many more seasons to come. Happy New Year everyone and happy hunting!

Nice pics and nice gun thanks for posting.

Congrates on the hunts & the dog

Very enjoyable thread/pics. Thanks.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful country, dog, and images.

Mike

Beautiful, I always wanted to cast and blast the Deschutes. Saw a lot of quail, chucker and some pheasant there, not to mention ducks.

Looks like a terrible time, you should totally reevaluate your priorities. Awesome, thanks for sharing.

Back in the 70s and 80s, me, my son, daughter, a Setter and a Chessie would drift the Grande Ronde, fish the river and hunt the cliffs every year for a week. Always had to do the trip in in early September before school started. No better place to enjoy the dogs, the hunt, the beauty of the wild than this river canyon.

Kids went to college and on to their lives and we have never been back. Now I'm planning to go again, this time with my grand children and the great, great, great, great grand children of that Setter and Chessie.

When we went on those September trips we always saw lots of rattlesnakes, to the point that many of the guided float groups would camp on the river islands to avoid snakes . Never had any trouble with them but my grandkids are New Englanders and phobic about venemous snakes. Sounds like you were on the river much later in the fall, I suspect that the colder weather would obviate the need for special efforts to avoid them?

What was your experience? I've snake broke the dogs but might find using a e-collar on my grand kids objectionable by their parents.

Thanks for the great pics...........

Bedight wrote: When we went on those September trips we always saw lots of rattlesnakes, to the point that many of the guided float groups would camp on the river islands to avoid snakes . Never had any trouble with them but my grandkids are New Englanders and phobic about venemous snakes. Sounds like you were on the river much later in the fall, I suspect that the colder weather would obviate the need for special efforts to avoid them?

What was your experience? I've snake broke the dogs but might find using a e-collar on my grand kids objectionable by their parents.

I ran trips on the Grande Ronde from September through mid November. I’d say by the second or third week of October it seems like it typically cools off enough for snakes to no longer be a problem. Earlier in the fall than that they can be out and about, especially lower on the river as it gets close/enters Washington.

Great pics and thanks for sharing! What is the SxS you're using? Looks sweet!

Looks like a good year!

Garrison wrote:Looks like a terrible time, you should totally reevaluate your priorities. Awesome, thanks for sharing.

I've got to ditto this thought!! I feel bad seeing you have such a terrible life....

I'm also curious on the SxS...nice looking gun.

I'm a former ww guide, New and Gauley in WVa.... What boat are you paddling in the pic?

Do you run fall trips during bird season for your company? If so...let me know if they let you run a bird hunting trip down the river, or if it's just ww. If your company runs hunt trips, I'd seriously consider driving out with a couple buddies to take a trip with you this year.

We ran smallie trips down the New...I was never good/lucky enough to get to guide them...but the company ran them. We didn't do any hunting.

The SxS is an Armas Garbi model 100 20 gauge.

In the picture I'm paddling an 18' Maravia raft. As far as running hunt trips, we're currently working on building that in our program. Last year we did not do any guided hunts, but one way we have done it, is run supported trips where clients customize their trip how they want it and we provide the food, some gear, and a bagger to float ahead and set up camp. On trips like that, guys typically bring their own dog and trout/steelhead fish the first few days, then chukar hunt on the lower section of the Grande Ronde a day or two before taking out. But I have my brittany and one of our other primary guides has a GSP, so if you'd rather us run our dogs that would work, too. Feel free to message me if you want more information. For the most part as long as a group has at least 3 or four people we're willing to be flexible with their needs for trips on the Grande Ronde.

Additionally, my boss just bought permits to guide on the Snake River in heck's Canyon and the Salmon River, so we now have an opportunity to really expand what we do in terms of cast and blast trips/ chukar specific trips. That being said, we need to gain more familiarity with those stretches of the river before we book hunting trips. The launch dates are not flexible like they are on the Grande Ronde, so it is a much less customizable option, but the chukar hunting in heck's Canyon is world class.

Our website is currently being reconstructed, but we're known as Minam Store Outfitters if you want to look us up. We do raft rentals, too, so if you decide you and your buddies want to float and hunt by yourselves you could also do that.

*H*ll's Canyon is censored, but I think you know what I was trying to say.

Yeah, I picked up the censoring....
That is awesome. I'll definitely look it up, and I'll try to put a trip together this fall. While your company is reconstructing the website, is there a facebook page? I'll do some searching and start working on my group.

Thanks!

Oh...and I forgot to make a smart "bleep" comment on the sxs.... Holy sh*t, an Armas Garbi 100.... When I was a raft guide 100 years ago, I made $42/day -- there were no Armas Garbis in my closet! I should have stuck it out in the rafting industry!!

Yeah, we have a facebook page. Look up Minam Store to find us. We also have our old website called Minam raft rentals. They'll both have some company info, but we don't have anything up about hunt trips yet.

Haha, truth is my shotgun is worth just about as much as all of the rest of my possessions put together. In a moment of either clarity or immaturity (I'll let you decide which), I figured I'd rather overspend in a few areas (like owning a dog and buying a nice sxs) while I'm still young enough to recover, than wait until I'm old and retired and can afford nice things, but only have a limited number of years to enjoy them. Sure, I'm halfway broke right now, but hey, I love where and how I'm living and hopefully I'll be able to train dogs and shoot my Garbi for the next 50 years .

What a love pic! which breed is he?

My little research about dog