Bird Dog Training | Bluestem Kennels

Training and Testing

June 3, 2014

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Puppy Update Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Montana Sharptail Chapter NAVHDA, NAVHDA, nevada chukar, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Water Retrieve, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 3 Comments

Puppy Homegoing

I received a picture of Hez in his new home in Bangor, Maine with Tyson and family. He also has a big golden retriever friend named Ferg and they are all getting along splendidly!

Hez (now Moose) and family in Maine

Shipping a puppy by air cargo

Someone asked me recently about how I ship puppies by air cargo. Well, I get an interstate health certificate from the veterinarian (needs to be dated within 10 days of travel). Then I buy the intermediate level crate, which is 22 inches tall, 28 inches long, and 22 inches wide. I take all of the plastic hardware off of the outside of the crate and replace with metal nuts and bolts, then fill the crate about 1/3 full of shredded newspaper. Each side of the crate has “Live Animal” signs taped on to it, with a leash, a small bag of dog food, and the shipping/care instructions taped to the top. I attach food and water dishes to the inside of the crate, then simply place the pup in the crate with his collar on. I always have the pup take the first available flight out of Omaha Eppley so they are more mellow. I am about a 15 minute drive from the airport, so I feed and water the pup, give it a walk to go potty, and away we go. I use Delta Pet First/Air Cargo. I check the dog in at the air cargo office (which is over with the FedEx and UPS buildings), they pull the pup out of the crate and inspect the crate for any contraband, put the pup back in and ny-tie the door closed. All of the holding areas in both the airports and the planes are climate controlled so that the pup never experiences extreme temperatures. I wish I could put a little camera in the crate and see what the pup sees when he is being shipped, it must be exciting. But I think that the cargo folks are really nice to the pups because they’ve never come out of their crates traumatized. I’ve shipped 15-20 puppies this way and have never had a problem at all. Some breeders do not ship air cargo from reading a story or two on the internet, but it is like anything you read from questionable sources.

Grooming of the young griffon

I also had a question about what type of grooming to do on a young griffon puppy. Aside from giving it a bath once a month with puppy shampoo and cleaning its ears with Malascetic Otic solution, very little. I don’t recommend aggressive brushing like I do with adults, as I accidentally overbrushed a young puppy once while its puppy coat was coming out and the adult coat still hadn’t come in. I had an almost bald griffon in October. Charles was not happy. So don’t do that:)

Fire’s training

Fire is coming along nicely at 15 weeks old; Charles has been planting birds for her once a week to point and flush. He has switched from using the kiddie cap gun to the .22 starter pistol with blanks and she couldn’t care less about the noise. He’s talking about incorporating the remote bird launchers as to avoid any accidental “traps” (when the live bird gets caught by the dog). Then once he feels comfortable there, probably mid-July, will try the first live-fire exercise with a shotgun. I will try to get out to catch some video of this process.

First NAVHDA Test Pupdate of the Season

Congratulations to owner/handler Lou Volpe and Bluestem’s Big Sky Rendezvous “Midge” on a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize I with a perfect score of 112 at the Montana Sharptail Chapter test over the weekend! Midge is from our 2013 “F” Litter from Sam and Mae. Great job everyone!!!

“A” Litter Pupdate

Back at the end of April, my very first litter from Sam and Sue turned 4 years old. Here are some recent owner photos from the litter that changed my life for good!

Maggie is a good kid pillow

Maggie keeps her coat trimmed for the Alabama heat

Maggie showing off her beautiful eyes

Whiskey is a handsome dude

Whiskey (front) and friends beating the Nevada heat

Whiskey bringing Dad (Pete) his croc

I also saw a cool video on Whiskey’s mom’s Facebook page of him hunting chukars with his girl, Andi.

More training

Susan and Tom have been working with TracHer on preparing for her NAVHDA Utility Test and sent me some pictures of her retrieving a giant Muscovy duck. The first picture is of her retrieving it after a 60 yard dryland track from a drag and the second is a water retrieve. TracHer is from our 2012 “C” Litter of Sam and Mae.

TracHer and the duck in the field

TracHer’s water retrieve

I have one last bit of media to share with you and that is a YouTube that I made from a couple of video clips that new owners of this year’s litters sent to me. You can see the pups style and personality already starting to shine through!

Many thanks to all of my generous owners who take the time to update me with photos and videos so that I have something to share with you! It is greatly appreciated and keep it coming! Hope that everyone is enjoying the beginning of summer and I’ll check back in soon.

H Litter Homegoing

May 27, 2014

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Puppy Update Dog Training, Gun Dog, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

I am officially puppy-free for the rest of the summer (aside from Fire, of course)! Everyone went home on their 8-week birthday on Tuesday, except one who went home on Sunday.

Herbert went across town with Bill and family.

Harriet’s went to South Dakota with Matt and family.

Hope went to Wyoming with George and his wife. (Photo courtesy of George)

Harold went to North Dakota with Ernie and family.

Hez is not pictured because he took a plane all the way to Maine! He arrived safely without even messing in his crate. Maybe one of these days Tyson will have a chance to send us a photo.

Mae did well with her spay and is ready for retirement. We took Sam, BB, and Fire out on Memorial Day for Fire’s first swim.

Fire swimming with the kids.

Sam found himself a big stick.

BB and Fire having a run on the shore.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their extra day off! Spring NAVHDA tests are upon us, so I’ll be looking forward to any pupdates on that front and any others! Fire is due for her last round of shots this week, so then we’ll be ready to start going to training days. I also need to think about getting her trained up to go into the show ring at least once. Maybe we can learn to enjoy it because BB, Mae and I really did not. But if at first you don’t succeed, try again, right?

Sue in the Sioux Nation and Other Updates

July 3, 2013

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Puppy Update Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Sandhills, Puppies, South Dakota Badlands, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 1 Comment

Breeders and hard hunters/field trialers have difficult decisions to make when it comes to aging dogs. According to the AKC, females can be bred until they are 12. The USDA has nothing to say on breeding age. So, do we breed and hunt them until they fall over? Breed and hunt them until they are too old to go into the field, then put them down or place them in a pet home? Some breeders do keep their retired stock as pets, but that just isn’t practical for us as we have limited space, are constantly on the move during hunting season and our travel equipment only holds so many dogs. We’ve decided that four dogs is our current max and that that our older dogs will be retired around 8 or 9. So now where do they go? I’ve found that back in my home country in North Central Nebraska and South Central South Dakota, there are good folks looking for trained hunting dogs, even if they are on the senior side.

Sue just turned 9 after her last litter went home and the age of 8 is the cutoff in the code of ethics for the AWPGA, so it was time. I was so excited to find a great home for her just off the southern border of the South Dakota Badlands. It seemed appropriate that since her registered name with the AKC and NAVHDA is Sweetgrass Sandhill Sioux that she would find a new home in the land of the Sioux Nation, just north of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations.

Stan and his family were just thrilled to meet Sue and she really took to them right back, as she is such a friendly dog. Savannah just turned six and couldn’t stop petting to her and talking to her while we were there.

Savannah and Sue

Their son Trey is 11 years old and this is just the perfect time for him to be getting a hunting dog into his life, as it is time to harvest his first grouse and pheasant, which are in abundance right outside his front door!!

Trey and Sue on the porch overlooking the hunting grounds

We enjoyed having a nice long visit with everyone and the South Dakota hospitality. Stan and I even have some mutual family friends that we told funny stories about. I really couldn’t have asked for a greater blessing for Sue. What I thought would be a sad time, was really one of the most joyous things I’ve ever done. Equally as joyous as placing a puppy in a new home. What a great thing to be able to give a family the dog they deserve, even though her sweet personality will be missed here.

Stan, Debbie, Trey, Savannah and Sue

Since I was just so happy that Sue had found her new family, I refused money, but got something far more special in return. As both Stan and Debbie work with tribal members, they gave me a star quilt with a unique design called a broken star.

Trey and Debbie holding the broken star quilt.

And Debbie presented it to me in the traditional Lakota fashion of wrapping it around the recipient like a shawl. We were laughing because Stan was teasing us that the neighbors were going to drive by thinking that they had “gone native”.

Debbie presenting Charity with the star quilt in honor of Sue

Mitakuye Oyasin – All are my relatives – Lakota

Training Update

Sam and BB are working on getting ready for the NAVHDA Utility Test with the Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter in Sioux Falls. For our 17th wedding anniversary on June 22nd we went out on a training date instead of going out to eat or to an event. We worked on steady-in-blind. We just so happened to have 7 live farm-raised flying mallard ducks in our holding pen that had been making a complete mess of the place, so it was time to use them before we had to travel the next weekend. So I would take a duck to the shore about 20 yards down from where the training blind was set up. I also had an e-collar so that he could use the beeper function to let me know when he was ready for me to throw. Charles would then walk the dog in while carrying his shotgun, “whoa” the dog behind the blind, get into position to shoot, then beep me on the e-collar. Once he beeped me I threw the duck in the air and high and as far as I could and he shot it. At that point, the dog should still be sitting behind the blind. He would then walk back to the dog, tap it on the head and say “okay, fetch”. They then go out and retrieve the duck from the water. It was a good way to spend an afternoon.

Sam bringing in a duck

BB bringing in a duck

Pupdates

Congratulations to Susan and Tom in North Dakota and “C” Litter 2012 (Sam/Mae) pup, TracHer on earning her Natural Ability Prize III with the St. Croix (MN) NAVHDA Chapter on June 18th!

Four month old Goose from “E” Litter 2013 is already packing some serious style! After a stay at Prairie Wings Kennel in Colorado, she is already steady to shot and retrieves to hand. Way to go Stephen, Taylor and Goose!

Goose showing off her style

Goose’s sister Zoey is also enjoying some time in the field down in Oklahoma with her owner, Jimmy. He says this is a pic from his first homemade field trial:)

Zoey in the field

Thank you as always to my wonderful owners for continuing to keep me updated on how the pups are doing!

Coming Soon

We’ll be heading out to the pond for the 4th to get the dogs some more swimming, our favorite exercise this time of year, and work having them sit in the canoe.

BB goes in for her hip X-rays on the 10th as part of her final clearance for breeding in the spring. We’ll also keep practicing for the Utility Test.

Have a Happy 4th of July and make sure to be careful with your pups and fireworks! Leave them the house or if outside, far away from where fireworks are being launched.

Some Notes on Sue and Sioux Falls

May 23, 2012

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update Dog Training, German Wirehaired Pointer Club of Nebraska, Gun Dog, Heartland NAVHDA Chapter, Honoring another dog's point, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter, Sioux Falls South Dakota, South Dakota Pointing Dog Club, Steady to Wing and Shot, Water Retrieve, Whoa Training, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 1 Comment

By popular demand, I need to update you all on how Sue is doing! She is very heavy, but is still living outside for a little while longer. She and BB were sharing a kennel while Mae was on a strict diet after her puppies left, in order to get her teats to retract, but I recently moved BB in with Mae by the request of Sue (plus Mae is doing fine on getting back into shape). BB is still very puppy and likes to play, so Sue was getting tired of that business. She is still taking walks twice a day, but is moving much slower than everyone else and eats and drinks double her normal rations. We have houseguests over the Memorial Day weekend, but after they are gone I will be moving Sue into the house for monitoring. I suspect that she will whelp the first or second week of June.

A very big Sue in the yard this morning

Last weekend was the South Dakota Pointing Dog Club’s AKC Hunt Test in Sioux Falls, SD. The organizers are actually the Midwest Tri-State NAVHDA Chapter, who takes on that name to put on AKC Hunt Tests. As there were a number of other griffons entered by fellow breeders that we had only visited with online and over the phone, we decided to go ahead and enter BB and Sam into the Senior Hunter Test even though we were unsure if the dogs were prepared.

We also entered the AKC Water Test, which is a requirement for the Senior Hunter title for the Spinone Italiano and German Wirehaired Pointer, but not the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon (even though it should be). As I had all three children there, I did not anticipate being able to see anything worth taking pictures of, but as it was a hike to the pond, the organizers had me assist in handling the two dogs while our fellow testers kept an eye on the kids back at camp. I wish I’d had my video camera, because Sam and BB both did fantastic. It is a basic water retrieve, where the handler stands 6 feet from the bank, holding the collar of the dog. A thrower pitches a dead duck into the water and a blank shot is fired by a gunner. Once the duck hits the water, you release the dog and they swim to retrieve. It does not have to be retrieved to hand, but can be dropped within two steps of the handler.

Sam and BB’s AKC Water Test Ribbons

As avid hunters, one would think that Senior Hunter would be easy for us, but hunt testing and hunting are not the same thing. Similar to Junior Hunter, you are running in a brace with an unfamiliar dog, but unlike Junior Hunter that is only testing search and point, Senior Hunter has to be 100% steady to wing and shot (no creeping allowed at all, not a single step) and also back the other dog’s point. At the Junior Hunter level, the handler is firing a blank pistol at the flush, whereas at Senior Hunter there are gunners firing live ammunition and the dogs should retrieve. At the Senior Hunter level, you are allowed to use the “whoa” command for steadiness (which won’t be allowed at the Master Hunter level, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there).

As soon as you “fail” a step in the process, the dog and handler are pulled from the test. The first day, BB couldn’t help herself and busted a covey of quail. Both days, Sam creeped a couple of steps on his points. The second day, BB almost made it through the test, but of all things, she didn’t find a bird! This is the same dog that found 6 birds in 8 minutes during her first Junior Hunter run. Even though we didn’t take home any SH ribbons on the weekend, it was good for us to see what is required to pass the test and what we need to work on.

As Charles is the trainer for the big dogs (I’m puppy trainer and kennel tech [sanitation, exercise and nutrition]), he’ll be working on making the dogs absolutely staunch on “whoa”, regardless of the situation. We work on “whoa” in the yard, but they are kennelmates and they aren’t working birds. We should take advantage of some training days with the Heartland NAVHDA Chapter or the local AKC German Wirehaired Pointer Club of Nebraska so that we can attempt to replicate the testing environment with dogs from outside of our kennel. As he can use “whoa” in Senior Hunter, we are going to take advantage of that and work them towards the automatic response without command that is expected at the Master Hunter level.

We’re still bouncing around some training ideas and absorbing the suggestions we got from other handlers and the judges. Charles got up the next morning and flew out on business (non-dog, the one that pays the bills), so we haven’t had much of a chance to talk it through. We’ll keep you posted as to what direction we go with our training and how it is working. I think the absolute soonest we could get back into the SH field is at the August test in Sioux Falls, but we might decide to wait until Spring of 2013.

Our favorite part of the hunt testing environment is that it is fun and family friendly. It gives us something to do with our dogs in the off-hunting season other than having puppies and keeping up with exercise. I can see that this is a hobby that we will enjoy for a good portion of the rest of our lives. We are hooked!

First breeding of year complete!

January 13, 2012

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Pedigree Profiles, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, Nebraska Sandhills, Puppies, Puppies from Hunting Parents, Sharptail Grouse Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 1 Comment

We are pleased to announce that our first breeding of the year is complete between our 3 year old male, Sam, and our new 5 year old female, Mae. Sue was anticipated to come into season first, but Mae surprised us. Mae and Sam bred from January 9-11, therefore pups are expected March 13-15. Hey game birds, “Beware of the Ides of March!”, new hunting puppies will be here!

Hunting photos of Sam can be found on our “About Us” page (I have yet to load this season’s, but they can be found on the individual blog posts containing the hunting tales on bluestemkennels.com [pre-10/01/2011] and versatilehunter.com [10/01/2011-present]). His pedigree is a link at the bottom of the “About Us” page.

Mae came into our home on December 3, 2011 from That’s My Point Kennels in Wheatland, ND where she had successfully whelped and nursed 3 previous litters and was known as “Aspen” http://www.tmpkennels.com/ As you can see from the previous owner’s website, she was raised with young children. At the age of one, she successfully scored a Prize II on her Natural Ability Test from the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA).

Mae’s Natural Ability Test Results

Her AKC/NAVHDA pedigrees also spoke of her potential for us. Her sire, Marquis Georgeous George hails from French import blood and the prestigious Herrenhausen kennel. Barbara Young of Herrenhausen is an AKC and International Conformation Judge, therefore she knows and breeds good dogs. The dam, Full of Grace, is out of the famed Fireside blood. Fireside’s Spontaneous Combustion won 3rd place in the sporting group at Westminster last year and was the first Wirehaired Pointing Griffon ever to place at WKC.

Mae’s AKC Pedigree

The hunt testing results and the strong conformation background in the pedigree drew me to “Aspen”. She was the Butcher family’s companion in the home and field, therefore even though I was nervous about bringing a new member into our pack, I thought that these things put together boded well for “Aspen” being a good match for us and our breeding program.

I made the following YouTube video this morning of all my dogs running in the yard, just as a visual reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSb7jdZXPz8

Mae has thrived in our home and in the field. Not even a week after bringing her home, we had her out on planted hen pheasants for training:

(Click on any of the photos to see a larger version)

Mae working the field on December 9, 2011

One of Mae’s points 12/09/2011

Another point on 12/09/2011

Charles walks into Mae’s point

Mae retrieves on 12/09/2011

After our first training day with planted birds in a controlled environment, we felt comfortable enough to use Mae to assist in guiding at Pheasant Haven right before Christmas.

Sam (front) and Mae (back) with the hunters on 12/22/2011

Sam, myself and Mae guided a hunt on 12/23/2011 also

The afternoon following the December 23rd preserve hunt, we were on the road for the Sandhills where we busted up some cattails with the whole gang, Mae included, on Christmas Eve:

Mae on the left, with the rest of the pack, Charles, and the Christmas Eve Sandhills pheasant

Charles and all four dogs on the dunes

We spent a couple of hours on Christmas Day chasing grouse with Mae and the rest of the pack, but didn’t find any. We’ll be back for them in September!

Our last outing was on January 2nd with some chukar and quail from a game farm that we had never used before and wanted to try out. It is important for newer dogs to get individual training attention when they are usually braced (in pairs) or ran as a pack.

One of Mae’s points on 01/02/2012

Charles shoots one of the chukars over Mae on 01/02/2012

Charles walking into one of Mae’s points 01/02/2012

Closeup of Mae’s point that Charles was walking into

Double chukar flush over Mae and Charles 01/02/2012

Mae had more than one retrieve on 01/02/2012, but this was the only photo that turned out well

Even though we’ve only had Mae a limited time, we are confident in her ability to produce quality puppies for our kennel and contribute to our development of the breed.

I will close with a picture of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed’s founder Edward Korthals. This was taken in 1891 when he was presented the German Kaiser’s award for breeding. I use this photograph as guide for the dogs that I will continue working to create. Mae fits into this perfectly.

Korthals and his prize specimens

To reserve a puppy from one of our spring 2012 litters, please call (402) 682-9802 or e-mail bluestemkennels@cox.net

A New Year’s Training Day

January 6, 2012

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update Bird Hunting, Chukar Partridge, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Quail, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 2 Comments

Sunday afternoon we ventured to Country Lane Game Breeders in Dwight, Nebraska and picked up some quail and chukar partridge. It was a longer drive than we usually take to buy training birds, but it took us down some Nebraska highways that we haven’t been down before.

Monday morning we set out with our two oldest children, 10 year-old Cordelia and 7 year-old Conrad, to plant some birds and get some one-on-one work with 10 month-old “BB” and 5 year old (but just finished her first month with us) “Mae”.

(Author’s Note: Please click on any of the photos to see a larger version)

Conrad and Cordelia were troopers on a cold, windy day

Charles takes down a quail in front of BB

BB retrieves the quail

Charles takes the retrieve from BB

Charles walks into BB pointing a chukar

Charles takes aim

BB retrieves the chukar

Mae on point

Charles walks in for the flush and shoots the chukar

Mae on retrieve

Charles walking into Mae's point from the side

Closeup of the same point by Mae

A surprise double flush (see the second bird getting up behind Charles?)!

Mae bringing in the retrieve

We started at the field around 10 AM and the kids lasted on the march (without a lunch even) until 1:30 PM. Charles and Mae stayed out another hour after we returned to the truck and picked up some more birds out of the woods. Monday night we dined on chukar/quail chili and Tuesday night was chukar/quail pot pie. Important work for the dogs and delicious meals to boot!

Charles is talking about taking Sue and Sam back to our training field this weekend to clean up the escapees, but other than that we are looking forward to a slow weekend around the house after the holidays and before the last push of wild bird hunting in Nebraska for the season, ending January 31st.

Late Season Update

December 16, 2011

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training Dog Training, Pheasant Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

BB in the snow

Now nine months old, BB has been getting plenty of wild bird exposure this season with the pack, but last week it was time to finish her solo training. When hunting in the pack setting, it is difficult for her to get a chance to retrieve with the older, more experienced dogs present. We planted a couple of hen pheasants for her to practice on at the local dog training wildlife management area.

Charles walks into BB’s first point of the day

BB looking good on retrieve

A stylish point from BB

On the flush

BB looking intense on retrieve

BB has done a fabulous job maturing into a hunting animal quickly. The most important part of successfully raising a hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon puppy is giving them the exposure they need to tap into their natural instincts. BB has had plenty of practice at home with basic obedience and yard work on fetching dokkens, but the majority of her hunt training has been simple exposure to situations with plenty of bird action.

Soon we will be introducing her to working as a guide dog in the hunting preserve setting, which will be an exciting addition to her experience in the field.

Sue and Sam

Our flagship working dogs have been very busy at the preserve guiding hunts. Charles has been doing all of the guide work up with me assisting, but the volume of weekday hunts has reached a point to where I will now be taking care of the weekday guiding duties.

November 24, 2011

November 25, 2011

December 1, 2011

Morning, December 10, 2011

Afternoon, December 10, 2011

December 11, 2011

Mae

Mae (AKC/NAVHDA Little Lady Aspen) is a five year old female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon who now lives in our home and kennel. She has definitely become a member of the pack and family! I will provide more information on Mae’s background and training in a future post. Welcome to Bluestem Kennels, Mae!

Mae on the move

Upcoming Events

Charles is invited to hunt some private land in Southeastern Nebraska this Saturday and currently the plan is for Sam and BB to work the fields that day. The week before Christmas, Charity and the dogs are on call at the preserve to guide a few hunts and Christmas weekend will be a Sandhills wild bird all-pack hunt. That takes us into the last month of wild bird hunting in Nebraska, with our season closing goals being to fill at least one (each hunter gets 3 annually) of our Eastern Nebraska Prairie Chicken tags and to bag some quail. We’ll be guiding during preserve season until March 31st, so the game isn’t up for us just yet.

We anticipate Sue coming into her breeding season sometime in February, so a few weeks into her pregnancy she’ll be taken out of the hunting circuit and it will be time for BB to step in. Plenty to look forward to in the coming months!

Happy Holidays and Happy Hunting from Bluestem Kennels!

A Day for BB

September 28, 2011

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Hunting Tales Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Nebraska, Korthals Griffon, Snipe Hunt, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Saturday brought us BB’s first solo wild bird adventure in the field, on a snipe hunt with Charles. It is good for the six month old pup to run with the older dogs to learn the ways of the game, but it is essential that she also be allowed to hunt independently.

As there has been a warm spell up in the northern area of the flyway, the migrating snipe were not yet noticed, just the resident population that we last hunted at our snipe swamp in Southeastern Nebraska. Charles and BB put up several snipe, but he passed on many shots since the birds start out flying so low to the ground, it is often a risk to the dog. He also didn’t want to shoot birds on the edge of range, as he wanted an easy “hunt dead” for BB, so that she would not get discouraged.

BB has mastered the art of the search, knows bird scent, gets birdy and points. Right now we are still working on the retrieve with real birds, as she will mark the bird and pick it up, but not yet bring to hand reliably. She will retrieve a dummy or dokken to hand without fail in the yard, heck, she’ll even retrieve our 2 1/2 year old’s stuffed animals when he throws them with the fetch command. It is all just part of the process that we’d like for her to work through naturally within the next few months of hunting, knowing that with her griffon instincts she will put the pieces of the yard training and the field work together in due time.

BB's first wild bird after a long day in the snipe swamp

Reflections on Snipe Hunting

September 13, 2011

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Sire and Dam Ability, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Snipe Hunt, Snipe Hunting Nebraska, Teal, Water Retrieve, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 2 Comments

Sam, Charles, Sue and BB with 4 snipe, a teal and 2 doves

The habitat of the snipe is nothing that I had ever expected. As we wandered our way down the path through the cattails, I kept my eyes sharp, looking for the zig-zag flight of the long-billed swamp bird. Yet my vigilance was wasted in those areas of dense swamp cover and we eventually wandered into a 20 acre flat, recently grazed by cattle.

“This is where it gets interesting,” Charles warned. We split up to cover opposite sides of a small creek that ended in a cattail marsh. I mistakenly headed once again into dense cover, thinking that the sneaky birds would tuck themselves into the reeds. I was sinking quickly into the mud and got my rubber boots stuck, just in time for an incoming snipe, who landed in the distant short grass. I was able to extract myself from the mud and we walked towards where we saw the bird land. He jumped up way out of range, but it became obvious that we were dealing with a resident population, as they did not want to leave their 20 acres.

We worked over the creek half of the plot, spotting a few more snipe getting up out of range. Our favorite technique for birds that won’t hold tight is to tire them out, flush, then follow, flush, then follow, until they are too tired to be overly flighty. There was no luck to be had in that half of the small territory, so we headed towards the area where the flushed birds landed.

In a spot that we had covered, next to the tiny creek in tightly grazed grass an unexpected snipe popped up with its classic, “screeee, thwicka, thwicka, thwicka”. Aside from its larger size, the call of a fleeing snipe is the one sure way to tell it apart from a killdeer. The chosen path of the snipe is frightening for the hunter, as it begins by flying very close to the ground, at the same height of the dogs and sometimes right among them.

The bird flew clear of the dogs and Charles made the shot, with Sue on retrieve. Right after that, a dove flew by me in range and I watched it go, choosing to focus on trying to get my first snipe. Another shot was fired from my husband’s gun and he took down the dove, with Sue doing another great job on tracking the small bird to deliver to her master.

Our walk continued towards a small pond, where all heck broke loose. Charles quickly bagged another snipe in the flat next to the pond and while he was busy with Sam’s retrieve, the crazy swamp creatures were zig-zagging all around above my head. I missed several shots on snipe, while a couple of teal busted out of the pond. Charles was lucky to be close enough to the pond to take one of the teal, which landed in the water still alive. The injured teal made its way towards the cattails on the edge of the bank in an attempt to hide from the encroaching dogs, but Sam was able to snatch it out of the water.

Close-up of a snipe, with a blue-winged teal in the background

The pond was completely shaken down, so we decided to head back to the creek area we had already covered. I was in a hurry to cross the watery thread and thought I spotted a muddy area that was dry and vegetated enough to handle my crossing. Epic fail! I was immediately sucked thigh deep into the mud, both legs. Charles was still trying to give me hand signals as to which direction we were going and began to walk off into the distance, so I had to shout him down to come and hold my gun so that I could attempt to remove myself from the gluey muck. I wiggled and squiggled, but my cheap rubber calf boots were not budging. My only choice was to leave the boots in the mud and concede defeat to the snipe swamp, pouting my way sock-footed towards the truck.

Defeated by the swamp

Not wanting to wander too far in my socks or ruin Charles’s hunt, I stood on the edge of the 20 acres as he walked back and forth with the dogs, taking two more snipe and one more dove off in the distance.

My adventure ended in the style of a proverbial snipe hunt, as defined in Wikipedia, “…also known as a fool’s errand, a type of practical joke that involves experienced people making fun of credulous newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task.” Yet I am intrigued by this interesting hunt and unusual habitat. I will be purchasing some hip boots before I try this again, but am sure to be back and better prepared.

If you are interested in reading more tales of snipe hunting from around the globe, check out Worth Mathewson’s rare book Reflections on Snipe.

BB’s First Hunt: Our Six Month Old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

August 24, 2011

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Puppy Update Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Pheasant Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 1 Comment

Saturday morning, Charles and I took BB out to the local dog training wildlife management area to plant some juvenile pheasant, in order to break her to the gun and get her used to quartering in the field.

In place of my usual still camera, I opted for shooting some video this day. The first video I put together is Charles explaining the equipment that we use for planting birds for dog training purposes and the actual technique of planting the birds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4vq9krd09A

The second video is Charles and BB actually hunting down the birds. Over two sessions, there were six birds planted, but only four of them are documented on video. One of them was a lame flier and didn’t get up high enough for Charles to shoot it. Another of them must have ran off, as we never located it. The midday sun was beginning to make things a little uncomfortable, so we opted for heading home instead of pushing BB too hard.

What I enjoyed about watching this process was that in the beginning BB stuck close to Charles and exhibited a lot of puppy play behavior, but by the end of the adventure, she was more concerned about getting out and searching for birds. She also displayed her natural pointing instinct. It was also important to keep it fun, so that birds and guns mean dog party. If someone were to make it a frightening disciplinary training session, it would do more harm than good.

We will need to continue to work on the retrieve piece. She “marked” the birds, meaning that she went to the bird and sort of sat down with it in front of her, so she’s able to scent/sight track the downed bird, but she wasn’t quite ready to pick them up just yet. BB will fetch dummies and toys in the yard all day long, so I don’t think it will take too much to get through that next step, but that will be the next thing we will focus on.

Here’s the video of BB’s first hunt, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di7x2KFzOIQ

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