June 1, 2011
Charity Upchurch
Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Merritt Reservoir, NAVHDA, Nebraska Sandhills, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Valentine Nebraska, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
We had a surprise visit last night from Kyle and his three month old pup from our recent “B” litter, named Duke. It was a shock to see how large he is, most likely pushing the 30 pound mark. I wasn’t able to get a measure on his shoulder, but he is tall enough that BB can run between his legs. As Duke lives within 15 miles of our house, so we will be seeing the most of him out of any of the pups from our litters. It will be exciting to watch him develop!
BB, Sue, Duke and Sam having a Griffon party
Duke points BB
BB and Duke had a great time playing together
Memorial Day weekend was spent up in my hometown of Valentine, Nebraska. The dogs went for a run out on some public land outside of town and enjoyed the exercise in a change of scenery. Working the dogs in different terrains in the off-season makes for confidence in varied environments during hunting season.
Sam and Sue on a run through the Sandhills
BB and Cordelia also take in a jog
BB swamping in a wet area near a windmill
Our next stop was Merritt Reservoir, a popular local fishing and swimming hole. The dogs and the kids had a great time playing in the water and sniffing around.
BB points the kids playing in the lake
Sam takes a dip
Sue wades deep in the chilly water
Sam surprises us with a treasure: a brand new minnow bucket full of live minnows
In BB news, we took her to the vet for her 12 week shots and she weighs 17 lbs., a 7 lb. gain from when she arrived. We’re getting close to being finished up with housebreaking and I’m going to start a daily obedience training regimen. She has “come” down, but I’m going to work daily on sit, stay, whoa, and heel. We’ve started cap gun conditioning while she’s playing in the kennel with Sue and will continue to work on “fetch” with the pheasant wing.
BB at 12 weeks
BB picks up the duck dummy while Duke looks on
Bluestem Kennels is now an officially registered kennel with the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association http://www.navhda.org/. We look forward to training and testing BB with the local Heartland Chapter http://www.heartlandnavhda.com/.
February 7, 2011
Charity Upchurch
Kennel Update, Regional Update and/or Misc., Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association, Auglaize County Ohio, Bird Hunting, Chad Love, Dog Training, Field and Stream Magazine, Greg Wagner, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Pete Berthelsen, Pheasant Habitat, Pheasant Hunting, Pheasants Forever, Puppy Training, Quail Habitat, Rudy's Youth Village, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
January 28-30 was a weekend full of upland excitement at the 2011 Pheasant Fest, the national convention of Pheasants Forever. Here are some of the highlights from our weekend spent there:
- As seen in the last post “Bluestem Kennels in the Omaha World-Herald”, Cordelia, Sam and I had a great time at the photo shoot. Cordelia and Sam were on the front page of the Friday, January 28th paper and also featured in an online video and slideshow.
- We were the only Wirehaired Pointing Griffon entry in the Friday afternoon Bird Dog Parade. Visiting with local Nebraska Game and Parks personality, Greg Wagner, was a fun part of the day. He mentioned the possibility of having us on his KFAB radio show to talk dogs at some point in the future.
- While Charles was out in the foyer working out some day job office issues over the phone during the Friday evening banquet, I got to pick the brain of Chad Love, a photojournalist for Field and Stream magazine. He works primarily with upland hunting and bird dog assignments, so it was fun to hear how he went from his political science degree to getting published in outdoor magazines. It was definitely an inspiration for where I want to take my blogging. Here’s his most recent post on the Field and Stream website: http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/hunting/2011/02/jealousy-between-dogs-can-be-powerful-training-tool
- Saturday afternoon turned out to be quite interesting for me, as I ended up helping to lead a seminar that I attended. The 1 PM “Picking your puppy and the First Six Months” seminar was quite full and by 1:15 PM, there was still no presenter. A fellow breeder/trainer and I got up in front of the audience and freestyled the seminar, sharing the wealth of what we know on the subject.
Charity Upchurch of Bluestem Kennels, right, discusses selecting and training a puppy
Thank you to Pheasants Forever photographer Jim Cooper for the use of the photo.
- My children spent Saturday afternoon at Rudy’s Youth Village of Pheasant Fest, where we met some inspirational teenagers, the Illinois Pioneer Chapter #069 “Young Guns”. They raised $6000 for a virtual shooting gallery had it trailered all the way to Omaha for the young people to enjoy. My son, Conrad, couldn’t get enough of it!
Conrad practices his shooting skills
- Charles and I had a great time at the Saturday evening banquet visiting with the members of the Auglaize County, Ohio Pheasants Forever chapter and one of their state wildlife biologists. It was interesting to learn that the pheasant population in Ohio has been decimated to the point where the state game and fish department has a pheasant stocking program. I didn’t realize until attending Pheasant Fest that promoting stocking pheasants in Nebraska is seen as nearly rebellious to the habitat cause. The latest Focus on Pheasant report was sent to me by Nebraska Game and Parks following my post “Focus on Pheasant needs to readjust their sights”. Once I get a chance to read their report, I’ll be revisiting this topic will a full post in the near future.
- Sunday we met renowned wildlife artist Carl J. Melichar, who was a Federal Duck Stamp finalist and has taken on bird dogs as the focus of his painting. He does not yet have a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon in his catalog, so we’ll be getting him some photographs in the near future and possibly commission a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon original painting. Here are some examples of his work: http://www.artbarbarians.com/gallery2/main.asp?artist=48
- We closed out our visit to Pheasant Fest on Sunday by attending Pheasants Forever Field Coordinator Pete Berthelsen’s talk on creating quail habitat on his 160 acres near Elba, Nebraska. It was amazing to see how quickly habitat adjustments can restore bird populations. In a matter of a few years, he went from one covey of quail to fifteen coveys!
The weekend was a complete success and really fired us up to increase our involvement in Pheasants Forever, habitat restoration and sharing our love of not only the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed, but raising, training and hunting versatile dogs.
January 28, 2011
Charity Upchurch
Kennel Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Korthals Griffon, Omaha World-Herald, Pheasant Fest, Pheasants Forever, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
On Friday, January 28th, my nine-year-old daughter Cordelia and my three-year-old male, Sam were featured on the front page of both the morning and evening editions of the Omaha World-Herald. The paper edition will be scanned and uploaded when I get a chance. The following link is a video that the Omaha World-Herald put together about their featured photos:
http://omaha.com/article/20110127/NEWS01/110129697#a-parade-of-bird-dogs-for-omaha
Here is also a slideshow that they put together of their photos, we are slides 3, 4 and 5:
http://odc.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=5002&p=2310
If for some reason you can’t view the slide show, here are the stills from it. Sorry that I can’t make them bigger (they are much larger in the slideshow).
We will be continuing our adventures at Pheasant Fest all weekend!
January 25, 2011
Charity Upchurch
Bird Dog Training, Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Sire and Dam Ability, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Focus on Pheasants, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Lancaster County Nebraska, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, Pheasant Hunting, Pheasants Forever, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
It isn’t very often that we get to enjoy a pheasant hunt in well-established native tallgrass prairie in Southeastern Nebraska. We’re not the only ones. In the 1960’s 140,000 hunters bagged about 1.4 million pheasants annually in Nebraska. These days, the annual count is around 50,000 hunters and 200,000 birds (Hendee, Omaha World-Herald, 01/23/11). Speaking to other Nebraska hunters this year from across the state, pheasant numbers this year have been up from recent years past, but obviously nowhere near the level of the mid-20th century.
Our hunt last Saturday was in some amazing habitat on private ground east of Lincoln. It was a cold, windless winter morning, ideal for keeping the roosters held tight in the thick grass. The air was moist and slightly foggy, perfect scenting conditions for the dogs.
The SE Nebraska combination of windbreaks, crop fields and a smattering of prairie.
Nate, the landowner, begins working the fields
Sam and Charles make their way through the big bluestem
We headed east, away from the farmstead, pushing through some thick cover towards a small cattle feedlot. As we neared the break between the prairie ground and the feedlot, Nate saw a flock of hens flush to the north. I saw one rooster fly into a windbreak at least 40 yards out, then Charles and I both saw another rooster spook way out of range. I’ll admit that we were all probably a little too chatty about what we had already seen and not focused on keeping quiet for any other roosters nearby.
The guys thought they had seen a rooster land to the south in a bit of a marshy area, so we pivoted as we came to the feedlot and began to work our way through some tough swamp weeds.
Busting through some weeds
Walking down a waterway
Sam running on the left, Sue visibly pregnant on the right
As we worked our way back west out of the swampy area and into the grassland, the dogs both started acting birdy: retracing their paths with their noses to the ground, Sam sneaking lower to the ground, Sue holding her head high, circling and searching. Finally, Sam’s beeper collar starts to make the loud, sharp beep, telling us that he’s on point. Charles walks right in for a close flush and takes the rooster.
Stay focused! The rooster takes the impact, but unfortunately my auto-focus thought I was taking a picture of that piece of grass
Sam presents the gift
The rooster!
We continued to push southward into the corner of the property, then made our way west, working a treeline on our way.
Checking back in: that’s pregnant Sue on the left with the frosty face
Following the take of the rooster, we worked the field for another hour or so, with no further sightings of pheasant.
Arriving back to the farm
The pose: Nate with Sue, Charles, Sam and the rooster
January 24, 2011
Charity Upchurch
Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Goose Hunting, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Nevada, Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Whiskey from litter 2010 and Geese
Pete and Deborah sent over a great photo and e-mail on Saturday that I just had to share:
Pete just emailed me Whiskey’s newest experience!!
They are hunting on the UC Ranch which is about 3 hours east of Reno…Pete said that Whiskey didn’t actually RETREIVE these geese…Whiskey couldn’t pick up the birds because they were as big as he is…he had to drag them to Pete!
Besides being an awsome hunting dog, Whiskey continues to entertain us daily with his endless energy and golden heart…he doesn’t tollerate being ignored and when it’s play time….it’s play time!! He is the smartest, sweetest, most loveable dog we have ever had!!
Hope all is well with you…we will continue to send pictures!!
Take care!!
Deborah
January 11, 2011
Charity Upchurch
Bird Dog Training, Guiding Hunts, Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Sire and Dam Ability, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Pheasant Haven, Pheasant Hunting, Pheasants Forever, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
The snow began to fall on Sunday morning, but it wasn’t enough to deter the hunters of Pheasant Haven Hunting Acres in Elk City, Nebraska (www.pheasanthavenlodge.com). Charles and the dogs guided their third hunt on the preserve, with myself on hand as co-handler of the dogs, guide assistant and photographer.
We began the day running both Sam and Sue, which led to some very fast shooting and more retrieves than we could keep up with at times. There were points where we had to stop to let the dogs catch up on picking up the shot pheasants on the ground.
Charles takes a retrieve from Sue while looking out for Sam working a bird
Sam on retrieve
Sue happily checks back in
We stopped around 11 for a lunch of pheasant breast and mushroom stew, then went back out with Sam for a second sweep of the property.
Walking the fields at Pheasant Haven
Sam brings in a rooster
Sam on point
Hunter walks in on Sam’s point
Sam gives Charles another perfect retrieve
The hunters, 24 pheasant, Sam and Charles
Your reporter in the field, posing with the birds
In 2011 litter news, Sam and Sue completed breeding at Christmas and she is showing obvious signs of pregnancy. We anticipate whelping towards the end of February. The puppy application is ready and has been sent out to the 30+ individuals expressing interest, with more calling and e-mailing every day. I am excited to raise these pups and get them into some excellent hunting homes!
December 20, 2010
Charity Upchurch
Guiding Hunts, Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Sire and Dam Ability, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Elk City Nebraska, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Pheasant Haven, Pheasant Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
The hunting cabin and pond of Pheasant Haven
Yesterday was the perfect day for a hunt: not too cold or windy, with moist air; perfect scenting conditions for the dogs. As some of the hunters had brought their dogs, Charles worked Sue with the large group of gentlemen in the morning.
The orange army departs
Sue with her high-style point
Sue retrieves a colorful pheasant
The orange army on the move
I wish I had gotten a better photograph on the next shot because it was some incredible dog work. One of the hunter’s white Spinone Italiano is on point along with Sue, followed by the preserve’s yellow lab coming in for the flush.
Amazing dog teamwork!
I now understand the value of the flushing dog in these situations. As foot hunters, Charles and I typically do our own flushing by walking up into the dog’s point. At the preserve, the hunters would rather not walk in to flush and it isn’t safe for the human guide to do the flushing, therefore the flushing dog is needed. It looks like in the near future we’re going to be shopping for a female AKC Cocker Spaniel to take on that job!
After a successful morning well-spent on the hunt, we took a break for cheeseburgers at the bar in Elk City, then returned to Pheasant Haven for an afternoon hunt with Sam and a grandfather/father/son trio.
Sam with his low-style point
Another solid point from Sam
The father-hunter walks in on Sam's point
I was thrilled to finally take my first hunter/dog/bird photo yesterday. They are terribly difficult to set up and take. The pheasant is difficult to see, as it is flying away near the top of the frame and camouflaged by the grass.
My first hunter/dog/bird photo
Sam on retrieve to Charles
Grandfather and grandson walk into Sam's point
Charles and Sam with the bird total
In hindsight, I should have organized the large group and their dogs to pose with the bird total, because Sam and Charles certainly can’t take all of the credit! It is a learning process for both the dogs and the people to take on this guiding business, but it gives us great pride and joy to be able to share our passion for hunting with great dogs!!
http://www.pheasanthavenlodge.com
December 18, 2010
Charity Upchurch
Guiding Hunts, Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Sire and Dam Ability, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Bird Hunting, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, National Shoot to Retrieve Association, NSTRA, Pheasant Haven, Pheasant Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Bird Total from Day Two of guiding at Pheasant Haven
Charles, Sam and Sue were recruited at the end of November by Scott Bruhn of Pheasant Haven hunting preserve (http://www.pheasanthavenlodge.com/) in Elkhorn, Nebraska as guides. As the dogs were strictly wild bird hunters prior to this experience, I was a little nervous that they would “trap” the cage-raised birds (this is when the dog catches the bird in its mouth following the point). For this particular two day outing, chukkars were used. The birds were of a good quality and did not allow the dogs to get sloppy. They also ran across a number of “scratch” (previously released) pheasant which made for some added fun and action. The dogs are used to locking up on unforgiving wild grouse and pheasant, which made for some stylish points on the slower-moving planted birds. Sam and Sue were run separately to give the gunners plenty of time to walk up on the point and prepare for the shot. This event was a lot of fun for the dogs, as it isn’t everyday where a dog get to point 100+ birds. They also did a terrific job of retrieving for the two days they were on the job, November 30th and December 1st. Scott runs a nice operation and is talented at releasing birds in way that simulates wild bird hunts.
There was a second guide on the hunt running a Vizla, who is active in the National Shoot to Retrieve Association (http://www.nstra.org/), which is essentially a competitive field trial organization. Doing a side-by-side comparison of Sam and the NSTRA Vizla, Charles feels that this may be another dog sport organization that we would like to investigate and potentially participate in.
Charles and the dogs will be back guiding at Pheasant Haven tomorrow, with me joining them as blogger/photographer, so I’m looking forward to getting some good shots and stories to post next week.
December 9, 2010
Charity Upchurch
Bird Dog Training, Hunting Tales, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Bird Hunting, Chukkar Hunting, Dog Training, Glendo Wyoming, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Wyoming, Puppies, Richard Wolters, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Trying to get back into the groove with being a stay-at-home mom again and hope to get on a better schedule with posting on the blog. I have so many things that I want to write about, but the time gets away from me!
Here’s what Sean has to say about Gauge a.k.a Male 2.1 from the 2010 litter ( I’ll post a picture to go with it as soon as I receive one):
“I have been training Gauge with Wolters training methods, and it has been absolutely wonderful and incredibly fun! After getting the basic commands down, retrieving and pointing commands went very well. This is the first dog I have personally trained for bird hunting, so I was a little nervous with how things would go, but Gauge made the process great! I was shocked at how much of a “natural” he was in training! The first true test came three weeks ago. We have a local bird farm outside of town that many hunters use for dog training purposes. After contacting the owner, we scheduled our first “hunt” with the idea of focusing on training purposes for Gauge. Starting with Chukkars because of their smaller stature, Gauge did great in tracking down all three birds, holding three beautiful points, and flushing the bird on command. Retrieves didn’t quite go as planned, but I think that was more a product of actually dealing with a live bird. Gauge would actually release for the retrieve and then point the dead bird. Pretty funny actually! All in all, it was a GREAT day that I couldn’t have been more excited about.
Gauge’s first real hunt came the first Sunday of November in Glendo, WY. Every Sunday in November they host a free youth hunt in the area, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to work with Gauge exclusively while my 16 year-old brother-in-law did the shooting. Gauge did wonderful. He tracked down and pointed several pheasants on the day, and even retrieved well. This past Sunday, we participated in the 2nd youth hunt, and Gauge was even better than the week before! He pointed and flushed 7 birds (due to an “off” shooting day by my bro-in-law), and actually chased down and caught a pheasant after a flush and chase that lasted roughly 20-30 seconds. He was an absolute stud this past Sunday, and I’m greatly looking forward to 2 more youth hunts this month, as well as 3 scheduled hunts of my own in the next few months. Most hunters in this area use retrievers, so for them to see a pointer in action has been not only neat for them, but has made me very proud. I was very skeptical when reading Wolters’ take on hunting a dog as soon as 6 months of age, but have no doubt in my mind that with consistent, constructive training, it is not as farfetched as it may sound!”
Thanks, Sean!!
December 1, 2010
Charity Upchurch
Bird Dog Training, Hunting Tales, Puppy Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Ducks, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Nevada, Korthals Griffon, Pheasant Haven, Pheasant Hunting, Water Retrieve, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
Pete, Whiskey and some Nevada ducks
Looks like Pete and Whiskey (Alpha Male 2010 litter) had another great hunt!! According to Pete, “We are wet and cold but Whiskey put the hurt on the ducks today several water retrieves in nasty conditions and even dove after a cripple (I need to shoot better).”
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