Home of hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons
February 18, 2011
Puppy Update Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 1 Comment
Most of them were born before I was up and around, but a few came this morning and the last arrived right after lunch today. I took these shots in my utility room, where I placed them while I was cleaning out the dog house/whelping box in the kennel. It’s been quite an adventure!
Sue tends to her brood
Busy Mama
February 14, 2011
Kennel Update, Puppy Update Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, National Geographic Adventure, Nebraska Sandhills, Pheasant Cordon Bleu, Puppies, Valentine Nebraska, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment
Happy Valentine’s Day from Bluestem Kennels!! It is an extra special observance for me as a native of the North-Central Nebraska town of Valentine, which was recently named a “Best Adventure Town” by National Geographic Adventure magazine! Check it out: http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/weekend-getaways/nebraska/valentine-travel Over the years, we have had some adventurous upland and waterfowl trips to the Nebraska Sandhills ourselves.
Spring is in the air here in the woodlands of Eastern Nebraska! Robins galore, squirrels scurrying about and a pleasant morning sunshine for some photography this morning. We are still anxiously waiting the arrival of the puppies, but I anticipate that by this time next week, I’ll have some puppy photos to share. Of course, I will post those up as soon as they are born, so it could be any day now! For now, here’s some shots of Sue and Sam during morning exercise.
Sue on the sniff
Sue doesn't let her big belly stop her from inspecting a deadfall
Sam looking regal in the sunlight
Sam on the sniff
Closeup of Sue's belly
Sam running to check back in
If you have any pheasant breasts hanging around in your freezer, you really should try making this Pheasant Cordon Bleu recipe for your Valentine! It is an adaptation of a Tyler Florence chicken recipe, but it didn’t take very long and the family was very pleased with the results (as Charles cooked in restaurants in his younger days, I have a tough crowd).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lay the pheasant breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, gently pound the chicken to 1/4-inch thickness. Take care not to pound too hard because the meat may tear or create holes. Lay 1 slice of cheese on each breast, followed by 1 slice of ham, and 1 more of cheese; leaving a 1/2-inch margin on all sides to help seal the roll. Tuck in the sides of the breast and roll up tight like a jellyroll. Squeeze the log gently to seal.
Season the flour with salt and pepper; spread out on waxed paper or in a flat dish. Mix the bread crumbs with thyme (or oregano or basil), salt, pepper, and oil. The oil will help the crust brown. Beat together the eggs and water, the mixture should be fluid. Lightly dust the pheasant roll with flour, then dip in the egg mixture. Gently coat in the bread crumbs. Carefully transfer the roulades to a baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until browned and cooked through. Cut into pinwheels before serving.
Pheasant Cordon Bleu
Enjoy!!
February 8, 2011
Puppy Update Bellevue Animal Hospital, Korthals Griffon, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 2 Comments
This morning, Sue and I made a trip to Bellevue Animal Hospital for an exam and x-ray. I originally had scheduled the visit for Monday, February 14th, but she is getting quite large and her milk has come into her teats, so I wanted to be more sure of her due date and not risk having her whelp by surprise.
The x-ray didn’t give us an exact number of puppies, but it did give us an idea. It looks like she has a minimum of 8 puppies, but it could be as high as 10 or 11. Counting skulls and spines from the side angle x-ray, the veterinarians and I believe the 10-11 is closer to being correct. This also corresponds to her tremendous size.
We also determined that my original due date of February 22nd is pretty accurate. The mineralization of the skeletons is not yet to a point where we were seeing their pelvises and femurs, so that tells us that we have another 10-14 days left of gestation. This is a great relief to me because the subzero weather does not break until Thursday of this week.
I took some pictures of Sue over the weekend while she was out:
Sue has been spending most of her time walking, but briefly breaks into runs
The thinning of the fur on her side is caused by hormonal changes
Sue plods along
Closeup of Sue’s belly
I received so many compliments on Sue’s temperament from the vet techs and the veterinarians at the office. I suppose many pregnant females can be growly and irritable when being handled, but Sue is always a sweetheart.
“I love you, Dad!”
“Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness has never bought a puppy” – Unknown
February 7, 2011
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 2 Comments
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:
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.
Conrad practices his shooting skills
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
Kennel Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Korthals Griffon, Omaha World-Herald, Pheasant Fest, Pheasants Forever, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons 1 Comment
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
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 2 Comments
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
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 1 Comment
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:
January 11, 2011
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 Leave a comment
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
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 Leave a comment
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!!
December 18, 2010
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 Leave a comment
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.
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