About Us/Contact
We’ve moved!! We are now located in rural Clover, South Carolina, in the Piedmont just southwest of the Charlotte, NC metro area.
Please email bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you wish to be on our contact list regarding our future litter plans.
Bluestem Kennels has been producing quality hunting AKC/NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons since 2010. We are lifetime members of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) http://www.navhda.org/ . If you are interested in the future of the versatile hunting dogs, we encourage you to join and get involved with this organization! We are dedicated to producing quality AKC and NAVHDA registered hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon puppies. We are also members of the AKC breed parent club: the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Assocation and I was the editor of the magazine the Griffonnier for four years. Our kennel was located in Nebraska up until July 2021.
Please see our Puppies page for information regarding future litter plans and what one of our puppies receives during their time here with us. Please see the About Our Dogs page for pedigrees, hunt test results, health and genetic test results for our current and retired breeding stock of dogs. At the bottom of this page is the gallery of our hunting photos.
You can follow our puppies, training, testing and hunting here at bluestemkennels.com. We are also on Facebook as Bluestem Kennels~Wirehaired Pointing Griffons and Instagram @bluestemkennelswpg. You can also search Bluestem Kennels on YouTube for our videos.
The voice of Bluestem Kennels is Charity Upchurch. I consider myself a full-time mom of dogs and kids and a part-time hunter. I am also in charge of the kennel, so I raise and place the pups. My husband Charles is a serious hunter and NAVHDA trainer when he isn’t doing his upper management thing in financial services. Our primary hobbies are hunting and training dogs together. We have 3 kids: our twenty-one year-old daughter, Cordelia; our eighteen year-old son, Conrad; and our thirteen year-old son, Caleb.
When we aren’t hunting or dog training, we love to travel and have adventures.
The Upchurches are Huskers
The Upchurches remembering the Alamo in 2015, one of our many adventures
Crater of Diamonds State Park Arkansas, 2019
I am working on trying to update this gallery, it is currently in chronological order starting in 2007 and gets more recent as you go down the page. The problem is that the photos from 2007-2013 in this thumbnail gallery…it is probably the only place that the photos exist, so I struggle to try and move it around. Then the photos from 2013-2018 are huge and a mess, and I need to add seasons 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022. If you are looking for the last few years of hunting photos, check the blog posts in the archive from September 2019-January 2020, then the same months for 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. I’ve also started a new page called “Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Photos” at the top navigation bar that will be updated as I back these photos up and organize them from oldest at the bottom to newest at the top (opposite of what it is here).
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- Charles with Sue and Louie with Murph, North Dakota pheasants 2007
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- Charles, Will, Felix and Adam, South Dakota pheasants 2006
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- Charles with the camp bird total, North Dakota 2008
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- Sam as a 7 month old pup, with Charles, Sue and the North Dakota bird total 2008
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- Sam retrieves a duck during water training
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- Louie with Murph and Charles with Sue, North Dakota pheasant 2006
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- Sue retrieves a dove to Charles, Nebraska Sandhills, Sept. 2010
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- Sue with North Dakota pheasants 2007
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- Sam and Sue in the fields of North Dakota 2010
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- Cordelia, Sheaf (Brittany), Charles and Sue as a 4 month old pup, Eastern Nebraska prairie chicken 2004
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- Sue and Charles with North Dakota pheasants 2007
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- Sue retrieves a duck during water training
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- Charles and Sam walking the dunes, Nebraska Sandhills, 09/04/11
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- Sue, Sam, Charles and Conrad with the second limit of snipe, 2008
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- Ira, Charles and Sam with some wild Nebraska pheasant, 01/2011
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- The dove total for the day, Nebraska Sandhills, Sept. 2010
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- Sam and Sue with the North Dakota bird total 2010
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- Charity and Charles heading out to chase some ducks, Nebraska Sandhills, Oct. 2009
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- Sam found one hiding under a tree 12/19/2010
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- Sam, Sue and Charles’s Eastern Nebraska Prairie Chicken, Sept. 2010
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- Sue and Charles’s second trip for South Dakota pheasant 2006
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- Charles takes a retrieve from Sue while watching Sam work a bird
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- Sam, Charles and Sue with the North Dakota bird total 2009
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- Sue and Charles at the Pheasants Forever Heartland Chapter Youth Hunt, Sept. 2010
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- Sam with another stylish point 01/09/2011
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- Charles shares one of the pheasants with a young hunter
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- Sam and Charles with a couple of creek woodducks, Nebraska Sandhills, Oct. 2010
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- Sue and Sam retrieved Charles’s grouse double in the Nebraska Sandhills, Oct. 2010
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- Another great retrieve from Sam 12/19/2010
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- Locked up!
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- Sam, Charles and Caleb with a limit of snipe, Sept. 2010
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- Sam lets you know the bird is there 12/19/2010
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- Sam as a 6 month old pup, with Sue, Charles and the first limit of snipe, Eastern Nebraska 2008
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- BB, Charles and a snipe 09/24/11
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- Sue and Charles, Eastern Nebraska Prairie Chicken 2007
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- Charles and Sam, Nebraska Pheasant Opener 2010
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- Sam, Charles, Sue and BB with some snipe and a blue-winged teal 09/09/11
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- Sam watches the rooster fly over the hill as the hunter attempts a shot
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- Charles guided three generations on 02/20/2011
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- Charles takes a retrieve of a grouse from Sam, Nebraska Sandhills, 09/04/11
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- Sue, BB, Sam and Charles with grouse 09/02/11
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- Sam and Charles with the bird total on a hunt they guided 12/19/2010
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- Charles took this limit in 10 minutes, North Dakota, 10/18/11
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- Sam retrieves a hen pheasant 01/09/2011
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- A successful day in the field
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- Charles and Sam guide Heartland Pheasants Forever’s Youth Mentor Hunt 10/01/11
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- Sue retrieving a rooster 12/19/2010
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- Sam water retrieves a pheasant 09/19/11
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- Hunters with bird total; hunt guided by Charles and Sam
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- Charity and BB on the hunt. Photo courtesy of ultimateupland.com
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- Nate, Charles, Sue and Sam with the rooster of the day, 01/2011
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- Charity proud of her male prairie chicken, Nebraska Sandhills, 10/07/2011
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- Sam and Charles with two early season Eastern Nebraska teal, 09/11/2010
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- Sue retrieves a pheasant to Charles, North Dakota, 10/19/11. Photo by Susan Davy
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- ND trip bird total, we had to eat a few pre-picture to stay under limits
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- Sam retrieving directly to hand 01/09/2011
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- A grandfather and grandson walk into Sam’s point 12/19/2010
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- The hunter walks into the tree to try to flush the bird 12/19/2010
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- Charity’s first wild rooster, North Dakota, 10/15/11
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- The hunters with Charity, Sue and Sam guiding 12/1/11
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- Sam retrieves a rooster to Charles’s hand
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- Charity, Ryan and Charles with grouse and doves, Nebraska Sandhills, 09/04/11
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- Ryan, Charity, Charles and a big pile of ducks, Nebraska Sandhills, 10/08/11
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- Charles and Charity both take shots at a rooster. Photo courtesy of ultimateupland.com
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- Charity, Charles and the dogs, North Dakota, 10/19/2011. Photo by Susan Davy
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- Charles, Sue and Sam guiding 11/23/11
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- Mae on retrieve 12/09/11
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- Charity and Charles debate who shot the pheasant 10/29/11. Photo courtesy of ultimateupland.com
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- Sam retrieves a grouse with Sue watching on, Nebraska Sandhills, 09/04/11
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- Charles, Sue and Sam guiding 09/19/11
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- Charles, Sue and Sam guiding 11/24/11
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- Friends Susan and Tom and their birds over our dogs, North Dakota, 10/19/11
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- Charles, the dogs and a female canvasback duck, North Dakota, 10/17/11
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- Sam, Charles and his pheasant limit, North Dakota, 10/17/11
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- Charity, Sam and a pheasant 10/17/11
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- Sue comes in with another rooster 12/19/2010
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- A hunter walks in on Sam’s point 01/09/2011
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- Nebraska Pheasant Opener at the Brinkman Farm with landowner Marvin Brinkman, Charity, Charles and Brian Koch of ultimateupland.com
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- Sue with her high-style point 12/09/2010
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- Charity, Charles and Ryan with sharptails and prairie chicken, Nebraska Sandhills, 10/7/11
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- Ryan, Charity and Charles with grouse and doves 09/03/11
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- Charity and a gadwall duck, North Dakota, 10/16/11
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- Sam brings Charles the retrieve while Marvin looks on. Photo courtesy of ultimateupland.com
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- Charles and his pheasant limit, North Dakota, 10/16/11
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- The hunters that Charity, Sam and Mae guided 12/22/11
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- Charles and the dogs, Nebraska Sandhills 12/25/11
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- Conrad showing off dad’s two roosters on the day 10/30/11
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- Charles with the dogs and his pheasant limit 10/19/11
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- Mae on retrieve 01/02/12
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- BB on retrieve 12/09/11
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- Charles walks into Mae’s point 12/09/11
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- Charles and two gadwall ducks, North Dakota,10/16/11
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- Sam points a chukar while guiding a hunt
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- Ryan, Charles, and Charity with Mae and Sam. Sharptailed Grouse, October 5, 2012
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- BB pointing 12/09/11
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- BB on retrieve 12/09/11
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- BB on retrieve 12/09/11
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- The hunters that Charity, Sue and Mae preserve guided 12/23/11
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- Charles and the dogs walk across a frozen pond, Nebraska Sandhills 12/24/11
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- 2010 North Dakota trip bird total
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- Charles in North Dakota with Sam and BB, October 21, 2012
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- BB, Sam, and Charles opening weekend Sandhills Sharptailed Grouse September 1, 2012
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- BB goes face to face with a raccoon while the pack assists 01/28/12
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- Charles, Sam, and BB, Nebraska Quail, December 30, 2012
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- Charity practices stacking BB at the Grand Island Kennel Club Dog Show, April 2012
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- BB’s first two AKC JH ribbons, March 2012 (we finished the final two legs two weeks later)
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- A coon, a rabbit and a quail on the day 01/28/2012
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- A coon and a pheasant 01/21/12
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- Charles bagged the elusive Sandhills Pheasant 12/24/11
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- Sue, Mae, and Charity Sandhills Sharptailed Grouse Opener September 1, 2012
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- The hunters Charles, Sue and Sam guided 12/10/11
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- Charles shoots a chukar over Mae 01/02/12
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- Charles shoots a chukar over Mae 01/02/2012
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- October 4, 2012 Sandhills Sharptails with Charles, Sue, Mae, and BB.
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- BB Reserve Winner’s Bitch, Lake Minnetonka (MN) Kennel Club Dog Show, June 2012
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- The bird total on guiding for Charity, Sam and Mae 12/23/11
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- BB on point for her NAVHDA NA Prize I (perfect score 112), May 2012
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- Matt Stratman with 3 Nebraska quail and a rooster with Sam and BB, January 26, 2013
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- Sam caught himself an opposum while we were in Missouri
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- Charles and Sam, Nebraska Pheasant on November 2, 2012
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- Charles’s bird total from North Dakota trip 2012 with Sam and BB.
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- Charles in North Dakota with Sam and BB, October 22, 2012
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- Charity, Charles and Ryan with Sam and a mixed bag of ducks and grouse. October 6, 2012
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- Sam retrieving a rabbit, January 5, 2012
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- The hunters that Charity, Sue and BB guided 12/22/11
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- Close-up of sora rail harvest, September 21, 2013
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- The NAVHDA NA judge and Charles walk into BB’s point
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- Charity and Mae take 2nd Place in the Hunting Bitch Class at AWPGA National Specialty Dog Show in Sioux Falls, SD October 26, 2012
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- Charles and 2 Nebraska quail, January 20, 2013
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- Early Teal near Mound City, Missouri September 21, 2013
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- Charles and BB take 3rd Place in the Amateur Walking Derby at the Heart of America German Shorthaired Pointer Club outside of St. Joseph, Missouri, February 9, 2013
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- Jump hunting ducks in the Sandhills on October 5, 2013
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- Charles, Sam, and BB with rabbits and quail, Nebraska, January 5, 2012
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- Sam retrieving a sharptailed grouse on the 2013 North Dakota trip
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- Charles and Charity each with a dove September 1, 2013
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- Sharptailed Grouse North Dakota 2013
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- Charles showing off a pheasant from the 2013 North Dakota trip
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- Woodduck with BB October 6, 2013
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- Snipe with BB on October 6, 2013
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- Charles and Matt, Nebraska pheasants with Sam and BB, November 30, 2013
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- 2013 opening day of sharptailed grouse in the Nebraska Sandhills with Sam, Charles, and BB
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- Nebraska pheasants with BB and Sam, November 9, 2013
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- Sam retrieves a pheasant on the 2013 North Dakota trip
BB finds a downed snipe 09/14/2014
Charity, Fire and a North Dakota rooster 2016
Charity and Charles, Sandhills Duck Opener 10/04/2014 with BB, Sam and Fire
Charles releases Fire on the track at her NAVHDA Natural Ability Test 10/12/2014
Charles, BB and Sam with a couple of Nebraska roosters 11/09/2014
Charity, BB and Fire with quail 2015
Charles, BB, and Fire with a mixed bag of teal, snipe and sora 09/14/2014
Charles BB and Chief with sharptailed grouse Sandhills 2016
Charles with Fire, BB and Chief with ducks and snipe, Sandhills 2016
BB and Charles with some more Sandhills ducks and snipe 10/05/2014
Charles takes the snipe from BB 09/14/2014
Charles and Fire with Eastern Nebraska snipe 2016
Charity with BB, Fire and a couple of Nebraska roosters 11/09/2014
Charles, Fire, Chief and BB with ducks and snipe, Sandhills 2016
Charles and the dogs, ND 2015
Charles with a day’s limit of roosters in North Dakota 2016
Charity, Early Teal 2015
Charles, Early Teal and Snipe 2015
BB retrieves a sora rail 09/14/2014
Lou, Charles, Charity and the dogs with the first day’s birds, North Dakota 2016
Lou, Aaron, Charity and Charles with the dogs and roosters in North Dakota 2016
Charity, BB and a sora rail 2016
Charles, the dogs and a rooster, North Dakota 2015
Charity, North Dakota rooster 2015
Charles and Matt quail hunting 2015
BB with another retrieve 09/14/2014
Charles and Fire, North Dakota 2015
Charles and a wood duck, North Dakota 2015
Charles taking a retrieve, North Dakota 2015
The dogs and some roosters, North Dakota 2015
Dogs and roosters, North Dakota 2015
Fire, Charles and rooster, North Dakota 2015
Charity, sharptailed grouse in North Dakota 2015
Charles with a duck, North Dakota 2015
Charity, Chief and BB with a Nebraska rooster and bobwhite quail, January 2018
Charity with a teal and Charles with a mixed bag of ducks, snipe, sharptailed grouse and a prairie chicken, with Chief. September 2017
Charity and Charles, duck opener 2017
Charles, Fire and Ruth. Shaprtailed grouse opener 2017
Charles and Fire, Nebraska snipe 2017
Charles, Fire and Ruth with a limit of roosters. North Dakota 2017
Charles, Chief, Fire and Ruth, roosters and sharptailed grouse. North Dakota 2017
Matt, Fire and Charles with a quail. January 2018
Fire with bobwhite quail and a rabbit with Charles. January 2018
Bluestem Kennels 
Mar 07, 2022 @ 19:23:35
Hi! My name is Max, I am in the market for a wirehaired griffon come December 2022. I am a hunting guide in Wyoming, so my pup must be able to be trained to follow horses, be around horses, follow trail, and suppress its prey drive as to not kill the hunt. Additionally, I am an Ultra marathon trail runner, and would love to have a companion on my runs! Must have a lot of energy and must be apt to life in the back country! Dog will have thousands of acres to roam, and a lot of love from me! Please email me with litter dates, & with price! I am very interested! I can also drive wherever necessary to pick my pup up!
May 19, 2018 @ 10:41:02
Hi me and my family are looking for new pup to add to the house we are looking for female will be a house dog and also taken out to hunt birds we raise pheasant and there are good numbers of grouse were we live in northern Pennsylvania we live in the country and own our home we have 8yr old basset hound if you have available pup please contact us thank you
May 19, 2018 @ 11:27:26
Hi Dustin, We currently don’t have any available pups. Our last litter of the year is going to their new homes this week. Check back later in the year if you are interested in getting a spring pup.