Nebraska Sandhills | Bluestem Kennels

Merry Christmas from Bluestem Kennels!

December 18, 2022

Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales, Kennel Update Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, Nebraska Sandhills, Pheasant Hunting, Puppies, South Carolina, South Dakota Pheasant Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Woodcock Leave a comment

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Bluestem Kennels, home of hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons! It is crazy to think that we are going into year thirteen of breeding AKC and NAVHDA registered Griffons. Our next litter is planned for the Fall of 2023 between Obi and Ruth, feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you are interested in getting on our reservation list.

We spent Thanksgiving at my cousin’s in Tennessee, then Charles and the dogs made their way out to north central Nebraska and south central South Dakota for some more hunting. It wasn’t an incredibly productive trip as far as birds in the bag, I only got one photo with a Nebraska pheasant and some dogs.

Ruth and Duke bringing in the Nebraska Sandhills swamp pheasant

They did locate a covey of Hungarian Partridge in south central South Dakota, which was unexpected. But by and large the roosters were sparse and getting out farther than what he could reach with the twelve gauge. It was also quite cold to Charles’s thinned out southern blood. Not that it was anything that kept him home, but I doubt that he’ll be going out for the late season in the west again any time soon.

The benefit to me in all of this is that it put Ruth back into shape and pushed her heat cycle out a bit. I’m hoping that she comes into heat here towards the end of this month or the beginning of next month, which would put her summer heat cycle into July. We have our daughter Cordelia’s graduation in May, then after Caleb gets out of school he heads to camp for two weeks, then I’d like to get a family vacation in to the founding father’s area of Washington DC, Philadelphia and Boston right before breeding season hits. I am typically home with pups in the Spring and early Summer, so it will be nice to get out and about for a change instead.

The area that Charles just hunted is currently socked in with two feet of snow with eight to ten foot tall drifts in some places. Many ranchers are struggling to get to their livestock and lots of long haul truckers are stranded out there, so say some prayers for those folks. They don’t get a lot of air time in the media, but they are near and dear to my heart since that is my home.

Hunting season is getting ready to get going here in South Carolina with woodcock. I’m thinking I’ll pick up my licenses here after the new year and start chasing some around with Charles and Caleb. Charles is also starting to prepare Obi for NAVHDA Invitational 2023, so we’re all excited to see how that goes. Luckily Charles has found some neighbors here with bird dogs who like to help with dog training, in addition to the time spent with the NAVHDA chapters.

But this week it is time to welcome the two adult kids from Nebraska, I pick the first one up at the airport tomorrow! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, surrounded by good food, abundance and the love of family.

Nebraska and North Dakota Hunt

November 15, 2022

Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales, Upland Hunting Trips, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Bird Hunting, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Sandhills, North Dakota hunting, Pheasant Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you are interested in reserving a pup from our planned litter for Fall 2023. We will not be breeding or hunt testing in the spring due to some family travel obligations.

While I was in South Carolina wrapping up raising our last litter of pups, Charles took Obi, Sally and Duke out to the Sandhills of Nebraska and the prairie pothole region of North Dakota for some mixed upland and waterfowl action. The trip was a great success, especially with the new technology allowing Charles to work his regular job remote for a few days, then hunting a few days.

I don’t have a ton of details except that the dogs covered lots of ground and had plenty of wild bird action.

The first morning in the Nebraska Sandhills with a limit of sharptails. Obi, Sally and Duke.

Duke went solo went some teal (also on Day One in the Sandhills)

The end of the day photo from the first day in the Sandhills: a grouse limit, a woodduck and four teal.

The second day he had to work for his grouse limit, which he didn’t wrap up until the middle of the afternoon. He added one teal to this photo before he headed back to my mom’s house.

Grouse limit for day two in the Nebraska Sandhills. Obi, Sally and Duke.

He spent the next three days working, then picked back up for another grouse limit and a ringneck duck.

Sally (farthest away), Obi (on left) and Duke (in the foreground) pointing an antelope.

Sally, Duke and Obi with the three sharptailed grouse and a ringneck duck on the third day of Nebraska Sandhills.

Charles then worked another handful of days before heading out again. I was really surprised with all of the negative reports that I had been hearing from locals and ranchers due to the drought that he had such great success each day.

His last day in the Sandhills was a super windy day (you can see by the dogs’ head furnishings blowing in the wind in the photo) and he decided to focus on waterfowl for the day. He took Duke out for the three snipe and Sally for the mallard drake. Mallard drakes are super difficult to jump hunt and Charles just happened to pop over a hill and the the duck was right there as he got up from the water. I have never shot a mallard drake.

Duke and Sally with three snipe and a mallard drake for the last day in the Sandhills.

Charles had another first when he shifted his hunting to the prairie pothole region of North Dakota. The very first spot that he and some of our neighbors down here in South Carolina hit had a low flying flock of Canadian geese. Charles was able to snag a goose out of the bunch. Although Sally is pictured here, none of the dogs really knew what to think of the goose flopping around since the largest birds they’ve ever messed with up to that point were mallards and pheasant.

Sally and the North Dakota Canadian Goose from day one.

Although he and the neighbors were there for four days, I didn’t really get a good run down of the bird numbers. As near as I can gather from our texts, the second day the neighbors got three roosters, Charles got two roosters and four ducks.

Griffons, pointers and setters on the prairie, with the neighbor Quentin on the right.

I don’t have any photos from the third day, but the report was that Charles got a pheasant double off of Obi’s point, two grouse and one duck.

The fourth day was another mixed bag, with the neighbors getting one rooster, Charles got three ducks, a snipe and the most exciting part was a Hungarian partridge! This is only the second hun that Charles has shot. I’ve only flushed one covey up in Montana in 2016 but never got in a shot.

Duke, Obi and Sally in harvested corn in North Dakota

So that was a wrap! Here’s the traditional North Dakota trip game bag shot, with the dogs posed underneath:

Obi, Sally and Duke with the 2022 North Dakota game bag

Aside from missing the hunt, I missed seeing the usual people of the towns that we visit down there. They are such interesting characters, I’m glad that Charles went and laid eyes on them. The cafe is still going, the same ladies are at the registers at the grocery store and the gas station owner still recognizes the regulars. Charles headed home after a long journey but the neighbors continued on to South Dakota where they had better pheasant numbers. But to us, sometimes the comfort of tradition beats the number of birds in the bag.

I have more news about some hunt testing success of some of our progeny, some health test results for Duke and social media pages where you can follow some of our pups, but I need to get on with the day for now. Good luck to those out in the hunting fields, Charles will be at it again in a few more weeks. I am going to wait patiently for woodcock hunting down this way after the first of the year. Talk at you more in a week or so.

Everything at once: UT Prize One and Breeding

June 24, 2022

Charity Upchurch NAVHDA, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA Utility Preparatory Test, NAVHDA Utility Test, Nebraska Sandhills, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

We had our first mating between Obi and Ruth over in Valentine, Nebraska on June 20th, so today should be their last day of breeding most likely. Assuming that everything is successful, that puts puppies being whelped at the end of August and going home around Halloween. I will be getting in touch with those on my reservation list soon, but wanted to get a blog post done. My son graduated about a month ago and it has been non-stop since the last week of school in the middle of May. If you’d like to be on my back-up contact list for this litter or are interested in future litters (the next will be planned for Fall 2023 since my daughter graduates from college in Nebraska in the spring), you can email me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com.

On Saturday, May 21st, something happened that we’ve been waiting on for our 12 years in NAVHDA. Obi and Charles got a NAVHDA Utility Prize I and punched their ticket to NAVHDA Invitational 2023. They tested with the Hudson Valley NAVHDA Chapter outside of Charles’s hometown of Newburgh, New York. If you’d like a step-by-step walkthrough of a NAVHDA Utility Test, you can go back to my blog post from October 28, 2021 titled “Our 2021 Utility Tests”. I wasn’t actually at the test this spring, I was at home in South Carolina taking care of kids and dogs, so it is tough to write about something that you didn’t participate in. I appreciate the Hudson Valley NAVHDA Chapter hiring a photographer to document the event, I think that this is something that all chapters should consider doing. Thank you to photographer Jacquie Kuritzky for the use of the photographs!

Obi at the UT test photo by Jacquie Kuritzky

Obi retrieving photo by Jacquie Kuritzky

Charles taking instruction from the judge, photo by Jacquie Kuritzky

She also captured some photos of Sally on her first shot of the Utility Preparatory Test. She didn’t pass, but has plenty of time at the age of sixteen months. The only skill she didn’t perform was the retrieve of the dead duck, which led to the no-pass.

Sally and Charles, photo by Jacquie Kuritzky

Sally has a high-style point like her great-grandmother Sue, photo by Jacquie Kuritzky

Sally retrieving a chukar in the field, photo by Jacquie Kuritzky

The grand finale after the reading of the scores:

Charles getting the water cup for the Utility Prize I with Obi, photo by Jacquie Kuritzky

After our graduation reception here in South Carolina and our youngest son Caleb’s trip to YMCA camp, we headed out to my hometown of Valentine, Nebraska to see my family and have some fun.

Ruth, Obi and Sally wasted no time getting down the road

Puppy Duke is closest to the camera here, it took him a bit to figure out the game: run!

All of this exercise was right when we got to town around the 14th, long before Ruth and Obi started breeding, so none of this should effect that. We had a good visit in Nebraska and the dogs enjoyed their outings.

The next step is to have a pregnancy confirmation ultrasound in a month, so I’ll let you know how that goes. Charles and I will keep working with Sally to get her UPT skills down for a fall re-test, then Caleb will run Duke in the Natural Ability Test. I need to find somewhere in Charlotte who does Penn-HIP x-rays for Sally in the next few months. I should probably also find a place that will collect and store Obi’s semen in case an accident were to happen. You hate to consider the possibility, but they are dogs.

One other item to note: we are not really planning on studding out Obi. He is a part of our breeding program and it would take a really special female with a fellow breeder friend to get me to stud him out. Stud services come with risks: there are sexually transmitted dog diseases, the female can turn and fight an unfamiliar male; there are just too many bad variables for us to want to do it.

I’ll keep you all posted as things progress here, everyone stay cool this crazy hot summer.

Spring Test Prep

May 16, 2022

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, NAVHDA, Sire and Dam Ability, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Nebraska Sandhills, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

Now that our oldest son has finally completed his schoolwork for his senior year of high school, I feel like I can breathe! He finished on Friday and will walk across the stage in about a week and a half.

A quick update on our breeding plans: it looks like I’m full on reservations for Fall 2022 Obi x Ruth, but folks can and do back out. Feel free to email bluestemkennels@gmail.com to get on my contact list for litters. The next planned breeding(s?) after that will be Fall 2023 since our daughter is graduating from college back in Nebraska in the spring of 2023. But accidents can and do happen, so I can’t totally count that season out even if I try.

In the meantime, Charles, Obi and Sally will be heading up to the Hudson Valley (NY) NAVHDA Spring Test this weekend. It will be Obi’s second and final UT run. He was a very high scoring Prize II at the Carolinas Chapter Test and Charles wants to see if he can get a Prize I. Sally will be running her UPT Test, the practice test for the UT.

Obi, Duke, Sally and Ruth in the kennels

When we’re not working with them in the yard or socializing with them in the house, the dogs spend their time in their kennels. They are crated indoors at night.

Charles, Obi and Sally have been putting in lots of training hours at various grounds in the area, but I hardly ever leave “Tiny Farm of Bethel, SC” since there is so much to do here! I managed to catch some pics of them working in the yard yesterday.

I hope that they have fun in New York and give it their best shot! Charles grew up right near where the test is being held and so he is going to get to visit his dad while he is there too.

Duke is almost six months old and is turning out nicely! His teeth all seem to be in their correct places, he is learning his commands, we’re working on getting his fitness built up, he has a nice coat and he isn’t too large. When we weighed him a few weeks back he was 30 lbs., so we are hoping that he tops out in the 50-55 lb. range but we will see. Dukes lineage is a combination of Coppershot, Des Battures and Stonyridge, so I am expecting great things from him!

I look forward to our trip to the Nebraska Sandhills this summer so that he can get a big long run in behind the truck! And do lots of swimming at the lake too.

Ruth has really bounced back from the puppies and now it is just a matter of watching and waiting for her next cycle. I suspect that it is going to be in July or August, but I will keep you posted. I normally do not do back-to-back litters with females, but it took us three attempts to get an outside male raised and turned out properly to breed with her. A female pup from this fall’s litter is going to a breeder, then we will keep an Obi x Ruth female for our program in 2023.

We are so blessed to have our place here where we can work with the dogs right in the yard. I’ve been busy planting domesticated flowerbeds and trying to keep the wild woods at bay as much as possible. My vegetable garden is already exploding with lettuce, spinach and collards. I hope to add chickens for eggs and meat goats next year. Charles keeps a funny collection of birds for training.

Domestic mallards and a rooster pheasant

He has a whole other quail house on the back hill that I’ll have to get pictures of later.

Good luck to everyone at their spring tests, may we all savor the thrills of victory and withstand the stings of defeat.

R Litter: Spring 2022

November 7, 2021

Charity Upchurch Uncategorized Bird Hunting, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA Puppies, NAVHDA Utility Test, Nebraska Sandhills, Pheasant Hunting, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

We are ready to start interviewing and taking deposits for our Spring 2022 R Litter. Please email me at bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you are interested. I have sent an email to everyone who is currently on my contact list, so if somehow it was spam foldered, please consider this your notice to get back in touch with me. I will be taking 10 reservations with deposit on typically 8-14 pups per litter, first come first served (so the sooner you get back in touch with me, the higher likelihood you will get a pup this spring).

The breeding that we’ll be working on over the next year is the pairing of Obi and Ruth. Obi is the sire and his registered name is AKC/NAVHDA Wyo Plainsman Kenobi NA I, UPT III, UT II. Ruth is the dam and her registered name is AKC/NAVHDA Bluestem Peaches En Regalia NA I, UPT II, UT III.

Obi and Ruth with Charles, sharptailed grouse opener in the Nebraska Sandhills, September 2020

You can see all of their pedigrees, hunt test results and health clearances at the “About Our Dogs” page, which has a button in the brown navigation bar above.

This is a breeding that we are relying on to build on our already strong foundation of Wirehaired Pointing Griffons that are sound in health, have great stamina for all day hunts, cooperative and mentally stable members of the family. In our eleven years of breeding, we’ve placed around 150 puppies successfully.

Our puppies are sold with Limited AKC and NAVHDA registrations, this means that they are not automatically eligible to breed (the requirements to lift the breeding restriction are on the “Puppies” button above). You give a gender preference to me (or state no preference) at reservation with a deposit. Puppy placements are first come, first served by reservation order. If there isn’t enough of a particular gender, you are given the option of the opposite gender, wait for a future litter, or a refund. Deposits are fully refundable, no questions asked, up until the date of the puppies 3 week birthday (at that point I keep the deposit if the owner backs out, with few exceptions). I do breeder picks based on the input of the future owners desires for the dog and the needs that the individual puppies have.

Puppies come with: at least 3 rounds of deworming, tails docked and dew claws removed, first vaccinations, microchips, limited AKC and NAVHDA registration papers, and a three year health guarantee against fatal genetic defects or genetic hip dysplasia. They are seen by a veterinarian twice before they go home: for claws/tails right after birth and for shots/microchips right before they go home at 8 weeks. The breeding is anticipated for around Christmas, with puppies born in February and going home in April.

The puppies need to be picked up from my home in Clover, South Carolina on or during the week following their 8 week birthday. As soon as they are whelped, we know their 8 week birthday so that you can prepare to travel for the pickup. I no longer offer air cargo shipment as an option. Regulations change regularly regarding taking a pup on a flight as a carry-on (if you are considering this you need to research your options and find out if an air carrier near you allows 8 week old puppies to fly with an interstate health certificate).

The puppies are exposed to dead birds, live birds and cap gun fire. Once they are moving vigorously at around 5 1/2 weeks, they go outside to run and play at least twice a day. I take litter photos once a week in the beginning, then around 2-3 weeks of age I take individual photos of the puppies weekly. I also do weekly YouTube videos of the litter. I update my Facebook page every few hours as they are being born.

Although we do prefer hunting and hunt testing homes, we realize that the Eastern US is hardly a Mecca of bird hunting, therefore we are open to active outdoors non-hunting homes interviewing (no apartments, please).

Due to the rampant selling of information and constant robocall harassment in the past, I have stopped releasing my telephone number on my website or through Google. Please email me and we can exchange phone numbers.

The breeding is planned on being repeated in 2023, so you can also contact me if you are not ready for a puppy in 2022, but would like to be placed on my contact list for future litters.

These parents are proven wild bird hunters with successful NAVHDA hunt tests under their collars, as well as great family pets.

Obi and Ruth, wild Nebraska Pheasants and Quail October 2020

Ruth, Obi and Fire, North Dakota mixed bag October 2019

Caleb and Obi, Nebraska pheasant youth season opener 2020

Ruth and Obi, Nebraska pheasant and quail 2020

Obi Nebraska Sandhills Snipe, October 2020

Ruth, Nebraska Sandhills duck, October 2020

Ruth AKC Senior Hunter pass at GWPC of Eastern Nebraska

Obi Fourth Place in the Amateur Walking Derby at the Heart of America GSPC AKC Field Trial

Obi First Place in both the Open and Amateur Walking Derbies of the AWPGA AKC Field Trial

Hunting for our dream

September 5, 2021

Charity Upchurch Uncategorized Hunting Dogs, Nebraska Sandhills, South Carolina, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

In case you missed the news, we’ve moved! We are now located in the rural area between Clover and Lake Wylie, South Carolina known as Bethel Township. Our place has three acres and a small barn, perfect for raising these dogs.

I won’t post too many detailed photos of our property since there have been so many problems with Griffons being stolen throughout the country and I don’t want to be in that position. Luckily there is always someone around our little acreage neighborhood keeping an eye on things. Where we are living is in the middle of a large family farm that was split between the family members, so everyone around us is related. The properties are all between one and forty acres, and the folks have animals of one sort or another, shoot guns, drive trucks…we fit right in. It is fun for Charles to be able to train dogs right in the yard. A much better option for us than one of the many subdivisions in the Charlotte metro area.

Right now Charles is working with Caleb and Sally on getting ready for the NAVHDA Natural Ability Test at the end of the month. Without much wild bird hunting around, the next few years will allow us to focus our efforts on our hunt testing and field trialing prowess. Caleb will be the first junior handler for the Foothills NAVHDA Chapter, so regardless of how Sally comes out, it will be a great experience for him. Plus, if we don’t like the prize that she gets out of this test, Charles can re-test her in the spring if he feels the need to do so.

Bluestem Sally Forth at 7.5 months, meeting her new vet

Sally is weighing in at 43 pounds and is a cute little dog. She was the smallest of the litter, so we are hoping that she doesn’t get much bigger than what she is now. Her coat is changing from her puppy fluff to her adult coat and we think that the warmer weather down here has it coming in shorter and tighter than with dogs past. Or it could just be her genetics, it is tough to know for sure.

You can see where the lighter softer coat is being replaced by a harsher, darker coat

This is the first Labor Day Weekend since 1995, when we were both still in college taking summer school classes, that Charles hasn’t been hunting the Nebraska Sandhills this weekend. I’ve been hunting there pretty consistently over the last 20 years. It is pretty emotional being away.

Nebraska Sandhills Sunrise, one year ago today

So then, why are we here in South Carolina? There was an offer that we couldn’t refuse. We are hoping that we can retire here, then have a big pickup with a dog box and an Airstream trailer that we can live out of during hunting season upon retirement. I love being between the beach and the mountains but still in a rural lifestyle. Charles will be back in Nebraska for a hunt in December and hopefully as we get settled in there will be more time for hunting travel. Our older son graduates this spring, then there’s one more kid for me to get through school. I will be mostly homebound until that task is completed, but am going to focus on conditioning in that time because hunts like Himalyan Snowcock, chukar partridge and white ptarmigan are going to take some serious athleticism.

I have found that keeping our Facebook page updated has been an easier task than sitting down to blog. Here are some miscellaneous photos of the dogs that I’ve taken with my phone recently:

AKC/NAVHDA Bluestem Peaches en Regalia, NA I UPT II “Ruth”

AKC/NAVHDA Wyo Plainsman Kenobi, NA I UPT III “Obi”

As far as breeding this year, we are planning on a litter between Obi and Ruth in the spring. I will make a formal breeding announcement in a few weeks, then start to take new inquiries while getting back in touch with my contact list. I thought that I would bounce back to kennel work at the computer faster than I have, honestly. Having all of my things boxed crammed into a semi then stuffed into an empty house is like nothing I have ever experienced before. I pray that this is our last stop, but we’ll see where life takes us.

AKC/NAVHDA Sweetgrass Sandhill Sioux “Sue” 05/26/2004 – 08/20/2021

I will be sure to do a better write-up about the life of Sue at a later date with more pictures, but I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the passing of the Griffon who started it all for us. She was born the day before our first son, Conrad, and spent her first 8.5 years living with us in our first house in Bellevue. Upon her retirement from hunting and having puppies, she went to live with the Knispel family in Cedar Butte, South Dakota (just west of White River, near Badlands National Park). She passed at the age of seventeen, after a long life of many adventures and being very loved. There are so many more pictures and stories to go with Sue, but this will have to do for now. See you at the happy hunting grounds, girl.

If you’ve been following our Facebook page, this isn’t much new material, but I’ll be getting the good camera out for Sally’s NAVHDA Natural Ability Test with Caleb in a couple of weeks and there will finally be some fresh content.

Good luck to everyone out there in the wild bird fields and with fall hunt testing. The future of the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon breed is looking bright thanks to all of our efforts.

October 2020 Hunting Recap

November 11, 2020

Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales, Upland Hunting Trips, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, Youth Mentoring Nebraska Game and Parks, Nebraska Sandhills, North Dakota hunting, Sharptailed Grouse Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

For those of you looking for puppies, we are planning one litter in the Spring of 2021 between Chief and Fire. I consider the reservation list full, but we may get a surpise with more puppies than reservations. Feel free to shoot me an email at bluestemkennels@gmail.com if you wish to be on the backup contact list.

In Memoriam

The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon world recently lost two special breeders, Jan Resler of Potowotomi Kennel in Wisconsin and Philippe Roca of Des Vignes Rouges Kennel in Kentucky.

Jan was a strong woman with an intense passion for the breed. She bred, trained, showed and hunted Griffs and excelled at all of it. She and her dog Amstel won Best of Breed at the 2013 National Specialty and I captured this shot of her celebrating by drinking some wine from the trophy! I thought that photo really represented her fun-loving spirit. We shared many good times all over the country at Griffon events. She is missed by many.

Jan Resler celebrating Best of Breed

Philippe was our American breed ambassador to France and cannot be replaced. When I was editor of the breed club magazine, he called me at least twice a month to talk about Griffons. We worked intensely on a few of his articles together that really captured some important breed history from Europe. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to help clarify his vast knowledge of the breed. A native of France, he felt most at home on his sheep farm in Kentucky. He told me many tales of how he incorporated dog training into everyday farm life. I promise that I will learn French when my kids graduate, Philippe.

A side note to this photo by Barbara Young, is that the dog in the photo is Owen des Dunes du Captelat, our foundation female Sue’s grandfather and also in our new male Obi’s pedigree.

Philippe Roca and Owen by Barbara Young

October Hunting Sandhills and North Dakota

October was a whirlwind of activity with Charles on the road hunting and I’m back in the classroom substitute teaching middle school. Not two weeks before the district asked me to come back, I told another substitute that I’d probably never go back into education! But here I am and it’s keeping me active. But it does keep me distracted from hunting and blogging. Luckily, Charles can’t seem to stay out of the field so the dogs get plenty of action.

The COVID is even impacting hunting, one of Charles’s hunting buddies ended up in quarantine due to his daughter testing positive and missed out on the trip to North Dakota, so it just seems to be more and more pervasive.

Before Charles made it up to North Dakota, he stopped by the Nebraska Sandhills for a few days of hunting. The entire trip was warm, but the dogs held up throughout. In the beginning, he only had one or two at a time out of the box to keep their competitive energy in check. This photo is from the first morning on October 7, with our friend Ryan joining him on sharptailed grouse.

Obi and Ruth with Charles and Ryan’s sharptails

Later on that afternoon, they took Ruth out again for some duck jump shooting. The toughest thing about jump shooting ducks is keeping the dog on “heel” so that they aren’t running and swimming ahead and busting up ducks out of range. It was good to see our usual creek produce yet again.

Ruth and some jump hunted Sandhills ducks

The second day of Sandhills hunting, Obi was the star with Charles’s first limit of snipe in his hunting career. This is impressive to me since I have shot at probably 100 snipe in my hunting life thus far and I’ve never hit a single one of them. Snipe hunting really tunes in the dog’s pointing and retrieving skills because they are such a small bird to scent to both point and locate to retrieve.

Obi with Charles’s first snipe limit on October 8

The day of October 9th was spent driving from Nebraska to North Dakota and getting set up in the house with the other guys. I don’t know their names and they never make an appearance in any of the photos, so I apologize that they sort of get left out of the whole story. They are a part of the harvesting though, so not all of the North Dakota birds were taken by Charles, but the dogs did get to do all of the pointing and retrieving which is what is important to me.

Ruth, Obi and Fire with the mixed bag from October 10th in North Dakota

North Dakota landscape photo by Charles Upchurch

By the time Sunday, October 11th rolled around, the dogs were worn down enough to have all three running at once. All of the crops were harvested in that area of NoDak, so it made for some fun cattail hunting. It is hard work for the dogs busting through dried cattails, but at least you know where the birds are hiding out.

The October 11th game bag

You can also tell that Charles is starting to get a little tired because he isn’t posing the dogs for photos for a couple of days! He said that the dogs would be tired and sore at night, but when the tailgate dropped the next morning that they were ready to go to work again.

October 12th NoDak game bag with dogs boxed

Fire, Obi and Ruth with the final day’s mixed bag in North Dakota, October 13

It wasn’t the best year he’s ever had in North Dakota, but it wasn’t like the last time that he and I went up there in 2017 either. 2017 we hardly got into anything and some days we got skunked. At least this year there was game in the bag every day. I really appreciate the other gents who were there to help put birds in my dogs’ mouths.

Back Home

The weekend after Charles and the dogs returned from their big trip, he and Ruth hit a local swamp and got two teal and a snipe.

Ruth with two teal and a snipe in southeast Nebraska

Most exciting of all is Caleb’s first roosters at the Nebraska Youth Pheasant Hunting opener the weekend before Halloween! Charles said that there were gobs of roosters flushing everywhere and Caleb was just blasting and they were falling down. There are miracles in hunting, I’ve seen it. And Obi just really loves Caleb, so this photos is just perfect. They also had one taken by Nebraska Game and Parks, so keep an eye out in Nebraskaland and you might see him.

Eleven year old Caleb with his first two pheasants. Obi on retrieve and kiss.

In Closing

Write about one trip and get ready for Charles to go on another soon. Deer hunting is just around the corner and he is taking the dogs to hit some fields on the way.

We got Obi’s Penn HIP results back and the doctor said that they are the best sporting dog hips that he’s ever seen. Greyhounds have the best hips all-breed and the vet said that is where Obi’s are. Just off of the charts. I am working with a new scanner and will get those ready for my next post. But great news.

The weather is finally cooling off and I’m thinking about getting out for some roosters and quail myself after rifle deer season ends. It also sounds like I’m getting roped in to handling Obi with Caleb at a European tower shoot at the end of November.

We’ll see what all of this brings. After Thanksgiving we are having our kitchen and main level bathroom floor torn up to replace the dying pergo with porcelain tile, so that will be an event. At the same time we’ll be tearing down a gazebo in the backyard that will be replaced with a dog kennel set-up.

Oh speaking of dog kennels, one last thing. My worst nightmare happened to someone else. Desbattures Benelli Bro, NA II UT II was stolen from his kennel at the Wild West Lodge in Grenville, South Dakota. Owned by Coppershot Griffons Cliff Koele but used as a guide dog by the John Andersen of the lodge. Bred by Dominic Brisson and Claudette Blackburn of Quebec, Canada. He is very special breeding stock for Griffons in the Great Plains of the US and he needs to come back! Reward offered, please contact Wild West Lodge or Cliff Koele on Facebook with any leads. Look at other people’s trucks while hunting, like if they have a mess of mutts and this guy. Or if you use any guides in the Dakotas. He could be anywhere at this point.

STOLEN: Desbattures Benelli Bro

Opening Weekend 2019

September 10, 2019

Charity Upchurch Upland Hunting Trips Nebraska Sandhills, Sharp-tailed Grouse Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment

For those of you who are on the reservation list for 2020 Spring Puppies from dam Bluestem’s Prairie Fire, NA I “Fire”, we are going to use Bluestem Otoe Chief, NA II “Chief” as the stud. His information is on the “About Our Dogs” page of the website. Let me know if you have questions.

If you would like to be on the contact list in the event that we have additional puppies available, please e-mail bluestemkennels@gmail.com.

In other random kennel news, I took Ruth in for her OFA hip x-rays and the vet said everything looked good, so now it is just a matter of getting the certificate back from OFA to see what rating they give her hips.

Sandhills Upland Opener

Our usual luxury accommodations in town are currently occupied by other family members, so we decided to camp at the lake over the weekend. With all of the moisture this year we were happy that the sandburrs were still pretty moist, but the mosquitos were sure thick. The boys and I focused on things like swimming, shooting 22 rifle, kayaking, making s’mores (and just making meals in general), and my favorite part — stargazing.

The night sky of the Nebraska Sandhills, photo by Brenda Allison

Sunset over the lake, no filter. By Charity Upchurch

Not listed on AirBnB!

Fifteen year-old Conrad has become a good kayaker,

Ten year-old Caleb had fun with the .22. Both of the boys did, we ran out of ammo.

You can see in the background of the picture of Caleb that some unknown soul added an “amenity” to our shared primitive campsite. They turned a five gallon bucket into a pit toilet by cutting the bottom off of it, creating “teeth” so that you can stick it in the sand, then screwed a toilet seat to the top!. So all you needed to do was to dig a hole to put it on top of, then you use your shovel to “flush” with the sand pile. Thank you creative redneck!!

Oh but you wanted to hear about hunting, right?

So after every upland magazine has published an article about the Nebraska Sandhills, every yahoo in the country is out there trying to chase sharptailed grouse and prairie chickens. Which I am happy for honestly, there was a span of about five years where it looked like we were the only ones out there. The non-natives stay pretty close to the highway because unless you know the dunes, it is a scary place. And even for those of us who know it, it can play tricks on you sometimes. This year the biggest hazard is water on the roads, so even if you have maps and GPS that say that a road is there, it may be closed or flooded.

Charles took Zoro out the first day and ended up with a dove and a sharpie in the bag.

Charles and Stonyridge Zoro with a sharptailed grouse and a dove

On Monday he took Ruth out and got a limit of three.

Bluestem Peaches En Regalia, NA I “Ruth” and Charles with a limit of grouse.

The Sunday grouse went in the pot with some marinated chicken and canned vegetables for supper that night.

Cutting up grouse for the pot.

Camp food (the grouse is the dark meat)

Coleman camp kitchen

The three sharpies that came home with us went right on the griddle with some chimichurri sauce on the plate (I forgot to take pictures). Give them a good marinade and cook them like a medium rare steak for the best flavor. When I’m at camp, I cook it as stew meat all the way through just to make sure that I’m avoiding food poisoning, since our sanitiation is as good as we can get it, but not up to normal “hot-water-from-the-tap” standards.

Up Next

I am really sucked into youth football right now, but it will be over in time for pheasant and quail season. I console myself with the fact that I’ve shot plenty of grouse and prairie chickens, and that youth football is only this year and next.

Charles has his sights set on some early teal duck action here locally. He is going to skip North Dakota again this year until things improve habitat and bird number-wise up there. He did draw a Sandhills antelope tag, so he’ll be back out there for that and some more birds and ducks hopefully.

Continued success in the fields for everyone and good luck to all of those who are running in fall hunt tests!

Before I die I will shoot a snipe and other tales from the prairie…

September 12, 2015

Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales AWPGA, NAVHDA, NAVHDA Natural Ability Test, Nebraska Sandhills, Snipe Hunt, sora rail hunting, Teal Leave a comment

My poor neglected readers, I can tell that you miss me. Yet hunting season is upon us and who needs any other muse? I typically write forwards chronological, but today I’m feeling reverse chronological. That way my title makes sense.

Snipe, Sora and Early Teal

Charity and Charles ready for some fun

Yesterday we hit the local swamp in search of snipe, sora rails, and early teal. It is a pretty popular swamp, as there were a couple of sets of duck hunters in there before we were. Since we were late to the party, we went to the other end of the parcel. We spent an hour or two there and each of us missed a sora rail. At that point we figured that the duck hunters had moved on, but first Charles wanted to go to town for a hot dog.

So when you roll into small town Nebraska with a crazy dog box in the back of your truck with dog heads hanging out of it, a travel carrier on top with stickers from all over the country, and both of you are dressed in camo: you are crazy old man bait. The old man had some great tales: how he had just intentionally ran over a whole flock of turkeys (because of the myth that they kill pheasants and grouse. He even showed us the carcasses in the back of his truck), his pheasant hunting escapades in South Dakota, how much he wants to retire to Oklahoma (really? why?), he showed us pictures of his purple ’67 Dodge Charger, then proceeded to do a massive burnout with his pickup (when you squeal your tires on purpose) on his way out of the gas station. I love Nebraska.

We went back to the main parking lot of the secret swamp and had the place to ourselves. But the duck hunters had left their mark. Shame on them.

Party foul

Once we got up into the swamp, Charles got a sora after I missed a few. Then with his keen eyes, he spotted a couple of teal on some open water about 20 yards ahead of us. I love how teal just let us jump them, we never get away with it with mallards. Charles grabbed Fire by the collar and I grabbed BB (here is where good heeling training would come in handy, but we’re pretty rusty), and we crept up to the pond. When the two teal jumped, Charles hit the one in the lead with his first shot, I hit the one behind with my second. Both were really solid hits, his to the head and mine to the body, so we didn’t have any flapping in the water (which I hate). Fire was right out on the water retrieve, which BB proceeded to steal (bad dog). Fire went back out for the second duck too. Chief had no clue really, we just had him out there for exposure.

From there we made our way out to the snipe field. It is sort of a wet field that cattle graze so that the grass is all short. It is really muddy in places and where is isn’t muddy it is pocked with deep cow hoofprints. This place kicks my butt, I have yet to shoot a single thing there and I’ve been hunting it for years. It has even claimed a pair of my rubber boots: I sank in and couldn’t get out, so I had to walk by to the truck in my socks. During dry years, we stumble across the embedded boots every now and then.

We worked the eastern end of the field to no avail, we figure the flights aren’t in yet. We work the central part of it, and again nothing. Right as we start to slack off and let the dogs work ahead…BB locks on point and Chief and Fire proceed to bust a flock of about 10. Out of range, no chance of a shot. Yet the way that snipe work there are always stragglers. Charles knocks a couple down. I proceed to whine about how many snipe he’s shot and how I’ve yet to hit one, so he lets me walk ahead. I proceed to blast away at another 5 with no success, while he bags a couple more. As we’re walking back, BB again locks on a solid point. I go in for the flush and yet again miss the snipe. But wow, to have a dog who knows how to point snipe, that is pretty awesome.

Charles with four snipe, a sora, and a teal

Charity and Fire with a Teal

AWPGA National Specialty 2015

I just had to drive a couple of hours over to Des Moines, Iowa for the National Specialty this year. It kicked off on Thursday morning with a fun hunt at Doc’s Hunt Club in Adel, Iowa. I accidentally left my camera at the hotel that day. But we had a good turnout and folks took turns taking their dogs out with birds. I sent all of my dogs to the Sandhills with Charles, so I didn’t have any. We did a lot of visiting and had a burger and hot dog lunch in the clubhouse. There was a tracking seminar held in the afternoon, but I have worked AKC Tracking tests with our local kennel club before, so I skipped and sat in the hot tub, then took a nap:) In the evening, we had our annual meeting and welcome reception.

Friday was the big show. It was great to see so many owner handled dogs. Remember Gino Troy from the NAVHDA test in May? Well his bitch took Best of Breed. Yay, Gino and Brie (and his breeder Kristi Rogney of Whiskeytown Sporting Dogs).

Best of Breed Ring

L to R: Kristi, handler, Brie and Gino

We were free for the rest of the afternoon and evening, so I found a new home at the Court Avenue Brewing Company in the Historic East Village of Downtown Des Moines. The people there were so friendly and the atmosphere so nice (like a mini Old Market Omaha Upstream Brewery), that I thought that I’d give them a free plug. If you need some beer and grub in Des Moines, this is the spot. It was packed on Saturday for the Iowa vs. Illinois St. football game, but I had the place to myself on Friday after the specialty show.

Court Ave Brewery Des Moines

AWPGA steins

We had a great time at the banquet Saturday night following the supported entry show, where I won a set of four of cool beer steins in the newly launched pre-banquet games (pictured here with 24 oz. each of Nebraska Brewing Company India Pale Ale). I had the winning bid on the silent auction of two books to add to my collection of dog books in French that I can’t read.

French Griffon Books

So, that puts learning French on my to-do list over the next few years.

The food was excellent and so was the company. There are some things in life that I just love above all others. Food is one of them. From left going clockwise: roll, seven layer dessert bar, pork chop, potatoes, creamed corn, green beans with bacon, spring green salad, and a fried boneless chicken breast in the middle.

I took some of everything.

Jay Hoth of Switchgrass Sporting Dogs was solo, with Lisa back in Oklahoma looking after the kids. He had some company at the banquet: Sheryl Dierenfield, Shona Welle, and Kina Palmer on his right all from Colorado, then myself and Julie Baker, both from Nebraska on his left.

Jay Hoth’s big date

I wish that I had won this sign in the games, but I didn’t. Some of my other problems:

Addiction

I was able to put my amateur auctioneering skills to use at the live auction. When I was a child growing up in Valentine, Nebraska, there just wasn’t a whole lot to do sometimes. So my dad would take me to the sale barn to watch cattle being auctioned off. Between that and all of my time spent as “auction model” in my younger days for Pheasants Forever, I was able to pull it off.

Charity auctioning off a cool welcome sign

I was under the impression that supported entry on Sunday was later than it was, so keeping with tradition, I overslept the morning after the banquet and missed it (last year in Maine, I overslept and missed my flight).

It was a small turnout, only 37 dogs entered in the specialty show, but we managed to have a heck of a good time regardless. Great job, Ruth Vogel and the 2015 specialty committee. Next year, we will be turning it up in Helena, Montana Sept. 19-26. Hunting seasons will also be open, so we’ll be there!

Sandhills Sharptailed Grouse Opener

Charles and the dogs had a great opening weekend in the Nebraska Sandhills chasing sharptailed grouse. They limited out within two hours of their start time each day. Only 8 shells shot and 6 birds in the bag! I kept saying to myself in Des Moines, “I can’t believe I’m missing opening weekend to watch a dog show”. But I’m pretty committed to my dog club friends and glad that I didn’t miss them being in the neighborhood.

Opening day limit. From back to front: Fire, BB, and Chief

Day 2 limit, back to front: Sam, Fire, and Chief

Parting thoughts

I have probably missed around 100 snipe in my hunting career, so I’m going to be in pursuit. Probably starting tomorrow. I’m taking at least a semester away from teaching and am just going to hunt and dog train full-time. I had thought about going solo and doing Wyoming sage grouse in a week, but I really need to get into shape (and save our money) for duck opener in the Sandhills the first week of October, and North Dakota mixed bag mid-October. Here’s sort of my goals/timetable:

I’m going to handle Chief for the first time in NAVHDA Natural Ability in the Spring.
Charles will NAVHDA UPT Fire in either the spring or fall of next year.
We’re going to train BB back up, giving her a year off from whelping, so that I can handle her in NAVHDA UT in the fall of 2016. Depending on where Fire is at, she may also UT at the same test with Charles.
In the next 2-3 years, I want to do Nevada chukar. I am not in shape enough for that terrain. Also, I have Montana staring me in the face next year, I’d like to chase some mountain grouse (blue, spruce, ruffed, ptarmigan) and the sage grouse while we’re there. Time to get to work.

I was super excited to see Brian Koch make contact with the Himalayan Snowcock in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada within the last couple of weeks. He doesn’t have this pic up on his Ultimate Upland website yet, but here’s the photo from his Facebook page:

Brian’s Himalayan Snowcock encounter. Photo by Brian Koch ultimateupland.com

That is one for the bucket list! Keep chasing birds

Beginning of Hunting Season 2014

September 17, 2014

Charity Upchurch Hunting Forecasts Dove hunting, Ducks, early teal hunting, Hunting Nebraska, Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Nebraska Sandhills, Sharptailed Grouse Hunting, Taking kids hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment

I think that I overdid the adventures this summer and it rattled my hunting cage. I carried a gun the days that we hunted up in the Sandhills the weekend before last, but the few cracks that I took at doves felt way off. I will either opt to carry a camera this season, otherwise I will have to go back and re-read my favorite shotgunning book, Breaking Clays by Chris Batha, and get over to the skeet range before the big ducks start flying.

Nebraska Sandhills Sharptailed Grouse

We devoted Friday, September 5th to chasing grouse with our old buddy, Ryan. After 4 hours in the field, we didn’t see a single bird.

Charity, Charles, and Ryan take a selfie in the grouse field.

What we did end up getting were two dogs with faces full of porcupine quills.

Charles pulls quills out of Sam as Ryan restrains BB.

Another shot of the quill pulling

Conservation Officer Frank Miller of the Valentine office of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission stopped Charles and I on our way into the field Saturday morning and verified that grouse numbers are way down from normal, but just slightly better than last year. Hopefully once the weather turns and they bunch up, we will see them on future trips this fall.

Charles talks to Conservation Officer Frank Miller

Early Teal

After checking a few ponds with no ducks, we were able to put the sneak on a mixed flock and jumped them up. There were too many mallards in the mix as they rose from the pond and the group of teal was circling around them really fast, so I didn’t even dare take a shot. Charles was able to drop one teal out of the group. The last day for early teal in the low plains region is this Sunday, high plains is already closed.

Our 10 year-old son, Conrad, came with us on the trip and learned a great deal about getting around out in the Sandhills.

How to open a western gate

Conrad celebrates dad’s teal and 2 doves

Dove

Dove numbers are strong statewide, with Charles harvesting limits at the confluence of the Platte and Missouri Rivers in the east, as well as during our trip to the Sandhills. We’ve been making these bacon-wrapped dove poppers with them and they are quite delicious! http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/bacon-wrapped-dove

Bacon-wrapped dove poppers

Charles and a Sandhills dove limit

Other friends around the state are also getting their kids out on the doves!

My friends Ashley and Matt's son Gavin and his first dove harvest in the Sandhills.

My friend Ashley’s son Gavin and his first dove harvest in the Sandhills.

Carter and Cadence loved watching their dad Matt shoot doves near Lincoln.

Snipe and Sora

Last weekend I followed Charles, BB and Fire around the swamp chasing after teal, snipe, and sora. There was quite a bit of fast action and good success.

BB retrieves a sora

Fire, BB, and Charles

Snipe in flight

BB brings a snipe to hand on a mud flat.

Charles and Fire inspecting the snipe.

Charles and the dogs circling the pond.

BB and Fire with Charles and 2 teal, 4 sora, and 4 snipe.

Overall a decent start to the 2014 hunting season so far.

Pupdate

George over in Wyoming had a great opener on Blue Grouse with Harry from our 2014 “H” Litter of Sam and Mae, “Attached you’ll find two pictures of yesterday’s blue grouse with Harry. This was her first exposure to wild birds, and she pointed and retrieved them all. One was still somewhat lively for the retrieve and I’m glad she had the experience with a grouse instead of a rooster pheasant! Happy hunting!”

Harry and Blue Grouse

As always, thank you to my puppy owners for sending such great updates and photos!

Until next time, good luck out in the hunting fields!

Bluestem Kennels