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Sandhills Grouse Opener 2010

September 21, 2010

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Sire and Dam Ability, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Charles and I were back in the Nebraska Sandhills for sharptailed grouse and prairie chicken opener on Saturday, September 18th.  We arrived to our first special spot about 10:30 AM to a windy, chilly and misty morning.   Due to the wind, the grouse were absent in the valleys and were only present in the high choppy dunes.  Our first flush was only three grouse who popped up out of range, which told us the area had probably been worked over.  Sure enough, we spotted the tracks of our most hated nemesis, the ATV, shortly thereafter.  Yet we were undeterred and continued to work this high dunefield.

Charles and the dogs made it up and over the top of the ridge before I had a chance to witness the first grouse of the season being taken.  According to Charles, both dogs locked on point, he flushed and shot the bird.  Sam quickly retrieved.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Charles, Sam and the first grouse of the year

We continued working this dunefield for another couple of hours, but were only getting one or two birds up at 50-100 yard ranges before the dogs could even get a lock on them.  Blasted ATV’s.  So we moved deeper into our zone where the truck tracks ended and we knew we had the place to ourselves.

The second dunefield we worked on was much more productive.  We busted up a coyote.  Charles has been reading up on the European version of the versatile hunting dog, where they hunt foxes with these dogs, so he wanted to see what would happen if he sicked Sam on the coyote.  Luckily, we were at the peak of a high dune so we could watch Sam chase the thing for about a mile into the valley.  Charles headed down into the valley with Sue to make sure Sam didn’t get himself lost.  As I was hollering and waving my blaze orange hat to get Sam off of the coyote, I heard the music of “blllrrr, bbblllrr, bbbllrr” as a flock of 10-15 grouse flushed about 30 yards behind me.

Once we were all back together, we headed towards where I thought I saw the flock land.  I was walking alone and had a great shot at a 15 yard flush of a singleton, but my lack of practice came shining through and I totally missed it.  We worked our way back towards the truck and came into another flock of 10-15 birds at 20 yards.  Charles shot a double and once again I croaked.  Each dog had a bird in their mouth…I probably should have had my camera instead of my gun!

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Charles rounds out his limit of grouse for the day with Sam and Sue on retrieve

We were headed back to town by 3 PM, just in time for Charles to cook up some sweet and sour grouse over rice for supper!

I definitely have my grouse hunting homework cut out for me before next year: get into shape and get to the trap and skeet range!

 

Patriots’ Day Teal

September 13, 2010

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Hunting Tales, Sire and Dam Ability, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and Blue-Winged Teal

Sam, Charles and a pair of blue-winged teal

On this past Saturday, September 11, Sam and Charles went down to the private pond that we frequent in Cass County, Nebraska and bagged a couple of blue-winged teal.  I was occupied entertaining family who were visiting from out-of-town, but Charles was able to slip out for a few hours, only after he put a pot of really awesome turkey chili on the stove.

He really had the Canadian geese who normally hang out at the pond in mind, so the teal were a pleasant surprise.  As the story was told to me, Charles put Sam on heel and sneaked up on the teal at the pond.  Charles missed on his first shot attempt, but he and Sam dropped down in the grass, so the teal circled and landed back on the other side of the pond.  It took them about 20 minutes to sneak their way around the pond and the final approach was made with Charles crawling and Sam next to him (still on heel).  By a strange bit of luck, Charles shot the double of blue-winged teal with one shot and both of the ducks only took pellets to the head (yum…no bits of steel surprise while we’re eating them).

Sam swam out into the pond and tried to retrieve both ducks at once, but figured out that he could only get one at a time.  True to the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon’s versatile talents, they were two successful water retrieves with no additional coaxing of the dog required, he just did it.

Speaking of the amazing talents and abilities of dogs, PBS Nature is currently running a two-part special about the evolution of dogs.  Last night’s episode was about the transition from wolf to proto-dog and the symbiotic relationship between dogs and primitive societies.  Next week, they are going to be talking breed specialization and the world of dog fancy, so I’m excited for that.  There’s additional information on the PBS Nature website if you are interested: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/dogs-that-changed-the-world/introduction/1273/

Only four days until sharptail grouse and prairie chicken opener back in the Sandhills…

Sandhills Dove Hunt 2010

September 8, 2010

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Sandhills Dove Hunt 2010 is on the books.  Charles and I were joined by our old friend Mike on our hunt near Valentine, Nebraska.   While the morning was cool and we had the energy, we started the day off jump shooting different windmills.  If you’re not familiar with jump shooting, you simply walk up and see what jumps up in front of you.  In regards to dogs, dove hunting is a little like duck hunting with a blind: we only use them to retrieve the fallen birds when necessary (which it is typically not).

Dove Hunting

Mike and Charles going to jump shoot for dove at a windmill

Dove Hunting

First dove on the ground

Dove Hunting

Charles shooting at some dove in flight

Dove hunting

Mike shooting at doves in flight

Dove hunting

Mourning doves in flight

Mike, his dove and his Baikal 12 gauge over/under

Once the day heated up, we decided to pick a windmill and set up some decoys.  As the windmills are the sole source of water on the open prairie, the doves cannot resist flying in.

Dove Hunting

Sam and Sue help Charles set up at the windmill

Dove hunting

Charles setting up dove decoys on the windmill

Prior to getting settled in our spots, we let Sam and Sue out of the truck for a break.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

Sam cools off in the stock tank

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

Sue cools off in the stock tank

For awhile we had Sue sit with us at the windmill and used her to retrieve our birds for us, just for fun and practice.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

Sue retrieves a dove

I was primarily focused on taking pictures, but towards the end of the day I took up Charles’s 12 gauge and was able to take a dove.

Me, my dove and Charles’s SKB 12 gauge over/under

Dove hunting

Saturday’s dove total: 13

The birds have since been cleaned and eaten in a corn stuffing.

One more trip to the pond

August 23, 2010

Charity Upchurch Bird Dog Training, Kennel Update, Regional Update and/or Misc., Sire and Dam Ability , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

We had to celebrate our return home with a trip to the pond, possibly our last swimming trip for the year.  I think these pictures do a good job of showing what devoted family members our dogs are.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Sue and Sam watch attentively as dad winds up to throw Conrad in the water (by request)

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Splashdown!

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Caleb and the dogs muck about

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Dad, dogs and kids

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Sam is neck and neck with Dad, while Sue trails not far behind

Nebraska is more of a river state than a lake state and this time of year our lakes and ponds do something we call “turn over”.  My hydrologist friends tell me that it isn’t actually that the water “turns over”, but the warm conditions and runoff create blooms of algae and bacteria.  I knew I should have called a “no go” to our trip when I saw the water, but I couldn’t resist the warmth of the sunshine and coolness of the water.

I exchanged e-mails with Greg Wagner of Nebraska Game and Parks and we won’t know if we get an early teal season for Labor Day weekend until August 31st.  We are ready!

 

Some nice Canadian Griffs

August 21, 2010

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Regional Update and/or Misc. , , Leave a comment

On our summer vacation we paid a visit to a kennel up in Canada to take a look at their Wirehaired Pointing Griffons.  Their pups may or may not become a part of our breeding program, but we are shopping around.

Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

Conrad and Cordelia with the dogs, Belle and Cyrano

I have to apologize for my lack of writing lately, my muse has taken an unexpected leave of absence.  But hey, hunting season is only a few weeks away, so she should return soon!

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