These Mountain Grouse Don't Stand a Chance

Sage and I's first few hunting trips this grouse season has resulted in slightly underwhelming and long hikes with a gun. We have had absolutely zero contacts with birds and I've been valiantly fighting the urge to feel discouraged. It's Sage's and I's first season as a team and needless to say its gotten off to a rocky start. Thank goodness she doesn't possess the knowledge to know what she's been missing. If she had I wouldn't be remotely surprised if she posted a Craigslist ad looking to replace me as a hunting partner.

On Saturday Sage and I headed out to try our luck once again. This time we focused on an 18,000 acre BMA in the Bridger Range. I spent just shy of an hour meandering thru the vastness of the Block Management Area trying to carefully select what I thought would be a good spot to stop and embark on our adventure. Once we settled on a promising looking area we cheerfully set out armed with my Berretta and big can of bear spray.

We worked our way up a steep mountainside that eventually leveled off and opened up to pristine mountain fields. The sky was blue, the air was crisp and the granite peaks in the distance were covered in snow. It felt glorious. It felt like what hunting should.

Sage was off to the races. She was running very big and I knew right away that if we were lucky enough to make some contacts she was going to bust them. I'm so hungry at this point for Sage to have wild bird contact that I could careless. Being 11 months old and not fully steady I want her to have exposure. I want her to learn. I can always tighten her up later.

We had been hiking for close to 40 minutes when a covey of 8 big fat grouse exploded from the under region of a tree. Sage stayed steady and held back from giving chase but she did shoot me a borderline fanatical look as if she was saying, "For Christs Sake woman get up here already". As I closed in she broke free covering the area where the covey had been held up. She was wild eyed and in a frenzy. My heart was beaming. It was what I had been waiting for, the wheels were turning she was figuring it out. I watched the covey fly off and settle down the side of the mountain. I made a mental note to work it on our way back.

Sage and I were pumped! We set off with new vigor and a healthy dose of adrenaline pumping through our veins. About 15 minutes later we hit our second covey and 5 more plump mountain grouse hit the sky with a flapping flurry. They were inevitably out of shooting range but Sage was getting the exposure I had hoped she'd get. We worked forward into the wildness for about 45 more minutes before turning back and working adjacent areas.  When we made it back to the location of the first covey I looped to the far side and carefully made my way down the steepness with Sage leading the charge. The cover here was thicker and Sage had finally settled down into a rhythm. Our best chance was going to be here because she was working closer. After a breath holding 10 minutes Sage finally locked up on point. In seconds three grouse burst into the sky. I pulled my gun up, focused on one and pulled the trigger. It was a perfect shot and the gun fire echoed through the valley like a symphony.

As soon as I had shot the bird and it fell into its final descent Sage and I looked at each other completely shocked. I smiled and said, "You did't think I'd get it did you!!" Then I sent her in for the retrieve while belly laughing alone in the woods. She mouthed it first and then drug it halfway. Not that I gave her the opportunity to bring it all the way in. I was entirely to pumped. She found us birds, I shot us one. It was our first successful time out. It was amazing. It was everything and more than I had hoped it would be. Now that we've had some luck these mountain grouse don't stand a chance.

Be sure to follow our shenanigans on Facebook at: Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer.

Cleo and Pupdate: 7 Weeks old and Counting

Orange and Mini Doc

Let me fill you in incase you don't know already...when GSP puppies reach 6 weeks of age (specifically Cleo and Doc puppies) you start questioning if they are part Velociraptor. All of their cute and whimsical innocence has left them and has been unequivocally replaced with hell raising, whelping room destroying, spotted leg biters. Jim came home last week and they had somehow used their black voodoo magic to separate the two connected whelping boxes and spilled out into the whelping box room to reek as much havoc as possible. They spent approximately 2 hours shredding bags of stockpiled newspaper, emptied a full box of black hefty trash bags and played tug of war with them and oh did I mention....they shit everywhere? Take that lightly colored beige carpet! They worked with doody like some artists work in watercolor. The boxes are now reinforced with ridiculous don't fail me now industrial clamps and we've also bought stock in Stanley Steamer.

Periwinkle

The pups personalities are really starting to shine through. Periwinkle (black and roan female) has happily filled the Houdini role. At least once a day when one of us enters the whelping room she comes and meets us at the door. Yea....lets back that up. SHE COMES AND MEETS US AT THE DOOR. She should be in the whelping box with all the other pups but she somehow manages to escape ALL THE TIME. We've removed the whelping box rails and Jim built a special attachment to increase the height of the whelping box door but she still manages to get enough leverage to pull her chubby spotted belly over the wall. She has even now figured out to get back in once she's finished her self granted playtime. We know this because she never forgets to leave her calling card. Bet you can imagine what that is.

Sweet Green - Liver Roan Male

Although they are quite mischievous all the pups are incredibly loving. They love to be held and snuggled and each one gives excellent kisses. They respond amazingly well to a whistle and hearing one from Jim or I will send them barreling down the halls like a herd of elephants. We get them out of the whelping room 3 or 4 times a day to let them play and interact with Cleo and Luna around the house. It's been a blast to watch them experience new things and they soak up everything like little sponges. Cleo LOVES being with her puppies and will lay on the floor letting them chew on her face and ears. She pokes them with her paws and goats them into chasing her around the living room. She brings them toys to play with and wags her stubby little tail with furor.

Big Red - Black and Roan male

Blue Bear - Black and Roan Male

Purple - Liver and Roan Female

The pups coats have darkened considerably and they have been growing and packing on the weight. We haven't weighed them in a couple of days but I have no doubt that at 7 weeks old some of the males are close to tipping the scales at 12 pounds. I'm starting to think some of these pups are going to be absolutely huge when they go home in a week. At least two of the male pups will be pretty large in size maybe even Doc size! Only time will tell. They have been to the vet and received their first deworming and DHPP booster. Not one of them fussed or cried at the vets and Mini Doc seemed to love his banana flavored dewormer. I have a feeling he might be a food hound.

Yellow

We have also decided on who we are going to be keeping out of this litter. She is a black and roan female and wore the yellow collar. Her name will be Von Schonheits Across the Plains and we will call her Sage. Like all the pups she is very bold, super aware and maybe too intelligent for her own good but more than that I've developed a great emotional attachment to her. She also has a propensity for chewing on Jim's shoes and quite frankly after all the stuff of mine Cleo and Luna have destroyed over the years its high time I have my own minion. I mean its only fair right!? Besides I can't even begin to explain how excited I am for her to be my personal gun dog!!

Cleo Update!

Cleo is doing much better! At her most recent follow-up appointment they were able to express some nasty fluid from her infected mammary gland which showed she still has an infection. So she will be on antibiotics for another 3 weeks. She goes back next week for another checkup. You would never know it from her sassiness that she still has an infection. Her spirits are up and she's even giving me some barky back talk. This past sunday we even took her hunting.

Cleo on Point with Doc honoring while Jim and Geof flush the chukar

Considering that Cleo hadn't been out on birds since she was bred to Doc in September her fieldwork was spot on and she ran like she never had any health issues in the last few weeks. You can tell it did her soul good to get out and do what she was meant to do in life. It put a little extra bounce in her step and Jim and I finally breathed that we had our baby back. It was also awesome getting Cleo and Doc together for a little reunion. Luna was there as well as two more of Geof Ferrer's GSP's. We ran them two at a time and at the end of the hunt cut all 5 dogs loose at once. I can't begin to explain how nice it is to watch 5 well trained and finished dogs work together. Below are some pics from our chukar hunt at Bent Creek Preserve in Allentown, NJ.

Look at that face...LOVE!! VC Sharp Shooters Doc Holliday

VC Rahway River's Prince of Darkness on point with Luna honoring in the back

Luna doing what she does!

Cleo honoring Doc on point. She hated that skid plate but we wanted to protect her chest. 

Rahway Rivers She's So Fine honoring - Call name Sophie

Sophie on point with Cleo, Doc and Ozzie honoring. Luna is off to the left honoring as well.

Doc looking huge and handsome!

Just wanted to thank everyone again for the outpouring of support we recieved when Cleo got horribly ill. All the comments and well wishes really did my heart well. There is something to say about all of you for rallying around us when we needed your good vibes. Thank you.

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First Pheasant Hunt of the Season!

Luna on point

This past Saturday Jim and I got out for the first time to hunt some birds this season. We had originally intended to hunt at Jim's gun club in NJ on Sunday but an impromptu work trip for me this weekend ruined those plans. So we had a quickie morning hunt on Saturday at Powderbourne Pheasant Preserve so I could shoot some birds before skipping town to Baton Rouge. This was the first time we have ever been hunting without Cleo. It was bittersweet for sure.  

If you don't follow our shenanigans on facebook (which you totally should be doing btw) you might not be aware that Cleo is currently pregnant with her first litter. Before anyone gets all riled up and goes all PETA on us this breeding has had an immense amount of time, thought, and effort involved. This post is not really about her breeding tho. If you care to learn more about it you can do so here. (All her pups have been reserved).

Cleo is entirely too pregnant to go hunting with us. So we sadly left her standing at the doorway giving us the stink eye (and maybe even shooting us a paw when we weren't looking) as we tried to quietly back peddle out the door without her. She was completely aware of what we were sneaking off to do and it hurt our hearts to not be taking her with us.

Cleo says rub my belly.....there are future shoe chewers in it. :)

The beginning of our hunt started off a little slow. We spent the first 20 minutes walking through the frosty fields recounting our love for Cleo. She was indeed the catalyst that propelled our lives into an entirely new direction and it seemed almost like cheating on a lover to be in a field without her. But talking about her made it feel like she was at least there in essence. The silver lining of her lamented absence was that it was the very first time in Luna's life she has ever truly hunted without Cleo.  

How Luna Rolls: Retrieves the Bird

Delivers it to hand

Totally tries to steal that shit back when your finagling it into your bird bag

Rightfully gives you the "your so incredibly lame" look when she realizes she doesn't get to keep it

Luna was a blast to hunt over. I think she spent the first 20 minutes wondering where the heck Cleo was. It's a core personality trait of Luna to be a great team player. She is incredibly cooperative and has easily worked in the field with up to 6 dogs at a time. When Luna and Cleo hunt together they are like poetry in motion. Sometimes Jim and I stand there in awe of their silent teamwork, their ability to cover a field and how they honor and respect each other. But on Saturday Luna got to be a little selfish and she really blossomed. Hunting by herself this season while Cleo is sidelined might end up being a wonderful thing for her. I made a mental note that when I get my puppy (I'm keeping pick female from Cleo's litter) I'll have to sneak her out for some one on one time without the big dogs. It's just so incredibly hard to go out and not take the pack.

The morning was a bit chilly around 30 degrees. It was quiet and beautiful in so many ways. There was a time in my life when I would drive by a field in the late fall or winter and it would depress me. Everything seemed brown and lifeless. I never knew the beauty those brown fields held and it wasn't until our first upland hunting season did I start to yearn for it. I love how the frost on old berries glisten in the early morning sunrise. The way the steam rolls off the dogs as they work a field. The way feathers rest and billow on the brush. All the little signs of life past as the field ages into a state of hibernation for the winter. It's easy to past the time admiring the small things while the dogs hunt and just when you seem lost in the moment its shattered by the excitement of a dog on point.

Deer skull and bones in the field

A not so blind blind retrieve

Both Jim and I were adamant that this hunt I painstakingly put my camera down and carry a gun and shoot at least half the time. I made the initial bonehead mistake of carrying both shotgun and camera. It was my last ditch effort in not wanting to miss the perfect shot with my beloved Nikon. I have a feeling that it is something I will always struggle with but maybe that might change when I get my pup. I guess we will have to wait and see.

Luna was a blast to hunt over and it was a sincere pleasure watching her come into her own. She is still young and I think we often forget that considering she developed at such a young age and was pretty much finished at 13 months of age (she is still only 20 months old). Luna clearly loved hunting on her own but as soon as we got home she snuggled in with her beloved Cleo as quickly as she could. They love each other so much. Lu also hit the jackpot and got to go out and hunt on Monday as well when Powderbourne called and asked Jim to guide for a group of Sheriffs from NY. He said she did amazing.

Be sure to check us out on facebook as we will have all kinds of stuff going on in the coming weeks: Babies due the week of Thanksgiving, hunting season is in full force and hopefully some goose hunting too! 

On the Hunt for Everything

If your a regular reader of this blog your aware that Luna, our 9 month old GSP is quite the hunter both in and out of the field. She manages to find, dig up and kill about 5 moles a week. She now undergoes mouth checks at the door as she has learned to stuff them whole in her mouth and like a drug mule sneak them into the house where she deposits them in fun places like the sofa.

What's that Jim? Oh just a dead mole carcass smushed in the rug. Sweet.  

Between Cleo and Luna very little shocks us anymore. I'm used to seeing them foam at the mouth from trying to eat frogs, I've seen them rip groundhogs out of holes and throw them through the air and its commonplace to find them perched on the back of the sofa like mountain goats so they can get a better view of the bird feeder.  But Lu shocked both of us this past week when she killed and then brought Jim a snake. Which is rather fitting since he absolutely hates snakes more than any other creature in the world. One time I saw Jim jump five feet in the air and scream like a school girl when we encountered a 6 foot black snake in a training field. I'm laughing like hell just thinking about it now. But thank god the snake she killed was a harmless garter snake. 

The falls hottest fashion. Screw scarves....we've got serpents. 

And since were on the topic of Luna(tic) raising the bar she managed to lock me out of the house this weekend. In her excitement of watching me chase the neighbors German Shepard out of the yard she pulled the lever on the back sliding door down and into locked position. Then they just calmly sat there and stared at me while I tried to figure how to get back in. Flippin Jerks.

They look so peaceful. Sheep's in wolves clothing people. Sheep's in wolves clothing. 

We did however manage to get them out on the things that they are supposed to be hunting....birds! Bob G invited us to NJ to hunt at his gun club yesterday. We ran Cleo and Luna with their father Maximus and Bob's other GSP Bonnie. It was a blast watching the dogs hunt and back each other.

 Cleo and Luna's dad Maximus on point

Bonnie backing Max on point

Maximus backing his daughter Cleo

Little Lu did great! 

Bonnie on point!

We have a few hunts planned over the Thanksgiving weekend so be sure to check back and see how we fair and follow our shenanigans on facebook: Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer. 

The future of Upland Hunting

Cleo and Dakota's bounty 

The picture above is of 13 year old Dakota Capwell. Dakota is an amazing young man. He is a talented black belt who trains at my boyfriends Mixed Martial Arts School in the Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley. Dakota's father Bill has always encouraged him to hunt and has worked hard at fostering an environment where Dakota can get exposed to various kinds of game including upland hunting. This morning Jim and our GSP Cleo guided a preserve hunt for Bill and Dakota.

It was a chilly 20 degrees when they set out but they had a good morning with Cleo finding and pointing 8 birds, 4 of which Dakota shot and Bill as the second gunner brought in 2. Jim raved about how well Dakota did. But Dakota is no stranger to hunting. Last year at the age of 12 Dakota won a hunting contest, receiving the grand prize of a trip to Africa.

Dakota at the age of 12 with his Zebra

Dakota and Bill spent 2 weeks hunting in Africa. While there Dakota took a Zebra, two Blesbok's, a Springbok, an Impala, a Wildebeest, an Orux and a Kudu.  The picture that won Dakota the Africa trip is also listed below, its a monster Elk he bagged at the age of 11! Someday when Dakota is much older I have no doubts that he will look back fondly at the time spent with his Dad hunting. And hopefully he will one day work as hard as his father to expose his children to the same joys he had in the fields and woods.

Dakota and his Springbok

Dakota and his father Bill Capwell and his first Blesbok

Dakota and his Wildebeest

Keeping hunting traditions alive in this country start with educating and awakening the spirit in our children. It is essential to the survival of upland hunting and hunting in general to get kids interested at a young age. Most large preservation organizations in this country like Pheasants Forever and Quails Forever realize this all too well and work tirelessly to engage kids in upland hunting by sponsoring youth hunts. And it's up to us to come and bring the dogs to work with them and make the time to expose our kids to these experiences.

Dakota and Bill with his Oryx

Dakota and Bill with his White Blesbok

Dakota and his Dad Bill with his Impala

By starting children out hunting young it instills in them the proper care and safe habits of guns, the responsibility of preserving the great outdoors, it gets them off the couch and away from video games into the fields and woods, it allows them to see and be apart of the process of gathering your own food which is an experience most Americans today never have, it allows them to take pride in accomplishing something that takes skill and patience and it allots them sacred and valuable time with the big people in their lives.

Dakota and his Kudo

Dakota's monster elk taken at age 11 in New Mexico

Taking time to expose youth, both boys and girls to the joys of hunting is ensuring that there will be a future for this great sport. It's also what builds traditions and fond memories. I know that Jim got a great sense of satisfaction today watching Dakota hunt. He recanted for me how nicely he responded to a double wild flush, quickly having to choose which pheasant to take. And although Jim won't be upland hunting on Monday, Jim will be venturing off into the woods to deer hunt with his 21 year old daughter Samantha who is home from college. I'm pretty sure nothing means more to him then getting to spend that time in the woods with her.

Another bull elk taken earlier this year by Dakota with a muzzleloader in 

New Mexico at the age of 13

Dakota has been very lucky and most kids won't get the chance to hunt some of the things that he has, but exposing kids to even the simplest joys of the outdoors will be fruitful to the next generation.