BirdHuntingBlog.com
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Necropsy results on Val's passing
I called the Vet at the U of MN that performed the procedure and spoke with him. He said that he remembered it well as they weren’t finding anything that could give them a reason why it could have happened. He said it could have been a seizure or a heart attack that didn’t leave any damage. We talked about toxins and he said that the organs didn’t show any signs that toxins were the cause but that there was an extended test that they could run for an extra fee but that he didn’t think it would show anything. We opted to have the test run just in case it would lead to some answers.
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Pheasant Hunt Hutchinson MN November 17 2024
It had been just over a week since our almost 7 yr old Val setter passed away after a hunt and I wasn’t quite ready to hunt again but our 12 yr old setter Tasha was tired of hanging around the house.
It was a fairly nice day, 50 dogs and a slight breeze. I loaded up and water and we set off into the field. She went on point almost right away, it was a nice point but it ended up being a hen. We worked the east end of the field which had a picked soybean field next to it. We had 2 more hen points. We turned and followed the south side of the property. Tasha was working a scent for half of the length when she locked up and this time I kicked up a nice rooster and I was able to bring it down with a shot. I was using my 12 ga Beretta semi auto with an improved choke and #6 shot.This field is 1/2 half of a 160. Our half has a lot of cattails and is better for late season hunts but does seem ok even in the earlier season. Tasha and I hit the border of the property and swung along the west side and about 1/4 of the way she went on a point and a nice rooster got up, I took two shots and it dropped a leg. It was still flying decently when it landed. We looked for quite a while but it’s trail let to the cattails and standing water. We did not end up finding it. I did switch to #5 shot after this incident. We ended up working around the cattails but didn’t move any more birds until we got back to the west end of the cattails and started to work the grass again. We got 3 more hen points but no more roosters before we got back to the truck.
It was a nice hunt to get Tasha back into the field as she has been a bit lonely without her buddy.
We hunted about 2 hours… Tasha was doing well at 1:45 but was tired from the extra 15 minutes.
Gear:
Danner Vital Boots
CZ 12 GA Sharptail Target SxS Shotgun
Garmin Alpha 300 + T 5X Collars
Dogtra T&B DUAL Training and Beeper Collar
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Our setter Val passed away after a hunt... 11/8/24
Val with her pheasant 1 hr before she passed away on our way home |
Our wonderful gal Val ( 6yr 10 mos ) passed away last night on our way back from a hunt. We had been hunting by Albert Lea and she did great. Everything seemed normal after the hunt, she drank some water, ate a few biscuits while I loaded up everythingand field dressed her pheasant. I stopped about an hour into the drive to let her out to go to the bathroom. She was laying in her kennel, I thought she was asleep, I tried to rouse her but she didn’t get up. I couldn’t get her to come around. I took her to an emergency vet but she had passed. We did take her to the U of MN where they will do a necropsy on her. I have a suspicion that she drank some funky water. She came out of the cover a few times and was wet but none of the water that I saw looked weird or scummy.
We are crushed. She was just such a total sweet heart. On every hunt this year I was saying to myself I’d like to just copy her. She was a joy at home and out hunting.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Albert Lea MN Pheasant Hunt Limit Nov 2 2024
A Mid Season Pheasant Hunt
The afternoon drew me back to the Albert Lea area, where we'd managed to bag a single bird on opening weekend. Despite temperatures climbing to an unseasonable 55 degrees, the sun and steady breeze made for promising hunting conditions.
The action started quickly, with Val pointing eight hens in succession. Working into a tailwind, she bumped a rooster at about 120 yards - a forgivable mistake given the challenging wind conditions.
Later, while trying to direct Tasha toward Val's position, I noticed Val intensely working a scent trail off in the distance. It turned out to be just another hen, but the dogs' enthusiasm never wavered. As we began making our way back to the truck, Val locked up on point. This time, the rooster held tight until I could close the distance. When the bird flushed, one clean shot brought it down.
The day wasn't over yet. Approaching the road, both dogs caught wind of something promising. Their behavior telegraphed what was coming - a magnificent rooster erupted from cover. Another single shot rang out, and our second bird of the day was in hand.
The warm weather might not have been ideal for late-season pheasant hunting, but with cooperative birds, steady dogs, and clean shooting, it turned into a successful afternoon in the field.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Hutchinson MN Pheasant Hunt October 30th 2024
Normally I prefer to run the dogs separately but with my injured foot I am trying to keep my hunts to about 90 minutes so I decided to run both dogs at once. We started by running along the north side of the field. We got 4 or 5 hen points right away and one wild rooster flush. We swung left and worked the west side… we didn’t move any birds along this stretch but as soon as we swung along the south side we got 2 more hens pointed. It wasn’t until we hit the east side that we got a point on a rooster. Both dogs were working scent in the thicker cover and it looked like they were moving it right on the edge of the field. The rooster finally broke and I was able to get a shot off. It was hit but not folded. Tasha was on the track quickly and I thought she had it a couple of times but we never did find it.
We moved towards the interior of the property and got a few more pointed that turned out to be hens. After the batch of hens we got another point and this time it was a rooster and we made a solid connection and put it into the game bag. We made our way back to the truck and gave the dogs a quick break. I ended up leaving Tasha in her kennel and just ran Val after the break. We ran for another half hour but didn’t see any more roosters. We wrapped up at about 85 minutes. The dogs worked well as they have all season.
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Ruffed Grouse Hunt Hibbing MN 10.3.23
I put the 11 year old Tasha down at the first spot that we could hunt at. It is a little bit older than what I would think of as prime but within a 100 yards of starting she went on point and I was able to take the bird with one shot. It was in thinner cover than what we have been moving birds out of. After another 1/2 hour we were ready to turn around and head back to the truck and she started to work scent and this one held for a moment before flushing close to the trail. I was able to also take this one. On the way back we had a bumped bird and I did not connect on it.
Tasha got in just over an hour at 70 degrees and we moved 3 birds and took two.
The second spot was Val’s and this one looked better. Unfortunately we had a tailwind to start and had two bumped birds on the way out. We turned around at the 45 minute mark. I wasn’t too optimistic that we would see anything since we had just hunted the trail. Val ended up working wider than on the way out and got a point within 10 minutes. She was 70 yards off the trail and I was a little surprised that the bird was still holding for her. I was able to take her on the flush and Val made the retrieve. We got a second point about 200 yards short of the truck and it was also near the trail and I had another day shot.
We ended the day as it was creeping into the high 70s and the wind was also picking up. We didn’t move any woodcock today, but on the plus side most of the shots were the easiest that we’ve had so far this season.
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Tuesday, August 8, 2023
Grouse Hunting Dogs: The 10 Best Breeds
Six pointing breeds and four flushers round out our picks. Now let the fur fly…
By Tom Davis
Grouse hunters are a notoriously opinionated bunch. Put more than two of them in the same room and sure as sunrise they’ll find something to disagree about. More likely, they’ll find lots to disagree about. The best shotguns are a bone of endless contention. But if you really want to see the fur fly, stand up in a roomful of grouse hunters and say, “When it comes to grouse hunting dogs, I think breed _____ is the best.” Before you do, identify the closest exit, because objects will be thrown at you.
Today, that’s all changed. Flushing dogs now enjoy a large and enthusiastic following, the Continental breeds are an established force, and the Irishman and the Gordon have made heroic comebacks as grouse hunting dogs. It isn’t that the lights of the pointer and the English setter have dimmed; it’s just that they are no longer the only stars in the sky. William Harnden Foster wouldn’t know what to make of it.
To be sure that you do know what to make of it when it comes time to choose your next pup, here, in no particular order, are snapshots of the top 10 best grouse hunting dogs, 21st century style.
1. English Setter: The Traditional Grouse Dog
This breed remains the classic choice for traditional-minded grouse hunters—although the words “English setter grouse dog” can connote very different animals depending on who’s listening. There are low-to-the-ground, wispily feathered 35-pound English setters that smoke through the woods like missiles, and tall, extravagantly coated 70-pounders who go about their business with the unhurried formality of Downton Abbey butlers. The former are generally known as the field-trial type, the latter as the Ryman/Old Hemlock type. The legendary Tom Prawdzik of Clare, Michigan, believed that an English setter somewhere between those extremes—wide-ranging, but with an easy, all-day gait—was the most “efficient” dog for ruffed grouse hunting. He had 50 years of meticulously kept records to back up that opinion too.
2. Gordon Setter: The Handsomest Grouse Dog
Perhaps the handsomest of all the sporting breeds, the “black-and-tan” gets its name from the fourth Duke of Gordon, the Scottish laird who stabilized the breed’s type in the early 19th century. A steady, level-headed worker who operates at close range and rarely screws up, the Gordon was a great favorite among market hunters—about the best recommendation possible if your aim is to put birds in the bag. But for many years, as bird-dog fashion changed and the Gordon’s breeding was increasingly co-opted by the show crowd (the same fate that befell the Irish setter), sportsmen who’d have loved to hunt grouse with a Gordon had a devil of a time finding one that could hunt. Thankfully, the hunting Gordon is back, and while you won’t find one behind every bush, they’re out there if you make the effort to look.
3. Pointer: The Speedster
No breed elicits stronger opinions than the pointer. As the saying goes, there are really just two kinds of bird-dog people: those who think pointers are the only dogs worth feeding, and those who are scared to death of them. The way I look at it, the pointer is the Formula One racecar of the pointing-dog set: capable of jaw-dropping performance in the hands of those who know what they’re doing, and a wreck waiting to happen in the hands of those who don’t. Both Burton Spiller and William Harnden Foster, two of the most hallowed figures in the lore and literature of grouse hunting, were diehard pointer men. The greatest pointer man of all, Robert G. Wehle of Elhew Kennels fame, was a grouse hunter, and it’s no coincidence that the overwhelming majority of pointers used to chase ruffs boast a preponderance of Elhew blood.
See all 10 breeds and the complete Field and Stream article