Getting excited!!

[Thomas]

The rafting season has almost come to a close, and that means one thing... hunting season!! Our GWP will be 2 this september, and by the end of our hunting days in November, she may be on track to have 200 wild birds pointed and retrieved to hand! She will get about 14 days on ruffed grouse and woodcock, and 28 days on pheasant and sharpatail, and hopefully the occasional hun. We hope to keep a better photo-journal this year and hope to post some of the highlights on this thread. Good luck to everyone this fall!

[Quill Gordon]

Yah, looking forward to'er. I'm thrilled some of you fellers/fellerettes are packing cameras along these days. My camera has become as essential as the shotgun.
Good luck

[pgidley]

That is a gorgeous photo, QG! We're only a couple short weeks away up here, and can hardly wait!

[Quill Gordon]

Gracie

Although Mother Nature deserves the credit

[Elkhunter]

I cant wait either, the wife can though! Hit the hills with a buddy today to check out a few spots! Quill all public land and no bird farms! Moved 6 or so coveys in 3 hours, should be a great year to be a bird dog!


Woody's first find..

A little of the country...


Tired Hound

My buddies young GSP

Tough work bein a bird dog!

[Quill Gordon]

Nice shots. A few questions. The cover looks decent in yer photo's however photo's can be deceiving, is this the case? How big was the covey's found? Size of the juvenile birds? (& last but certainly not least) What are the GPS coordinates to this area?

[Elkhunter]

Cover was decent, some spots were burned last year so cover was not as deep as some of the ridges that did not burn. Covey's were like 10-20 birds, the juvenile birds looked pretty mature and healthy though I could not tell if there were 2 hatches. I was at an area 3 weeks ago that I for sure saw 2 different age groups of chicks. Its in UT county!

[Thomas]

Those photos look like heaven to me! Two weeks and counting until we are back up in the North woods. It looks as though we may be doing a lot more grouse hunting than originally thought, which is sure to be more frustrating for me and the dog, but the reward is that much greater. She did very well on pheasant last year, and I am excited to see how and what she learns in her second season starting off with a good dose of the elusive grouse. You know you live a tough life when the decision is what type of game to get the dog on. Autumn here we come!

[Thomas]

Well the season is all over for us and another memorable season it has been. Grouse hunting was a little tough with very low numbers at our first camp and then the dog pulled a muscle in her leg as she chased down a squirrel at our second camp so we gave her the rest of the week off as our main focus was going to be a month of pheasant hunting and we wanted her ready to go for opener. As Zoey finished her 2nd hunting season she earned her 186th wild pointed bird that resulted in a retrieve. It was a lot of fun to watch her continue to learn and to see her skills develop even further. As promised, here are a few of the pics from her season.






Even though she is the most conditioned dog all the way around that I have ever had, the ice was too much for her feet this day and all four paws were bloody after the first hunt do to the harsh ice on top of the snow. We put these boots on her, which she protested to at first, but quickly decided were okay.





For those of you whom have never seen a hermaphrodite pheasant before:

If your getting excited thinking its a hen look close and note the spurs on its legs.














Here is a picture of the pheasant machine with her pointed birds from that day. We were getting pressed pretty hard by the guys in our hunting party at the end of this day for this little gal to have puppies. She is the best two year old dog that I have ever hunted pheasants over. If we could find the right stud a few years down the road, we would love a couple pups from this gal. It would need to be a German bred dog, or a dog with those high standards and qualities. Both of her parents were DDs born in Germany although Zoey is a 1st generation GWP. We have become kind of partial to her slick coat as it is zero maintenance and she does very well on the warmer days as compared to her proper coated counterparts.

Some of the images appear to be cut off as I look at them on this forum from this computer (a mac) but if I click on them and drag the photo a bit I am able to see the entire photo. Happy Hunting!

[orhunter]

Thanks for all the great photos. Fantastic trip for sure.

I posted a photo of a Hermaphrodite I shot in ND last year.

[JTracyII]

Enjoyed the photos. How does your dog hunting in water in cold weather with that slick coat?

[Deltaduck]

Very cool!!

[Thomas]

Thanks. Zoey had a few cold water retrieves where she was busting through the ice this year, but not too many days like that. She does just fine. If we are out committed to a cold morning or a day of duck hunting in cold water she has a neoprene vest that she wears to help keep her core warm, but my last Lab needed that too, so that is nothing new for me. Not that this pup's slick coat was a choice of ours (we were pretty bummed at first when it became apparent she was a slick) but after having this dog, and having many days hunting in warmer weather where other heavy coated dogs were out after a few minutes, having to choose between putting the vest on the dog for the cold all water days, or having her not be able to hunt for very long on the warmer ones, we could not have lucked out more. Some day I will have my way and be hunting over an "ugly dog" but until then I am quite pleased with this beauty!

[ryanr]

Great photos. Only 2yrs old and already 186 pointed wild birds! I'm a bit jealous, I have no way of getting my DD pup on wild pheasants here in PA (our state is currently trying to re-establish wild pheasants but hunting & even dog-training is strictly forbidden within the designated recovery areas.) Right now, we're even find it hard to find the released pheasants still alive on the state gamelands. My 14wk old pup has been finding plenty of dead birds or bird parts to parade around with though! He's still young yet but it looks like my DD will have a slicker coat and very little beard than the average DD. His father has the typical DD coat but his mother's coat is harsh but slick as his appears to be so far. Like you, I was hoping for a dog with more furnishings and a wiry coat but certainly can't complain about what his hunting instincts and nose seem to be already. Again thanks for the photo essay, really enjoyable.