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I was up on the UP hunting grouse with a buddy and our dogs this past week. Saw a lot of birds. Also saw a great movie about the UP, deer hunting, and family. “Escanaba in the Moonlight“. Jeff Daniels film, a comedy, and I’m not doing a review – just recommend it if you hunt.

Anyways, in the movie, one of the characters had a nice brass compass that pinned to his hunting jacket. Took me a little bit of time to find it but it turns out it is a Marbles Compass.

I’ve ordered one for when I’m hunting unfamiliar ground.

Just got back from my second Upper Peninsula grouse hunt with a friend and his dad. Hunted four or five different spots on public land. Populations were generally down, suppose its related to where they are in the seven year cycle, but we had 4 or 5 finds each day. Our missed shots brought some looks of disdain from the dogs.

Ruby managed to find a porcupine and this time I ended up with about 30 quills to pull out of her face. Luckily no damage done, except perhaps to her ego.

I’ve noticed when we hunt she really assumes the alpha female role with other dogs. She’s been well socialized and unless the other dog is really aggressive, she’s pretty easy going. But when she gets her collar on and the hunt is on, she really doesn’t have patience for dogs that want to still play and not work. It’s never more than a warning, but she puts them in their place and gets to work.

What was a bit unsettling this trip was the amount of wolf sign there was around the areas we hunted. Looks like they are coming back with a vengeance up there. One of the locals told me not to run her on a beeper collar as the wolves think of it as a potential dinner bell. Not sure if he was pulling my leg, but I ran her with a swiss bell, which required more paying attention from me. We saw two wolves from the truck late one day. Amazing how tall they are.

I picked up a new 20 gauge recently on the notion that my youngest is going to start hunting soon and he’ll need a gun of his own.  I was talking with some of the guys in the barber shop (yes that still happens!) and Bob, one of the barbers, was keen on Stoeger and the overall value.  I checked out some of the guns at Galyan’s and it seemed well made and light enough.  The Condor is made in Brazil by E.R.Amantino.   I went with the 26 inch barrel on this one.

Update:  So I took this gun grouse hunting and I really fell in love with it.  I have to say that I like shooting it as much, if not more, than my Beretta.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting older but I like the size and weight and I seem to hit what I want to.

We had a couple of fun hunts this year. The first was with a few guys from town at a place out in Dundee, Illinois at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation. Pretty amazing place, a fun morning of hunting, patient guides.

A few week later we went out to the Sugar Grove, IL area and hunted at Millbrook, a private club. We were the guests of a dad who’s son played freshman football with my oldest. There were ten or so of us, some of which were somewhat inexperienced, but we had a fantastic time. Ruby ran well, my oldest shot safely and well as usual, and the hunt was a lot of fun.

Whistles really seem to come down, at least for me, to what you like. The pitch or tone never seems to matter much to Ruby, while I have one whistle I use primarily, I’ve used others and even used my steel “coaches” whistle when I forgot my usual one.

What’s my usual one? I really favor the orange Ray Gonia Special training whistle. I think I paid about five dollars for it.

I’ve run my Brittany in some trials and I’ve hunted her quite a bit. She spent a great summer with a professional trainer and really got to the point she needed to be for one years old. Whoa, steady point, hunting targets, honoring (well that still needs some work) , etc.

She’ll be going back for a second summer of training soon and I’ve some decisions to make on what I want the focus to be. I think she’s brilliant, but there’s only so much we can fit in her head.

Lots of folks want them to heel, be steady to the wing and shot, run big, etc. All those things are great if they fit the purpose for which you own the dog. If you trial, there are skills that are a necessity, if you don’t trial then my opinion is that it’s really up to you how to finish them.

For example, obedience trainers will want to teach a dog to sit. A hunting or trialing dog owner most likely won’t want to teach them to sit because the dog may slide out of a point and into a sitting position. Might not bother you, or might be that you want the dog to sit, but many will think its a bad choice. The point is, its your choice ultimately. My preference was that she NOT learn to sit. It just makes sense to me, how I hunt with her, and the fact that we enjoyed trialing for a while.

For me trialing was an interesting (and fun) experience, but I have three sons in competitive sports and the point of trialing was to give Ruby something to do when she wasn’t hunting with me, I don’t really have time for another child in competitive sports right now. Therefore, I’ll likely stop trialing because, for me, some of the skills she needs to be successful at it aren’t necessarily how I want her to hunt. Hunting is how she and I will spend most of our time.

We tend to hunt just the two of us a lot, in a lot of varied cover and conditions. So steady to the wing and shot, or running big doesn’t always work well and to trial well she needs to do both of those well (at least from my observations.) I’ve seen in the first year that she adapts well to the situation and my choice is going to be to focus on the hunting aspect and how she and I work together.

Now certainly I want her to honor other dogs points, its just good manners. Heeling is going to be useful not only in the field, but also when she’s at home and my wife walks her. The finer points I’m not going to worry about.

There’s an awful lot of opinions on how a dog should act, and all have their merit I’m sure, but remember its YOUR dog and how you want to work with it is really up to you. (That’s really not my original thought, it comes from talking to her trainer and listening to his philosophy.)

I’d say this though; if you have any interest in trialing to start off, you should definitely try it, just make sure you teach your dog the skills that will allow them to be successful at competing. Understand the rules of trialing and the expectations of a dogs behavior in a brace. If after time, you decide not to trial, these skills are still immensely useful, even in day to day life at home.

I took Ruby to a field trial in Michigan recently. The trial was interesting and I think she did fine. Met some nice folks and her trainer was there running dogs as well. I borrowed a horse for part of the trial and learned I’m certainly no horseman. But I managed through.

After the trial four of us went up to north central Michigan, southwest of Traverse City a bit in Wexford County (as I recall.) I was a great trip, good group of guys and the Brits were a lot of fun to watch.

It was Ruby’s first time on grouse and she really acquitted herself well, running with the vets, honoring points, finding birds, holding her point. One set of dogs ran with Swiss Bells and while it was certainly traditional and also soothing to hear the bells jangling, im not sure I’m comfortable enough yet to give up the beeper on her collar. It’s probably more me than her. Well actually it’s the fear of what my wife would do if I lost her for a while!

I’ve not been on public ground groomed for grouse. It’s pretty interesting how they manage it in some areas – four corners are cut in cycles so that one is almost old growth, one is what I think most would consider prime, one quadrant is younger growth approaching prime, and one is pretty much young growth. At least that’s how I understood it.

Ruby found a porcupine and luckily didn’t tangle with it. I am glad she didn’t end up with a snout full of quills!

We saw quite a few birds and Ruby had a solid handful of finds and points.

I treated myself to an early anniversary present and bought myself a Beretta Over-and-Under 12 gauge with a 28 inch barrel. I’ve always wanted an O/U and finally pulled the proverbial trigger. Black matte finish, a meat and potatoes sort of gun. Ok well, perhaps a New York Strip and Potatoes Lyonnaise at the price point, but not something I’ll be afraid to ding up a little in the field.

Update:  The gun is a very nice one.  It shoots well, I tend to shoot poorly.  My 14 year old son borrowed it for part of opening day and was hitting doubles when we shot some trap after lunch.  Got his first bird in the afternoon.    All in all a good day!

I found this great upland vest at Orvis. Oilskin cloth with just the right amount of orange. Pockets are roomy for shells and the main pockets have the traditional elasticized strips that hold about eight shells. Hand warmer pockets that I can stuff my gloves in or big enough to hold my collar remote. I think the material will age well.

I’ve been looking at Training collars while Ruby is away training and I think I’ve settled on the Innotek Command Series CS 1600TT. It allows you to run two dogs, and if I can get spousal agreement to add another Brit in a year or two, the extra cost will be worth it.

It is a bit spendy, but the folks that I’ve talked to at trials all seem to like it.