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Journal and Pictures from Hunting Trips (some training) October 19, 2003 - Feb. 22, 2004 Top Gun & Open Pointer - Woods & Meadow (results link) |
October 19th - practice duck hunt
at Hook Lake (review boat & blind manners), nice
day, high sky, two high flying ducks = no shots, total time about three
hours (door-to-
door), relaxing day on the bog
October 20th - conditioning hunt and scouting at Prince's Point
WLA in Wisconsin (1281
acres of marsh, potholes, timber, farmland) very dry and low water,
warm - started
about 60°and ended at 75°, creek to cool off in.
Taffey handled heat fine. Lick was
pacing herself wisely, Both hunted well (the "roading" pays off)
and were very
responsive in the deep cover. Late in the hunt Taffey pinned a
surprised rooster (we
hunt very quietly) and he was flushed with a wild squawk. It was
the last thing he did.
Oct 21 quick trip to Avon Bottoms WLA, WI (24 miles away), 55° with
a cool breeze & heavy cloud cover, very nice! used same approach
- walk areas adjacent to private crops, hunted half mile to corn through
heavy cover and then parallel to the corn (20 yards out) for almost a
mile, kicked doe out about halfway and then worked what turned out to
be two hens, pushed on hoping for running roosters, finally one young
rooster couldn't take the steady pressure, he jumped up 10 yards inside
the corn, cackled and flew straight away with the wind, one fast shot
appeared (wasn't sure) to hit him just as he disappeared below the corn
horizon, a minute later Taffey popped from the corn with the flapping
rooster; long, tough shot and a very lucky one Wow! three very pleasing
days in a row, what fun!
1528 acres - river bottom, brush,
woodlots, marsh, farmland
Lick & Taffey with young rooster
(difficult cover, lots of nicks)
Oct 23 day off! trip to vets for 6-month PRO-Heart injection and buy Frontline-plus
pheasant hunt/scouting at Footsville and Evansville Public Hunting Areas in WI.
1st area - Footsville two hens and a rooster flushed wild (heavy hunting pressure,
but Taffey worked them well, the rooster used tree to shield himself = no shot!
2nd area - Evansville - way over 50% of the so called leased land was bare fields with
no fence lines, found one area and decided to hunt an isolate hedge row with
harvested corn on each side, nearing the end Taffey pinned what turned out to be
two roosters. she froze up on a nice point, way out of range (70 yards ahead), trees
blocked any eld and after kicking the fence a rooster jumped up followed by another,
perfect double chance, missed the far one and dropped the second, 15 minutes later
got three more roosters up, but high weeds made for next to impossible shots, then
Taffey "hooked" a runner and it flushed back toward me for an easy shot, Taffey's
face is bloody around both eyes and her nose is raw, she never stopped pounding the
cover--- slight breeze, 48°, very dry & sunny, very tough cover except for the hedge
row, time in the field about two hours
Oct 25 Blonhaven Tower Shoot - seven handlers and a 250 bird release, Taffey picked up
twenty birds, several cripples with two very nice tracking retrieves (switched on four
retrieves - too many birds falling for fair corrections), cleaned area #1 (four/five more
birds) total 126 birds retrieved, tower shoot clients were to cover areas 2 & 3 later
Brad S. Brian M. Ron S. Brent S. Jim W. Jim B. Pete W.
"Tonka" "Daisey" "Regal" "Chance" "Duke" "Taffey" "Ruger"
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Oct 26 day off! Oct 27 road four miles (rig layout boat) Oct 28 road three miles Oct 29 grouse hunt - leave 4:00 am and at 7:46 am (245 miles later) met Bruce at the "deer" camp trailer near Tomahawk, WI to hunt lumber mill properties. hunted a total of about six hours, got up 8 grouse and 4 woodcock, very brutal cover for this 63 year old body, way to sore to sleep well first night Oct 30 next morning started with a slow, cold drizzle; a strong dose of Naprosin was fighting the total rigor mortis of the night, we hunted three/four hours - saw or heard nothing, went back to pack everything and the rain stopped, hunted a small five acre area near the trailer and got up 8 grouse - with only one very "iffy" shot, then spent another few hours on public land, had the only "fair" shot of the whole two days - missed! Physically it was almost too much (slipped or stumbled and fell several times, got "misplaced" for almost two hour once, stepped in a hole that went past my knee, jabbed thorns and stumps in just about every part of my body possible, but after it was over, I'd have to include it with some of the best times hunting I've ever had, Taffey was still going strong on day two, but 17 grouse and 4 woodcock are still there for next time (and I now have a GPS) Oct 31 road two easy miles (scout out local farm for permission - late northern ducks) got another NO! Nov 1 road four miles Nov 2 rainy day Nov 3 more rain Nov 4 thunderstorms! Nov 5 river duck hunt with Brad S. and "Tonka", cold, breezy and cloudy, left house 4:45 am, short ride up the river, decoys out ready to hunt at half-hour before sunrise, lots of "Woodies" early, mallards later (missed ALL in a bunch of 8 right in the decoys, geez!), missed an EASY goose, final bag - 4 wood ducks, 3 mallards, 1 gadwall, Brad "knows ducks", shooting left a lot to be desired, dogs did well and had some tough swims in the current, once two ducks down with both dogs in the water and Taffey was whistle cast off one duck to retrieve a far cripple in the strong current (solid retrieve), home - 12 noon.........What fun!
Nov
6 late afternoon duck hunt at Prince's Point marsh, first time out in
"Marsh Rat" |
two cold blinds - 200 & 175 yards needed only one whistle for a slight angle back
on each and she ran very hard and straight right after big quartering hunts on a
ten acre field (switched modes seamlessly!)
Dec 10 rain followed by ice and snow storm, day off!
Dec 11 worked four pheasants (singles - at "Macktown" forest preserve dog training area),
after big runs, four excellent points "off" of birds which made steady to flush on
the first three much easier, last one ran into short cover & became too tempting,
got controlled break, did four "whoa" steady to tossed dead pheasant retrieves,
finished with a forty-five minute run big drill, very cold and windy with snow on
the ground, strong flyers, excellent day!
Dec 12 worked four pheasants (single sets - across from Wisconsin Ottawa Field Trial
Grounds with Brent) four points - all way too close, steady for two, broke on one
and controlled break on another, shot two (plenty of drive & still on the "edge")
this will be OK for the "shoot to retrieve", but not near the desired standards,
did a 20 minute run big drill and then ran 200 & 250 yard cold blinds from top
of hill on the field trial grounds took all casts and ran hard
(15°, windy with snow on the ground)
It will be a big surprise if we even come close to a clean run on Sunday.
Which dog will show up?
Dec 13 run big drills, no birds for Taffey - "The Circle" area in the morning & "Macktown"
area in the late afternoon (Blonhaven private "Euro" cancelled)
Dec 14 Wisconsin Championship Hunting Series at Woods & Meadow Hunting Preserve
running in Top Gun Pointing Division (goals - learn, time is not
the primary focus, maintain standards, avoid mistakes)
Taffey finished 4th, nice plaque, four very nice points, four birds in the bag and
only four shells, unfortunately the younger guys can just move faster than Taffey's
handler so time was our downfall
two roosters and two hens were planted in a full 10 acre field with sorghum,
switch grass strips plus three/four inches of snow, the run big drills worked
quite well and she really covered the ground. the points came after winding birds
from 70 to 125 yards out and she held them for me to flush, she turned once on
the wind and with her head high went about 125 yards to point a rooster,
excellent scenting conditions and her nose impressed the judge
1st was seven minutes, 2nd -9+minutes, 3rd - 11minutes 33 seconds and
Taffey was 11 minutes 45 seconds (note: first three all ran twice and their other
scores were below Taffey's - she ran once, the 2nd&3rd dogs finished 1/2 in the
Open Pointer class
final thoughts - to win I have to move faster and not cover the whole field, grab
birds and run quickly away from the areas of a retrieve, it helps if the guy in
front of you does not get all his birds or you get a "close" plant and find them
Today went very well, learned much and I know she can compete with the best.
Went grouse hunting on public land after morning run - saw no birds or signs in
the snow, but my GPS worked! I need to exercise more and loose thirty pounds!
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Open Pointer Results - Woods & Meadow
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Dec 15 Day Off! January 10-11
is at Wern Valley with five chukars
review bird handling & self "whoa" maintenance, work on her
self control
with bird interactions this week, five chukars Thursday & five more Friday
Dec. 16 Sleet & snow
Dec. 17 run big exercise at "Macktown" - 45 minutes
(with Lick)
Dec. 18 worked with five chukars at Brian's - reviewing self
whoa steady to wing and
shot, zero tolerance for motion, ran two cold blinds (150 & 175 yards),
one simple double (live flyer chukars) and bird handling drill
Dec. 19 worked five more chukars at "The Quarry"
(shot four), focus on behavior during
dog/bird interactions (reduced verbal involvement on my part)
Dec. 20 Day off!
Dec. 21 Day off!
Dec. 22 run big exercise at "Macktown" and "The
Circle" (morning & evening)
enter Top Gun Pointer Division - Wisconsin Open Partridge Championships
at Wern Valley (Jan 10-11)
Dec. 23 ran big run drill with Taffey & Lick at "Macktwon",
then laid out permanent five-
legged pattern blind using range finder (left to right with 40°
spread
- 200, 75,
300, 175, 165 yards), run "left set" 200, 75 & 300 yds with three chukars
per
pile at each (center first, then left & right), used rattle
stick to maintain strict
bird
retrieving rules (lined first two on last run, two whistled the 300
yard on
last run, 15 mile per hour cross-wind, cloudy at 26°)
note: faded with wind on long blind, trouble casting into wind
initially, much
better on last
Dec. 24 ran all five legs of pattern blind with
right two first (as cold blinds)
Dec. 25 Christmas! ran all five legs of pattern blind
(left to right)
Dec. 26-30 four days of R & R
Dec. 31 ran pattern blind at "Macktown" (really
close to lining all in tough cross winds)
Jan. 1 ran pattern blind at "Macktown",
three long two dog "poorman" marks
Jan. 2 trip to Tennessee (stayed overnight)
Jan. 3 picked up "Kooly", 1275 miles
round trip (super weather)
Jan. 4 day off! (snow started in the afternoon)
Jan. 5 puppy and the rest to vet's at 11:20 am,
run pattern blinds at "Macktown"
Jan. 6 ran pattern blind at "Macktown"
Jan. 7 worked three chukars at "Macktown", ran
the pattern blind & did run big drill
Jan. 8 worked three chukars at "The Circle"
after big run drill, three nice points and
solid on letting me flush, did not shoot any (gunning not possible in this
area)
Jan. 9 worked five chukars at Blonhaven in the
morning, shot the last two for Taffey
Lick (my six year old flushing lab) was able to scratch hunt for an hour,
got up four
pheasants with a surprise point (held it for much longer than ever before)
found
two more pheasants shot by another group nearby. The heart murmur seems to
have
had little impact on her desire, not moving as fast......but what a nose!
Taffey pointing a chukar while
training at Blonhaven Hunt Club
in Wisconsin. Fine tuning for Wern
Valley Top Gun Pointer Partridge
Championship Series.
Jan. 10 ran the five legged pattern blind at "Macktown" then worked four chukars, four solid
points and steady to flush and shot, then relocated a chukar after tracking about
100 yards, held solid on point as it started to run on the ground when I tried to flush
it, her pointing "rules" are now back to the way they were before the clipped-wing
pigeon "modification", excellent training session with consistency (four straight days
and demanding correct standards on a diet of 15 chukars seems to have worked,
Brian suggested a dog that "gets off" on being high learns how to deal better with it
if you can duplicate the "feelings" on a regular basis (interesting idea as
desensitization comes to mind)
Jan 11 WI Partridge Championship Series at Wern Valley - Well, we got our "lunch
handed to us" today. With a huge area of chest high cover, snow on the ground,
25 mile an hour gusts and running chukar (everywhere), Taffey and I were just
not prepared. Out of 30 runs we finished 19th. Without a beeper collar we were
at a huge disadvantage. In both runs, she started off with a terrific find and
point....steady to wing/shot and looking good. Then the high cover and running
chukars took their toll. She hunted really well as I struggled to keep her in sight.
The judges were impressed with her search, run and point, but not so with the
running chukar issue. Pretty obvious...........get a beeper collar on her and
tighten up "the rules" on visible running birds. The clipped wing pigeons used
on blinds is coming back to haunt us. All in all, we are learning and the ability
is there. On a sour note, someone quietly and tactfully informed me several
pointer handlers were a bit miffed (no.......really pissed off!) that a pointing
Lab was messin' in their "stuff", and don't be surprised if there is a specific
rule change next year. Lots of work to do!
(see Feb. 8th)
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FINISH |
NAME(S) |
DOG |
TME |
TME SEC |
16 PT FIND |
10 PT F I ND |
|
FULL RET |
PRT RET |
BIRDS |
SCORE |
|
1 |
Skydance Kennels |
Ringo |
4 |
32 |
5 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
386.40 |
|
2 |
Jeff Pearson |
Flusher |
7 |
31 |
5 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
377.45 |
|
3 |
Tim Callahan |
Bubba |
6 |
35 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
374.25 |
|
4 |
Jeff Pearson |
Rosie |
10 |
36 |
5 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
356.20 |
|
5 |
Skydance Kennels |
Ringo |
12 |
38 |
5 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
362.10 |
|
6 |
Jeff Pearson |
Rosie |
12 |
42 |
5 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
361.90 |
|
7 |
John Klein |
Deion |
9 |
52 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
360.40 |
|
8 |
Alex Vla |
Gracie |
7 |
46 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
358.70 |
|
9 |
George Kane |
Star |
14 |
23 |
5 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
356.85 |
|
10 |
John Klein |
Candy |
15 |
37 |
5 |
|
4 |
5 |
|
5 |
343.15 |
|
11 |
Scott Kusel |
Huntz |
15 |
57 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
342.15 |
|
12 |
Jack Heim |
Dusty |
19 |
25 |
5 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
5 |
341.75 |
|
13 |
Dave Williams |
Keeper |
19 |
60 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
|
4 |
306.00 |
|
14 |
Bill Steeno |
Mondtal |
17 |
16 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
|
5 |
302.20 |
|
15 |
Mike Dunn |
Bud |
19 |
60 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
4 |
|
4 |
302.00 |
|
16 |
Mike Dunn |
Bud |
19 |
60 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
4 |
|
4 |
302.00 |
|
17 |
Jack Heim |
Dusty |
19 |
60 |
4 |
|
6 |
4 |
|
4 |
292.00 |
|
18 |
George Kane |
Star |
19 |
60 |
4 |
|
6 |
4 |
|
4 |
292.00 |
|
19 |
Jim Boyer |
19 |
60 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
292.00 |
|
|
20 |
Jim Boyer |
19 |
60 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
|
4 |
266.00 |
|
|
21 |
Scott Kusel |
19 |
60 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
|
3 |
254.00 |
|
|
22 |
Matt Anderson |
Kodie |
19 |
60 |
4 |
|
6 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
246.00 |
|
23 |
Jeff Pearson |
Flusher |
19 |
60 |
5 |
|
8 |
2 |
|
2 |
244.00 |
|
24 |
Joel Peterson |
Dixie |
19 |
60 |
4 |
|
4 |
3 |
|
3 |
230.00 |
|
25 |
Tom Strunz |
Molly |
19 |
60 |
4 |
|
5 |
2 |
|
2 |
198.00 |
|
26 |
Tom Strunz |
Molly |
19 |
60 |
2 |
|
8 |
2 |
|
2 |
196.00 |
|
27 |
John Brandt |
Hubert |
19 |
60 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
|
2 |
192.00 |
|
28 |
Joel Peterson |
Dixie |
19 |
60 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
|
2 |
186.00 |
|
29 |
Bill Steeno |
Kleine |
19 |
60 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
|
1 |
186.00 |
|
30 |
Dave Williams |
Heidi |
19 |
60 |
4 |
|
7 |
1 |
|
1 |
176.00 |
Jan. 15 run big drill using beeper collar (first time) took about a half hour to get over the
distraction, being responsive to whistle commands to change direction made the
"beeps" from the collar confusing (range cut way down, but could see some
relaxing taking place)
Jan. 16 day off
Jan. 17 do a "beeper run" (ranging better and less distracted) and then run pattern blinds
at "Macktown", decided to not run at Little Creek (near Green Bay) because of
possible weather problems - too far, run Illinois Upland Series Northern Regional
Amateur Pointer at Rock Hollow Cons. Club near Freeport, IL Feb. 7-8 (enter
before Feb. 1)
Jan. 18 "beeper run" at "Macktown" & ran pattern blind
Jan. 19-22 couch potato time - bitter cold, sign-up for Illinois Upland Series in Amateur
Pointer (two runs Sunday Feb. 8th)
Jan. 23 run at "Macktown" (Lick & Taffey) plus ten 2-dog walking "poorman" marks
Jan. 24 day off Taffey is definitely in heat (earlier hints were true)
Jan. 25 two Blonhaven "Euro's" - Lick went and did a really good job (two 400 bird
releases with 75 ducks in each one)
Jan. 26 training hunt at Blonhaven (morning) - got up at least 30 pheasants, excellent
day to train (extra birds from previous day's tower shoots)
Jan. 27 day off!
Jan. 28 run an hour at "The Circle"
Jan. 29 guide a 15 bird release at Blonhaven (afternoon) - cancelled because of bad
weather, so day off
Jan. 30 couple fun dummies in the front yard
Jan. 31 day off, cold!
Feb. 1 run at "Macktown" spent the whole time searching for rabbit M&M's, should
have had the collar on
Feb. 2 day off, cold!
Feb. 3 ran for 25 minutes at "Macktown"
Feb. 4 ran at Blonhaven scratch training - pointed three pheasants, I flushed and
shot the primer pistol, five other pheasant would not hold and flushed wild
not a good day to work on pointing protocol
Feb. 5 planted four pheasants for training - #1 pointed well and held for flush, shot,
next bird g0ood point, but it wouldn't fly (^%$#@), heeled her off this bird,
bumped a walking hen from the upwind side (20-25 mph and six inches of
snow) and the last one flushed wild, put her up, Taffey in heat is not too
tightly wrapped & the scenting seems distracted?
took Lick up and she quickly found & retrieved the non-flyer, flushed two
roosters and pointed another (three in the bag), got up four other birds which
I missed (tough day to shoot)
Feb. 6 work easy on OB front yard - five more inches of snow, wish I had not entered
Sunday's "shoot to retrieve" - full blown in heat and don't expect much
Feb. 7 ran Taffey for scratch birds in area #11 at Blonhaven, one wild flush on a
rooster
Feb. 8 Illinois Upland Championships last runs of the day, first one found only
one bird and pointed second after time up (8 inches of snow, cold and
windy), made a spectacular retrieve...but not much else to write home about
second - first bird flushed as she turned to point (didn't shoot - good choice
for dog standards, but cost us a trophy), then she nailed three very nice
points, I had three shots and three birds were in the bag, if that first bird
had "cooperated" we'd have completed the run in under 10 minutes which
would have been good enough for 2nd (IF!), still finished 6th (one place out
of a trophy & very happy with both of our performances)
Feb. 9-19 ten days of couch potato & some easy yard work, did not enter "shoot to
retrieve" near St. Louis - too far away
Feb. 20 run pattern blinds at "Macktown"
Feb. 21 work five chukars at Steve's place, three good points, jumped in on one
and excellent correction, nice place to train and a helper is tons better
than training alone
Feb. 22 Blonhaven tower shoot, Taffey picked up 47 pheasants with some tough
cold blinds, afterwards ran poison bird, remote launcher three blind
KRD (rusty, but not bad)