July 20 Training Run
Our New Hampshire training sessions have continued the last two mornings, and while yesterday was in the mid-40's when we started, this morning was in the low-50's when we left the truck. Nice temps at this time of year to get the dogs out, but the temperature rises quickly these days, so we were out of the woods by 10:30 or so both days.
Each morning held different challenges, but both were similar in one respect - we saw quite a few grouse each time out. Rosie ran first each morning, as we try to get her a lot of work in preparation for her all-important second season in the grouse woods. It started off promisingly enough yesterday, with a solid point on a woodcock only a minute or two from the truck. Then ... she started to show her youthful exuberance, excitedly hitting the cover (by the way, it's thicker than thick out there right now), sometimes at great distance from me. Eventually, we made our way back to the truck, as it became apparent to me that our "team" chemistry had broken down somewhat.
This morning was much better for Rosie, as she generally worked much closer to me, and was responsive to the "TONE" button on her collar - that's her reminder to check in on me, and she did well cycling back past me whenever the tone went off. It took us a while, but she finally showed some birdiness prior to a couple of grouse launching skyward. At that, she whoaed to a complete stop and watched as five more young grouse exploded away from us. She held throughout this procession of birds, and she found yet another brood of grouse (5-6 birds in this group) fifteen minutes later. She held point beautifully throughout the flushing of this group, and it looks like she's in good form for this time of year. A little later on, she had nice sticking points on two individual woodcock to complete her two hours in the woods.
Bode got to run for an hour yesterday morning and we found a large (10-12) group of grouse, perhaps two broods together, enjoying a particularly succulent wild raspberry patch. They went off one or two at a time, and Bode stood there, watching it all unfold. While Bode needs some bird work prior to the season, he mostly needs to drop 7-8 pounds to get in to better shape before October. He's somewhat of a butter ... no bowling ball at the moment. Finally, old man Monty ran for half an hour, mostly for conditioning - he could roll out of bed on October 1 and be ready to handle his birds.
Looks like we could have a fruitful season ahead, but I'll reserve my prediction for a while yet. Don't want to jinx us ...
Each morning held different challenges, but both were similar in one respect - we saw quite a few grouse each time out. Rosie ran first each morning, as we try to get her a lot of work in preparation for her all-important second season in the grouse woods. It started off promisingly enough yesterday, with a solid point on a woodcock only a minute or two from the truck. Then ... she started to show her youthful exuberance, excitedly hitting the cover (by the way, it's thicker than thick out there right now), sometimes at great distance from me. Eventually, we made our way back to the truck, as it became apparent to me that our "team" chemistry had broken down somewhat.
This morning was much better for Rosie, as she generally worked much closer to me, and was responsive to the "TONE" button on her collar - that's her reminder to check in on me, and she did well cycling back past me whenever the tone went off. It took us a while, but she finally showed some birdiness prior to a couple of grouse launching skyward. At that, she whoaed to a complete stop and watched as five more young grouse exploded away from us. She held throughout this procession of birds, and she found yet another brood of grouse (5-6 birds in this group) fifteen minutes later. She held point beautifully throughout the flushing of this group, and it looks like she's in good form for this time of year. A little later on, she had nice sticking points on two individual woodcock to complete her two hours in the woods.
Bode got to run for an hour yesterday morning and we found a large (10-12) group of grouse, perhaps two broods together, enjoying a particularly succulent wild raspberry patch. They went off one or two at a time, and Bode stood there, watching it all unfold. While Bode needs some bird work prior to the season, he mostly needs to drop 7-8 pounds to get in to better shape before October. He's somewhat of a butter ... no bowling ball at the moment. Finally, old man Monty ran for half an hour, mostly for conditioning - he could roll out of bed on October 1 and be ready to handle his birds.
Looks like we could have a fruitful season ahead, but I'll reserve my prediction for a while yet. Don't want to jinx us ...
