No Tricks, All Treats
Dan is delighted with his first woodcock harvested, over one of Millie's solid points.
Another great point from Millie. She has been very good the last couple of weeks or so.
That's Millie with a staunch point on a grouse that ended up eluding my clients and myself today. She had her best day since we've been in the woods, pointing several single grouse, a group of four grouse, as well as three woodcock. In other words, she pointed all of the birds she saw today and gave my clients some good chances to take them. Ultimately, one woodcock ended up in the game vest.
While Millie has had a good stretch of hunting lately, she seems to have "turned the corner" recently - more points than bumps it seems. Was it the cold, clear conditions with a bit of a breeze that assisted her in her efforts? Perhaps, but she's been hunting well and at a reasonable pace and distance for a while now, all things that I find desirable in a dog that hunts.
The other dogs did fine as well. Bode bumped a woodcock and flushed several fast-flying grouse early on but then had a solid point on a migrating timberdoodle that flew too low when it finally flushed. Rosie contacted four woodcock and a grouse, pointing several of them for good chances for the hunters. None of them paid the price however.
Millie was the star of today's show, without a doubt. Her highlight was a point along a field edge which turned out to be a grouse. My client spotted it running up a downed tree trunk. When it finally flushed, it was well within range but missed by my other client.
That's when everything broke loose: at least three other grouse flushed from underneath a nearby series of blowdowns (horizontal cover!), and while they were close when they got away, they still offered no shots for the hunters. They can be amazingly tough to hit at times, and I think that Dan and Tom got more appreciation for the birds by the end of the day.
It was cold out today (33 degrees), but there were still some woodcock around. It could end any moment now for them, as they will be migrating for good. We'll enjoy days like this as long as we can ...
While Millie has had a good stretch of hunting lately, she seems to have "turned the corner" recently - more points than bumps it seems. Was it the cold, clear conditions with a bit of a breeze that assisted her in her efforts? Perhaps, but she's been hunting well and at a reasonable pace and distance for a while now, all things that I find desirable in a dog that hunts.
The other dogs did fine as well. Bode bumped a woodcock and flushed several fast-flying grouse early on but then had a solid point on a migrating timberdoodle that flew too low when it finally flushed. Rosie contacted four woodcock and a grouse, pointing several of them for good chances for the hunters. None of them paid the price however.
Millie was the star of today's show, without a doubt. Her highlight was a point along a field edge which turned out to be a grouse. My client spotted it running up a downed tree trunk. When it finally flushed, it was well within range but missed by my other client.
That's when everything broke loose: at least three other grouse flushed from underneath a nearby series of blowdowns (horizontal cover!), and while they were close when they got away, they still offered no shots for the hunters. They can be amazingly tough to hit at times, and I think that Dan and Tom got more appreciation for the birds by the end of the day.
It was cold out today (33 degrees), but there were still some woodcock around. It could end any moment now for them, as they will be migrating for good. We'll enjoy days like this as long as we can ...
