The Northwoods Swing w/ Quinn

Quinn Quinn is my promising two year old setter. Last year I was able to watch first hand just how lethal a young inexperienced dog can be on Ruffed Grouse. It was truly eye opening to see the degree of which she could handle these challenging birds based solely on genetics and patient development in her initial training season. I was excited to see her development coming into the second season after some more maturing and progression in the training field during the long summer. She ultimately didn't disappoint but thats not to say there weren't some frustrations!

The first frustration was she somehow injured her right shoulder/elbow. Nothing stood out as particularly alarming but she did require longer rests and recovery time between hunts. It wasn't concerning enough for a visit to the vet (yet) but the favoring and limping for a day or two after each run was undeniable. Later in the trip in MI and since returning home, she seems to now be okay but I'll still be keeping a close watch in case it is something we need to go get it looked at by the veterinary. Aside from the nagging injury, another frustration was her deciding it was time in her maturity timeline to start really testing her boundaries. This became really evident after one really successful hunt where I suspect a bit of overconfidence as she followed it up on the next couple of walks with some very enthusiastic "solo" hunts. She became very independent and began outrunning her nose, expanding range entirely too far for the Grouse Woods (300+ yards a number of times), and overall a little defiant in regards to my handling casts & recalls which is very uncharacteristic of her. Ultimately, this attitude and behavior is to be expected at the 2 to 3 year mark for a most dogs. It can be the same for us in that the more confidence we have in a specific task the more reckless we can become. Its simply part of the process and, while frustrating, it's simply something a lot of dogs have to grow through and all we can do is remain patient and control what we can. The couple of times she really checked out and went solo hunting, I simply called her back and put her back in the dog box. The thought process was pretty straight forward, if she wasn't going to hunt with me then she didn't get to hunt. The alternative was continuing to bang my head against the wall while she was self reinforcing the behavior of aimlessly running & having all of the fun in the world completely disassociated from me. It only took being put back up once or twice and she went back to normal so that we could get back to the business of finding birds. However, I did notice this mentality returned after each successful hunt. It was extremely frustrating but understandable for a two year old and wasn't something I felt the need to fight in the moment being that I had 2 other dogs in the truck along with dog power from friends to work into the equation. So the solution was just put her back up and she then lost the opportunity to hunt in that particular moment. Between Quinn's shoulder injury & balancing her jet fuel, she produced some really nice finds and moments by the end of the trip. There is absolutely no denying her bird finding abilities. When she's not outrunning her nose, she's proven to be really respectful of the birds & remains steady on point long enough to offer the gunner good shot opportunities. Probably the hunt or moment that sticks out the most to me was the hunt with my buddies Ben Proctor of BPro Kennels and Scott Kinnane. Quinn was roughly 70yds into the cover. We were all having a meeting actually discussing whether or not to move to another spot when the collar suddenly alerted us to a point. Ben and I crash into the cover to head that direction. Roughly 20 to 25 yds out from where the GPS was indicating, a bird lifts to Ben's left and he takes his shots. He missed and I check the collar which still showed Quinn on point. I don't hear the bell ringing to indicate she broke point and so the two tools both indicate she's still waiting on us! I start closing the remaining distance in the thick hazel brush while wondering whether the bird Ben shot at was the same bird she pointed but happened to run on her. We were only roughly 20 yards away after all. This is the moment in years past where my assumption would result in me relaxing and therefore missing an opportunity only the kind Ruffed Grouse Gods could offer us in exchange for the countless times these birds didnt play fair. Fortunately, this was a moment in which all of the lessons I've experienced taught me to ALWAYS ASSUME THERE'S ANOTHER BIRD and I didn't screw it up!

I slowly approached, the new 28 gauge shotgun at the ready. I reached Quinn and began advancing forward with her on point roughly 10 yards away to my right. As I get 5 to 10 yards in front, a young red phase grouse flushed and flew from right to left and I was able to connect on the first shot. Quinn closed out the full sequence with a nice retrieve that put a nice exclamation mark on the entire sequence. There are few moments when dealing with wild birds that you can stop and take in the fact that everything unfolded as it should have. From the technology and tools that we spend our hard earned money accurately indicating a bird find while the talking heads discussed leaving that area. Your hunting partner not requiring any further instruction aside from a distance and direction. To the dog showing up and following through on all of the hardwork and training you two put together during the off season. Witnessing my young Setter find and hold a point for that long, and through multiple shots, I was sure to stop and take in that moment completely so as to be able to recall upon the next time I put her on the ground and she blows through the woods on a rocket while forgetting there was a strange guy with a gun needing to be involved in the game. While theres still a LONG way to go in my journey with Quinn, there is no denying she is a bird dog. When not wrestling with an injury or trying to balance out young dog transgressions in their sophomore seasons, I never have to question if she's hunting or not. I absolutely LOVE having a dog on the ground in which I can confidently believe the bell can stop & the collar alerts can go off at any given time. As we continue learning and she levels back out to hunt with me then all birds should be on the look out! Knock on wood, we have the better part of a decade to piece this game together!