I recently returned from my annual Northwoods loop in the Great Lake states to pursue Ruffed Grouse. This season's trip was unique in numerous ways especially in regard to my experiences with each individual dog. I left home with three dogs in tow, each of them in very different stages of their hunting careers. Woody, the young English Setter Pup, was heading up strictly looking for light bulb moments and to learn these feathered creatures called birds existed. Quinn the promising young English Setter was heading up to prove that her first Ruffed Grouse season performance wasnt a fluke and that she could take the next step in her development. Meanwhile, Rachel, was heading up just to enjoy and take in the glory of the Northwoods in October. She's not ready to throw in the towel and retire just yet. She still has some gas left in the tank and so now it was time to put her decade long experience to the test and play clean up for the younger dogs! WOODY THE WONDER DOG! One of the most rewarding experiences in the dog world is watching young dogs start piecing the hunt together. Leaving out on this trip. Woody was right at 5 months old which offered a perfect opportunity to expose him to Ruffed Grouse hunting so he can learn to love/hate this hunt as much as I do!
At this young of an age, Im not expecting any thing from Woody. I was hopeful he would get chances on his daily walks to just bump into birds & MAYBE start piecing together what we were out there to do. After arriving to our first destination, Woodys' first run was actually with his father, Easy, owned by Kyle and Hannah Peterson of Mud Lake Kennels. I typically don't do puppy runs with other dogs but didn't want to miss the opportunity to see Woody's dad in action and I also thought it would be an awesome memory if his first grouse came alongside his dad. A lofty goal on these very tricky birds! While we came close to a bird that walk (Easy pointed a bird and we just couldn't get over there in time before the flush) I liked what I initially saw from the very green puppy. He ran the woods with confidence and was ranging out clearly hunting as opposed to chasing the older dogs. As expected, his range did get sucked in drastically on future walks when not on the ground with other dogs but all in all this first run was a fun hunt that hopefully helped ignite the hunting fire in this pup.
Moving on from his run with his dad, there really wasn't much to do other than continue taking him into areas that held birds and try to remain patient. Eventually we would cross paths with the teacher who would begin molding him into the bird dog we all know his genetics have him primed for. The patience & time spent in the woods really paid off as Woody had a number of invaluable interactions with Grouse. Unfortunately, we were unable to piece together the perfect scenario where puppy points and holds until I get there so that a flush, shot, & retrieve opportunity could take place. Instead, every time he went on point, the birds reminded us why they are referred to as the king.
Although I couldn't close the deal when he was on point, we still had a couple of interactions that resulted in a mouthful of feathers. Both of the instances I was able to put a bird a bird on the ground came on the backend of very impressive tracks. I witnessed him pick up initial scent and follow the tracks back to the source where of course the bird would flush completely unacknowledged by the puppy who was concentrating on what magical aroma was flooding his nose. Fortunately, I've played this game long enough to anticipate this and was in position to down both birds and the pup was rewarded for striking and following that scent trail as he did. It may sound strange to some but this excited me even more than the few birds he actually pointed. A young dog who recognizes old scent and will follow it until he finds the source is invaluable (not just in the Grouse woods either!). Odor threshold and establishing point in those situations will be developed given more time, experience, and training but for now I just need him to love finding that initial scent and know theres a reward at the end of that trail!
All in all the trip was a resounding success for Woody. We were able to connect some dots and see the lightbulb start flickering. We even managed to knock out some porcupine introduction that hopefully resulted in just enough discomfort that he wont try it again while also not being too traumatizing for a 5 month old being brand new to the Grouse woods. The success & quick development I witnessed is all due to the genetics offered through the breeding selection by Kyle & Hannah Peterson of Mud Lake kennels. All I did was walk through the woods as the proverbial "safety net" while the puppy started the process of becoming the bird dog he was meant to be!
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