The Season 2010

2010 Was a great year, yet very busy, as some might notice by my lack of posts on here. The year started with a baby on the way, Luke, who was born April 27. It put a little slow down in some of the dog stuff, but I still managed to get out some. In the mean time Erin and I were shopping for our first house, which we bought in Lowell and moved in around mid May. The house did not require much work, but the process of moving along with getting settled, especially with a newborn was a little timely. In the mix of this, Erin also graduated from medical school in the beginning of May, becoming a doctor, where she also found out earlier in the year, that she would be doing her residency in Grand Rapids for Ob/Gyn. If that wasn't enough, her sister graduated from dental school in Milwaukee a couple weeks later, where we traveled with the little guy on his first real trip. About a month later, I was in one of my high school friends wedding, and then another month or so my brother got married, and then in October Erin's sister got married. Along with a couple of other friends weddings, this has been the busiest summer of my life, along with the bachelor parties that went along with them.

This was the Fricke's first Christmas in our new house, with our beautiful baby boy, and Ottimer. The other dogs are here in spirit, enjoying the holidays from the kennel. Luke enjoyed his first holiday season as much as an eight month old could, probably overwhelmed at times.
Deer season was fun as always, with a nice eight point harvested during the shotgun season. I had a few encounters with some shooter bucks during bow season but none that offered a good shot opportunity. I also filled the freezer with a doe, and donated a couple more to some people.

This is Erin, Luke and I at her graduation from Michigan State University as she became an M.D. I am so proud of her, no one can really know how hard these guys actually work to get to where they are. It makes me tired just watching how hard she studies and works along the way.

Dave Terhaar and I with Elvis and Coco after a solid day in the U.P. for the grouse opener. We had a blast as always and had a great week up there. We shot a lot of birds, and had some of the best dog work we have ever had in terms of number of different dogs that were producing birds consistently. It was fun, we were there with good friends, dogs, food, and fun.

Sunrise on the lake at the cabin, nothing better than cold mornings in the U.P. with grouse dogs and plenty of covers to be had. Makes you wish for fall year round.
Some nice grey phases with the double. These truly are the king of game birds, and are especially rewarding in early season when they are a very challenging shot with all of the cover.

Coco after a great day of hunting. She is as good of dog as I have had, now a first year shooting dog, she has shown a great ability to find and handle grouse. I am excited for her future, she still has some maturing to do, but was sure fun to gun over this year, as well as showing the ability to be competitive at the shooting dog level. She is currently being bred to 3x Ch Terhaar's Rocko. I am hoping to be able to get her into shape for some spring trials, we will see how everything pans out.

Summer 2010

What a busy summer so far! Luke was born the end of April, my wife Erin graduated med school a week and a half later, then we headed to Wisconsin another week later for her sisters graduation from dental school, and a week after that we bought and moved into our first house. On top of that, numerous other weekends have been filled with weddings (I think we had 5 this summer, I was in 3 of them, plus bachelor parties equal a lot of weekends gone). I have still been getting the dogs out as much as I can, and plan on running as many of the fall trials as possible with first year shooting dog Coco, and maybe some puppy stakes, we will see as the pup I have was born late in the spring. I didn't go to any of the summer trials as I had wedding on every one of the weekends. We are skipping out on North Dakota this year and are planning on a week in the U.P. for the grouse opener as the bird reports have been good, and the weather is usually a little cooler up there than out west that early in the season. Hope everything is going well for everyone, and to catch up with people in the next month or so.

Here is a newborn picture that was a sneak peak for us from the photographer of Luke at 9 days old. Cute little guy!

Newest Addition - Born on 4/27/10

Luke Jameson Fricke

6 lb 12 oz 20 inches

Born on April 27, 2010

Baby Luke and I

Erin, baby, and me

Coco Pointing Woodcock Video from this spring

This was on one of the last workouts we had before the quiet season ended, you can see the woodcock walking around in front of her, I thought it was on a nest and was walking away so I didn't flush the bird, only shot and heeled the dog away.

Michigan Amateur Field Trial Weekend

This weekend I headed up to Gladwin to hang out with the guys and run some dogs and be part of the Michigan Amateur Field Trial. I was a little apprehensive with Erin being due with our first born in less than a couple of weeks and always claiming that tonight is going to be the night, which makes for a nervous mix without cell service on the Meredith grounds. Everything worked out ok and all was well though; the bun was still in the oven. I drove up Saturday morning and watched some of the puppy braces, and then helped add some course to it afterwards for the upcoming Puppy Classic. After that it was near dinner time at Alibi Hall. The next morning we got up and worked dogs and then had lunch and waited to run in the derby stake, along with watching the thermometer raise to a nice hot and very dry 70 degrees out when we cut them loose; a good 40 degrees warmer then when I got up. I was braced with Dave Terhaar and both dogs took off through the pole timber and laid to the front in and out of bell range for the majority of the course. At about 27 minutes Coco had went off to the right and as we were approaching the end of the course she was found standing beautifully on the edge of a water hole. As we went in for the flush all was in order and woodcock was produced and we had a broke find tallied. This was good for second place in the derby in the 20 dog stake, which was good considering the weather and the course we were on, only seeing the lone woodcock at the end. We will probably go up next weekend for the Ruffed Grouse Trial and then call it a spring as the baby should be on its way by then, maybe going to a couple of quail trials in May. Hope everyone is having a great spring.

Winter seemed to be going ok, and it almost felt like it was going to be a semi-smooth drive out to February until yesterday came, and we got dumped on with about a foot of snow. We are hoping to go down to southern Ohio or Kentucky for a few days to run dogs sometime this month. Other than that, just trying to stay warm through the lovely west Michigan winter. My wife and I are also expecting our first child on May 2 this spring, and we are really excited, with a busy year ahead of us, as she is also finishing medical school this spring and starting her residency in July. Below she is pictured with Fricke N Coco as a puppy.

North Dakota sunset makes me wish it was at least spring, if not hunting season, something to warm up a day however you look at it.