Getting Fat

Coco getting fat, she was bred to Terhaar's Elvis in March and is due around May 20th.

 This is Fricke N Banjo, he is about 14 months old and is out of Coco's last litter. He is coming along nice, I have been doing yard work with him for the last few weeks and am hoping to start breaking him sometime in the next few weeks. I built a new pigeon coop, and am waiting for my pigeons to call it there home before I get going with him.

 Luke is giving me a hand getting him whoa broke!

 He doesn't waste much time, has him in the field and ready to go.

 This pic is from earlier in the spring, he is good at hitting the button!

Training day with Luke

Luke will turn 2 this Friday. He has been an awesome kid, and we are truly blessed to have him. Once in a while some of my work friends will watch him who have plenty of kids, and they always send him back  pretty much saying he is the perfect kid, doesn't cry, always happy and polite. He also loves being outside, and once he has his mind on something its hard to redirect him, whether its going out to the tractor or the car or running the dogs. (Sidenote, as I just typed that he was in the kitchen picking up the coffee pot and dumping it all over the floor). I have a frame backpack and have pretty much taken him with me since he was about 4 months old to the woods, as we were trying to get dogs ready for the trial season. This last spring he really caught on and started singing to them while on my back, to the point where I was running Coco a month or so ago and had no idea where she was as he was just blaring in my ear. I just used the garmin and she stayed to the front. Here is a clip of him as we were working one of my Coco pups named Banjo.

Spring Trials

Have made it up to most of the Grouse trials this spring with Coco. She had a nice go in the Lake States one hour stake but didn't place with a couple of woodcock finds, had a good race going last weekend at the Ruffed Grouse Club's trial and lost her in the cut at the end standing somewhere, after looking for about 20 minutes I think the bird left and she eventually heard me calling and came back with little time left. She then did a really nice job this weekend at the Beaverton Club. She ran in the 5th brace on course 5 and did a nice job on the ground, as we crossed the road at about 23 minutes I heard her go up through a cut and fade out, and didn't have her bell. As we got up to where I thought I had her, Scott Chaffee's dog Sadie also stopped. I had sent in a scout about a minute before his dog stopped, at that point I thought maybe his dog was backing her in there somewhere. The scout held up as he didn't want to get in between them, so we all went in, just as we got up to where the scout had been, he said a grouse just lifted, but we hadn't found the dog yet. As we went in a little more Scott's dog was seen to the right and facing away about 40 yards. As we walked in a little more we didn't see Coco in front of her, so we went a little further left of her, and Mike Bentley, the judge pointed her out about 70 yards to the left and facing the opposite direction of Scott's dog. As we got about 10 feet from her, I heard a grouse blow out, didn't get a chance to see it, and shot my gun. We then went on to finish with about 5 minutes left. After that it was almost lunch time, so we went to Alibi hall, then went and milled around for an hour or so, and waited at the hall for the other braces to finish up.  After a little bit a gentleman came up and said they wanted us out at course 13 for a call back. As we got out, they informed me that they never saw or heard the two grouse go from Coco's stand, and they were putting a few dogs down based on race and wanted to see them on a bird. The first dog was down about 15 minutes and couldn't come up with anything. It was then Coco's turn, she didn't disappoint as I blew the whistle, clicked my stopwatch, and had her standing in about a minute and a half. As we walked up to her her intensity was radiating off her and I would have bet the house a bird was going to get up. As I approached, a woodcock lifted, all was in order, and she ended up getting second place in the shooting dog. This was her last trial for the spring, as we are having Luke's birthday party next weekend, and she appears to be showing some signs of being pregnant, so I am just going to let her milk out the spring on the couch. We have a nice looking male out of her last litter that is about 13 months old that should keep me busy in the mean time getting him ready for the fall derby season. I didn't run him in any trials yet, just wanted him hunting, usually don't worry a whole lot about the puppy stakes, just hoping he can come out in the fall and point some grouse in the derby stakes. Thanks for reading, will keep updated as pups progress.

Woodcock

Terhaar's Elvis on a woodcock saturday morning, you can see it in the first little clump of twigs just to the front and right of his head.
Coco above and below on a woodcock saturday morning, we moved a good amount of birds as they are just starting to show up

Spring

Banjo, a Coco x Rocko male (littermate to Roxxy) on a pigeon today.
Maizey (Elvis x Springpond's Grace) has been coming along nice, she is a littermate to the male below.
Mo, above, is about 11 months old now, this was from January as you can tell it was a nice light winter here. He is currently for sale, a real nice pup but am looking for a male with a little more size. 616 438 1427
Roxxy above, is the Coco x Rocko Female and she is also about 11 months old. She is fun to watch, and loves birds. She was pointing grouse at about 4 months old.
Coco, above down in the hollar of Kentucky. Excited to get in some trials this spring with her, last spring she had pups rite in the heart of the spring and basically washed out the whole trial season, only running in the Region 13 Championship.

Spring is sort of here. The last weekend of February we got it started by heading down to the hollar in Kentucky to train at Kenny Purvis's farm. We headed down there with dogs all packed in, and had a good group of guys in Dave Terhaar, Harold Holmes, and Joe Wolfert. It was good to get some sunshine and sweatshirt weather, and also find some birds. We had some quail to work the pups on and found a good share of woodcock with the shooting dogs. As always, the hospitality was second to none, a big thanks to Kenny, Missy, and Sammy Purvis. Last night I went over to Dave's and we ran a shooting dog shift and Coco and Elvis each had woodcock. We then did another short shift around the house and hit some likely spots, Daisey had a grouse, and we didn't move any other woodcock. Going back Saturday, hoping a few more birds pile in. Hoping to update a little more this spring, hope everyone was able to get out this winter a bit more than normal.

First Grouse

Traveled up north today with the crew and had a great morning. I put Coco on the ground first and she did a nice job, scoring on a grouse after about 5 minutes, and another one around 50 minutes. Funnest part of trip was the next shift, I ran Roxxy, who is Coco's barely 5 month old daughter, with one of Dave's shooting dogs. This was her first time in the woods pretty much other than some walks in the woods by my house which don't hold birds, and she ended up pointing 3 grouse. The first one was great, I saw her start to work a bird, then slam on point, and stand there about 20 seconds, then the grouse started moving a little bit in front of her where she could see it, and she took it for a ride out of the county. Put a big smile on my face, and boy did it get her fired up! Hopefully we can get some birds shot for her in a couple of weeks, planning on a long weekend up to the Northwest Lower for the season opener. I put Mo down next and it started to pour after about 10 minutes so that ended the trip, but still had a good time.

Late summer pup workout

Below is Mo, about 10-11 weeks old pointing a quail. He likes to get after it for a little guy, and is a fun pup to work, he's all business when he gets to the field, just how we like em. I also have his sister but didn't get a picture today as the bird left and I was also managing Luke who was along for the trip.

Roxxy is a little older and seems to be a nice pup also, she is doing well on her birds, and moves through the land nice. Hoping to get some good hunts out of her in a month or less.