Sunday December 28, 2014 hunt

Got out for a hunt last weekend.  We decided to hunt the sourgum field.  I knew the birds would be running hard in that field with the rows of sourgum and sun shining bright in the afternoon.  Well, my predictions were correct and the birds were running hard.  We ended up taking twelve birds, unfortunately one if them was hit by all three of us and nothing was left to salvage as usable meat.  I hate when that happens.  Willow and Autumn were pointing birds good but the birds were running and flushing fast.  I think we only missed three for the day that actually got up, but I know atleast another half dozen just ran from us and never got up.  We released nine so it was nice to overshoot again with a few scratch birds.   I love watching the dogs work a different field like the sourgum field, but man is that stuff tough on the dogs.  Willow is down for at least the next week with a nail bed infection.   I am just happy I caught it quicky and that she is being treated before it got bad enough to really knock her out of a longer time.  The dogs both did good and I can't wait until they are back in the field doing what they truly love to do.  There is nothing better than seeing the dogs tails start the quick wag as they catch the wife of a bird and then freeze like a deer in headlights, tail frozen straight up, and nose pointing in the direction of a bird yet to be seen.  The memories of the sting points from all of our hunts will linger with me for many years to come.  I truly feel blessed to be working with such a good dog as Willow, but then again I am more than lucky as to have Autumn as well.  I have heard many people tell me I will only get to own and hunt over one truly good bird dog, but when Autumn came into out home I found out I might have beat the odds having two dogs I would trade for no others.  I can honestly say I am not a great trainer of dogs, but rather my dogs just want to hunt and have the desire to do so at close quarters.  They have taught me how to hunt, rather than me training them to do so.  This hunt puts Willow at 151 and Autumn at 76 birds for their life time.  Please remember Willow turned two in June and Autumn turned one in July.

On a side note.  I have had a few people see Autumn and ask me what kind of pointer she was.  If you look at her pictures you might easily say she is a GSP, which is correct, but if you saw her in person and looked at her you might question that answer.  She is a very short and a little stockier female that is weighing it at 41 pounds.  If she had the traditional frame of Willow I bet she would be closer to 35 pounds, so what I am saying is she is Small!  So my new answer when people ask me is she is a new pointing breed called the miniature pointer.  I had one guy laugh at her until she saw her hunt, then he asked if I wanted to sell her.  Lol, I guess what they say is true, size doesn't matter. 

Clean up hunt with Adam at Coon Creek

Well I planned a clean up for this morning before I got my wisdom teeth pulled this afternoon.  Found out Adam was hunting the field next to me so we hooked up and hunting both fields together.  It was fun to be out with someone on what to me seems like a more natural hunt, as you don't know going in if any birds will be in your field.  We ended up taking three birds today, all hens and saw two roosters that flushed way to early to even have a chance at them.  It was fun getting the dogs out and running them again today.  Forgot to take a picture.  I think the next hunt I will be bringing out the gopro to try and get some video.  I am giving each dog two birds on their count today as they really worked together on all three points.  Autumn is at 70 and Willow is at 145.

Guided pheasant hunt today

The dogs worked good today after they settled down.  It took them 15 minutes today to settle, but then they were on the hunt.  The guys did ok and took 11 birds today.  They released 15, and hit three more that kept on flying, and missed another 5 or more.  It was a good hunt, I just wished the guys would have taken a few more birds.  This puts Autumn to 68 and Willow to 143.   I am hoping Willow gets to 200 this year, but that will depend on how many guided hunts they do.

11 Illinois Coon Creek Birds taken

We did a nine bird release this past weekend and took 11 birds home.  Two were missed.  We even took both the birds on the double flush we got up.   Was out with uncle John and Will.  10 of the birds were taken in the first 40 minutes, and they were in all areas of the field.  Field four was a great hunt! Autumn is at 62 birds and Willow is up to 137.  I wonder what there numbers would be if I counted birds we missed the last two years?

12/7/14 hunt at Coon Creek

For some reason I have not had the energy to think about filming hunts this year.  Actually I should have filmed today as we had a great day in the field.  Actually we didn't miss a bird all day.  We released six birds and ended up taking 10 home.  We also hit some really long shots and the dogs were great on birds today.  I will try to get more pics of the hunt. Willow is up to 131 birds and Autumn is up to 56 birds.

12/7/14 scheduled hunt

I am planning a six bird release this Sunday.  Willow's paw is healing up well and I am hoping that she is able to go this weekend.  If not, Autumn is ready to go alone.  We are going in blind, as I am not sure what field we will be hunting or the condition of the grass.  We have a forecast of mid thirties and no rain, so it should be good.  I might try and get some video this time.  Watch for the update.

11/29/14 Went out with Uncle John to Coon Creek

My uncle has been a member at Coon Creek for the past few years.  Well, Norma his hunting dog, is now 14 and not able to make it out any longer. He got himself another GSP, Gertie, but she is not turning out to be a hunting dog.  Willow was out of the question today with two scraped up dew claw pads, so it was Autumn on her first solo hunt along with Gertie who was along for the walk.  It look promising for Gertie today when she went after the first downed bird with Autumn, but that was about all she showed for interest today.  She had a good walk.  Autumn was on fire for her first solo hunt. Bs he worked the field good and pointed birds from some good distances and moved in slow to show us where the birds were holding up.  We released six birds, pulled eight out with Autumns good points, and ended up hitting six  to take home.  It was a good day in the field seeing Autumn taking control and working the field hard with nice strong points and retrieves..  It was great seeing her do what she loves to do.  Willow was very upset that I left her home, but I keep telling her it was for her own good.  That puts Autumn to 51 birds!

31 for the year so far. We got 29 pheasants and two chuckers!

Sorry for not posting for a while, it's been busy here as we have added to out animal family with a bunch of ball pythons and a few chameleons.  I have been able to get out to both clubs a few times. I have Willow up to 126 birds and Autumns career has her up to 45 birds.  Willow has been her steady self, hunting hard and pushing through things that has caused her to already have pad issues.  This past weekend she really scraped up her dew pads on both legs good.  Actually, it was the first time I have seen her not want to go back into the thick stuff.  It must have been painful for her.  Good thing it was at the end of the hunt.  Autumn had a slow start this year, but the last two hunts really turned it up a few notches and is starting to top Willows production in the field.  She is build like a little tank and just wants to find birds now.  I will start to update after each hunt, as I think things are finally winding down here.

First hunt at Gum Farm hunt club 2014/2015 season 10/11/14

Went out with my uncle to Gum Farm on Saturday.  He is working with his shorthair to see if we can get her hunting.  She is real birdy outside the field but the gun noise has been hard for her, not that she spooks, but she does tend to stay on heals when there are guns around.   She started pushing out a bit more on the hunt and seems to be getting used to the noise.  Now she needs to start to find birds on a hunt.  If we keep her going she will be a good hunting dog.   She is Aitumn's half sister and they were born a week appart.  Willow and Autumn did good and we ended up going 8 for 8. I took one picture after the hunt, looking to start video recording hunts next time out. 

First hunt out at coon creek 2014/2015 season.

Went out to check the fields at Coon Creek last Sunday.  Most of the fields are really thick for early season hunting, but after the first snow fall I am sure these fields will be great!  I just did a three bird release, more to get the dogs out on their first hunt of the season.  The dogs ended up finding all three birds, but I missed them all.  The dogs would point and the birds would run and not fly.  By the time we caught back up to all three they took off quick and I missed.  Thought it was going to be the first hunt I came back with nothing, but I did end up hitting a scratch chucker right at the end if the hunt.  I think the dogs were more upset at me than I was.  It was a good day in the field and I got to check conditions.  Sorry didn't take any video or pictures as I was more concerned with working the dogs and learning the field.

Took the dogs out swimming the other day.  Autumn has only seen water a few times and is getting a little more used to going in.  First two time would only get her feet wet!

http://youtu.be/GU1oyRZ1Khw

Coon Creek hunt club

It's weird how a negative occurrence can work out to be something good.  I was so saddened by the closing of Woodlawn hunt club, but what could I do?  I raced out and joined Gum Farm Hunt Club and was happy with the decision.  Well earlier this week I got invited out to Coon Creek Hunt Club to check out the place and talk about the possibility of guiding my dogs out there.  Well, as it turns out this is going to be another great opportunity for my dogs and I.  Watch for future updates on what my dogs and I do next season at this club.  I am now a member of two clubs!

http://www.cooncreekhuntclub.com/

Gumfarm Hunt Club

Well it looks like we selected our next club. Met with Rich Gum the other night.  He seems like a really nice, honest guy.  I am looking forward to hunting this new club.  It will be a few months, but at least we have next season set up.  I will include a link to his club, check it out!

http://www.gumfarmhuntclub.com/index.html

Woodlawn Hunt club closed it's doors

I got a letter yesterday.  Kris and Carl have chosen to close the club.  Now I need to look for a new place to take my dogs.  This is a sad day for everyone and I hope them the best.  Their club was a great place to meet new people and have a great time in the outdoors.  I am hoping my next choice of a club can live up to their standards.

Final farewell to a great Huntclub!

Got one more pheasant hunt in!

I was able to get one more hunt in thanks to Adam!  I took some video of the hunt, but still have to put it together.  We had a good outing taking 23 birds!  I would say each of my dogs were on point on at least seven of these birds, so I am putting Willow to 110 and Autumn to 30 for the year.

Here is the video link.  Sorry it took so long, it's been busy around here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It600WREEKk

German Shorthaired Pointers are pullers

Well, I have had these two dogs for some time now and have found that due to a few reasons they are a pain to walk on a leash.  After each walk my had hurts bad.  Well I went to the pet store they other day and decided to try a pinch collar on Autumn.  Well, it was like a switch for her.  I have been walking her and Willow with the pinch collar the past three days, and I love to walk them now. 

Some of you may think that they should both know how to walk on a leash by now, and I agree if they were normal house dogs, but they are not.  These dogs were trained from a young age to be field dogs, and leash training was not very important to me at that point.  The only reason I even put them on a leash is due to cars, as they would never run away, but I don't trust that they won't go in the street if they see a bird or in someones back yard.  Well, now my daughters have been asking to go on walks with the dogs, so I have been working hard to make it so both my kids, 5 and 9, can walk both dogs.  Right now I know know my 9 year old can walk either of them, and am confident that my 5 year old could also, but I have not tried that yet.  I will keep you undated on leash training. 

3/92014. Last hunt of the season

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp_wmPDtJk4

This was the last hunt of the season.  Cover is really getting bad and birds were running all over the place.  We ended up taking 12/16 and the dogs did good considering.  Willow ended the year at 103 and Autumn  ended up with 23.  Next year Autumn should be on fire with the birds.  I will periodically post some videos and info on the dogs during the off season.

2/22/14 Hunt

Well, I missed a ton of birds today.  For some reason my shot was just off today.  We ended up taking 9 of 12 birds released, but missed a bunch.  One of the birds we downed floated away in the fast moving creek.  I wanted to jump after it, but thought better of it.  It was a fun hunt with a new friend.  I have fun Adam, hope you did as well.  You will need to send some pictures of you new puppy!  I am hoping to have the link to the video by tomorrow.  Well I had a hard time keeping track of which dog pointed on which birds that we took.  I am going to say they each pointed at least five of the birds we got, so I am putting Willow to 97 and Autumn to 18.  If they both point the bird, I am giving them both credit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPsUOAr6xQU

Hunt Scheduled for 2/22/14

I have a hunt scheduled for Febuary 22nd.  I am hoping the weather holds up, as my dogs were bummed last weekend when we had to drive home from the club without getting out.  Although I was bummed we didn't hunt, I was happy the closed the club, as it was the worst I have ever seen with blowing wind.  I really want Willow to get to a hundred birds this year, but it seems that nobody can make it out this weekend, so I am only releasing four birds.  Maybe we will see some scratch birds this weekend.

Watch this video of Willow the sled dog.  Unfortuantly youtube has blocked this from some moble devices.

Scheduled clean up hunt for 2/17/14 and bird totals for each dog

Well I have a cleanup scheduled for next Monday.  I am hoping to get a few birds, but we will see I guess.  Also, after last weekend Willow is up to 92 birds and Autumn is up to 13.  Autumn actually pointed more birds last week than Willow.

Well this hunt got cancelled. As I drove out to the club conditions started getting really bad with very low visibility with strong winds and blowing snow.  Here is what the roads looked like.

2/9/14 Hunt A Good Day with Mark and the Dogs

We booked this hunt mid week and the forcast looked a bit rough, but each day I checked the weather it got a little better.  It ended up being about 20 out with light wind and sun.  The only issue was the deep snow, some drifts being mid thigh deep.  Well we got out and had a great hunt.  We released 8 pheasants and ended up taking 7, missed one, but we picked up a scratch chucker, it was Mark's first chucker.  I had the go pro out again and am hoping to have the video tomorrow some time.  The only part of the hunt that frustrated me was when two birds spooked up ahead of us before the dogs could point them and I shot both of them.  The irratating part was I didn't have time to hit record on the gopro, so I missed the filming of my first double.  Also, Willow hit some fence and started limping a bit, so we put her back in the car and Autumn got her first go at a solo hunt for the last hour.  She pointed the chucker and retrieved it after Mark hit it.  I am looking forward to seeing what kind of footage I got of that.  Watch for the video tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWKu_SEFDn8

2/1/14 pheasant hunt

Well Friday I decided to schedule a hunt for Saturday.  Well I make it out with about 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground, and slow still falling.  I only released 4 birds and I finally got as many as I released.  Actually, I downed five birds, but unfortunately one of them was hit to close and ruined.  I am getting better with the gopro, but still missed a lot of the hunt.  It was a good day dispute walking through the deep snow.  I hit some spots that were past my knee.  I am working on the video and will have it up soon.  Lots of double points today, i am going to put Willow up to 85 birds and Autumn is up to 9.  I hope that Willow can get to 100 this season, as it's her first real season out and she is doing great, but in think Autumn may end up being an even better hunter than Willow when she grows up a bit, I am just hoping she learns to hold her point a little longer at times.



A new link will come soon.  YouTube muted that video.  I guess Blake Shelton doesn't want his music on you tube.  Weird it got busted on that video, I heard he served venison at his wedding!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFOptzSn9SI

Another pad scrape, please help.

So Willow scraped another pad this past weekend.  I know her pad are dry and I waited to long, but I am treating the dry pads everyday now.  Does anyone know how to get the scrape to heal quickly.  Here is a picture.  It's that scrape on the left side of the mail pad, everything else is just dry right now.

1/20/14 Clean-Up hunt

Watch the short video of this hunt.  I am still figuring out the go-pro, but got video of the first bird we saw.  I got a good shot on it, but that bird refused to go down.  Ended up only seeing one other bird, a hen, which we got.  Autumn is at four birds for the year and Willow is up to 80 birds.  Today was more of a day getting used to equipment.  Willow was in boots for the second time, and I was trying to figure out the camera, then the battery died.  I think I will be looking for a few more batteries.  Watch the attached video of the hunt.

1/19/2014 hunt

Got the dogs out today for a hunt.  Mark and I released 9 birds.  This was probably the worst conditions I have seen for pheasant hunting.  It snowed really light snow yesterday, and winds at 25 mph today.  Snow was blowing and drifting everywhere.  I took the new gopro out to see what kind of video I could get.  Well I had some issues with it, as I am new at using it.  I got video of two birds before I realized the remote wasn't working anymore.  I will try and get that short clip together later tonight and post it by the videos on the main blog page.  Willow is now up to 80, we took 7 of the nine we released.  We saw 14, but once they were in the wind they were gone.  Overall a good hunt and we had fun, but conditions were bad.  Lots of ice in the field also.  Watch for the video.

http://youtu.be/fHerv8MOS70

1/3/14 cleanup hunt scheduled cancelled

Willow's pad is much better.  I scheduled a hunt for the 13th.  I am a bit concerned if we will find birds.  The club was closed the past few days due to extreme cold.  I guess we will see how we do in field 8.

I had to cancel this hunt due to sick children at home, I hope I can get out next week.

Irritated pad

Well after the last hunt I noticed Willow had a small abrasion on her left rear pad.  We have been treating it and it is getting better and does not appear to be opening up.  I also have been looking at Musher's Secret. I just ordered some and will be treating her paws with it from now on, as long as there are no negative affects from it.  I am hoping to get out in the next week or two, but that will depend on weather.  We have not been above 0 in the past few days.  Actual windchill has been -40 the past few mornings.

Willow is up to 73 with her guided hunt today 1/4/14.

Well all I can say is the temp was good, as it was about 28 degrees out.  Windy when we started, but that slowed down rather quickly and the snow picked up.  There were some good drifts, over three feet I would say.  Willow pointed birds good.  Adam, who we were guiding for, released 6 pheasants and two chuckers.  Well, he left with 12 pheasants and three chuckers.  I was happy with how Willow did in the snow.

58 birds for Willow

I just realized that Willow hit the fifty bird number.  Actually she pointed a lot more, if only I could have hit them all.  I am going to start tracking how many birds we get and see where she ends up at the end of the season.  She is actually at 58 right now.

Guided Hunt tomorrow afternoon

I got a call today for Willow and I to guide a hunt tomorrow January 4th.  Lets see how they day goes, as we are supposed to have some strong wind tomorrow.  I know Willow will find birds, but I am not sure how the birds will be acting and how Willow will do in the deeper snow, we got about 10 inches over the past day.  I will let you know tomorrow afternoon how she did.