Upland Hunting, Bird Dog and Shotgun BS Thread

I must admit, i don't bird hunt, mainly deer & turkey but have always loved pointers and GSP's, my wife surprised me with "Gus" on Fathers Day.

 

Nice looking pup! Find a local NAVDHA chapter to help you train him and then go find some birds! I will warn you though if the upland bug bites (which it usually does once a bird dog gets involved) you will always be thinking about that next flush, it's the greatest thing I've ever experienced .

 

Oh, I've been before and loved it, when i was a kid all my granddad ever hunted was quail, he always had pointers and GSP's. He and an uncle and their buddy's would hunt all season, save the birds and would always have a huge "Bird Supper" in March after the season ended. As time wore on though it became harder and harder to find a covey in central and south MS, you were more likely to see a good buck than kick up a covey of quail and I kind of lost interest.

 

I hunt pheasant and quail in Kansas and a bit in Missouri with 2 GSPs


I also have a 28ga CZ Ringneck that I use early season or anytime just for quail.
My goto is a 20ga Franchi Instinct SL. 5lbs. Great to carry all day.

Pointing meadow larks this morning!

 

Met this gentleman 3 years ago at the NSDTR(USA) National Specialty. Nam vet, from his vocabulary true Mainer not some Boston transplant a generation or 2 ago.



He let me know in no uncertain terms that pah-tridge are hunted driving gravel roads at 10mph or less and when you see a pah-tridge eating gravel on the road you get out and ground sluice them. Or shoot them out of tree limbs you see them sitting on, AKA limb chickens. Then you let the dog out of the truck to go bring them back to you. So pah-tridge are best shot with the shortest barrel shotgun you can find so it doesn't interfere with sticking it out the truck window

While road hunting in Maine is a long and honored tradition not everyone in Maine hunts grouse like that, @Sig45 is proof. Many if not most grouse harvested in Mn. are also harvested the same way. Not my cup of tea but have reached the age where it doesn't bother me like it used to. Don't really care so much what others do as long as it is legal.

Huns are called partridge here. Ruffed grouse is grouse of course or just ruffs. Sharptail grouse Sharpies. Spruce grouse, well they are spruce grouse LOL. Down in Nebraska prairie chickens are called grouse, that one caught me off guard. When I lived in the west blue grouse = blues and Dusky grouse are now called Duskies. They all eat well on the table except for spruce grouse once the snow hits and they transition over to eating spruce needles.

 

Truth!

 

Took the pup up the hill today to scout some mountain quail spots, looks like it will be a decent season.

 

That a common misconception. When a dog goes on point, it's usually in cover so thick the wind can't even blow. Then you have to try and figure out where the bird may be, guess where you think it's going to fly, keep an eye on the dog, position other hunters (if there are multiple) and a few other things. Then usually the bird outsmarts everyone and flies in a path where nobody even gets a shot. Then you get the "wtf" look from the dog! If you do get a shot, you're lucky if you don't whack your gun on one of the 30,000 branches that surround you.

And this generally all happens in about 5 seconds.



As a youth, I hunted for years without a dog.

 

Beautiful pictures! I've never hunted mountain quail and likely too late for me now. Hope it is a decent season for you.

Sounds like a grouse hunter and I know that look the dog gives . He also hates it when I miss. And you seldom get a good look at a grouse when it flushes, when I take friends grouse hunting they almost never shoot at first. When I ask why I know what they are going to say, they didn't get a good look at the bird to shoot. Well your not going to LOL you shoot the blur. In front of it!

Pheasants out on the prairie seems like you have forever to me and they seem huge. But are actually faster than grouse. And the tails on roosters throw a lot of people off and they shoot behind them. Glad I grew up hunting ruff grouse it has helped with most all other birds. Most wild pheasants will not hold it takes a good dog to pin them. Although I hunt flushers now. The biggest benefit of a dog to me is the ability to find birds once you hit them. Be it a crip pheasant running through the grass or a grouse that went down deep in a bog.

Speaking of runners several of my friends and I have noticed that in the last 10-15 years grouse don't seem to hold like they used to out here. A lot of them will take off and run. May have always been that way but seems to be a lot more common then it used to be

 

Poodle in training as a 12 week old pup. To be fair, she’s not pointing here. Just caught her in stride.



And here she is now at 1 year. She’ll be in the dove fields with me in Sept. Not sure she’ll be ready for ducks in Nov or not. Maybe a trip over to KS for some pheasant if I get the time.

 

So can anyone spot the Woodcock?

Hint - they're rarely in the open like this. This bird had been winged and had landed here. Upon relocation, Willy re-pointed the live bird.

 

Nice to see a working poodle!

I won't hold the fact that you're a Glock fan against you!

 

Thanks. There’s a kennel in Michigan breeding hunting poodles with some good success. She was worth the 20 hr round trip drive to go get her. Smart as a whip and she will work for hours. A better dog than my amateur training skills deserve.

 

She'll teach you a lot. I've learned way more from my dogs than I've taught them. You'll love it...it's the most rewarding experience when you see a dog that you've been training with do it's thing!

 

Ain't that the truth!

I learn something from the dogs everytime out and it's usually about my inadequacies.

 

So true! The dogs are the true hunters. I am just the guy with the gun.

 

Hard to tell with that picture but going to go with the tail is pointed back at the dog and the head is turned around looking at him. Couple more steps he would step on it.

Only 2 more months until grouse season opens!

Got a new hunting gun a Sweet 16, will be shooting it in Wi. this weekend. At an Open Side by Side shoot

 

Nice gun!

I don't know if anyone else listens but the Project Upland Podcast had Wisconsin's state upland ecologist on discussing the drumming counts and the proposed shortened grouse season on the last episode. There was a lot of good information shared.

Also, I was on there if anyone cares to listen to me ramble about birds and dogs. I think I was on episode #25? Look for the "Robert Jones" episode.

 

Nick is duluthUPLAND on Upland Journal. I went back and checked the 12 page thread that is running on there about the proposed shortened season and he had posted Sunday about his interview with Mark Witecha. His post was the first one after the last time I was there LOL.

Listening to it now but already read ahead on the posts after his. I have refrained from saying anything in there on the issue, same user name Cold Iron and same Toller sitting in an empty 12 pound keg of Red Dot gunpowder from 1983 as my avatar. My take on it is the same as the pheasant numbers are down in SD last couple of years. The weather. Flooding in the North woods of Mn. and Wi. last Spring and drought in the Dakotas for last couple years. Loss of CRP and habit isn't helping either, but the weather is the largest factor IME. But my opinion is worth what you paid for it

 

No, you're spot on. The second biggest issue (quality habitat being first) facing game birds is weather. Grouse are tough and can handle harsh winters very well so the most important weather factor they have is spring/ summer rain. We need just enough for good bug production for broods but not enough to flood nests or drench broods.