The North Woods

Years ago I read a quote that a good hobby is one through which you meet interesting people, involves travel and feeds a passion.  Bird dogs sure have done that for me.  The passion still burns strong after several decades and I cannot imagine my life ever being without bird dogs.  We travel thousands of miles a year from coast to coast for hunting or breeding purposes.  And so many of the wonderful, interesting people in my life entered through either hunting or bird dogs. So when we had an invitation from another setter owner to spend some time in the north woods hunting ruffed grouse we just had to go.  This end of the day scene could be anywhere-bird-USA but took place mid-state Minnesota with our new friend.

The bird covers were beautiful and rich with the smells and colors of October.  Tye entrusted us with some gorgeous bird covers, it's easy to see why he is in that area most every weekend in autumn.

The birds were spooky but between our dogs and Tye's we saw some nice dog work.

 Having been traveling and hunting for 6 weeks we were pretty road weary.  The enthusiasm of Tye and his friends - including Alicia who was 5 months pregnant yet out there gunning - was refreshing and we shared good meals and talk of dogs and birds.  Homemade goodies from Tye's wife were much welcomed and were gobbled as we pulled out of MN and headed home to KS.  Our trip to MN left us with new friends and memories of the colors and wonder of the north woods.

We are home now and happy to be relaxing a bit before the Kansas bird hunting season opens on Nov 14.  The dogs are happy to be romping around their yard.  Sally is definitely pregnant with puppies due Thanksgiving week so we will soon be prepping the whelping box....the same box in which she herself was born just a few years ago.  The calendar pages keep turning yet they look so familiar......

Montana 2015 Wrap Up

We are now in Minnesota, having left Montana a couple of days ago. We had a lot of fun during pheasant season there. We don't go up to the area of the state where the phez are released, instead we get a kick out of scratching down what a friend has nicknamed "badland pheasants." These areas may/may not have phez but they also still hold sharpies and Huns so when the dogs go on point you're never sure what they have.

This is our "Buck Dog" cover. Yeah, this grouse hunter has gotten prairie-hunting Mike naming covers along with me. Lol




Storm had a rooster on this point.




Belle trailing a rooster. She turns 2 in Dec and this fall it was pretty exciting to see her show some pretty advanced ability in trailing and pinning running birds like groups of Huns.




Mike was walking the high edge of this coulee, I was covering the bottom. Tweed was backing Storm (hidden in the brush) who was pointing Huns.




From a couple of hundred yards back had seen Jack drop down into the draw and not come back out. When we saw DW stop on a back near that spot we knew Jack was on point.




Jack was hard to see from my side of the draw.




When we walked in two roosters flushed and we each dropped one. Sort of a couples double? Lol. Storm was happy to do the retrieve on one, the boys got the other.




Jazz is our youngest dog, just a year, but she gave us some very nice bird work. And man, can that little dog go! We had been concerned that we would have trouble seeing her because she is so small but it turns out that her black head is pretty easy to see in all but the tallest of grasses there.




Right now we are boondocking not far from where we will be meeting a friend and doing some hunting for ruffs. I'm looking forward to hunting the woods but love the prairie too and feel blessed to be able to do both.

Cheers



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Every Dog Has It's Day

"I wouldn't take $5000 for that dog."   That and a smile on Mike's face met me as he and Fr Brit, Belle, returned from their morning hunt.   We had headed in separate directions earlier this morning, me with our youngest Fr Brit, Jazz, and Mike with Belle.  I had taken the little tri-color up through a draw to do some training on the sharpies I expected to find and we had enjoyed a good hunt, accomplishing some training goals along the way.  While Jazz relaxed on the sofa, Mike shared the details of his hunt.
                                                                                                      Jazz

Belle had stolen the day with some outstanding bird work on Huns.  I really need to get Mike to carry a camera but without pics to see I listened to his report of how she had nailed coveys of Huns and singles and even better, how she had put on a trailing show to remember.  Huns can run like perhaps no other gamebird and she was able to trail them over and around the hills of their escape, slowing down and stalking as she got close.  Last year we knew she was going to be special but we had also been prepared if this year she had shown us the "terrible twos."  Instead she just keeps getting better and better.  You go girl.
                                                                                               Belle

As usual, we are camped out on the prairie near where we hunt.  In fact, this morning we walked out the door of the OR to our respective hunts.  I took this photo from a small hill this morning looking back - the OR is a tiny dot in the pic.

We have come into town this afternoon to get some phone and internet service and get caught up on some correspondence.   We are treating ourselves to burgers and a beer at our favorite bar and grill  A parting photo is one I took yesterday.  After hunting for miles, it is always a welcome sight to come over a hill and see the truck not far away.  Happy hunting all.

  

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

First the good.  We spent several days visiting with Lisa and Cliff Weiss of October Setters in Idaho. These folks are dedicated ryman-type hunters and breeders and over the years I have known very few breeders as knowledgeable as they.  We were fortunate to breed our Sally to their beautiful Heath and hopefully we will be welcoming puppies in late November.

               Sally                                                                                     Heath

                                                                                 
                            


Lisa graciously invited us to join her in hunting sage grouse while we were there and even took us to one of her "honey holes.",  It was a long, bumpy drive from her house to an area flanked by snow-capped mountains: a real treat.
   
                                                                       Lisa and "Doc"

Indeed it was a honey hole - we saw more sage hens in those two days than we will probably ever see again.  Mike had bought a tag and I charged up my camera.  We got to see some of Lisa's wonderful dogs work as well as let our pack stretch their legs after the 20 hours drive from KS to ID.  Mike was able to gun a sage hen over his Fr Brit boys.

 
Oh, I almost forgot.  The area pictured above was also responsible for The Bad.  Within the first half-hour of hunting for our whole season, Mike tripped over sage brush and fell.  Which is not uncommon when walking in such terrain.  But this time he fell on his gun and cracked the stock.  It can be repaired and we do have a back-up gun along with us but it was definitely sad.

With the breedings done it was time to head to Montana.  But first Mike decided to figure out why the gas furnace on the RV wasn't working.  There was frost each night and know that it will be even colder before we return to home.  He took it apart and found a mud wasp colony the size of Manhattan was the problem.  Doing some McGyver-like problem solving he had it cleaned out and working well in not much time at all.  We had a somewhat leisurely drive of about 8 hours ahead of us to eastern Montana where we hunt. But about 4 hours into the drive we heard a loud "bang" and said ohoh.  Although the truck and RV were handling steady as could be, a pretty-new tire on the RV had blown up.  Without a safe area to work on it along the busy highway we instead limped the 4 miles to the next exit.

                                                                      The Ugly

Mike changed the tire and discovered that the tire had also damaged the gas lines in that area of the RV.   It can all be repaired but without a working refrigerator or stove and very warm temps outside, we caved in and pulled into a full service RV campground, something we rarely do.  Tomorrow we will get the necessary repairs and be on our way.

But tonight, we will hold hands and say our prayers of thanks for getting through today safely.

Exciting development for Ryman Setter folks

I am very pleased to have been part of a group who has taken a long-awaited concept and turned it into a reality.  This past week we launched a new website, RymanSetters.com which is a centralized online site where breeders of Ryman-type English Setters can showcase their dogs, research available stud dogs and discuss bird dogs with other breeders.  But importantly, it is also a central resource for puppy buyers who are looking for breeders with quality, healthy bird dogs and good breeding ethics. 

Since the passing of George Ryman over 50 years ago, there has not been a central connection between breeders of this type of setter and we feel that awareness and education between us is crucial to its future.  This site has been created and developed by a group of fellow ryman breeders with many years of experience and areas of expertise. We recognize and welcome differences among breeders in personal preference for traits such as size, speed, range and style.  This site will help both breeders and buyers to see what breeders across the country are producing and choose the best match for their own needs and preferences.  The common thread between all participating breeders is their focus on producing dogs for wild bird hunting, with all breeding stock being health screened  (OFA hip certification at minimum) and honest, ethical breeding practices. 

I hope you might take a minute to visit the site, I welcome any feedback.  
     
www.RymanSetters.com

Travels Behind and In Front of Us

My trip to Vermont went well: 4000 miles in 2 weeks is not restful by any means but I packed in as much visiting and fun as I could.  I was able to take 5 puppies to their families, visit with my own family and friends, visit and meet some other ryman setter and Fr Brit folks, and hit a couple of favorite food and drink spots.
This was home while I was there:

Even Tweed got to visit some of her grown pups.  I swear dogs can recognize 'family' - even though she had not seen Parker for 5 years since he was a pup they sure seemed content with one another.  Fitting, we met with Parker's owners at Parker Pie for lunch.

Folks often ask how I travel with puppies (without going crazy.)  My travel pen makes it wicked easy: the pups have plenty of space and messes fall to the papered trays below that are easy to clean.  The pups mostly sleep while I am driving although occasionally in the rear-view mirror I could see them quietly playing.  This pen also ensures that the pups never have to be walked on public grounds, making it quite safe from the many viruses and such that are out there.   I delivered 2 to families in MI and these 3 hostages went on to New England:

There was just enough room left in our little Escape for a Fr Brit sized crate and Jazz took the trip with Tweed and I.  She is a fun, game little girl and even tried dock jumping at the lake.

Storm's puppies are happily settling into their families.  It is great fun to almost daily receive photos and emails telling how the pups are doing.  Last night I received this one that I thought was cute, showing little Tucker learning good manners from his big brother.  Tucker lives in MN and will be hunting grouse and woodcock with his owner.

Mike was wicked busy while I was away, taking care of all of the produce and gardens, house and yard, 6 dogs, 1 puppy and trying to get some canning done.  All of the fresh produce really kicked him into cooking overdrive and he is filling our freezer and shelves with wonderful food.

These are just a couple of his gardens and they show the hard work he puts into them.  These are some of the rows of strawberry plants that will keep us busy next spring.

Tomatoes are late this year but they and the pepper plants are heavy with fruit.  This is one section.

All of this is fun and busy but what really has us energized is the fact that in just 3 weeks it will be time for us to leave for Montana!  We plan to hunt Montana huns, sharpies and pheasant for 6 weeks, then travel over to Minnesota to hunt ruffed grouse.  November will find us coming back home for bobwhites and pheasant.  Let the fun begin!!

Summer = Puppies and Produce

Hi all.  I apologize for not keeping more current with blog posts.  We have been busy around here!   Most relevant to this blog....we have puppies!  Our Storm delivered 8 pups on June 7th.  They just turned 3 weeks old so they have reached the really adorable stage.  The sire is a handsome fellow owned by another ryman breeder.  It was a stroke of good luck that they happen to be only 4 hours away - that's close by Kansas standards.  In August the pups will be headed to their families, scattered from Colorado and Montana to the Great Lakes and on to the coast of Maine.  I will again combine my road trip back to Vermont with delivering the pups to their families.  I look forward to visiting with friends and family there......and eating lobster and seafood!

We have been hoping that Mike will be able to join me on the trip east but this has been a challenging year for our produce operation so that is still to be determined.  The month of May brought us rain - usually a welcome thing here in Kansas but enough is enough!  We had 17" within a few weeks and the timing resulted in the delay and in some instances, the elimination, of some vegetables.   However, our strawberry crop was the early star of our gardens this year and we were kept very busy with Mike picking and me handling the advertising, sales and deliveries.  The hard work is rewarding when you see the smile on people faces as they anticipate their annual jam cooking or kids are grabbing and gobbling berries from the baskets even as their parents are carrying them to their car.  At the Farmer's Market one little girl around 3 or 4 couldn't help herself and as I was talking with her mother she was reaching up and snacking on berries from my table.  Healthy food for local folks  - that's our goal.  

The heavy and excessive spring rains do have us concerned about the local quail and pheasant hatches.  If the timing of the chilly rains was poor, then the newly hatched chicks would not have been able to survive.  But if the birds held off or perhaps have re-nested, then the chicks will benefit from the bumper crop of insects and seeds produced by the rains.  Time will tell!

This is a sketch on sandstone that we have

Cheers!