This year around us chukars have been hard to come by. Numbers seem to be down quite a bit. Saturday I had a great day out with the dogs and a new friend who shares a passion for upland game.  We hunted hard over some rough steep country. Luckily I was able to end up with at least one chukar.

I remember three or four years ago chukar numbers were really up. I could go out and see numerous coveys and consistently shoot a limit. I remember one Saturday I stayed home to get some yard chores done before the snow flew. I worked as long as I could before I had to get out and at least try for some chukars. With just an hour of light left I was lucky enough to pull down a limit of chukars. I am confident that numbers will be back, but until then, I’ll have to keep pounding the hillsides. One hard-earned chukar is real trophy and it tastes that much better.
 

Let’s face it dogs are hard on the landscaping. If you are going to have a dog loose in the backyard odds are you will have frustrations keeping the lawn looking nice.  Compaction and pee spots are one thing, but in my opinion, digging holes all over is another level of destruction.  In my experience, digging seems to be an individual thing with dogs. I have had lots of dogs that never dig, and other dogs that dig constantly. 

The first thing to try and understand is the cause of the digging. Are they digging to get at something; has the ground been freshly turned over, if so, they often love to dig it out to investigate the different scents. I think this is a very natural behavior for them, but really frustrating for me. I’ll go out and fill all the dig holes, pack them down and re-seed them with grass seed and that is the very first place they go and dig up. Arrrg! Second, are they digging out of boredom, or pent up energy? This is very often the case.  It is critical to this process to get the dog out and exercise them away from the yard every day.

Digging can be a really frustrating problem. So, how do you stop them from digging? You do it through negative association using an e-collar. Here’s the difficult thing, you have to be watching them every second while they have the opportunity to dig. (Getting a horse to stop cribbing is achieved exactly the same way.) This is the really hard part, taking the time to fix the problem.

Assuming you’re committed to stopping the problem, here’s how you go about. First, the dog can’t have access to the yard or any digging surfaces when you are not able to watch them. Keep them inside, in the kennel run, or somewhere they can’t dig while you are at work or otherwise not able to keep an eye on them. Second, when you do turn them out in the yard, put an e-collar on them every time without exception. This will have to be second nature; every time the dog goes out, the collar goes on. Then you have to keep an eye on them; preferably from inside where they can’t see you watching.

Building the negative association with the act of digging: When they do start digging wait until they truly are digging, not just idly pawing at something, then nick them with the e-collar on a low setting. If they keep digging nick them again, pause increase the power setting slightly and nick them again. Continue increasing the power until they stop digging. Don’t let them know you have anything to do with the correction, it just happens every time they dig.

It is important to only nick them when they are digging. You want to create the negative association with the action of digging, not the location in the yard. You do this through using low e-collar stimulation and correct timing. You want the setting to be low enough that they just barely cock their head or raise their ears as if saying, “did you feel that…what was that”. It’s almost like they want to try digging again to see if they really felt it. Then ‘dig, dig’ – nick, “yup, I did and I guess I don’t like that feeling of digging.”

Don’t think that just because you caught them once the problem is fixed. Keep up the vigilance of watching the dog when they are out until you are convinced that the problem in cured. You want them to believe that it just doesn’t feel good to dig. I liken this to me riding a tilt-a-whirl. The last time I rode the tilt-a-whirl I remember it made me green. I didn’t have a good association with it. Then, this last summer my kids talked me into going with again. Yup, sure enough, I don’t like the tilt-a-whirl. I don’t think I be doing that again. (Negative association)

If they go back to digging one time and don’t get shocked, you have to start all over again. They quickly forget all the negative association training and go back to realizing just how good it feels to dig. Keep up the vigilance. This is by far the hardest part of the training process. Don’t forget, however, that daily exercise it the critical first step in this process.

 

I have a special place in my heart for wirehair pointers. They’re just neat dogs.

We recently had one particular wirehair named Zoey. She had so much personality and her eyes were so human-like and expressive. She had so much play in her; she loved romping on the trampoline with the kids. I often wondered how much she could see through the locks of hair over her eyes. She was a joy to have around.

 

Here is a delicious recipe for grouse. The hot and tangy flavor mixes really well with the flavor of the grouse, however, it could be used for pheasant equally as well.

Hot-n-Tangy Grouse

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp red wine or cider vinegar
2 tsp. freshly packed dark brown sugar
4 cups ¼” thick shredded green cabbage
6 – 10 drops tabasco sauce
4 grouse breast fillets
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
2 medium carrots, shredded
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
1/3 cup finely chopped scallions
4 oz. Campanelle noodles (a hearty flowerlike curled pasta)

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the ketchup, wine, brown sugar, and coriander then blend. Remove 3 Tbsp. of the ketchup mixture and set aside. Add the cabbage, carrots, hot pepper sauce, and 2 Tbsp. of water to the remaining ketchup mixture in the bowl and toss to coat thoroughly.
2. Brush the grouse fillets with the 3 Tbsp. ketchup mixture and grill. I like to have the grill coated with a thick coat of oil and screaming hot. Grill for a minute, rotate 45 degrees and grill for another minute, flip, and rotate again. Grill 4″ from heat until meat is just cooked through. It is critical not to overcook.
3. Cook the noodles in the boiling water as per directions with just a touch of olive oil added to the water. Drain well. Place the noodles on 4 plates, top with the cabbage mixture, and then add the grouse. Sprinkle with scallions and cilantro and serve.

It was a spectacular weekend. We got our first snow of the year. In the higher country we received about 4” of wet snow. My guess is that it will all melt off within a few days though. The aspen leaves were spectacular. Blue grouse populations seem to be down in my usual spots. I had a hard time coming up with a limit this weekend. It was a beautiful day though. The aspen leaves made it worth the effort.

 

 

I love Motorola radios and use them on most of my bird hunts. They are small, light and work clearly over a long distance. My hunting companions and I usually go to a good spot and then make a plan to meet at lunch and each hunt our separate part of the country with our dogs. With the radios, we can keep in contact throughout the day.

My biggest frustration with the radios is that annoying “roger” beep when you let up on the PTT button. Not only does it make that annoyingly loud beep at my radio, but it broadcasts it to everyone on my channel regardless what they have their radio set to.  I can’t imagine why motorola would design such an annoying feature into a radio. It finally came to a head when I was hunting with my sister on her trophy muzzleloader elk tag this last week. (An awesome hunt, BTW.) No matter how low I turned my radio that maddening beep was loud enough to wake the whole aspen hillside. That was enough incentive to push me to figure out the solution; it was easy, but not intuitive.

To turn off the “roger” beep (a.k.a. courtesy tone) on the Motorola walkie talkie, simply turn off the radio, hold the “+” button (channel up button) down as you turn the radio back on.

When I finally got the “roger” beep turned off, I felt like Fiona on the Shrek movie after she kicked Robin Hood’s  %@# and said,  “Man, that was annoying.”  (youtube link) One funny movie.