This weekend I was able to take advantage of the extended Utah chukar season.  This year the season started two weeks later and ran two weeks longer. I was very supportive of this regulation change for two reasons: first, it’s cooler for the dogs on the opener, and second, the birds are not as reliant on water sources, so they are not as tied to the guzzlers when people start hunting them.

We had a great hunt this weekend, the weather was overcast and chilly, which made good conditions for the dogs and the hunters. Even better, there was a fresh dusting of snow on the hillsides. I love to hunt chukars after a snow because you can figure out where they are and what they are doing by tracking them.

We knew the general area we wanted to hunt, so we were driving along surveying the area. We stopped at one spot that looked good and right away we heard chukars calling to us. One would think that I’d have learned by now that when I hear chukars calling I should just walk away. Needless to say, I haven’t. We shelled up and took off after them.  About two-thirds of the way to the top they started calling to us from a steep box canyon back below us. After muttering, we made a plan to go back down and come at them from two sides. As we closed in, I called out that we had them surrounded and they should come out single file. Being the ghost sirens they are, they simply vanished.

The snow did help out. While working my way up the mountain, I came across a single fresh, fresh chukar track in the snow headed up and across the slope. Allie (my lab) and I got on the track and determined to follow it out. Sure enough he led us all the way to the top. I figured he would probably run to the top and fly off the other side, but I thought I’d track him down and find out. In this case it paid off, sort of. We tracked this bird all the way to the top and around an edge. Just as we came around the edge two birds flushed, one right at me flushing from the dog, and the other down and away. I was able to down the first bird with the right barrel and hit the second bird, a far shot with the left barrel. The second bird cocked his wings up like a courting pigeon and sailed way, way down the mountain. Allie quickly came back with the first bird, and I sent her after the second. She made a great retrieve on the second working her way down mountain following the scent.  Where the second bird came from is one of those chukar mysteries.

Later Allie and I were able to get a third bird low on the hillside when she picked up scent and worked over a knoll and up a small drainage and flushed a lone bird. She was still in the drainage and didn’t see the chukar fall. Together we went back over the knoll to look for the downed bird. Once over the rise we could see a tiercel kestrel stooping back and forth after something down in the draw. For a three and a half ounce falcon, he was pretty optimistic about catching a 20 ounce chukar. We apologized to the kestrel and gathered up our third bird.

With the kind of chukar year we have had this year, and for so late in the season, I felt really lucky to have bagged three birds. My hunting partner had about the same luck that I did, so we headed back to town having had a great day. What we learned from this trip: late in the season the birds were single males or in pairs and were widely distributed, rather than in flocks. Birds were at all elevations on the mountain, but based on tracks, more of them were on the lower 1/3 of the slope.

A client and friend of ours sent us this photo of Zoey (the wooly wirehair).

Who says that gun dogs don’t make good house dogs?

Zoey has a great fun-loving personality and is a real addition to the family.
Don’t let anyone kid you; having a dog in the house does not ruin their nose. I believe that it strengthen the companion bond between you and helps you read each other better in the field. In essence, you become a better hunting team.

The only drawback is that they do track in a more dirt and hair. Our answer: vacuum a little more often.

I had an opportunity to work with a Braque Du Bourbonnais (pronounced “brock-do-bor-bon-NAY”) this last weekend. This French pointer is an uncommon breed; in a quick web search, I only found four breeders in the US. I guess this is an old breed, which traces back to the Spanish pointer of the 1500’s.

Honestly, I had never heard of this breed before I got a call from the owner. The dog was strikingly different in appearance. He looked like a stocky shorthair with khaki-blond ticking. After reading a bit about the history of the breed I was curious to meet the dog and see it’s hunting instincts.

After spending half a day in the training field with the dog, I was impressed.  He was self-confident without being over bearing, seemed to have a quick aptitude for learning and most importantly, was keen on birds, not noise sensitive, pointed birds and would naturally retrieve. Based on this one dog, I look forward to seeing more of this breed.
 

photo

If you have read many of my blogs you know how critical I think exercise is for their physical and mental health.  Let’s put it this way, I believe it is more critical that all other training, without exercise everything else falls apart.

We run our dogs 3 – 4 miles every day and see worlds of difference from a well exercised, well rounded companion vs. a coiled spring without controls. When it comes to puppies, exercise is still critical, but you have to think differently. Give them lots of exercise, but let the puppy set the intensity and the duration. They seem to know best. When they get tired they’ll lay down. Think low impact, low duration. We’ll take a puppy for a good stiff walk rather than running or roading with the big dogs. Too much intensity can be hard on their fast growing joints and bones.  I like to keep puppies exercise sessions frequent, but short in duration (about like their attention span).

Don’t be afraid to take them for long walks, for instance when our puppies were just four months old, we took them on a five mile hike. They did great; when they got tired and flopped down on their bellies, we stopped and took a break. We judged it was time to go again when they were up wrestling and playing tug-o-war with sticks. Some people have suggested a limit of five minutes of exercise per month of age for structured leash exercise; which may not be a bad rule of thumb. Think about when you are out on a long walk and they get tired, will you have the time or be in a location where you can stop and let the pup rest (or pick up the pup and carry her)? If not, make sure your walk is short enough to make it back to the house before the pup needs a rest.

The key for a puppy is frequent, low-intensity, short-duration exercise. This will not over-tax their growing joints, and will benefit both their social, mental and physical development.
 

It has gotten really warm here for mid-winter. Man is it muddy.

The warm weather does have me thinking Spring, and spring makes me think puppies.