The puppies are two weeks old and there eyes are just opening. The cuteness factor just ratcheted up a notch. They still spend a lot of time sleeping though.

Some close friends of ours offered to take care of the puppies so we could go on our previously planned family vacation for a long weekend in Yellowstone NP. When we got home Monday, we were surprised at how much the puppies had grown. We weigh each puppy every day and chart their growth, but numbers on paper are one thing, but visually see the change in size in just a few days it is amazing. Everyone is healthy and growing well. They are still spending a lot of time sleeping, piled all over each other. Eyes typically open around day 12, which is today, so we are expecting to see eyes cracking open little by little.

They’re here! Allie had her puppies this afternoon. Eight healthy puppies, and man are they cute.  Three females and five males. Sam loves them and cycles through holding each one. We all have to take turns holding Rachel back from climbing in the box and grabbing them. She is sixteen months and super excited about them.  All the pups are about the same size and are vigorous and nursing well. We’ll keep the updates coming.

We are getting ready for puppies. We are expecting them anytime from tonight through Friday night. The family has all placed our bets. Sam and I built a new whelping box. He was a big help this time around building it. Once we got it done and placed in the house, the first thing he did was curl up in it and say, “Dad, I could sleep here with Allie.”

This time around, rather than using contact paper for the floor, I found 12″ vinyl tiles 4 for a dollar; so $4 covered the 4′x4′ whelping box. Another change I made this time around is made the sides 24″ high rather than 18″. We’ll see how that goes. Right now, visually I prefer the shorter (18″) sides. We have 2×4 bumber rails ready once the puppies are born. Now the waiting part.

Photo

This past month I have had the opportunity to watch both sage-grouse and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse on the lekking ground a number of times. No matter how many times I watch, it never ceases to amazes me. These were in extreme Southeastern Idaho. Populations over the long-term are bumping down, but in the short-term look good. I am looking forward to seeing these birds again this fall.

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I came across a funny sight today. While out in the backcountry I came across the scene in the above photo, a grouse head poking out of the snow. From a distance I thought it was a dark piece of bark, but as I got closer I realized it was a grouse head looking at me.  I went on by, pretending not to notice and dug my camera out, then turned around and snapped the photo. As I approached, the bird popped out of the snow and angled away from me until it was behind cover, then it flushed.

There had been a fresh snow the evening before, so you could read what had happened. After it had snowed, probably about dark yesterday evening the grouse dove out of a nearby aspen tree and plunked directly into the snow. It probably spent the night under the snow in its snow cave, then as the day was warming up, it climbed up and was just sitting under the snow with its periscope up, scanning for predators. Numerous times I have found evidence of them diving under the snow during bad weather, but I have never seen them stay under the snow and poke their head out and sit look-out.

It’s not over till it’s over. There’s almost a month left in the chukar season here in Idaho, even longer in Utah, so keep after ‘em. I am looking forward to several more chukar hunts and possibly a couple of days in Arizona after quail. There’s still time to get those young dogs out and show them some birds.

Let me know how your season finisher goes.

Hungarian or gray partridges (aka Huns) are a great bird to hunt. They are similar to chukars, but use open flat agricultural lands as habitat. I hadn’t been after huns since the end of the pheasant season, so I decided to try to finish the season with some today. It was a great day, but as far as the bag went, it was frustrating. I saw several flocks of huns, but they were out in the wide open bare fields and wouldn’t let me get within 150 yards before they would flush. In the past I have done this and flushed them several times until I caught them over a slight rise or in some sagebrush cover and have been able to harvest some, not so today. They weren’t playing around.

I did marvel at the unique survival strategy. Most birds survive by hiding into the cover, but in their habitat, open snow covered fields, there isn’t much cover, so they sit there like a dirt clod on the most barren ground, all face opposite directions and watch while one or two scratch for seeds. It worked. I couldn’t get within shotgun range of them. On the bright side, the dogs and I got a good work out.

The above photo was taken by a hunting buddy in Montana in his yard during an extreme cold spell. They hunkered on the lee side of the yard in the sun and stayed for several days.

Across the west we have lost an estimated 96% of our aspen stands over the past 100 years, primarily due to the control of wildfire and compounded by cattle and sheep grazing. Aspen ecosystems are maintained by fire; it’s critical to their health. Fire eliminates encroaching conifers and stimulates aspen suckering, which renews a stand.
Ruffed grouse are an early seral stage species, which means that they love aspen stands for the first 10 or so years after a fire. If you like hunting ruffed grouse, keep track of burned aspen stands and visit the area a year or two after the fire. You’re sure to find grouse using the stand. After 5 or so years the aspen is so thick you can barely walk through it. Grouse love this for hiding cover and forage. Over time, the aspen will self-thin.
The above photo is a prescribed fire in an aspen stand. Prescribed fires like this promote aspen regeneration and directly benefit ruffed grouse, mule deer, elk and many other species of wildlife. The photo below is the second year after a prescribed fire. Note the thousands of aspen shoots 2-3′ tall. Many of the old trees were decadent and on their way out (they are small based on the low site potential of the area – mt. brush habitat.) I flushed quite a few ruffed grouse from this stand.