December 21, 2003 - 17 weeks

Obedience work is coming along great.  He retrieves pretty well at this point -- at least in the house, under controlled conditions.  WHOA is coming along, once he figured it out.  HEEL is shaky but haven't worked on it that much.  Whistle command for COME is all but automatic.

Brent saw 4 deer yesterday so we decided to go again today. He hunted deer while Dusty and I hung around the barn --- we were gonna introduce him to the gun later in the day. Brent couldn't sit still ... we bumped into him at the gate to the upper fields.  While we were talking, a nice 6-pointer walked out.  I got ahold of Dusty (thank God he comes when he's called) and held him down  Not exactly the way I'd planned to introduce the gun ... with a .3030 going off! I held him down and was rubbing his ears and blowing in them. Brent shot the deer amongst all the whinning and Dusty barked and ran straight to Brent. He wasn't the least bit scared - hope we didn't make a deer hound out of him.

Later when we did it officially, he had the same reaction. We really didn't even need to go thru the standard routine, but we did anyway - took less than 20 minutes. He took to it without a hitch ... almost like he knew. I told Mr. King what had happened and he said, "Oh yeah, he was already gun broke before you picked him up." Turns out he shot blank pistols over the pups while eating - so guns shots were welcome. Great tip!!

Dusty is 19 weeks old now and has seen a grand total of 14 quail.  So far I couldn't be more pleased.  I have never trained a setter before, but he has been a pleasure.   It's amazing how good they can be when they have the right genetics.  Hope I don't get too much in his way.

This was his 2nd day of field work and it went great - beyond my wildest expectation!  There was a slight wind today and the temperature was much cooler.  He honed in on the 1st quail downwind from about 25 yards, and after last week, it took me completely by surprise.  I had almost caught up to the check cord (can't run like I used to) when he locked up solid in mid-stride and held steady until I could flush it for him.  Unbelievable!  After that, I took the check cord off and proceeded to the brush-pile holding the next quail.  He crept in on that one too and held it while I walked around and took some pictures (see below).  He stumbled across the next few and bumped em up, afterall he is a puppy, but he'd point on his own if he got a good noseful.  What a great start!

Dusty's 2nd day of field work.  I took the check cord off for his 2nd bird today, and he held staunch.

I've been doing the quail thing for the past week or so and Dusty is doing great!  He's getting really "birdy".  He has made a lot of progress, and I swear he's starting to figure it out.  He will usually point and hold them until I arrive, but if he sees them or gets too close then he tends to want to jump in.  Sometimes he wants to relocate as I attempt to flush, but he's just excited.  We will work on WHOA.

One bird was against a steep bank and kept moving on him ... back-and-forth across a little bramble patch.  I could almost see him thinking as he went around the other side to cut it off and then back again to hem it up.  I just stood and watched to see how he'd handle it - and even though he could see the bird, he never moved in on it (which is not always the case).  His retrieving is not stellar, but he scooped up the first 2 birds I shot the other day and brought them to me.  Maybe the retrieving game is starting to pay off.  Don't really care about retrieving just yet. I haven't really had to use the check cord since the first day and don't plan to.  If he busts em, he's learning that he can't catch em - and they don't get shot.  May have to go back to the check cord later to reinforce the WHOA and not relocate, and maybe get him to point a little earlier, but we'll see how he progresses.  But I can tell already that he's got what it takes, and I believe that come next hunting season he'll be the type of dog that's gonna put it all together real quick.

Been working on WHOA and extending the duration to about 10 minutes or so.  I learned that he will hold almost indefinitely if I kick around like I'm looking for a bird, or snap my gun to my shoulder - he gets real intense.   Also been making him stop as he's working in front of me.  We've had a couple of "Pow-Wows" but it's beginning to pay off when he points.  I'd be less than honest if I didn't say that retrieving is not his strong suit, but then every-so-often he'll come through.  Today he retrieved 2 of the quail, and he even crossed a fenced with one of em.  He got lots of praise for that one.  I don't want to force the retrieving - we will continue to make it a game and work on it throughout the year.  I have a little experience in that department, so I'm not too worried .. yet.  He will "hunt dead" though with the best of em.

We've "quail hunted" a couple more times and even though he makes his share of mistakes he is really making progress.  So much so, that these last 2 weeks of the season are going to be devoted to actually hunting grouse.  It's hard for me to believe that he's ready to hunt this young, but if he can find em I know that he'll point - and if he busts em - so what.  For a 6-month-old pup, he hunts pretty hard and he knows what the game is all about, but he's not a "hunting machine" by any stretch of the imagination.  If birds aren't around, his attention span is about what you'd expect, but I think the experience will be good for him.  It still amazes me that I haven't had to "teach" him any of this ... he's a natural.

I slacked off on keeping the website updated (the best laid plans ...) so here's a summary of Dusty's 1st year of hunting.

To begin the year, my buddy Steve and I took the dogs to Wisconsin to hunt ducks and grouse. We also went to a game farm owned by a friend to shoot some pheasants. First lesson - NEVER EVER introduce a new setter to pheasant. Dusty ran the fields and put up at least 5 birds before we could blink. Dakota was loving it. After that fiasco - everybody settled down. I let Dusty drag a chord and with minimal pressure he pointed one. I took it off and he did OK on another 1 or 2 until I had to put him up completely. We hunted grouse for a few days after that and he could never figure them out - which was disappointing, but I really didn't expect anything.

I only did the quail thing a time or two. I took him grouse hunting whenever I could. I also have a game warden buddy who manages a wildlife preserve that has several coveys of quail - se we went there some too. The bottom line this year was that Dusty struggled - big time! He is extrememly birdy and hunts pretty darn good, but the fact that the quail ran a lot and were always in the thickest stuff, I don't think helped matters. He could find the quail pretty good, but never successfully pointed them - they flushed pretty quick, I must say. They always seemed to get up in front of him. I could never really determine if he was busting them on purpose or not (it didn't appear that he was - at least not every time). But he saw birds and I suppose that was good.

His grouse hunting went along the same lines. Found a bunch of them, but many, many times they would get up 50 or 60 yards in front of him. I didn't consider that his fault, but I don't know, maybe he pushed them too much. There were also several times that he would literally run over the top of them. Some of these, granted, he flat out busted, but there were just as many, or more, that I could tell he honestly couldn't smell. That was extrememly frustrating. Then - one day in late February, he bumped a bird right in front of him. I could've killed it but didn't shoot. He pulled up, almost as if he knew that he'd screwed up. I thouhgt to myself, that maybe a light just came on. He is very easy to call back to the spot and when he returned, he actually pointed that spot for a few minutes. The very next weeked was absolutely the coldest day of the year and we had about 4 inches of snow. I dragged myself out of bed and we went hunting. Sure 'nuff he found and POINTED HIS FIRST GROUSE and held it until I got there. Of course, I was so shocked and focused on him that I missed the shot. So now I know he can do it - if only the birds will cooperate.

Oh yeah and the retriving has gone down hill. He will hunt dead great - knows exactly what that means and is as good as Dakota, but if he picks it up at all, he will not bring it to me. I have tried and tried to play fetch with him in the yard with a dummy. He runs after it like a bolt of lightning, but he wants to play with it. I've tried all the tricks, but this Setter is no Labrador. I'll keep trying, but I suspect he won't be much of a retriever. Truthfully, it doesn't really matter to me that much - as long as he continues to hunt dead like he does. I say that untill I have to dig one out of a creek!

Dec 2, 2005

Played hooky from work and Steve and I went grouse hunting. Dusty got birdy right out of the truck and was working an area off the left side of the road pretty heavy. So I'm watching out in front of him, as usual, and then about 30 yards up the road (around the curve to our right - almost behind us), on the opposite side, a grouse gets up. I swear, we can't seem to win for losing. Dusty had no clue that it got up and so he didn't learn a thing. Oh well.

We ended up jumping 8 birds - I shot one wild. I'm sure Dusty had a hand in about 5 of them. He just will not point when he hits the scent - he seems to want to keep pressing until he can locate the actual bird. I can see now that this is going to be a very long process. I may look into some training methods that I can do where he will actually see the birds he's bumping - e.g. bird launchers. My sources tell me that he just needs to realize that he ain't gonna catch em and he needs to learn that he can't even get close. Right now, he's not even seeing half these grouse that get up in front of him.

Dec 7, 2005

Played hooky again. Dusty was running up the logging road in front of me when he spun on a dime to his right. I thought this was going to be #2. But the second he stopped, the grouse got up 5 feet in front of him. After a short chase, I called him back to that spot and made him WHOA, but the scent was so strong that I wrestled with him for a while. Maybe the wind was wrong.

A few minutes later, he got birdy again along the right bank and worked it for a while. He didn't go far enough up the hill, because as soon as he gave up on it a bird got up about 35 yards away. Geez - of course he never saw it.

I just have to remember that this ain't easy for a young dog. Oh yeah, and I am convinced that anybody who says their dog can handle ruffed grouse at this age -- is a damn liar!!

Dec 18, 2005

RETRIEVING
The last couple of weeks or so have been devoted to yard work -- as are the next few weeks (till deer season is over). Concentraing on WHOA and retrieving.
I have a small Teal dummy that Dusty has taken a liking to and he has begun to show interest in retrieving. I have basically ignored retrieving for a while, but now that he's older and loving this dummy then now is the time to get serious. Based on what I see right now, he is basically at the stage of about a 4-5 month old lab. He will jump for it and run after it like a shot. I whistle COME before he actually gets to it and since the whistle command is automatic (which it needs to be for that to work) - he actually has it in his mouth and is on the way back before he realizes it. I have to grab it on the 1st pass. So anyway, that's where he is with retrieving and hopefully he will show progress. He loves to HUNT DEAD so I am also using that game to reinforce FETCH. The next few birds will go in the freezer so that I can use those for retrieving as well.

Jan 15, 2006

What a great day!! Elk Valley area had about 3 inches of snow and Dusty and I put up 16 birds. All but 4 of them were productive encounters. And he was able to point 5 times! The first 3 points were cases where his beeper went off much longer than normal and in 2 of them I actually saw a grouse get up in front of him (the "Honey Hole" held a Thunder of 3). A little later his beeper went crazy again right below me, but out of sight. I heard a grouse and his beeper go to 'run' mode ... but then the beeper went immediately back to 'point' mode for a long time. I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on, so I slipped over the bank only to flush a grouse right in front of him. I've got to learn to stay ready. In the other case, I heard a grouse about the time his beeper went to 'run' mode. I was able to get to him for the other 2 points. The first of these was neat in that in was in a thick bramble and I thought he was false pointing because I couldn't get anything to flush. Dusty used that opportunity to relocate over on my side and he convinced me a bird was in there. So I went in and actually thought I'd jumped a rabbit - it was so thick. Anyway, that was the quicket shot I have ever had and I missed it. The next one was cool in that it happened right in front of me. He slammed to a point and lifted one leg. As I headed to him, he relocated and was so solid that he was actually trembling! His head was down and his tail was up. I wish I had a camera, I swear he would've held that one all day.

Several of the other encounters were good in that the birds were getting up just in front of him. One was really frustrating because I saw him go just upwind of a dead-fall that I have gotten several out of. He then reversed course and headed back that way only to have a grouse come out. He definitely saw it, but did not smell it. Before his 2 good points, he also pointed 2 spots where I kicked up birds. I made him hold one of them while I kicked around. I think I actually convinced him a bird was there. So all in all, this was a very good day.

Feb 24, 2006

For the past month or so, Dusty has moved to a different level. He is obviously a little more cautious when he hits scent. Several times I have watched him almost creep along on scent. I don't mean to suggest that he is more methodical or hunting slower, but he is definitely developing "bird sense". He has learned where these grouse are hiding and I have watched him go out of his way to circle a patch of greenbriar, or to check out a deadfall, for example. He doesn't stay in unproductive cover very long anymore and he's not running the logging roads as much. He has turned into a virtual 'hunting machine' too! He knows exactly what we are there for and I am amazed with his stamina. Very rarely does he ever get tired or bored anymore. i.e. he doesn't really need to hit scent now to keep himself going. We didn't see a single bird the other day and he hunted for 6 1/2 hours (after hunting 3 hours the day before). I totally expected him to quit anytime, but he pressed continually.

On the last three hunts, Dusty has pointed 4 birds and I was lucky enough to bag 2 of them. He has definitely reached another gear and maybe (just maybe) this is that proverbial "light coming on". He still doesn't like to retrieve, however, and he's ready to go right on to finding the next bird as soon as he knows it's down. Don't know if I'll ever be able to get him to retrieve or not, but he will "hunt dead" ... that is, if I can settle him down long enough! . The other day he pointed a bird right in front of us in a deadfall. As I moved in, the bird flused and I shot behind it. We waited about 15 minutes or so, and then went to where I thought the bird flew. There was a very thick briar patch just below me, and I highly suspected the bird had landed there. It wasn't long before Dusty pointed again, right below me along the edge of the thicket. As I tried to reposition for a shot, he moved in slightly, and the bird flushed immediately ... this time it flew straight away and I didn't miss.

Feb 27, 2006

Well, the season is over, and it has been a lot of fun watching Dusty progress this year. I do believe that he is really starting to come around. I think that those few days where it was really cold and the birds were holding made a significant impact. He was able to point a few and had several productive encounters. I think it was a combination of hitting them on good days (when they were holding) and Dusty being able to see that he was bumping the birds. i.e. they weren't nearly as wild there for a while and I think it really helped.

I think that all Dusty needs now is more birds. He definitely knows the type of cover to search and he has a lot of drive. I definitely don't have a problem with the way he hunts. I have always felt that maybe his nose isn't as good as a lot of dogs (althought that remains to be seen - it may be a misconception on my part) ... but he hunts hard and stays in contact and that's hard to coach. I don't think that it is any accident that he has begun pointing more birds either. I have watched him go out of his way to search the type of cover that tends to hold birds. I have noticed that most of the birds he has managed to point this year have been very close to him and on the edge of thick cover. He has not really had the opportunity to move in on these birds like he has had with some of the others that he has encountered. It doesn't really matter though, because he learns from each one.

The last day was dry and windy. Dusty ran right by 2 grouse and must have been upwind because I kicked them up as I came through. This has been the most frustrating part for me because I can't tell if he is able to smell a bird from much of a distance. I shot at one of the birds and knocked it down. I commanded "hunt dead" and this time I know for a fact that he went upwind - but he was all birdied up from the scent that he missed on his first pass. A little while later it flushed to my left and I had to shoot it again. It fell about 25 yards down the hill and when Dusty came over to hunt for it, I noticed that he picked up the scent immediately from about 18 feet. So I don't know - maybe it was the scenting condtions that prevented him from finding them in the first place. When training in the off-season, I am going to try to determine what kind of nose he has.

October
I broke down and bought a remote bird launcher. Best investment I ever made! On the first training session, I popped 8 birds as soon as he hit scent. I could not believe it when he locked up from about 45 feet away on the 9th bird and didn't move a muscle. I did 2 more and he pointed them both from 40-45 feet. Normally he would've tried to get within 6-8 feet.

The 2nd session went even better, he was locking up as soon as he hit scent and had 2 points from as far as 75 feet away. One bird he winded from well over 100 feet - I didn't launch it because he actually started working perpendicular to the wind and didn't appear to want to go any closer. He lock up on that one at 75 feet as well.

November 12
I made a dog silhouette out of some 1" foam board becasue I want to see if he will honor another dog. I checkcorded him into 3 situations and whoa'd him as soon as he saw the decoy. He stopped and didn't move. As I moved in each time, he definitely staunched up when he saw me load the gun and kick around. I knocked over the decoy and shot each of those 3 birds.

After that I, stopped saying 'whoa' and I popped 3 birds on him for not stopping. From then on he stopped on his own whenever he saw the decoy. It didn't take him long to figure it out. After that, he honored about 6 times on his own and I shot each bird. Once was funny because I had knocked the decoy over and we went on to walk thru the field. On the way back he started cat-walking and I realize he was pointing the decoy while it was laying down.

December 14
Been hunting 6 times so far and Dusty has pointed at least once on each hunt. He pointed 3 one day and we are averaging about 7 or 8 encounters each day. Some have been unproductve points, but that's OK. I know a bird was there and probably ran out before I could get to him. He is standing off his birds a lot better now, for sure. That launcher did wonders, I can tell from watching him when he hits scent that he is much more cautious. I think I can safely say that the proverbial light has come on and I am sure that the launcher work was the last piece of the puzzle.

January 22
It has been unbelievably warm the past month or so. We've ben hunting as many days as possible especially the cool ones - things are getting back to normal now. On every hunt this year (except for 2), Dusty has had at least one non-productive point. BUT he has also been bumping them like crazy. I've seen him bump several by practically running right over them. In his defense, most are below him on a steep bank or he's been upwind (at least it appears so). The other day he bumped 2 like that and then later on he pointed 3 in a patch of greenbriar. He held them a good while for me to get there.

On the last hunt, I watched him bump another one that was basically my fault - I saw him hit the scent and he flash-pointed, but he went on down the road a ways. He came back to that spot and I should've known a grouse was close, but I walked with him as he crossed the logging road and we jumped it. Later, he hit another scent trail in front of me and I watched to see how he would handle it. I couldn't believe it when he slowed way down and "cat-walked" a few steps and then locked up on that scent. That's what I've been waiting to see. The bird was not anywhere around, however and I never saw or heard it get up. Later he pointed another bird down a steep ridge. It took me forever to get to him. This time the bird was about 60 feet in front of him. I nailed that one - course, I threatened him with every inch of his life that he'd better have one pinned down. I didn't think I'd ever get myself back to the top of the ridge - it was STEEP. 2 steps forward and 3 back. I ain't getting any younger, that's for sure!

February 9
Dusty has done a lot better the last few weeks. He has pointed several grouse. He's probably pointing 40% of the ones he encounters and that's counting flushes that I don't consider to be his fault. This morning we went to a new spot and hunted 4 hours. He was working a hillside below me when I saw him slow down a cat-walk a few steps, but then he went right on. A few minutes later a grouse flew up right over my head. I don't know if he smelled it again or not, but I didn't hear the beeper go off so I suspect he didn't. Later on the way back, he bumped a covey of quail that literally flew right into me. He was able to manage a point on a group of 3 after we went after them. It was his first wild quail. They were pretty darn spooky though, one got up before I was anywhere near it. Some others flew into thick stuff and he didn't have a prayer.

February 28
These last few weeks have been really, really good - lot's of contacts now that it's gotten colder. Like I said, I think he's handling 40-50% of the grouse that he encounters. He's just all but there. Dusty is NOT hardly bumping any birds anymore - they either just won't hold or they are flushing wild. He hasn't busted one in quite a while. I can tell now when he hits scent because he will NOT advance on it. He goes back-and-forth with the wind until he's ready to point. He has definitely reached a whole different level. I'm confident now, based on what I've seen, that he's got it. It's just amazing to me how they learn all of this on their own -- nature's way, I guess.

I can see now why John said, don't give up on him too early. He said that it could take 4 or 5 years before he'll figure it out. He did it in 3 full seasons. You remember John, the old fella I used to grouse hunt a lot with (Rev. Carr's buddy). Anyway, I'd much rather hunt behind Dusty now than his Jack (and Jack was good). Dusty doesn't range out nearly as far and I like that around here.

I have no idea how many grouse we got this year. It wasn't all that many cause I was really more interested in Dusty. I'm counting points/flushes right now. I think the most we got up this year was 17. There were 2 days that I know I could've gotten a limit if I'd shot, but I didn't shoot at the birds I flushed or the ones that would get up ahead of Dusty providing me a shot (even birds that I didn't consider his fault). Oh - I bumped into Bob Hodge the other day and we went hunting this morning. We didn't get a bird, but we had a good time.

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