WoodieBoater

Yeah I noticed in that picture that he's really starting to "chest out" quite a bit too. Before we left for Maine/NH he was 73 pounds. Ran off 6 and put 3 back on... and he's build like a brick sh*thouse.. another year and i'm not sure ill be able to keep up with him.. He's got boundless energy allready

Well here you have it. I hunted an hour and a half at Oak Orchard yesterday and flushed 4 roosters. The first three got the pass. Trying to steady up the new puppy. The last one he handled perfectly and it got a dosage of lead.

Perch I think you're right. Were adding all sorts of stuff to the bag. Figured out the pheasant runs yesterday.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/pheasantsites16.pdf

This is a link to the NYSDEC list of release sites and specific rules associated with each site.

First of all I misspoke, DEC releases at Oak Orchard and Tonawanda. my mistake.

They don't list specifically where at Oak Orchard and Tonawanda, but it does say closed to pheasant hunting Tuesday and Friday (ive seen the trucks there on Tuesday and Friday).

The most consistent stocked area I've hunted is Iroquois and Oak Orchard. I believe they stock every Tuesday and Friday, so birds tend to be easily found. I agree though, I hunted this weekend and I came across one bird in hemlock... I'm sure it was a leftover from opening day. You have to remember there's only one state pheasant facility now that I know of (Reynolds in Ithaca)so the logistics of propagating all of the release sites is pretty mind boggling. PA does a much better job stocking, and especially with habitat management. That's the thing that's real depressing to me is the lack of effort put forth in creating and maintaining habitat.

Well Maine was a blast. Got a whole lot of bird contact. And thats an understatement. I can honestly say that I saw more flushes in the past week than I have in my entire life. The pup did pretty well. He pressure birds a little too much. The woodcock held. The grouse did not tolerate the pressure so well. But hey. Live and learn. All in all it was a great time and the pup did very well. It's great to see everything come to gather. One thing can be said for sure... he hunts his ass off

Another beautiful day of hunting. A little slower today but still managed 3 grouse and 3 woodcock in northern Maine. Definitely had to work for them tho. The pup is starting to get good and tuckered out. Still a couple days to hunt. Stay tuned.

Started in New Hampshire. Not a half bad day. Dutch is losing a whole lot of hair. hunting very hard and learning how to handle birds well. Stay tuned.

Well the southern duck zone is closed up for now. Slow season but managed to get Dutch some good work. Its great to see him start to put everything together.  Were gearing up to head to Maine for a week. Hopefully get a solid education on the king of gamebirds and timberdoodles up there. keep posted

Me and Dutch are in the center of the picture if you look really hard. Beautiful night.

Pointed two woodcock this weekend but there's still too much leaf cover to see well enough for a shot. Ducks have been few and far between In the Binghamton area

the southeastern zone opened Saturday. My parents farm is in that zone and that's where I hunted over the weekend. Its only a 10 day early season and so far its been aweful slow. The northern zone opens the 8th and I believe ill be heading up there to a buddys to hunt ducks and grouse as well.

Ill send you a P.M. about the dog.

well it was a slow weekend, but we managed to get Dutch 5 retrieves.

Everything finally came together and he did very well tracking, marking, and retrieving. He didn't make any noise in the blind either. He even recovered one cripple that I never would have found without him. We did go out for grouse and woodcock but it drizzled most of the weekend. No upland birds yet but were just getting started.

Nice to see all the time spent training pay off.

yeah I think that's where it'll be really nice to have him. He's hellonearth already locating just about anything to retrieve. I don't think ill have to be reaching into rosebushes for dead grouse or chasing crippled ducks in the marsh for a while

I had him on a woodcock two nights ago. He handled it pretty well. He got a little bit close but the bird held until I got there.  He's starting to lose all of the hair around his eyes from nosing through brush so hes in the right stuff. Just have to get him on a grouse. also starting to see a lot more intensity in his points.

I can point you towards a couple of really good kennels if you want. The biggest problem is that if you want one (at least one with credentials) you're probably looking at at least a year wait. Maybe even a year and a half. It's totally worth it in my opinion. I'm all ready on a list for another one.

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its cool to see dogs put the pieces together and learn things like sitting in the woods at your side eventually puts some fur in her mouth. Were sharpening up a bit before the October 1st Duck Opener. Maybe well get a chance to go north for grouse the weekend before. hopefully the next pictures will be of birds instead of bumpers. Hope everybody is excited and getting ready for the upcoming seasons. and keep the frick killin those woodchucks haha

The joy of summertime and a long haired dog [emoji58]

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He's doing pretty good. I try to keep the beer drinking to a minimum because it gives him raunchy gas  .

We got out and did some field work early in the am (despite the heat) over the weekend. He's starting to gain some independence and really search for birds which is nice to see. Were definitely ready for the season to start so he can get some real world experience.  Were gonna work on introducing a blind, decoys, and duck calls this week so that's out of the way. We'll be in Ogdensburg for the northern duck opener with some great guys so that'll go a long way towards his education.

And then October 16 were off to northern Maine to get (hopefully) lots and lots of wild bird contact. I'm sure he'll get dusted a few times but there's no better teacher of bird dogs than a wild ruff.

Perch it's funny you say that. His favorite thing in the whole world is beer. If I leave one unattended he tips it over or steals it haha.

It's nice to hear that people are training and hunting dogs. I feel that upland bird dogs are becoming a lost art, at least in this part of the country where birds are scarce. Plenty of guys run duck dogs but kids my age with a shorthair or Springer seem very few and very far between. I allways encourage people to come with me so that hopefully they get hooked on grouse or pheasants. Anyway. That's my rant for the night I suppose haha

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weighed the Numbnuts today. Were at 67.5 pounds with some room to grow still. He doesn't look that heavy but im tellin ya he has a density similar to lead.

I have a running bet with a buddy (for a case of beer of course) that hell hit 70 by the end of the year. looks like im gonna lose for sure.

Current Pictures and his picture from 8 weeks

It's rounding out to be pretty hot. It's hard to get him enough exercise without worrying about overheating. It's dry so scenting is tough, but his nose is fantastic. We've been focusing on water retrieves, duck searches and now just started with blind retrieves. He's doing really well scenting on the water, and All of that is going really well and hes loving it. I haven't been this excited for October in a long time.

Got out to do some work with chukars tonight. The heat has really been slowing field work down, but he picked up right where we left off. We've been doing a lot of duckwork in this Damn heat. Doing great.

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that's a versatile dog right there. Hoping to do a lot of training this weekend. Ill try and remember to take some pictures this time

looking good. if you want help exposing her to birds let me know.