Grouse Season Wrap-Up

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M1Tanker
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Location: Michigan's U.P.

Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by M1Tanker » Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:17 pm

We had an email going back and forth amongst some U.P. grousers and thought it would be nice to post a season summary here:

I had a great season save the pain of putting one of the best dogs I have ever owned down the third week in October.

Early season was tough with a lot of cover and poor scenting conditions that seemed to last until the end of October. The best part about that was two fold. The younger dogs got an education on how to handle running birds that pen raised hens and launchers could never provide and my theory on teaching stop to flush first worked.

Come the last week of October I was blessed to realize that I have been in the presence of a very fine dog with a choke-bore nose. On the day Baron died, he pointed a grouse and a woodcock with a desire that even cancer couldn't diminish that morning. The ride to the vet after the hunt was the longest ride of my life. However, the next morning, I killed a grouse over his first son from the very same spot where I killed the old man's last grouse over him...I now call that cover "closure."

Baron:

Image

A week later I was blessed with a son named Evan who will hopefully share our passion for the woods, the smell of a wet dog, and the acrid yet sweet gunpowder smell found in a fresh empty hull. He will hear stories about dogs and perhaps one day ask me for a pup from one of our litters.

Evan Michael:

Image

Talk about a roller coaster ride... but thanks to FMLA, I was able to hunt the first two weeks of November and found that to be the best hunting I had all year.

Panzer became a grouse dog. As mentioned before, early work on running birds and stop to flush training brought me to actually kill pointed birds over Panzer at 17 months old. The dog has a nose, brain, and locks solid. Except for his occasional 200 yard runs that are monitored via Garmin, he looks to be a nice, nice dog. A bird dog was made this year...watching that unfold is special to me and well worth the price of admission.

Panzer:

Image

Gunner has a face full of gray hair that would lead one to mistake him for a mall Santa this time of year, yet he led the season once again. If I could clone that dog, I would be a rich man but not as rich as my spirit when watching him work a grouse cover. He continues to amaze me and still shows the same drive and ability he had when he was 2 years old. At 9, his time left is shorter than his time here but man did he put on a show one night the second week in November. If I could shoot, I would have walked out of the woods with my limit, including two doubles...but I suffer from being an average shooter who spends more time watching the dog than the bird. On that run, I watched him swap ends on a bird in the semi-open. Please put me to sleep when there comes a day where that doesn't make me feel like a 5 year old kid with a new bike under the Christmas tree.

Gunner:

Image

Gretchen matured nicely and proved her worth. Her best day came during a steady rain the first week in November. Again, it was the swapping of ends and then a stare down with a bird caught in the wide open...then again 15 minutes later on the road back to the truck.

Gretchen:

Image

All in all, as an author once wrote, it was the best of times and worst of times. But somehow, birds were plentiful when we needed it the most and it was one season that my son will hear about for a long, long time.

Dennis

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gittrdonebritts
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Re: Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by gittrdonebritts » Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:30 pm

Sounds like a good year, sorry for you loss of Baron, but dogs like him are the ones we tell our kids about forever ! my son was born last September and this year he has been "helping" with the dogs and every time he see's me put my vest on he puts his hands strait up and says go go, boom boom, when he see's how much you enjoy dogs guns and hunting there is no way he won't want to do it, my son claimed my puppy as his he grabs her and says mine.

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jhorak
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Re: Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by jhorak » Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:10 pm

Great post. I sure enjoyed reading through it. Sorry to hear about your lose, but glad you've found closure.

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Ryman Gun Dog
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Re: Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by Ryman Gun Dog » Thu Dec 16, 2010 8:59 am

M1 Tank,
Dennis thanks for posting the great pictures of your dogs guns and Grouse, looks like you had a nice season. Our season here in Pa still continues until
Jan 22 with a break for Christmas. Glad to see some GSP's really getting the job done in the Grouse woods. Sorry about your old boy, time catches up with our dogs very quickly and God only gives them to us for a short time, sometimes it feels like an eye blink.
Congrats on the birth of your son.

Merry Christmas from the endless mountains of Pa
RGD/Dave

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mik
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Re: Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by mik » Thu Dec 16, 2010 8:00 pm

Thanks for sharin Dennis....Enjoyed the read and photos very much!!!!

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gspmo1
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Re: Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by gspmo1 » Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:40 pm

Thanks for the great story of life. Also congrats on your new baby!

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smilinicon
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Re: Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by smilinicon » Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:50 am

thanks for sharing your pics, I truly enjoyed them. Thank you also for sharing your loss. This morning before work, I got to enjoy your hunts and I was even in there for that ride. It'll help me be a better person today.

Best wishes,

Cary
Last edited by smilinicon on Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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birddogger
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Re: Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by birddogger » Sat Dec 18, 2010 6:08 am

Great stories, great pictures and very well written. You are a blessed man and thanks for sharing.

Charlie
If you think you can or if you think you can't, you are right either way

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ultracarry
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Re: Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by ultracarry » Mon Dec 20, 2010 8:17 pm

Thanks for the good read.

I have decided to bring my gsp to Colorado next September and hunt grouse while my dad and older brother hunt elk. I'll just have to find a trainer in southwest Colorado to have shoot some birds for her for the 2 days before the season. I must have seen over 50 grouse in the elk country this year.

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Carl Porter
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Re: Grouse Season Wrap-Up

Post by Carl Porter » Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:18 pm

I finally found out how to add an attachment. Here you go ultracarry
1Blues.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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