We’re fortunate in Utah to have a hunt-able population of White-tailed Ptarmigan.  “Hunt-able” being a fairly subjective word.  The season opens early compared to many gallinaceous upland birds, around the last week of August; usually due to the fact that most alpine areas are snowed in much past September.

Many of the folks that go after White-tailed Ptarmigan end up getting great views, spectacular alpine fishing, and memories to last a lifetime…but often no birds.  I should know…I’ve hunted them 5 times…and only found birds twice!
The preparation phase of a White-tailed Ptarmigan trip is intense.  The only place to hunt them in Utah is the High Uinta Wilderness, a pristine back country without roads or access by any motorized means.  Hunting is by hiking or horse only…and its 10 miles before you even reach the alpine areas they inhabit.  There are still truly wild places out west…and this is one of them.
Testing out the dog packs (they don’t really care for them!) and trying to decide what I most need that adds up to less than 60 lbs.

We left on Thursday afternoon and slept at the trailhead; the plan was to ride in on Friday…then start hunting on the Saturday opener.  I haven’t hunted upland birds since the close of the chukar season in February.  I hoped we were all up the challenge.

My illustrious steed, Ellie, weighted down with all I would need to survive the back country for 5 days.

Awe, who am I kidding?  We had a pack horse also, for such luxuries as tents, food, and the little things like shells, cooking supplies, etc.  This trip we had it easy!

Shy of a rodeo or two, we made it towards the peaks in the distance in record time.  That thar’ is ptarmigan country!

Speaking of “rodeos” I got to really test the merits of the Garmin Astro.  As we made our way up the trail The Dude decided that he wanted to get to ptarmigan country sooner rather than later…and before I knew it he was up the trail over 1.5 miles away…in heavy timber!  To say the least I was STRESSED!

Well the Astro kept in contact with him the whole way, and I kept an eye to make sure he wasn’t getting off the trail into the timber.  It only lost communication three times.

Eventually we set up camp, and some hikers found The Dude and were taking him back to the trail head.  He was up at 11,000 feet when they found him…and he’d gone 18.7 miles.  I followed the Astro to the trail and picked him up.  Man was I flustered…but it would have ended much worse had I not turned on those collars.

Anywho, after I took a good helping of Valium and a shot of crown, we decided get some dinner.

These high mountain creeks and streams held a bounty of small but deliciously edible wild cutthroat trout.  Before long dinner was served.

With bellies full and muscles spent we faded off into that restless sleep before a big hunt.

The next morning was brisk at 10,700 feet.  It was a chilly 35 degrees as we headed toward the peaks in the distance.  Normally you don’t start to find Ptarmigan, at least this time of year, until you hit elevations of 11,500 plus feet…and the higher…the better.  A two thousand foot elevation climb is tough enough…but it’s even tougher with low oxygen levels.

The dogs were working the cover very well.  One pup, The Dude, liked to show off…and titillate us with an excess of “false points” on various alpine birds…none of which were ptarmigan. Got the heart pumpin’ though…

White-tailed Ptarmigan like high alpine areas.  Rocky crags, boulder fields, and sheer cliffs are the places they call home.

The areas we hunted “looked” bleak, but on closer inspection we found a good crop of low growing forbs, grasses, moss, lichen, and other plant matter.  And lots of water seeping from every rocky orifice.  It was probably drinkable…but we filtered it anyway.

Cliffy areas around and above these lakes below are good early brood habitat, while the adults and many older broods are higher up on the ridges and mountain tops.  In the winter they move lower to feed in the alpine willow.

After hiking what seemed like forever (it was actually only 8 miles) we started to get into some sign.  Yes that’s Ptarmigan poop.  And a feather.

Shortly after, we were treated to one of The Dude’s stylish points.  Tired of all these “false” points I went up and tapped him on the head…he rushed forward…and up came the Ptarmigan.  Idiot!

After 31 miles The Dude finally tasted sweet victory.

And quicker than you could say “fetch it up” I was admiring a beautiful adult White-Tailed Ptarmigan male, in early fall plumage.

My friend and hunting partner had also just shot himself a gorgeous adult female.

A bird or two went off in another direction, so we went after them, but to no avail.  On our way back Oprah went on point…in the area of the original flush.  Some birds must have held very tight, and let us…and the pups, walk right on by.  Look closely and you can see a ptarmigan on the rock about 10 feet in front of Oprah.

Here Carson takes his second bird of the day.

The 28 ga. CZ “Partridge” just keeps on pleasing.

Carson and his first White-tailed Ptarmigan; an adult female and young male.

A close up of the adult male.  They truly are a unique and beautiful bird.  Sporting when hunted with pointing dogs, a mountaineering challenge to get to, and all amidst absolutely spectacular scenery.

After that I pretty much had 11 simultaneous heart attacks and was delirious from oxygen deprivation, but I still took a few pics on the way down the mountain.

When we got back to base camp, we breasted out the birds and checked the crops.  This early season ptarmigan was eating a smorgasbord of alpine delicacies.

We slept well that night.

The next morning was cold and dreary…and the high alpine is not the place to be during a fall thunderstorm.  So rather than hunt one more day we packed up the ponies, tucked our tails between our legs, and headed for the trail head.  It was only a mere 10 miles away.

And just in time too…

That’s the official start of the upland season for Jonesy, Oprah, The Dude, and I.  But not to worry, I’ll keep ya abreast as to the rest of my various grousings.

-Caleb

Read the entire discussion on Upland Journal.

(Used with permission from Critter Control)

The topic is not meant as a battle between wild birds and liberated birds, but more of a philosophical question.  If you had the ability to train on nothing but wild birds, would you still use liberated birds?  I know that’s impossible for most of us, but I’d like to hear the thoughts of those who would still use libbies if they didn’t have to.

Personally, I would not.  Everything that you do in setting up a training situation with libbies, you are basically trying to replicate a wild bird situation.  Launchers are used to keep the dog from catching the bird.  With wild birds, you don’t have to worry about that.  You are always looking for “good flyers” with libbies, and that’s why many of us use pigeons, because they are wild and you don’t have to worry about them being caught if you don’t clip the wings or card them.  If I could use nothing but wild birds, I’d still use check chords and pinch collars, but I’d probably avoid the train wrecks that come with use libbies from time to time. Also, with wild birds you don’t have to worry about let down after flush and tossing birds to keep the style up. Late flushing wild birds would take care of that.  I’m close enough to wild birds to train on them exclusively, but I’d probably be a walking snakebite victim out there in the desert .

I guess the only circumstance where libbies would be necessary is to train a field trial dog for encountering a weak flyer in a field trial competition walking back under his point.  Sad, but it happens all too often.

Read entire discussion on The Field Trialer

(used with permission from cgbirddogs)

At the end of last Chukar season, the members of Utah Bird Dogs held a fund raiser.  The goal was to raise as much money as possible and donate it to the Utah Chukar and Wildlife Foundation.  Over $1000.00 was donated and the proceeds were to be used for the construction of Guzzlers in Utah.  The time came for the Guzzler installations and a few of us were privileged to be able to help on the installation.

It was a long drive out to the remote location in Utah’s West Desert.  We met early with plans to install two and possibly three guzzlers.  Volunteers from The Utah Division of Wildlife’s Dedicated Hunter Program, The Utah Chukar and Wildlife Foundation and Utah Bird Dogs came together for a day of fun and hard work.  On the way out we noticed a big hawk trying to fly away carrying a very large snake.  The snake was too big to carry far and it was dropped.  We thought it might be a rattle snake so we went in for a closer look.  Sure enough, a hawk will kill and eat a rattle snake.  Must have been executed perfectly, that snake’s spine was broken right behind it’s head.

It’s quite a hike in to the Guzzler locations, over a mile of rough terrain.

Ernie Perkins, a man with many hours of volunteerism logged on behalf of Utah Hunters, and the fearless leader of our group.

The supplies had been dropped off by helicopter ahead of time…

This is the place!

A few words of encouragement and instruction from Ernie and it was time to go to work…

We started digging…….

…..and digging….

Time for a test fit.

We had only one dog along with us to brave the heat and the rattle snakes.  A Sussex Spaniel.  One of only 3 in the whole state of Utah.  What a great dog!

Starting to come together…

We had to make sure we kept the proper slope every step of the way…

Ernie made sure we kept everything according to specifications.

Completed in record time! (a record that only stood until we found out that the other group had finished before us.)

A.J. (Utah Pointerman) and his biggest helper.  She hiked the whole way in a pair of cowboy boots!

Our Chief Operating Officer and Volunteer Organizer “The Grouse Creek Kid” Al Smith.

Here’s a note from the President of the UCWF.

Thanks so much for your recent contribution to the Utah Chukar and Wildlife Foundation. We work hard to be strong upland game advocates in Utah and do everything we’re able to make a difference. Your contribution of $1098 will be used to install a new approved guzzler this spring. A plaque recognizing the contributions from members of Utahbirddogs.com will be added to the guzzler. Thanks for each of your contributions. Lets all do everything we can to preserve and enhance upland populations on Utah’s public lands.

Thanks again,
Travis Proctor

This is a plaque will be placed on one of these Guzzlers. This comes with a challenge….. If you are lucky enough to hunt in Utah’s West Desert and happen across a Guzzler with this plaque, please take a picture of yourself next to the plaque and send it to me.

See entire discussion on Utah Bird Dogs.

(photos and article by Rob Ashby)

Ok, I’m sure this is probably about the millionth post on this forum that pertains to this topic. I searched but didn’t really find the answers the answers I wanted.

Here’s my situation; I’ve been quail hunting over the last three years and enjoy it tremendously. I’ve done field lines and hunts with bird dogs. I enjoy the hunts with dogs significantly more than those without dogs. I’m sure most here would agree that there’s just something about watching a dog lock up on point that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

All that being said, I’ve decided that I want my next dog to be a hunting dog. That’s where ya’ll come in; I’ve been reading these forums, magazines and books on the subject and i “think” I know which breed of dog would best suit my particular situation(if I should even own one at all). However, I would like some input from those on this forum who have more experience and can hopefully start me off on the right foot. Below is a rundown of what I believe are the key points for consideration in my decision.

Experience – Complete Novice (Have always had dogs but never owned a hunting or working breed) I would very much like to have a lot of input into my dogs training but will undoubtedly need the help of a professional to get the most out of my dog and for the dog to get the most out of me.

Location – Just moved to South MS on the Gulf of Mexico. It’s very hot here in the summer, miserably hot. Our house is on a very small lot and I would estimate that I have less than 1/8 acre of fenced yard. There are some green fields in our neighborhood but outside of that I’ve not observed much by the way of open fields in this area. Most of the ground around here is either marsh or timberland. Not saying it doesn’t exist around here, it’s just not the norm in my observation. Also, I’ve done some searches and haven’t been able to find any breeders or trainers in my general vicinity to which I could talk with about my situation.

Hunting – Quails almost exclusively; as far as I can tell from reading the MDFW there’s not much wild quail habitat in the state and even less in South MS. That would require me to do most of my hunting on released birds on paid hunts or travelng into locations with wild birds. Because this is cost prohibitive, I would say that I’ll be on birds at the most once a month during the season.

Miscellaneous – The dog I choose will be a family dog that I will want to hunt with during the season. It will live in the house and will be able to come along and spend it’s day with me in the job site trailer (most of the time). It also has to be generally tolerant of small children and small dogs (which I realize has a lot to do with socialization and training).

Based upon the above, maybe owning a hunting breed is not in my or the dog’s best interest. If you think so, please tell me. It would disappoint me greatly but better to know now than later. If not, what breed would you suggest given my circumstances which I outlined above.

Thanks in advance for the input and opinions,

Lance

See entire discussion at Gun Dog Forum

(used with permission from lefthand)

An April 20, 2010 article on Field and Stream featured an incredible video of a Sharp-tailed Grouse Lek in the Snow. The author was kind enough to give the “hat tip” to the Upland Journal bringing his attention to Dawson Dunning’s video. A recent post on Upland Journal brought attention to this. I did some looking around and found that Mr. Dunning had recently put up a new video, “Dance of the Sharptails”. Mr. Dawson was kind enough to allow me to repost the video here on Gun Dog Fusion.

In the early morning hours of Montana spring months, male Sharp-tailed grouse congregate on lekking grounds to display, call, dance, and attract a mate. The dominant males occupy the center of the lek and defend territories from rival males, often engaging in intense battles. Females approach and carefully choose a suitable mate.

Dance of the Sharptails from Dawson Dunning on Vimeo.

See the entire discussion at Upland Journal

(video used by permission, please visit 3 Bears Media)

t’s time!  The pups are coming.  What supplies should you have on hand?  Are you ready?  A recent discussion on Gun Dog Breeders brought up some good ideas on what items you might need.  There’s some things you may not have thought about.

Here’s some items you won’t want to be without…

• Gloves
• Digital Thermometer
• Scale
• Nasal Sucker
• Heating pad
• Blankets
• Newspaper
• Towels
• Camera
• Note Pad

Check out the entire discussion on Gun Dog Breeders.

There’s a great article on the whole gestation period including Pregnancy, Whelping, and Post Natal Care.  Article (Claws and Paws Veterinary Hospital)

(photos and video from Flickr used with permission from, Guy L. Monty, poecile05
Parksville, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada)

I had only gotten out for a brief afternoon chukar hunt once this year although the season was nearly a month old, and I had yet to make a serious weekend trip to my go-to hotspot.  I’ve got some good excuses for my slacking, but I felt bad about it nonetheless.  So, it was with great anticipation that Sue and I headed out to chukar Nirvana this weekend with a group of friends and dogs.

In the group was Mark, who I normally refer to as “Sue’s Vet”, but who in reality has become a pretty good friend.  He, his setter Izzy, Sue, and I rolled out of Reno early Saturday morning, and were climbing the chukar slopes by around 10 o’clock.

Conditions this spring had been good in this area, and I had high hopes that bird numbers would follow suit.   Not more than 30 minutes into the hunt, Sue went on point and confirmed my suspicions.  I walked in and a covey of 15-20 birds got up.  The 870 barked once and a bird fell.  It barked again, and another did the same.  On the 2nd shot, a late bird flushed, and when my 3rd shell went off I was ½ way to my limit.   Not a bad start.

We pressed on and proceeded to consistently move singles and small coveys; probably 20 minutes never went by without birds in the air.  Sue had some more really nice points (although I’ll admit that in a moment of weakness I did end up shooting a wild-flusher) and at the end of the day we had our 6-bird limit, the majority of which were taken over point.

Not bad for less than 1 ½ years old . . .

I picked up a new flask in a Wild Turkey holiday gift pack the day before – and decided to haul it along in case of just such an occasion.

This was an odd day of chukar hunting for me in that I didn’t cover a lot of ground.  Oh, I walked a long way, and climbed a lot of slope, but it was mostly up and down, traversing the same slope chasing singles.  This is where most of  the magic happened

And Sue’s tracks on the Garmin, for comparison:

As I sat and took photos of the birds, the Astro barked and told me Sue was again on point, 150 yards uphill.  I trudged up with the camera, hoping for a nice shot of him on point.  He held the point nicely, but the lone bird decided to flush while I was still 50 yards out and just over a rise, so no photo op that time.  I did take the time to capture a few post-limit scenery and dog photos though:

Working the slopes:

Perfect chukar habitat:

Easter Island Rock?

He sure likes to find nice vantage points:

With a view like this, who can blame him?

We met up with Mark and Izzy later and enjoyed some post-hunt libations.

Saturday night we camped out, went to bed early, and got up for a morning hunt on Sunday before heading back to Reno.  I had a little “talk” with myself regarding my trigger-happiness the day before, reminded myself this was about the dog, and decided “no birds unless over point” meant “no birds unless over point”.  About 30 minutes in, Sue went on point just over the top of a fairly tall, rocky peak, and I downed our first bird of the day.

He had another nice point on a large (~30 bird) covey that got up to far for a shot, and we never were able to stir up any singles.    With about an hour to kill, and against my better judgment, I decided it would be a good idea to bail off the ridge we were on in favor of the next one over.  To give you an idea of the scale of the operation, here is Sue on Ridge 1 with Ridge 2 in the background.

And Looking back from Ridge 2.  The furthest peak on the left is where we shot our first bird, then worked all the way to the right and out of the frame, down through the canyon, and up onto Ridge 2.

With about 30 minutes left, I was tired and ready to head down a small finger ridge and back to the truck, until a group of birds started calling on a peak above.  Reluctantly, I started climbing again.  About 40 yards from the top, I had to stop or risk massive coronary consequences . . . Sue of course was undeterred, and proceeded up and over the top of the ridge.  I knew he’d find the birds, but there was just no way I could keep up.  Time to trust that my pointing dog  would do his job, and hope the birds would hold.  Sure enough, soon after Sue disappeared from sight the Astro told me he was on point.  I finished the climb as quickly as my aching legs, pounding heart, and screaming lungs would allow, and crested the rocks at the top of the ridge only to look down on a tangled maze of shrubs and rock with no bird dog in sight.  The astro said he was only 10 yards away and still on point.  I took another step, and a covey of a dozen birds erupted from the shrubbery at my feet, I was able to compose myself enough to make one bird fall from the sky, and Sue finished it all of with a nice dead bird find in the dense cover.

2 birds down:

On the way back to the truck, Sue pointed another small covey, and I actually managed to capture a pretty cool image of him on point.  Do you think he knows where the birds are?

Unfortunately, these birds bamboozled us by flushing just over the top of the ridge.  Still some nice dog work though.

Overall, it was a great weekend for Sue and I.  I wasn’t sure how he was going to handle chukar after spending the last 8-10 months chasing mostly easier birds (sage grouse), but he continues to exceed any expectations I might have for him.  To say I am pleased is an understatement.

Until next time,

RI and Sue

See entire discussion on Upland Journal.

(used with permission from Rhode Island)

I have a bit of a special circumstance that I am hoping to get some help on.  First off wouldn’t call myself a hunter, a fly fishing nut for sure, but I have been upland a handful of times and want to get into it more seriously, and to make a long story short, I now have a perfect excuse.

Around the 1st of the year, after finally getting approval for a “fishing buddy”, I acquired (rescued) a Griff. ZigZag is approximately 18 months old. He was picked up as a stray, and when I got him he was in pretty bad shape. The vets said he had been on his own in the wild for quite some time, at least 3 months. He was around 50 pounds then (he stands 24.5 inches!) and he is now up to 66, his coat is finally coming back after we had to eliminate a lot of it because of extensive matting. He is certainly a sweetheart, but he has his issues.

When we got him he responded to zero verbal commands. He was apparently housebroken however, he has only had a couple accidents in the house, and those were early on when he was still suffering from Giardia. He was DEATHLY afraid of strange men. He still is to some extent, but he no longer growls, barks and pees himself when a strange man enters the house/yard. I have him nearly 100% on Sit + Come. We haven’t really started Whoa seriously. I got a Sportdog SD800 about 2 months ago. The moment I took it out of the box he knew what was up. Seeing this, I put the collar on him every time we did ANYTHING fun for 5 weeks. He now goes off the walls when it comes out. He knows that collar=fun.

For the last couple weeks I have been trying to get him to Come when I use a short burst of tone. He totally loses it when I do this, he gets very nervous, pants, looks all wild-eyed, and listens to absolutely nothing I say. He is 100% on Come with voice only, he drops to around 50% when I use voice and tone together, and he has yet to come when I use tone only, I am using a 15 ft check chord with this, and even with a tug he just fights back when he hears the beep. I am guessing that his previous owner used Tone for a warning, and I am not sure if I can overcome this. My number one priority at this point is to get him to focus in on me. He seems to avoid eye contact with me, or checking back with me, at all times. On leash or off, when he is outside he seems so totally stimulated by the outside environment that I don’t even exist. The prey drive certainly seems to be there, and down the road if I could get him to hunt I would be ecstatic, but at this point I would just like to progress with his training, we have hit a bit of a brick wall.

So I guess I have 2 questions, 1 – should I abandon the collar altogether (i have not once applied e-stimulation to him yet) because of his apparent refusal to do anything when the collar is active, and 2 – what can I do to get him to focus on ME and not the grass, birds, squirrels, butterflies, ect. when we are training. Any help or insights here will be greatly appreciated. As I stated I am a newb when it comes to V-Dogs, but I’ve been around dogs my whole life, having 2 Goldens, an Irish Setter and a Newfie to date.

THANK YOU ALL! Ross

See entire discussion at Versatile Dogs.

(used with permission from rosstucker)

Or next to the last Saturday of Chukar misery…….. er season.  A walk in the Fog with some of the UBD gang.  So there we were just heading up another snow covered Mountain when I got stuck and GCkid had to push me up the hill with a Stiff chain.?

The Chain gets stiff after you hook it up and put a charge to it, really neat toy, need to get me one.

On to plan B
Who in their wrong freakin mind parks a sheep camp in the middle of the freakin road. Not hot-spotting, it has wheels and can be moved and parked anywhere, even the middle of the road a mile and a half from where we needed to be.

On to Plan 3
Reconnoiter on the flats and plan a strategy to put us uphill on the birds.
Here we are Reconnoitering. Tom, Alan, Ryan, Ashley and Brittany. and a bunch of hounds.

It takes a lot of crap to go hunting anymore, two truckloads at least.

The Guardian of the mountain kept a watchful eye on us.

So we headed up the mountain into the fog and mist shrouded peaks of Chukardom.

Ryan is that you? Birddogger in action.

I know Tom and Alan were up there somewhere cause I could hear em shooting and talking on the radio about all the birds they were finding.

Me I just wanted to have lunch so the girls and I broke out the goodies.

I tried to tell the girls that sardines were the best food a chukar hunter can carry but they weren’t buying it.
Did I mention it was foggy, so foggy I couldn’t even see my sardines at arms length.

After listening to Tom and Alan have a great time clearing the mountain of birds it was back down to the trucks for a debriefing and then implement Plan D, Drive more and then turn right up another mountain with less snow.

Arrow during the debriefing, come on guys plan D is waiting.

Lilly doin it right.

Are we having fun yet Dad?

How come it’s always such a long walk back to the truck?

I saved the best for last, a portrait of Scooby.

See the entire discussion on Wild West Gun Dogs.

(used with permission from Utah Pointerman)