Cove Mountain Kennels

Well, today we were totally skunked. We went blue grouse hunting and were humbled. The four blues we did finally see late in the day were diving out of Doug fir trees, 50′ up and going mach 5 through the trees. That is one of the toughest shots to make, over your head and diving straight down fast. The problem I had, was stopping my swing. I wasn’t following through and shot over them. On the up side, the weather was fantastic, I saw a porcupine in a tree (luckily for the dogs, not on the ground) and we did find a record book curl-leaf mahogany tree. For a shrub, this thing was huge. It was easily 4 feet in diameter and we estimated it at more than 1000 years old. No grouse, but one huge old tree. It was a great day!

 

We had a fun but strenuous chukar hunt today. We covered the country up and down and are tired and sore (the dogs and I). We only found two coveys in a lot of miles of rough hiking, but I was able to pull down three birds. One cool thing that happened today, though, was Josie a young (16 months) German shorthaired pointer I have in training had a great track and find on a wounded bird. Josie worked up a small covey of about 12 birds, which luckily flushed right past me and I was able to double. I thought both birds were dead in the air, but as often happens with chukars (Gamble’s quail are the same), one of them wasn’t.

Allie, my lab quickly found one of the downed birds and retrieved it. Then, we worked and worked, but couldn’t come up with the other bird. After about 15 minutes I found where I thought it came down, based on a string of feathers through the bush. The dogs got birdy there, but couldn’t come up with anything. After another 5 minutes of searching I decided to call it and we headed down the wash looking for the covey again. About 20 yards down the draw, Josie picked up scent and started tracking. She went 20 to 30 yards on the track then went on point. She had it! The bugger had run down the draw about 50 yards and crawled under a rock. I was just able to fit my arm up in and get the bird, which was in amazingly good shape. This event put a smile on my face, even after a lot of hard miles. It made for a memorable hunt.

I just saw another story on the news about a dog that was returned to its owner after a year of being gone because of its microchip implant. It was a neat story, and reiterated to me the importance of getting a dog chipped. It is so cheap to do, just $35 for the implant and a lifetime registration. If you haven’t done it yet, just go out and get it done. 

Of course the most important piece of safety equipment as far as getting your dog back is the id tag on the collar. All county shelters and most vets and sheriff’s deputies know about microchips and have scanners, but the person that finds your dog probably won’t. But, they can read your phone number off the ID plate. Keep it simple, just your name and phone number (not the dog’s name). Get this done today, it will be the best $2 you’ve ever spent.  (Lion Country Supply, Fosters and Smith, Scott’s Dog Supply, … .)

I took Aryia, a young brittany I have in training out chukar hunting late saturday afternoon. She is young and inexperienced, but once she got into birds, she really got charged up. In some regards, she wasn’t the most helpful, busting birds right and left, but it was really good for her to get into so many birds and fill her nose with hot scent and get so keyed up on them. I was lucky enough to pull down a limit for her.

My thoughts below are specific to hunting dogs and not necessarily applicable for all dogs.

Should I remove my puppy’s dew claws? Hopefully this is not a question you have to even ask yourself, because the puppy you purchase from a reputable breeder will already have had it done. When puppies a just a couple of days old the dew claws can be removed by a vet quickly, with very little pain and almost no bleeding. (This is the same time that tails are docked on appropriate breeds.) They heel quickly and there is so much new already in their world that they don’t register any trauma with the event.

Here’s why I remove dew claws, first is injury to the toe and claw; on hunting dogs that are busting through brush, cattails and tall cover regularly, they can get it caught on things, tear it or otherwise get injured. Dogs dew claws can really vary, with some only having a toenail tight against the ankle and others dangle floppily from the side of the ankle. Most gun dog breeds only have front dew claws, but some dog have them on both front and back feet. The second reason I remove them is that since they don’t touch the ground, the claws are often very sharp and when I or my kids are playing with the puppy they can deliver a nasty scratch. The third reason is I personally don’t like the way they look.

If you got your puppy from the breeder and it still has dew claws, I suggest having the dew claw removed based only on how the claw fits against the leg/foot. If it is tight and the claw doesn’t come away from the leg much at all, I would leave it. If the claw opens out much, or if it dangles off a bit of a tissue I would definitely have it removed. This type when used around much brush will likely cause the hunting dog troubles. It you do want the dew claw removed on an older puppy, wait until 7 to 12 months old when you are getting the dog spayed or neutered. After a week of life the dew claw removal becomes a more involved surgery, requiring the dog to be put under sedation. It is best to do both of these procedures at the same time. 

 

We run our dogs two to four miles every day. There are a couple of reasons we do this. First, and most obvious, is that it keeps the dogs healthy and in excellent shape. When you go hunting, the dog can get out and cover ground like it should. Second, it really makes a difference in their mental health. Third, it clears their head and opens them up for training. Finally, it hardens their feet in preparation for hunting rough country. I noticed this the other day when chukar hunting with two buddies and their dogs. After a half-day chukar hunt, over some rough lava rock country, their dog’s feet were tender and raw and needed several days to recover, whereas our dog’s feet never had a problem; they were ready to hunt again the next day. If you were planning on a three day chukar or desert quail hunt, raw feet could really slow your dog down.  (Gun Dog Magazine had an article about a nifty dog boot made out of bicycle tube. It looked interesting. However, my dogs have never really liked boots; but they are funny to watch in them for the first few minutes.)
 

Here’s the gang. Right now we have two brittanys (soon to be three), two German shorthaired pointers, and a lab (soon to be two). The old dogs, a black lab and a wirehaired pointer (VDD), both fifteen, are slow, blind and deaf, but they still like to hunt up a bird when they can.

 

Now that our sage-grouse season is over what are you going to do with your birds? My favorite thing to do with them is to make them into fajitas. The strong, flavorful meat is really good with the diverse mix of seasonings in fajitas. The recipe below came to me from Bruce Bonebrake, a good friend and excellent bird hunter. One secret I learned just this year was to use World Harbor Fajita mix. It is a bottled sauce rather than a dry mix. Wow, does it ever make a difference.

       1 sage-grouse
       1 onion
       1 green bell pepper
       1 clove garlic
       1 tomato
       Olive oil
       World Harbor Fajita Sauce
       Flour tortillas
       Green or red salsa
       Sour cream
       Grated cheese
       Cilantro

Debone the grouse and cut the meat into strips ~1/2” wide and 2” long. Slice onion and pepper into thin strips. Dice garlic. Cut tomato into quarters or eighths (depending on size of tomato). Sauté onion, pepper and garlic in olive oil and set aside. Brown grouse strips in hot oil. Once browned on all sides, add the fajita sauce and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add vegetables, then add tomatoes simmer until tomatoes are lightly cooked. Steam away as much liquid as possible. Warm tortillas 15-20 seconds in microwave & serve. Serve hot from the skillet. Top with salsa, sour cream, cheese and sliced cilantro.