Cove Mountain Kennels

Southeast Idaho offers some great mixed bag bird hunts.

We love sharptails and huns. They are flighty enough that it feels very good when the dogs pin them.

Chris, Sam, Hope and I were able to hunt together to fill a Utah pronghorn tag that took me six years to draw. It was close to the area Chris used to work as a Utah wildlife biologist. We had a blast, shot a solid 15 incher with a lot of character, and had a good meal of his heart shortly after. We never got a great look at the buck until after we got in close. We knew he had some mass, but all we got was sideways views and were thinking he was a little short in the horn. As you can see, he pics up inches with his radical downward hook. Once we made our stalk, we saw quite a few in the herd with ear tags and even one with a radio collar. When the herd buck stepped out Chris immediately said, “He’s good! Take him!” He was definitely right!

Here is a pic of some HOT early season chukar hunting. Pictured is Kenya (Kenya Karamojo Bell JH) and Katniss (Karamojo’s GruGrux Queen) from our second Kenya/Clown cross. The dogs did well and pointed some birds and made some nice retrieves. Always remember to water your dogs frequently during the early season and hunt in the cooler times of the day. Always error on the side of caution and don’t get your dog in a dangerous situation with dehydration or heat stroke.

Sam and his buddy on the Dove opener.
Slow shooting, but we had a great time together!

Let me tell you, there’s not much that is more enjoyable or rewarding that hunting with your kids.

Opening day of the Idaho forest grouse season here in southeast Idaho and we are ready. Here’s hoping for a good bird season. Reports are very mixed for south and southeast Idaho. We’ve loaded shells, dug out the hunting vests and dog bells.  We are working with some seasoned dogs and several young pups, so we are excited to start the season!

Stella “Karamojo’s Dragon Tattoo JH” and Dave Walker’s “The Clown” dog were at it again and we are expecting puppies in 5-6 weeks. They will be ready to go mid-to-late December (Christmas puppies!) I am excited about this cross as this is the second Stella/Clown cross. Additionally, I have bred to “The Clown” with Stella’s older sister, Kenya, “Kenya Karamojo Bell JH.” We currently have five of these dogs from previous crosses at our kennel for training and they are all doing phenomenal. The trainability in these dogs in unbelievable. Stella is an excellent hunter and companion dog. She holds an AKC JH title which she earned by going four for four in the AKC hunt test in Mayfield, Idaho. She has performed very well on Idaho wild birds including chukar, pheasant, forest grouse, sharptail grouse, sage grouse, and Hungarian partridge. She is everybody’s friend and loves to play when she is not in the field. In the field she is all business. One of the reasons I am excited about this litter is that Stella was the most trainable dog I have ever worked with. She wanted to please. Once she knew what I wanted, she would do it.These puppies, once again, will be great. Scroll down for pics of pups from the last litter. She threw some cool looking Brits. We are taking deposits on this litter. If, for some reason she does not take, they will be refunded in full.

Note: After speaking with Dave Walker regarding Clown’s advanced age, there is a good chance that this was his last breeding. This is very sad. I have bred to this dog 5 times and he has produced some very good hunting/companion dogs.

UPDATE 9/1/2014: GHOST HAS FOUND A GREAT HOME WITH A MA THAT LOVES TO RUN AND A PA THAT LOVES TO HUNT! THANKS FOR CHECKING.

If you follow this site, you may remember the post about Ghost the Weimaraner from last summer. Ghost’s owner is being relocated to a place where owning him and doing him justice as an active hunting dog will be difficult. Ghost has been entrusted to Cove Mountain Kennels to find him a good home.

He is a pure bred Weimaraner. He is a two-year-old cut male. He did two months of training at Cove Mountain Kennels with me last summer. He is a solid hunting dog. When I finished with him he was steady-to-wing, whoa broke, did some retrieving, and was a pleasure to work with. I am currently working with him to tune him up for his next owner. Ghost lived inside at night and during the day when his owner was home, but in a run outside when his owner was at work.

I posted a couple of videos on www.youtube.com of Ghost for his owner when I was training him. You can find them by typing “npm352″ (my page) into the search box, or by typing in “Ghost the Weimaraner.” I will continue to tune up Ghost for the hunting season. The timing on this is perfect. If you are a hunter and want to own a Weimaraner that hunts, this is the dog. It is very risky to buy a Weimaraner as a puppy expecting it to hunt, and there aren’t a lot of for sale that do hunt.

As you will see in the pic, he is well built and has a very nice point.

Please call Nick at 314-954-5424 if you are interested in buying this dog or email nickmuckerman@hotmail.com. Ghost is in Inkom, Idaho.