Cove Mountain Kennels

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.

We got snow down to the 8000 ft elevation level yesterday and a freeze down to 5000 ft over night. What does this mean for the blue grouse? Blue grouse are interesting critters, in that they migrate in the reverse direction of everything else. They come down to the edges of the pinyon-juniper zone, around 7000’ to 8000’ in elevation. Early in the season look for these birds, especially the broods lower in the drainages and riparian area. (The young are by far the tastiest!)

The adult males seem to start their migration much earlier, just after breeding they seem to start drifting by toward the high country, whereas, the hens and broods seem to spend more time lower down, then begin their movement upward as it starts to cool off and grasses start to cure out. A hard frost kills off the forbs that they are focusing on, and they begin moving to the high country in earnest. Once all the forb leaves have withered and the berries have shrunk and fallen, and the insects are gone, they switch to eating exclusively pine needles. By this time you should be looking for them in the dark timbered areas near the very top of the mountain. Another tip is to look near edges and steep slopes. These are fairly heavy birds and to escape, they like to be able to flap a few times and bail off an edge where they can glide several hundred yards away from danger and safely hide in a dense pine tree.

So, with this first snow and frost look for these birds to be moving higher in elevation. When you find birds, take careful note of the location, habitat (both ground cover and overhead cover), distance to edges, and time of year. There is something these birds like about that spot at that time of year, and year after year you are likely to find them right around that same spot at roughly the same time of year.    Good Hunting!

 

 Photo: http://www.bentler.us/

When your dog has done his part to find the birds for you, now its is up to you. Here are three ideas to help you improve your shooting success this season. First, always carry your gun at the ready. I have learned this from personal experience and from watching some exceptional upland gunners.  

Have the gun at the ready, slanted across the front of your body about waist level. This is the beginning of smooth mount, one which brings your cheek to the stock and the barrel in line with your eye. Your eye is tracking the bird followed by a crisp trigger pull and continuing the follow through; all which culminates in a successful shot.

 Now, I understand that you can’t walk all day long in this position, but when you are in good bird habitat, try to spend more of your time in this ready position than not. I was amazed when I actually watched a good friend of mine, and very successful bird hunter, spend most of his time with his gun in front of him at the ready. When he mounts it seems slow and deliberate, yet in reality, it is fast and accurate. “Slow is steady, and steady is fast (and accurate).”

Second, as the bird flushes, take the extra fraction of a second to ensure your footing so that you have a stable shooting base. If you don’t have a stable, balanced shooting base, nothing else matters. I think this is one of the main reasons chukars are so hard to hit; you are always on steep rocky slopes with difficult footing, where it’s tough to quickly get a stable shooting base. A sound base allows you to smoothly swing through a flying bird, which is critical to connecting.

Third, as the bird flushes, look for its eye. Narrowing your focus down to the birds eye ensures that you are tracking the bird (aim small, miss small), and it helps you hit the bird in the killing zone (head and neck). When I can tell the gender of a flushing quail I am confident that the bird is going to fall. This doesn’t happen very often with these feathery buzz-balls, but when my focus is so narrow that I can see that much detail, the bird crumples every time.

By having your gun at the ready, and taking the extra fractions of a second to ensure a stable shooting base and narrowing your focus to the eye of the bird, you will find that you connect more often and improve your success on birds this season. After all, you owe it to your dog.

We’ve been reloading shotgun shells for the upcoming season. I was pleasantly surprised when Sam watched me for a bit, then said, “Oh, I know what you’re doing. You’re taking the old ones out and putting the young ones in, so you can shoot.” For a five year old, he has a very savvy technical mind. It was a lot of fun to reload with him. I look forward to more reloading and especially more hunting with him. This last weekend he went with me and walked at least two miles over rough country after blue grouse and was a champ.

Ps. I am always looking for quality 16 ga. components and good well rounded recipies to try. One of my favorites is a chukar load with 21 grains of Herco powder that seems to be well balanced, as it crunches birds.

What more can I say, like peanutbutter and jelly, kids and puppies just go together. They are good for each other. Here, Sarah and Daisy were exploring together.