Cove Mountain Kennels

I’ve been reading some reviews on bird dog retail websites about the Garmin GPS dog tracking systems on the market. Quite frankly, I don’t think they have it all right. Let me tell you why.

If you want to know about dog tracking, talk to guys who run hounds on bears and mountain lions. I’ve recently gotten into big game hounds and have made some contacts locally and on the internet. These are the guys that know dog tracking. A bird dog runs big if he is 400 yards out from his handler. This summer a couple of friends and I ran a black bear for over 17 miles from where it was jumped. A lion hound may work a trail for 5 miles before catching up to the cat. Houndsmen use the tracking equipment for what it is worth and therefore know what works and what does not.

I currently have an Astro 220 with DC-30 collars. There is a new Astro on the market and also a newer collar called the DC-40. I have heard very few positive comments about the function of the DC-40 collar over the old DC-30. It takes longer to key in to the receiver and simply doesn’t track as well. I think it was a case of Garmin trying to get a new product on the market without much testing. Possibly Garmin will make the necessary improvements to the DC-40, but from what I’ve been hearing, they underperform the older DC-30. The problem is that it is becoming difficult to find the DC-30 collars because houndsmen are buying them up since they were discontinued early this year. Anyone thinking about buying a GPS tracking system should visit biggamehoundsmen.com and read up in the product review forum about the latest reviews from the guys who know.

Wednesday was the last day of the Idaho pheasant season. The last couple of years I have made it a point to hunt the closing day of the pheasant season, but this year I didn’t think I would make it, with everything that we had going on. However, when it started snowing heavily mid-morning I couldn’t take it. I had to bust out. It started out cold with a biting wind, but after bumping a covey of 18-20 Huns I was hot enough to shed a few layers. I love hunting pheasants in the snow. For one they tend to hold tighter, and for another you can track them and see what’s around. I ended up with a couple of roosters and a fluke ruffed grouse that was in a lone willow patch in a tiny creek bottom along an ag field.  The Huns flushed too far out and I lost them in the fog and never did put them up again, but had an awesome time. Until next year…

There is not much that is more exciting than approaching your bird dog on point waiting for the eruption of sound and feathers. What is even more exciting is not knowing what type of bird is going to rise in front of your dog. One of the great things about living in Idaho as a bird hunter and bird dog trainer is the variety of upland game birds. While most upland game birds stick to a preferred habitat, often these habitats overlap. This offers hunters a chance at bagging multiple species on a single hunt.

While some species of birds will hardly ever be found together, quite a few have habitat that overlaps. Blue and Ruffed Grouse are often found in the same hunt because their habitats overlap. While you won’t generally find forest grouse in the rocks and chukars in the forest, many species lend themselves to a multiple species bag hunt.

If you are looking to bag multiple species in a single hunt, hunt the fringes of habitats when possible. Huns and pheasants like being around agriculture fields so hunt those edges. Sharptails and sage grouse like big expanses of sage and grass. It is possible to get into all of those species in certain areas. Chukars and huns can be found together, but usually huns are taken incidentally in chukar country. There are many other species that can be mixed and we’ve found it really fun getting mixed bags. It really adds to the excitement and mystery of what might flush in front of the dog. – Nick Muckerman

Last week we finished working with a German Shorthair named Moses. He has come along way in his training and I was proud to pass him on to his owner. When I started with his training it was evident that he had lot of bird drive, but only wanted to try and catch birds that he smelled. There was no point in him. He had a great nose, but just wanted to dive in and catch birds. He was also a hard-headed dog and did not pick things up very quickly. His positive attributes were his great confirmation and excellent bird drive.

We worked with a launcher and eventually got him to respect birds and hold a point. Over time he progressed on his obedience training, handling and “whoa” training. After a lot of bird work he eventually learned it didn’t pay to chase birds and began holding through his points and watching the birds fly off (it is great to have homing pigeons for this). The north Utah owner wanted him trained primarily for pheasants and wanted him to break on the shot so he had the best chance of recovering a wounded, running ringneck.

Moses was a challenging dog, but turned out nicely. Toward the end of his training, I began hunting him on chukars, pheasants, and sharptail grouse. He now handles beautifully and checks back often. His first time out for sharptails he pinned a covey of about a dozen and held his point nicely so I was able to knock down a double. He is a striking dog and has a lot of intensity on point. Before he left me, he had had 8-10 wild birds shot over him. The day he was picked up he was headed for a week of pheasant hunting in North Dakota. I’m looking forward to hearing how he did.  – Nick Muckerman

We always love to hear back from puppy owners about how things are going and what experiences the puppies are having. We especially love to hear about successful hunting trips. We heard back from Steve and Pam in northern Idaho about their pup Lucy. We got some great photos and heard about their hunting adventures with the new puppy. Lucy seems to be a real game dog at 4 months old!

There is no way to keep your bird dog 100 percent safe in the field, but there are ways to help prevent disasters. Chris and I just finished doing a snake break for some dogs that we have been training. We had a good session and I am confident that none of those dogs will be interested in the sight, smell or sound of a rattlesnake. They won’t dive in or even want a closer look.

Snake break training is fairly simple in principal, but difficult in practice. Basically, you want the dog to use as many senses as possible to locate the snake, and then when the dogs jumps in you hit them on the highest setting on the e-collar multiple times. The problem is finding the snake and then making it so that it can’t hurt or kill the dogs. Some guys duct tape the snake’s mouth shut, we use a skin stapler. Needless to say, this isn’t the easiest task to accomplish. The snake wasn’t happy and our heart rates were more than slightly elevated during the process.

After the snake was made  harmless to the dogs, we let it slither around on the ground and start bringing dogs in one by one. Dogs react differently to snakes. Ideally, the snake will strike the dog, but it doesn’t have to for effective training. When the dog gets curious and sticks its face down near the snake or steps near the snake, we hit them on continuous on the highest setting on the e-collar. Hold for 4-5 second, pause for a second, hold for another 4-5 seconds, pause and then one more time. This creates a very bad memory of the sight, smell and sound of a rattlesnake. Afterwards, we move the snake to a new location and then bring the dog near it to see how the dog reacts. We did six dogs and none of them wanted anything to do with that rattlesnake the second time.  Needless to say our clients should not have to worry about their dogs getting bit by a rattlesnake in the field this season.   Nick Muckerman

The puppies are now 4 weeks old and they are fairly active. They have their needle-sharp puppy teeth and have tried solid food for the first time, which they dove into. The kids love to take them out and play with them or just cuddle them and watch TV. When we take them outside they are starting to venture out and explore the world. They have been exposed to birds and noise sensitivity.  The three females and one male are spoken for. There are four males available. Call us to reserve your puppy. They will be ready around the 8th of September.

The puppies are 3 weeks old today. They still sleep a fair amount, but they are getting more active playing with each other and with the kids when they climb in the whelping box with them. Notice “Yellow”  in the photo batting at her sibling.