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  1. #181
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    Scout, I think they are going to get a rude awakening by a Yellow Rocket.

    09-01-14
    The wife and I took a boat ride on Great Bay this afternoon. We had in our company Great Bay Babe or Bay for short. It was very hot so we stopped at a friends dock to give Bay some aqua time.

    She was having so much fun retrieving the sticks I decided to join her in the water. What a refreshing dip it was in the 71 degree water.

    From there we went striper fishing but the bite was not on.

    Returned through Great Bay to a pink sunset. All in all a great day spent with my most favorite female friends.

  2. #182
    Senior Dog Scoutpout's Avatar
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    What a great way to spend the holiday monday!

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    Coalman (09-04-2014)

  4. #183
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    Down the Back Stretch

    09-04-14
    Talked to Irishwhistler tonight. Belle had a great training session today. While airing Belle out Mike heard quail calling. A quick relocate and Belle was into birds. I could feel the pride in his voice about how far Belle has come at Summer Camp for Gun Dogs 2014.

    I asked Mike to concentrate her last week at camp on polishing up OB most significantly remote sit and come. Not so much for the hunt but for her return home to a neighborhood life full of distractions.

    Graduation Day is going to be Sunday 09-14-14. We are going to celebrate her diploma with a pheasant hunt.

    Carlton Brook's Great Bay Belle will soon be home. I'm so proud of Mike's commitment and Belle's development. Those Maine partridge are about to meet the "Yellow Missile " and her heat seeking nose.

  5. #184
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    Winding Down

    "Winding Down" was the subject line of Irishwhistler's training report email last evening. It made me realize we had made the right decision in entrusting Mike with Belle. He is not only her trainer but her friend. I'll let his words and my response be the judge.

    Aye O's,
    I worked with the Labs tonight. The air was heavy with humidity as I left home bound for QUAIL RIDGE, soon what seemed like water laden air gave way to a sprinkling that made my clothing heavy with water once we were walking the training grounds together. Much like the heft of the air, my heart was heavy in the realization that BELLE will soon be heading home with ye. I knew it was coming from the very day ye entrusted her to me for the forging of a gun dog, yet tonight her near pending departure was much more palpable.

    I had considered the potential for connecting with some quail tonight to be better than average, it was not to be. Seems the round little Bobwhites that BELLE and TRAD have been flushing throughout the summer refused to sing this evening, ghosts of the uplands, their ephemeral scent still had both dogs quartering madly with noses pressed to the earth. I watched them, flashes of black and yellow fur with legs scurrying through the cover on a mission they were born to hunt. I watched them like a proud Dad watches his children, satisfaction gained from seeing their progress, their achievement. I thought of the many days of hard work for the dogs and for me, the challenges, the antics that made me laugh aloud in the Connecticut woodlands, but mostly, I thought of the many gains made in a relatively short period of time. In many ways, I now consider the time spent as too short. I know that BELLE must return home to ye, I have always known it, yet I will miss her greatly. I also know that TRAD will miss her as BELLE will miss him.

    Not to be cliché, but this is certainly not an ending, but rather, a beginning. Dave, ye know what BELLE was like when ye handed her over to me to work with her. I told ye within a few days that she was a "diamond in the rough", and that she was. Together, we have brought some much needed polish to this wee yellow gem. The Lass is on her way, yet the ultimate luster will be imparted once she gets on the partridge and timber doodles up in the northern woodlands. As I told ye, I will miss her greatly, but I take comfort knowing ye will put her on the birds she needs to thrive as a working gun dog. Dave and Miss K, ye have a fine companion gun dog in BELLE, I know she will bring ye much joy.

    As we walked tonight, BELLE was much more clinging than usual, seemingly she senses that "SUMMER CAMP FOR GUN DOGS" is winding down.
    Slainte,

    THE DOG WHISTLER

    Hi Mike,
    Only a bird hunter understands the special bond created between a man and his dog. In time that team needs no spoken words. They move fluently through the uplands like water flows through a streambed.

    I catch myself daydreaming about our future adventures together. I know I will shed a tear when she retrieves her first wild bird. There is a stretch of road in the Great North Woods that produced Bay's first limit of partridge. It will be our first stop when Belle and I finally get behind the gate at Carlton Brook.

    We have been blessed in two ways, first by finding that diamond in the ruff in a small northern Wisconsin town and second by meeting you at an Upland Journal sponsored sporting clay shoot. Who knew the relationship that would prosper in both man and dog?

    Thank you very much for your commitment to training Belle. We will continue in your ways. We will make you very proud.

    I wish I had a transporter because I would tell the Enterprise, "beam her home Mr. Scott". The universe awaits.

    Engage!

  6. #185
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    Belle is sleeping soundly....

    09-14-14
    .....on the living room rug as I write this. Today was the last day of Summer Camp for Gun Dogs. We celebrated with a pheasant hunt. She is worn out.

    TRAD and Belle traded hunting afield four pheasant at a time. Mike handled the birds and the dogs. The gunners were made up of Bill, Henry and Coalman.
    Today was all about the dogs. Each performed above average. TRAD making a one hundred yard blind retrieve. Belle finding and retrieving a bird in eight foot corn.

    I was favored as shooter today when Belle was afield. The flush was the cake, the shot was the icing. It was all about the cooks body language. We ate well.

    Thank you Mike aka Irishwhistler for forming the foundation of a gun dog and to Quail Ridge Kennels for providing top notch care to one of our family members the last four months.

    Our upland journey has begun.


  7. #186
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    09-15-14
    I've made a commitment. A commitment to Belle where Mike left off. Tonight we went looking for woodcock and wild turkeys.

    This is where I shot my 2014 spring gobbler. Bay and I have put many woodcock up here over the years.



    Scratch this fall. The woods are too dry. No soft seeps, no woodcock. We were just about to bust the brush when a doe and skipper busted out to the right and into the woods.

    These aren't the first deer Belle and I will find. We went into the cover. When we got to the scent Belle showed interest and started to track them. A stern leave it was obeyed. Whew....!

    As we stood where the deer were I saw this...



    Too bad it was unoccupied.

    Belle loves the woods. The Yellow Rocket.



    And thank you Mrs. O'.

    Pheasant, it's whats for supper.



    The white oaks are producing. Looking into the branches I could see clumps of acorns. Fatten up my wild friends.

  8. #187
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    The Roost

    09-16-14
    Took Belle down to the Roost. Not as many ducks tonight. It was high tide. I think they like it better here when the mud is showing.

    The geese were already in. Maybe thirty. I did see a few flocks of teal mixed in with the mallards.

    Belle was a little whiny but this was her first extended sit with fowl in the air.

    This roost is protected. No hunting is allowed in downtown Exeter.

    Click on the videos







    The worst part of our stay were the mosquitos. Now I remember why I don't bow hunt in September.

    Bring on a killing frost.

  9. #188
    Senior Dog Scoutpout's Avatar
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    you must be happy to have your girl home! and be excited about getting her out for "work" soon. I wonder if her training will rub off on Bay?

  10. #189
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    Scout it is sad to say but I am retiring Bay from hunting. Too many bad habits I've allowed I don't ever want Belle to play copy cat. Don't feel bad for Bay. She would much rather just hike and hang out in the woods with me. You know it is funny. When we got Belle she was suppose to be my wife's dog. We didn't want Bay to show jealousy. But by the dogs choice Bay is much more a mommies' girl and Belle is strongly attached to me. We have the best of both worlds with our dual yellah dogs.

    09-18-14
    Deer, Deer, Everywhere
    Last night Belle and I stopped at a local farm that has a nice old beaver flowage. I thought we may be able to find a woodcock or two. Nope what we found were deer. A doe and her fawn and in another field a small buck.
    Belle winded the doe and skipper and showed signs of hunt but she never went out of sight and listened attentively and obeyed the Belle-Here command.

    The Irish Whistler would have been proud!

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  12. #190
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    09-22-14
    Our longest and most strenuous training session tonight since Belle has been home. Off the beaten path we journeyed into the ferns and waist high grass of a local beaver flowage. I swear labs can smell water. Belle found liquid before I even saw it.

    It was Mr. Woodcock we were after but alas he continues to allude us. I got to thinking last night why? Then the light bulb went off. The grounds we have been treading is a NH F&G WMA they stock with pheasants. In eight days on and after October 1 every blade of grass will be trampled from the orange army who is amassing as this is written.

    My theory is over the last dozen years or so every native bird to that local has been shot or scared into the next county. Those spring singing grounds must be silent by now.

    Our time is short. Maine Partridge Camp opens for us next week. This year I am splitting partridge week between ME and NH. Got an invite to a camp in Pittsburgh, NH that didn't take twice asked to accept.

    Last night made me remember how much I like to hunt behind a dog. No other company required. I speak canine and am just as happy to hunt Mr. Ruff and Mr. Doodle with my two yellah girls.

    Fall in the Great North Woods is a magic time.


 



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