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  1. #371
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    05-26-17 Yellow Dog Updates
    It has been a while since I posted anything about the yellow dogs. Probably because hunting season is over, turkeys are now nesting, woodcock have hatched and grouse chicks will be here soon.

    Ticks haven't been that bad. have only been bit three times this spring. Nothing on the dogs. We use the Seresto Collar. No more greasy month topical applications. This is our second season using Seresto and we are sold.

    Bay is steadily losing weight. From a high of ninety she now hovers in the mid seventies.

    Belle is her usual love bug self. Might have something to do with being in heat. She was not impressed when I broke out the turkey hunting clothes earlier this month. Especially when I walked out the door gun in hand.

    Our woodcock walk went very well. After an hour classroom time we went into the field and Mr. Timberdoodle didn't let us down. He danced and danced right into darkness.

    IrishWhistler is coming up Saturday. Trad bred with Maggie from Lee, NH this winter and the pups are now five weeks old. A yellow female is about to become one lucky girl. Mike's friend Bill has his sites on one and hopefully chooses 'wisely'. My wife and I are meeting them at the breeders then it is out to dinner to swap tales (tails) and lies.

    That is all for now from the NH Yellow Dogs.

    Is it hunting season yet?

    Coalman!

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    IRISHWISTLER (05-26-2017)

  3. #372
    Senior Dog IRISHWISTLER's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coalman View Post
    05-26-17 Yellow Dog Updates
    It has been a while since I posted anything about the yellow dogs. Probably because hunting season is over, turkeys are now nesting, woodcock have hatched and grouse chicks will be here soon.

    Ticks haven't been that bad. have only been bit three times this spring. Nothing on the dogs. We use the Seresto Collar. No more greasy month topical applications. This is our second season using Seresto and we are sold.

    Bay is steadily losing weight. From a high of ninety she now hovers in the mid seventies.

    Belle is her usual love bug self. Might have something to do with being in heat. She was not impressed when I broke out the turkey hunting clothes earlier this month. Especially when I walked out the door gun in hand.

    Our woodcock walk went very well. After an hour classroom time we went into the field and Mr. Timberdoodle didn't let us down. He danced and danced right into darkness.

    IrishWhistler is coming up Saturday. Trad bred with Maggie from Lee, NH this winter and the pups are now five weeks old. A yellow female is about to become one lucky girl. Mike's friend Bill has his sites on one and hopefully chooses 'wisely'. My wife and I are meeting them at the breeders then it is out to dinner to swap tales (tails) and lies.

    That is all for now from the NH Yellow Dogs.

    Is it hunting season yet?

    Coalman!
    Looking forward to it Dave. Always grand not see yeself and Miss K.

    Cheers,
    Mikey
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    Coalman (05-30-2017)

  5. #373
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    Turf and Surf

    07-04-17 Turf and Surf
    Parked the Ford at the trailhead at 0645. Belle and I took the new trail just built last fall. By 0830 we were on the ledge overlooking Billy Goat Pond. Lots of water. Beaver's must be active. Looking forward to a late October / early December grouse hunt here.

    Low tide at 1730. OTW at 1700.
    Bugs are starting to crawl. Way over a pound per trap.
    Boil at Coalman's house tomorrow. Be there.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails -billy-goat-pond-web-07-04-17-jpg   -07-04-17-lobsters-web-jpg  

  6. #374
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coalman View Post
    07-04-17 Turf and Surf
    Parked the Ford at the trailhead at 0645. Belle and I took the new trail just built last fall. By 0830 we were on the ledge overlooking Billy Goat Pond. Lots of water. Beaver's must be active. Looking forward to a late October / early December grouse hunt here.

    Low tide at 1730. OTW at 1700.
    Bugs are starting to crawl. Way over a pound per trap.
    Boil at Coalman's house tomorrow. Be there.
    Not sure why, but I'm feeling very hungry at the moment!

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    Coalman (07-08-2017)

  8. #375
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    09-29-17
    Been a while since I posted. It has been a lazy summer for Bay and Belle. For Belle that is all about to change. I swear she senses it is time to hunt. I say 'bird' and that dog could take off like a helicopter the way she wags that tail.

    Woodcock and partridge season open Sunday. We are going to the regenerating forest that is in conservation and is open to hunting. Got turned on to this cover by a forester. Best continuous upland habitat I know this close to home.

    Got the hunt all mapped out. We will concentrate on an approx. 300 acre piece I wanted to hunt last year but the December weather closed in on us.

    Next we have a week planned in northern NH and another two weeks in Maine. Needless to say I won't be working much next month.

    Just following behind my yellow dog Belle making ammunition companies rich.

    Stay tuned to Belle and Birds 2017.

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    Scoutpout (10-13-2017)

  10. #376
    Senior Dog IRISHWISTLER's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coalman View Post
    09-29-17
    Been a while since I posted. It has been a lazy summer for Bay and Belle. For Belle that is all about to change. I swear she senses it is time to hunt. I say 'bird' and that dog could take off like a helicopter the way she wags that tail.

    Woodcock and partridge season open Sunday. We are going to the regenerating forest that is in conservation and is open to hunting. Got turned on to this cover by a forester. Best continuous upland habitat I know this close to home.

    Got the hunt all mapped out. We will concentrate on an approx. 300 acre piece I wanted to hunt last year but the December weather closed in on us.

    Next we have a week planned in northern NH and another two weeks in Maine. Needless to say I won't be working much next month.

    Just following behind my yellow dog Belle making ammunition companies rich.

    Stay tuned to Belle and Birds 2017.
    Aye Dave,
    I want to see some photo's o' Miss BELLE with some partridge. Np pressure mind ye, just don't disappoint ye retriever and meself.😁

    Give em' hell,
    Mikey🍀
    TEAM TRAD PRO STAFF
    DUBLIN DUCK DYNASTY

    Joanie Madden, Mary Bergin, Adrea Coor, and Nuala Kennedy, each an Irish whistle goddess in her own right.

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    barry581 (09-29-2017)

  12. #377
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    10-01-17 Southern NH

    Have been looking forward to this day and hunt since our journeys there last December. I whiffed on partridge every trip.

    Was joined again today for another upland opener by my forester friend Steven. I chose the hunt and he mapped it out.

    Somebody forgot to send the memo that they logged this country this summer. Deer and turkey tracks were all we found.

    Decided to go down the mountain and hunt the lowland beaver ponds. There was no water on the mountain. Walked back down the road to the starting point and there was a truck there. Looked in the back, no crates. Looked on the back windshield of the cab and saw a Ruffed Grouse Society sticker. Since it was warming up, we had already put in over five miles we decided to each his own and walked back to our trucks. On the walk back we heard a dog bark from the hunters general direction.

    Back at the trucks reminiscing and sipping on a cold drink we heard a truck coming. It was the other hunter. We had a great conversation. He was a generation older than I and spoke about hunting the 1950's in NH. Said it was prime grouse time due to the forest regeneration from the Hurricane of 1938. One of the worst hurricanes to hit New England.

    No birds were harmed today. Heck we didn't even flush one, neither did he. Time to map out a new hunt.

    But alas I do not despair. Going to camp in northern NH for a week, then off to the County for a week and then a first for this hunter a week in Downeast Maine

    There will be plenty of flushes and stories to come.

    To all...have a good season, hunt safe and take plenty of pictures.

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    IRISHWISTLER (10-02-2017)

  14. #378
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    NH's Great North Woods

    10-05-17
    Arrived at camp before lunch. Settled in then went hunting. Saw two road birds but nothing wearing out shoe leather. No feathers harmed.
    Did see a very big black bear cross the road. It was so fat it jiggled when it ran.

    10-06-17
    New cover. My host asked me to check out a pond he wants to fish trout in. Put Google Earth to work and mapped out a plan. We weren't too far up the trail when a partridge flushed wild to my right. I always check out the area out after a wild flush because you never know if there are more. Took one step in the woods and Belle stepped on a woodcock. I proceeded to track it with the barrel and missed it badly. First shot of the season didn't go as planned.

    We came to a split in the trail and Belle ran ahead and bolted left into the woods. I have learned when she does this, be ready. She put a grouse to flight. I heard it before I saw it erupt from the hedge heading straight at me. This shot was all instinct. And just like that we had our first grouse of the season, on the first shot at a grouse this season.

    Grouse Commander Glory!

    We put up three more partridge on the way out. I hit one, saw it fall, and we never found it. I bet we spent an hour looking. I hate that.

    10-07-17
    Went back to the scene of yesterday's crime to look again. Nothing! But she did put up a double of grouse which flew into the woods instead of out to the road. I know where they live.

    The rest of the day was spent hunting new covers above Colebrook. Found one I really liked. If it weren't for GPS and a compass I'd probably still be in there.

    The reason I chose this spot was my host was up hare hunting and he wanted me to check out the cover. I didn't flush a bird. But yet they went back here Sunday hare hunting and flushed three grouse. I'll be back.

    10-08-17

    On and off again rain all morning. Weather app said by 11AM it would be sunny so I chose to wait to go. Got into some new cover around noon. You guessed it started pouring. Back to the truck, wait it out, sky turns blue, back on the hunt.

    I said to self in the morning 'usually the rain at the end of a front is the worst' yet it was bird season and I wasn't listening. Put up a woodcock, put down a woodcock. This is fun so I kept getting further from my truck.

    I was on the side of a mountain when the end of the front came through. Sky turned as dark as a tornado. The wind came up and it was like emptying rain barrels in the forest. Hiding under trees getting wetter by the drop I eventually just said _____ it and walked back to the truck. I had all the essentials under my tonneau cover. In no time we were back at it. Put up two more woodcock, got one and Belle made a nice flush of a grouse my partner missed.

    After the rain stopped the bird hunters came out of the woodwork. Three UTV's went by us. We gave up for a more secluded area of which we saw four road birds, of which no feathers were harmed.

    Great day in the Lord's woods pursuing our passion. Life is good

    10-09-17
    Road trip south in the rain.

    Home for a few days then Maine for two weeks. I gladly trade flat land for those northern NH mountains.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails -colebrook-10-07-17web-jpg   -grouse-commander-glory-web-jpg  

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  16. #379
    Senior Dog Scoutpout's Avatar
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    loving your descriptions again. Hoping a few more birds come your's and Miss Belle's way
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  17. #380
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    It has been a while but Belle and I have been very active. Excuse my brag but I have to tell you this dog and I have a relationship I have never experienced with a canine before. We hunt as a team. We are constantly on the lookout for each other and our game bag has clearly shown this bond is working.

    Miss Belle is getting a much needed rest because the pumpkin army has invaded our haunts. I will be joining the ranks for the rest of the month trying to get a deer and put a winters worth of free range, non GMO meat in the freezer.

    Stay tuned for December. Team TRAD and Team Belle are going to grouse camp in Maine together.

    10-14-17
    Today we hunted at Sampson's Bay, our camp on the east side of a sleepy western Maine mountain. Three years ago I found some nice cover while spring turkey hunting. Shot a partridge there last December. Had never hunted it during early season until today.

    The higher elevation upland cover screamed birds yet not one could be found. It is very dry, no water. As we lost altitude the mountain naturally seeps water to its lower fir and hemlock flats. Belle darted right and a woodcock flushed left. Without Belle there was no chance of finding the bird as it had burrowed down into the tall grass before expiring.

    One for one.

    As we poked around in the young tightly packed fir trees Belle caught scent, bolted left a put a grouse to flight. When the bird winged across the skidder trail I fired. Self said I was way behind until I heard the unmistakable wing beats of a dying partridge. From the spot of the flush there was a spring seep bubbling water upwards. Hmm, water, we were on to something.

    Two for two.

    In Burt Spiller fashion we continued down the mountain not knowing what laid ahead. We popped out of the woods on an old Class 6 road and continued downhill. I could see a swamp up ahead of us. As we got closer the cover was starting to look better and better. Just before the swamp Belle bolted left. I know when she does this to get ready, and I was. This grouse had all it could do to free itself from the trees as it rose skyward. When it popped out into the wide open road it lingered airborne just a little too long.

    Three for three.

    We were 1.5 hours into our hunt and had three birds in the bag. Our best day yet in southern Maine. It started to get hot so I broke the action open on the O&U and we had a very nice slow walk back to the truck reminiscing each flush, shot and retrieve.

    One man, one dog. We are truly blessed.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails -web-jpg   -web-jpg   -web-jpg   -day-maine-woods-web-jpg  

 



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