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  1. #411
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    07-22-18
    Another successful training session with Steve. Started with hold, then retrieving. Stepped it up a bit with retrieving. She had to sit until released. She is a hard ass but Steve is harder. Finished with quartering drills.

    You know that feeling you get when you are working a young dog up to a planted bird and they catch scent on the wind and follow it to flush?

    I'll tell you I was 'flushed' to watch it.

    Gracie and Belle are getting along much better. She may be at the bottom of the totem pole but she has been accepted by the pack.

  2. #412
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    Circuitry

    07-29-18
    I like to think of a puppy the same way as a fuse box for a new home. First you have to run all the wires. To Gracie that is hold, fetch, sit, heel and find dead. This is the wiring we are working on. Soon all these lessons will be hardwired and we can turn the juice on (hunting season).

    How many of you remember the movie Marley? I bet if I go back a ways in her breeding I'll find him. LOL! Gracie is a strong willed lab. She can test our resolve at home.
    But having her in the field and watching what good breeding can produce, I am so looking forward to hunting behind this dog.

    Gracie turned seven months on the 28th. You can see her confirmation coming together. She is a very good looking field lab. It was a good Sunday morning training with Steve. I use bumpers at home. He uses birds and Gracie loves it.

    We started with hold training, then retrieving, later some quartering drills and lastly Steve planted two dead chukka's and a live one. We worked her first on the two dead ones which she found using the wind. When she put the live bird to flight Steve held off just a bit at the shot so she had a good look at and line the bird was flying. The bird dropped dead after the shot and Gracie retrieved. It was a morning running the wires which will soon be connected to the fuse box.

    On the way home I stopped at a friend's house that has a river in his backyard. Gracie has had swimming lessons in a neighbor's pool but each time we approached water in the wild she was hesitant. Well not any more. Now she knows what those webbed feet can do. I stayed over an hour. She was in the water constantly.

    Thankfully another wire that will soon be connected to the box.

    I read a thread on Upland Journal on Maine Flush Rates and I can tell you that each of my older labs had a chance as pups to hunt Maine. Belle was fresh from Irishwhistler's Summer Camp for Gun Dogs when she took her first trip to Maine in 2014. I told the landowner that trip made that dog a grouse hunter. We had a few days of over 25 flushes or what I call encounters. Bay was even luckier in 2011 and especially in 2012. We had one day of over 50 encounters in which I walked 8 miles that day.

    Gracie is up next!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails -hold-training-1-07-29-18-web-jpg  

  3. #413
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    07-31-18
    My bad and I should have known better.

    Friggin' turkeys.

    We are pool sitting for our vacationing neighbors. Took Gracie over for a swim last evening. Came around the corner into their backyard and there stood five gobblers. Gracie being a budding bird hunter I didn't want to whoa her. If turkey were in season I'd shoot one over any of my dogs.

    She busted them up pretty good, four flew but one ran. When she came back she got on the foot scent and off she went.

    Calling her was to no avail. She was focused and I watched her go out of sight. I tried to follow but had slippers on and she went into a swamp ravine.

    So back to the house for a boots, a whistle and my oldest lab Bay as tracker. I sent my wife in her car around to the next road she was headed to.

    Back down in the ravine I called the local PD to report her missing. The dispatcher said 'is this David? Hold please and I will connect you to the person who has your dog'.

    Talk about a relief. A very nice lady said they had Gracie at their house in the neighborhood across the ravine. She was less than 200 yards from home. I'm sure they could hear me calling and whistling.

    Sadly and gladly the Garmin Alpha was charged back up last night. She will be wearing hardware now anytime off leash.

    I can't fault Gracie. Her hunting drive is intense. At training two weeks ago a clipped wing chukka turned into a runner. Gracie ran after it. About a minute went by and we all started to get concerned. Steve had to go into the choppings. He located her and the only savior was he threw down a dead bird for her to find.

    The moral of the story is to always have a collar on your dog with your name and telephone number. I've had a lot of hunting beagles and those collars have been the charm after any went missing.

    And Oh ya, 'Don't let Gracie flush turkeys'.

    Sometimes you don't know how much you love them until they are gone.

  4. #414
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    After Gracie's out and about last week she was micro chipped on Monday.

    Gracie and her brother Boone are scheduled for a chukka hunt on 09-23-18 at New England Uplands in Hillsborough, NH.

    Anybody ever hear of the 'Shotgun Training Method'? Steve Mulak mentions in his book A Brief Autumn's Passage? He mentions it in reference to his dog Hanna.
    From what I read it equates to a good spanking. Nothing on Google about it.

  5. #415
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    I learned on the book of face this morning that Gracie's dad Ruckus passed away on July 2nd. He was 11 years old.

    I am officially dedicating Gracie's first hunting season to her dad.

    Rest in peace Ruckus. Your legacy lives through your daughter.



    RUCKUS > FC-AFC Contempt of Court

    • FC at 4 years old (young 4)!
    • 2011, 2014, 2015 National Amateur Qualifier
    • 2011 National Open Qualifier!!
    • Amateur Win @ 3 y/o (took 4th in open same weekend); Open Win @ 4 y/o
    • Qual Win at 1st Q! National Derby List- 18 Points!!
    • Conformation Certificate June 13, 2015, Polson, MT



    Justice Retrievers - Boys

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  7. #416
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    Double post

  8. #417
    Real Retriever Coalman's Avatar
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    Hunting with the Yellow Dogs

    11-09-18
    This is the last weekend of muzzleloader deer season in NH. This is also going to be the last weekend I run the dogs before the pumpkin army hits the woods for rifle deer season starting 11-14-18. I haven't written much or taken many pictures but Belle and Gracie have both been on top of their game since bird season opened October 1.
    Belle has been a woodcock machine moving almost fifty. Six came home. Going to give her one more go tomorrow. Hope the little russet fellows haven't flown the coop south yet.
    Some notes from a trip with Belle to NH Great North Woods last month.

    "About 1630 on Friday while ferrying a load of rocks to fill in a hole above a culvert I chanced upon a hunter. He told me where he came from and where he was going. He still had a mile and a half to the gate. I asked him how he planned to get back to his vehicle. He said hitch hike. (Only in northern NH toting a shotgun). There was no way I was going to leave him at this hour and I told him I would bring him back to his vehicle. It took two loads of stones to fill the hole. He helped me with both loads and to show his appreciation for the ride lent me a couple of covers.

    While Belle and I were checking the roads Friday I spied some young aspen growth about fifty yards inside the wood line. I parked, walked about a quarter mile down the road and we entered the woods. It was like a gift from God. Belle moved two grouse and a woodcock in our short hike.

    I thanked him for the location of his hunting spots and told him I would prefer to come back here tomorrow and investigate. He asked if he could join me. Due to the back country wildness of this piece I was glad to invite him. You break your ankle in this piece and it may be days before you are discovered.

    The Map my Tracks app said we hunted 4.11 miles in three hours and eight minutes. We moved over double digit grouse and woodcock. To be honest we lost count. In one section of the most scenic and desirable young forest dominated by young aspen, alders and suck your boot black silty mud we moved six grouse.

    Can you believe we left with a pocket full of shotgun hulls and empty game bags?

    It was my best day in the uplands in years. Belle earned her Grouse Commander Veteran Heritage Badge and I need to go back to shooting school 101."

    Gracie has been a work in process. She possesses the most hunt I've ever had in my labs. It has tended to get her in trouble. Gracie is carrying the scrapes and cuts to show it. She is not like Belle who floats through the woods, a bull dozer might be a better description. In one woodcock cover where the ground cover is raspberries I had to pull Gracie because she looked more like a prize fighter who had a few bad rounds. Those thorns turned her from yellow to red. But that didn't faze her. Seriously nothing has fazed this dog. Gracie has a strong foundation. The mortar has dried tight but my carpenter skills on which to build the house above the ground needs help. I would like to thank Irishwhistler for his guidance.

    This is Carlton Brook's Great Bay Gracie on a solo hunt with her first woodcock on her 10 month old birthday. She has been a challenge in our home environment but to hunt behind her is such a pure joy! I love this dog!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails -gracies-woodcock-web-jpg  

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  10. #418
    Senior Dog IRISHWISTLER's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coalman View Post
    11-09-18
    This is the last weekend of muzzleloader deer season in NH. This is also going to be the last weekend I run the dogs before the pumpkin army hits the woods for rifle deer season starting 11-14-18. I haven't written much or taken many pictures but Belle and Gracie have both been on top of their game since bird season opened October 1.
    Belle has been a woodcock machine moving almost fifty. Six came home. Going to give her one more go tomorrow. Hope the little russet fellows haven't flown the coop south yet.
    Some notes from a trip with Belle to NH Great North Woods last month.

    "About 1630 on Friday while ferrying a load of rocks to fill in a hole above a culvert I chanced upon a hunter. He told me where he came from and where he was going. He still had a mile and a half to the gate. I asked him how he planned to get back to his vehicle. He said hitch hike. (Only in northern NH toting a shotgun). There was no way I was going to leave him at this hour and I told him I would bring him back to his vehicle. It took two loads of stones to fill the hole. He helped me with both loads and to show his appreciation for the ride lent me a couple of covers.

    While Belle and I were checking the roads Friday I spied some young aspen growth about fifty yards inside the wood line. I parked, walked about a quarter mile down the road and we entered the woods. It was like a gift from God. Belle moved two grouse and a woodcock in our short hike.

    I thanked him for the location of his hunting spots and told him I would prefer to come back here tomorrow and investigate. He asked if he could join me. Due to the back country wildness of this piece I was glad to invite him. You break your ankle in this piece and it may be days before you are discovered.

    The Map my Tracks app said we hunted 4.11 miles in three hours and eight minutes. We moved over double digit grouse and woodcock. To be honest we lost count. In one section of the most scenic and desirable young forest dominated by young aspen, alders and suck your boot black silty mud we moved six grouse.

    Can you believe we left with a pocket full of shotgun hulls and empty game bags?

    It was my best day in the uplands in years. Belle earned her Grouse Commander Veteran Heritage Badge and I need to go back to shooting school 101."

    Gracie has been a work in process. She possesses the most hunt I've ever had in my labs. It has tended to get her in trouble. Gracie is carrying the scrapes and cuts to show it. She is not like Belle who floats through the woods, a bull dozer might be a better description. In one woodcock cover where the ground cover is raspberries I had to pull Gracie because she looked more like a prize fighter who had a few bad rounds. Those thorns turned her from yellow to red. But that didn't faze her. Seriously nothing has fazed this dog. Gracie has a strong foundation. The mortar has dried tight but my carpenter skills on which to build the house above the ground needs help. I would like to thank Irishwhistler for his guidance.

    This is Carlton Brook's Great Bay Gracie on a solo hunt with her first woodcock on her 10 month old birthday. She has been a challenge in our home environment but to hunt behind her is such a pure joy! I love this dog!
    Dave,
    My pleasure Mate. I know I can be a wee bit blunt at times in telling ye what ye need to hear, not necessarily what ye might want to hear. I do it to keep ye and ye dogs on track and thus not to make major mistakes by ye overlooking important elements in the flow o' ye training. Just want to see those dogs succeed for ye, but then again, ye must know that Mate.

    Cheers,
    Mike 🍀🇮🇪🇺🇸
    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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  12. #419
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    Last hunt before the pumkin army

    Took Belle one last time 11-10 to a coveted cover a forester showed me this fall before the pumpkin army invasion of deer hunters invade the woods 11-14.
    We visited this cover four other times this fall. Between Gracie and Belle they skied two dozen woodcock and a brace of grouse. One woodcock came home. The cover is only about fifteen acres but is dominated with aspen. It is premier upland bird habitat and located about a mile in on conservation land. Due to its distance from the main road and the age of the young forests we never encountered or saw presence of other hunters.

    Belle was hell on the woodcock. She skied six and one grouse. Two woodcock came home.

    Soon it will be December and time for stick season grouse. I am so addicted to their whirl of wings.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails -11-10-18-woodcock-web-jpg  
    Last edited by Coalman; 11-21-2018 at 11:03 AM.

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