July 14

Back out in the woods again this morning. Rain overnight improved conditions despite the fact that Tony and I were both soaked within a couple of minutes of leaving the truck as Stokely's Ginger B took a couple of relocations in a dense spruce stand before we finally got an adult grouse in the air. She ran with my first year dog, Wild Apple Trey, who ended up backing this seasoned veteran as she had another grouse and four woodcock. Trey did manage a woodcock on his own.

The second brace saw Wild Apple Jack and stokely's Ab B running in a section of the cover that had no birds on Monday -- they each had one woodcock find. Jack was so buried in the cover that I walked right past him -- only his nose was sticking out of the cover into one of our trails and the woodcock was on the other side of the trail.

The final brace of the morning saw Trip and Ker B down together. On Monday Trip had taken a road to the point that the Garmin switched to miles instead of yards. Today when she headed out down the road she only got about 100 yards before she felt the juice and then came back and stayed with me. Kirby had two finds and I brought Trip in on both. Although two she doesn't know woods and wild birds yet -- Hunting season was over when we bought her last fall primarily with the thought of bringing more Guardrail blood into the kennel (she's by Guardrail). The puppies here get started in the woods almost as soon as they are weaned and the difference is amazing as far as how they attack the cover.

Yesterday afternoon we worked some of the young dogs in the bird field. The air was still, hot, and humid and those with superior noses were able to point a bird. Tony brought over the Beast, a puppy he got from Kevin Klein. She had never seen a quail but wheeled and roaded right into the first one she smelled. All the training in the world can't put that into them.