And So It Begins

Rich Claxton and Maggie had the honors of being the first brace of the new season and Rich killed the first grouse with his first shot.  They were also my first guiding clients.  We had a good day although we had to quit early in the afternoon as it started to get too hot for dogs and people to be tramping about in the woods.  This was Maggie's first wild bird killed over her and later in the day Rich shot a woodcock for my puppy Glo.

Today the weather was even worse as it stay up in the mid-40s over night and was much more humid than yesterday and we quit before lunch.  18 birds the first morning and 15 the second got us off to a good start.

Word from Rangeley is that LJ had 7 grouse and 9 woodcock his first morning with his new owner Lynn Mosely.  I expect that will be the first of many great days afield for the two of them.

Annie wins a big one

In 2011 I judged the North American Woodcock Championship and got to see Tim run Annie and Rigby in the event.  I liked Annie a lot and encouraged Tim to keep trying with her.  She is fast and stylish over the ground and hit all the right places. That next summer he sent her down to Bruce Schaffer in West Virginia and Bruce made a lot of progress with her but she was still having a little trouble handling the big birds.  After another summer with Bruce in WV and up here for a month she had matured into a top level grouse and woodcock dog.  When Bruce went back to WV Tony took her on and the picture tells the rest of the story as Annie was named Champion at the Northeastern Grouse and Woodcock Championship.  That's Chasehill's Little Bud standing in the #2 spot so you know Annie beat a high quality field to earn her first championship.  Congratulations to Tim, Bruce, and Tony for a great team effort.

Tony Bly poses Jonesey's Rebel Revenge (Annie) the winner of the Northeastern Grouse and Woodcock Championship

Annie in a more relaxed pose last June.

On another topic Wild Apple LJ has a new home. He left today with Lynn Moseley and after a week in Maine will be spending his time hunting grouse in the Southern Appalachians.  I wish them well.  Greg Marcum was along with Lynn and picked up Pete.  Pete had a stunning find on a pair of grouse this morning, stayed steady to wing and shot, and looked like a million doing it.  Pete made a lot of progress over the summer and it was great to have Greg see and appreciate what the dog had accomplished.

The long guns come out tomorrow and Rich Claxton will be up to hunt with Mike and Maggie.  Mike is a younger brother of Jack's and Maggie spent the summer here at the kennel in the wild bird program.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow.  There's a rumor that Mike and Maggie are going to get romantically involved in hopes of Puppies in the winter of 2015.  I'm already on the list for one of those.

Maggie in the birdfield this summer.