Canada, Death of the El Prado and the Boondock Saints...Veritas and Aequitas

One of my favorite haunts apparently fell victim to fire last December, I'll miss their fine Canadian Beer on tap and their over cooked stakes.

Another road trip is in the books with good times with old and new friends. Canada once again provided great, albeit harsh conditions. The weather was wet and windy, muddy and sloppy, with very little sun but the dog work was solid...for the most part. The veterans struggled with their greed, the youngsters put on a clinic and the newbies showed some promise.

Tim Powell allowed me the luxury of having Luke, Teigen's litter mate, along for the trip. What a treat to hunt behind the "Boondock Saints", at not quite two years old they really have it figured out. Their styles are different, Luke high on both ends and a closer range, Teigen low in the front, high in the back on his finds tends to stretch it out a bit more. Not many covey's or singles made it through their dragnet. With the use of the Astro in Canada having it's limitations, frankly it was nice not to have to rely on the GPS for locating points and if I didn't see one of the guys for a few...you could bet there was a find.


The Boys......

Teigen.........

Luke.........

Duke and Teigen continued to perform as a nice little team as well. Erik and Leaf enjoyed several nice days of hunting over Duke and had great fortune finding their own little "Huney holes".

Rawli even began to put it together and I was able to reward him for his finds....but he has some really weak pads.

Deacon.....

Belle........

Josh and crew joined us for a few days and Trigger had a nice find here on some Sage Partridge.

Before we split for SK, Tim and Luke enjoyed some stellar days out East of town. Tim had perma-grin from the performance Luke put out that day.

Josh and I after a mid-afternoon, wet covey find.

Miss Darby has moved on to bigger and better things....in the last month with me she was really coming into her own, maturing finally and birdy as could be. She will make a nice little dog for someone and I hope to hunt over her in the future. Gonna miss this little girl for sure.....

Its 14' out this afternoon, the Pheasant opener was today and the birds held tight after a front and some snow....so much for fall...80's to 20's, you gotta love Montana!

Just a bunch of nonsense....

Montana Opener

Depending how one measures the success of a hunt, my opener may have been a disappointment. However, if you simply appreciate the beauty of your surroundings and the opportunity to be out following pointing dogs and the chance to shoot a few birds, you'd be in your element.

I have to admit that I may not have been as excited for this years opener. The weather forecast called for warm and wet weather with very little wind and my anticipation may have been quelled by pursuing birds in the last month leading up to the season opener. Still, I could not sleep the night before, even with a little help.

The plan was to get rolling early, beat the heat and rain. I had a new place lined up that I new held birds, both Partridge and Sharptails. A beautiful piece of Public land, with great views, choked draws and a nice size bench on top. However, when I woke up and let the dogs out at 5:30, the rain had beat us all up. We loaded up any way and headed out. The beauty of Big Sky Country is you can identify breaks in the weather quite a bit away and as we drove to the piece I planned to hunt and the rain got heavier, I could see a break West and in between to small mountain ranges. I turned around and headed that way.

Sure enough the rain slacked off a bit and the Sun began to show itself, it was shaping up to be a wonderful morning.

I decided to only run Deacon and Teigen this morning. Tradition calls for Deacon and I to open the season together just as we have for the last 10 years he's been with me and would only be different by having Teigen tag along. In all honesty, Deacon and I tagged along with my young Setter. The first hour was not the most gratifying, unless you like taking your rain coat off and on every 15 mins and watching 20 or so Sharptails get bumped and busted over and over. There were a few points but the birds would randomly flush after the point or when i would get close to shooting range. Frustrating yes...but happy still to be out.

Once the rain began to move on, we started to get better dog work and Teigen had the first find. When I saw this point, I didn't think he was holding birds but you could literally draw a line from his nose to where the covey of Huns got up...I was able to take what proved to be the only two Partridge of the day from that rise.

The morning progressed, we had another covey find but they didn't hang around. Interestingly, along with the rise, two Sharptails got up. I may have been able to take one but let them fly. Probably from fear of missing. We got into a few more Sharptails and it wasn't until one held tight underneath a bunch of Hawthorn and a nice point from Teigen, that I was able to bag my first Sharptail of the year and the day.

About 8:45, the sun became more dominant in the East and cast a nice image West that really made me pause and appreciate the morning. I thought I may find more birds in that direction...a bit to much of a romantic I may be...



By 10:00 the sun was getting higher and warmer and even for this Louisiana boy, it was feeling a bit muggy. Some observations, the Sharptails seem to be really jumpy in the rainy weather and all the birds we found on top of the benches and at the tops of the draws and coulee's. The dogs were slowing down, we moved about 30 Sharptails and three covey's of Huns, with three birds in the bag, we called it a day.

It was a good day!

Day Two found us at the spot I'd hoped to hunt on the opener.

Apparently the forecast for Montana doesn't look great for the Prairie birds...interestingly, Central Montana was left out of the list of regions. I can only speculate that our bird population locally is of no interest to anyone. I can live with that. It was warm this morning and we could only milk an hour and 1/2 of quality conditions for the dogs before it got to warm. I consider moving a covey ot two, per hour average/good activity for most places I hunt in Montana. This morning we moved four, healthy covey's...yesterday we moved three in three hours.

I'm sure your all sick of seeing this dog on point, but....he finds them before the other's do...

This pic is simply to show the maturity of the birds harvested...only one was a mature female, I still have a hard time telling the differance on the wing.

We stumbled across this Cairn while out, perhaps a grave for a sheep herder's dog or just a pile of rocks but a steller view is seen from this point.

Thunderstorm's and a hint of Fall

Not much substance to this post...great condition's have made for prime dog work and Eric and I have been obsessed with locating new spots and checking on old one's. All I can simply say is....it's gonna be a great year. we continue to have many contacts on both Sharptails and Partridge and this past weekend's temps were in the low 60's with a little rain for drama.






Darby continues to get some reps...

Duke decides he can get a little closer without bumping the covey.


Darby joins....the covey held super tight....you can't tell here but this covey/brood held 20 birds...

Darby with the assist...

Duke found a single young bird here....which is tough. He continues to impress me at 1 year, Eric has done a good job with him.

Big country...

Beautiful country....

Bombers in an unlikely spot....

Deke with a covey find....he's slowing down this year but is still wise...

The flush....even with a bunch of peepers, they're still very vocal....here Momma leads the bunch to sanctuary.

Teigen with a Sharptail find in the deep, green cover....

The youngster pokes his head out....

The flush on a single, tight holding bird.....

Still finding broods in the bottoms, where there's plenty of food, cover and safety....

Just 13 more days!

And the Countdown begins....

With just 23 days remaining till the Montana opener, the focus has really shifted to increasing the dogs fitness as well as my own. Luke has moved on to bigger and better things, and the veterans and the newbies are all getting reps to freshen up. We've been taking advantage of cooler weather and running more on wild birds.

Speaking of wild birds, I can only speak of the local condition's and hatch but with everything considered; weather during the Spring and Summer, good grass and a infestation of Hopper's, seems to have aligned for a successful early hatch. Most of the birds we are seeing, at least in regards to Partridge and Sharptails, all seem to be fairly mature, with only a few exception's.

We continue to work the dogs a bit on Pigeons but have been giving them opportunity's on wild birds at least a couple times a week. Our Homer's are really coming through for us and the dogs seem to be transitioning well to wild birds.

Local weather system's have been creating some drama... Eric, Leaf and I got caught tonight in a grumpy squall that douched us pretty good......






Darby, now at 5 months old is figuring it out....although she stole this point from Teigen, she held this Sharptail well till we walked in for the flush on an evening when conditions were not very favorable...no wind and still warm on young birds putting out very little scent. She also had a back on Eric's pup, Duke. Once she really starts stretching it out in a couple of months, I think she'll be very productive. She's still a tiny little thing.



On Pigeons she's finding her birds, holding steady and the tail is getting higher and higher each time.

I've been spending some time working with Bell to shore up her backing....although she backs with intensity, she likes to creep in with the gunner, so I've been working on her discipline...she'll be ready in a couple of weeks.

Teigen is doing great, although he seems to be showing some sensitivity to heat....recently we had a little scare in 65' temps, with plenty of H2O but he showed systems of heat exhaustion or perhaps Hypoglycemia....I'll need to monitor his temperature for a while in warmer weather. Admittedly, it could be lack of fitness since most of the summer sessions have been only 30 mins on average.

I'm beginning to really enjoy Rawly...he's a bit goofy and tends to flag but with more reps and exposure to wild birds, his confidence seems to be growing and his tail seems to be getting higher. My concerns with him at the moment....his gait or conformation seems to be a bit odd....you just have to see it. His pads seem to be suspect to wear but he may just need more mil age. However, he has a good nose and is very staunch on his birds. He bumped a few Sharptails the other night but you can see each time he seems to be getting closer to putting it all together....just a bit more time and I think he'll be fun to hunt behind.

Brown Liquor

Recently, Nolan turned me on to a fine Whiskey that I'm aching to break the seal on. This review at Cigar Pass of Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey makes waiting till Dave gets to town and John getting back, very difficult. Described as "The color is a dark amber and much darker then what you would expect from something that was distilled on the 17th of December 2004(our bottle 9/24/06). At just over 2 years old this is as dark as some 10 yo bourbon. The color in the glass lightens only a little and the nose is smooth with caramel and vanilla. Tasting brings up a very slight alcohol burn but is overall very smooth too with a richness and depth beyond the short 2 years in cask. Vanilla and apple butter mix with a nice malt background which gets even better with a few drops of water added. The finish is slightly drying on the roof of the mouth but the tongue and sides enjoy an oaky vanilla for a medium length of time."I'm a big fan of Woodford Reserve and of course Jack Daniels but it'll be nice to deviate from the staples this Fall.

Thoughts and Prayers, Please....

You may notice a new site on my Blogroll. A month ago, Travis and his daughter, out for a weekend motorcycle ride, were involved in an awful accident. Although his daughter is fine, Travis' recovery will be a long and slow process.

I had the opportunity and pleasure to meet Travis in North Dakota last October, run dogs and hunting Sharptails with him in 45 mph winds on the Little Missouri Grasslands. A first class guy and family man....I wish Travis and his family all the best and strength to make a full recovery. I look forward to walking the Prairie, following pointing dogs and getting car sick with you again, Travis.