A JH leg earned at Ottawa

Here is our oldest son with a lap full of pups. You can see dark boy in the middle. Few things go together better than puppies and children. As you might imagine, the pups were quite popular with our neighborhood children and as a result received plenty of good socialization.

Here is the puppy we kept named Gauge, Tamdhu Upland Classic, at about 12 weeks of age. After his swim he knocked over a few trees and generally terrorized the park. In the woods directly behind Gauge, Rachel pointed a family of Ruffed Grouse. Seven or eight birds thundered off when I went in to release her.

Gauge at six months of age pointing one of his first birds (yes, a planted quail). T

Rachel finishing her AKC Senior Hunting Title at Pine Island Field Trial Grounds in Portage, WI in the spring of 1998.

Rachel has always put on a strong performance for most  judges. During these tests I received several compliments from the judges. One of the most memorable was from a judge who, as I was stalking off the field knowing we had blown it (handler error - not through any real fault of Rachel), rode up from behind me to say "Son, I just want you know that even though you're not going to pass today, that was the best half hour I've ever spent in the saddle watching a Gordon, and I've seen a few." Pass or fail, his comments made the day!

Not the greatest picture to be sure, and we tend to avoid "tailgate pictures" because they don't tell the whole story - but a day like this is one to remember. A hard sought limit of Ruffed Grouse POINTED and taken in November. Several points were deep in the cover - sometimes 100+ yards away. The birds where holding well for Rachel's points and my shooting was . . .  lets just say it was plentiful. As we say in hunting camp, "When there's lead in the air, there's hope!"

Rachel is six here, in her prime and tuned for Ruffed Grouse. This was one of the best days (flushed birds, pointed birds, birds killed) I had this season.  I skipped out on a Badgerland Gordon Setter Club board meeting for this day, I caught some heat for not being there but it was worth it.

On the same day as above (March)- Rachel found  a woodcock and stopped on point. There was an open brown spot without snow about 20 feet ahead of Rachel here where it  sat. I tried to creep in to get a photo of the little guy but it flushed before I found him. 

Many times while hunting, I spy  "mudbats" hunkered down only a few feet in front of the dog. This is usually the kiss of death as I more often than not miss birds I spot first.  I can't explain this.

My cousin Mike with a nice grouse killed on October 6.  We were a few miles away from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan but still in WI, and hunting in a blizzard. We had over 6 inches of snow. Later that day we headed south about 50 miles to escape the lake-effect snowstorm.

A pair of grouse with my main upland tool. A Beretta Ultralite 12ga. over and under.  Before you purists sneer to much about using a 12 gauge - I generally shoot 1oz. loads of #7½ on grouse and use 7/8oz. of 8's or 9's spreader loads on woodcock. I believe these loads pattern better than any lesser gauge and the recoil is nil.  This shotgun weighs 6lb 2oz with 28" barrels. It balances just a smidgeon ahead of the hinge pins.  Fun to shoot with light loads but a bit of a kicker with heavy ones.

Me, Chris Rhoden,  with a grouse, yeah its one of the two pictured above.

Five "mudbats" on the front bumper of the MUD BAT.  These woodcock were taken by myself and Mike. We are allowed three per day and usually I just blank birds after I've killed two. Woodock are declining at a 1 - 3% rate annually over most of their range. There is nothing like taking a first time bird hunter out and getting into a 100 acre popple stand during the peak of the flight. Moving more than 15 bird an hour is possible when conditions and timing is pefect. It's a great way to get a child really into bird hunting. For those that might suggest this picture speaks nothing about dog work, every woodcock I kill over my dogs is pointed first. 

If you see my truck "Mudbat" in Northern Wisconsin sometime and you want to talk dogs and grouse, stop me, tell me you seen my website . I'll probably be able to pull out a couple of cold beers  from the back to share (if were done hunting for the day of course)! If you share a hotspot, I'll reciprocate.

A grouse playing hide in seek in a tree.  Rachel was pointing this one so it was easy to find. Photographed in August while on a camping and scouting trip in  northern Wisconsin.

Chris, Mike and Rachel after a successful day.

Chris and Rachel