OUTDOORS: Enjoying the dog days of September
By Randy Julius
ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT
Posted Sep 27, 2009 @ 09:54 AM
The swamp maples were bright with autumn colors along the edge of a wetland where I took the dogs for a walk one morning a little more than a week ago. The sky was bright blue and the temperature was in the low 50s.
Besides exercise for me and a good workout for the dogs I wanted to check out a few alder runs for woodcock. As we approached a thick tangle of cover our English setter, Rusty became very animated as he began to work fresh bird scent.
His nose was working and his tail flagged back and forth, then went rigid as he pinpointed where the scent was coming from. The bird didn’t give him much time to lock up on a stylish point, flushing almost immediately from the edge of the cover.
It was a woodcock and I admired the cinnamon brown color of the bird’s plumage as it flew in front of red blueberry bushes and maples glowing yellow and orange. For just a few seconds the bird lifted above the trees, and was silhouetted against the bright blue sky, before dipping back down into the cover.
Lacy, our other setter, ran up to where Rusty was still circling around the spot from where the bird flushed, and she became all excited with the fresh scent. I called the dogs back then worked them up the edge of the cover sending them into the spot where the woodcock had landed to see if they could relocate the bird.
Both dogs were wearing hunting bells and I hoped to hear the steady ring come to a stop which would indicate the dogs were pointing. Instead, the ringing suddenly increased and the woodcock flushed again, this time flying up over the trees and disappearing into the distance.
The dogs found two more woodcock before we headed home, flushing them both without pointing, but just getting them on birds is a step in the right direction.
Neither Lacy or Rusty are real naturals like some of our other setters have been. Our first English Ssetter Annie started pointing woodcock staunchly at seven months of age and never stopped. Her daughter Daisy didn’t steady up for a year and a half, but developed into a great hunting dog after that.
Of the two setters we have now, Rusty is showing the most promise and he usually starts pointing fairly well as the season progresses. Lacy works hard in the field and finds plenty of birds, but flushes most all of them without pointing.
Once in awhile she surprises me and I still have hopes that she could come around. For now, though, once the season opens up, I hunt the two dogs separately so Rusty won’t learn her bad habits.
I know I shouldn’t even run them together during preseason training runs. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to train two dogs individually and I can only hope Rusty’s natural instincts will kick in once we start hunting for grouse and woodcock up in Maine.
The upland bird hunting season opens in Massachusetts on October 17. Maine opens on October 1, and I’m looking forward to traveling north once again to spend some time in my favorite covers in the areas where my hunting camp is located.
I’ve run the dogs in a few more covers this week and on our last outing I heard Rusty’s bell stop on the edge of an alder run. I worked my way into the cover and found him locked up on point looking like a picture from a sporting magazine.
His tail was up high and one foot was slightly lifted. He only held the point for a few seconds before the woodcock flushed. Lacy arrived on the scene a minute later and semi-pointed a few times when she found the hot scent.
That’s more than I hoped for after just a little more than a week of working with the dogs. The season is upon once again and I’m looking forward to upland bird hunting once again during the wonderful month of October.
Enterprise correspondent Randy Julius’ Outdoors appears Sunday in
By Randy Julius
ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT
Posted Sep 27, 2009 @ 09:54 AM
The swamp maples were bright with autumn colors along the edge of a wetland where I took the dogs for a walk one morning a little more than a week ago. The sky was bright blue and the temperature was in the low 50s.
Besides exercise for me and a good workout for the dogs I wanted to check out a few alder runs for woodcock. As we approached a thick tangle of cover our English setter, Rusty became very animated as he began to work fresh bird scent.
His nose was working and his tail flagged back and forth, then went rigid as he pinpointed where the scent was coming from. The bird didn’t give him much time to lock up on a stylish point, flushing almost immediately from the edge of the cover.
It was a woodcock and I admired the cinnamon brown color of the bird’s plumage as it flew in front of red blueberry bushes and maples glowing yellow and orange. For just a few seconds the bird lifted above the trees, and was silhouetted against the bright blue sky, before dipping back down into the cover.
Lacy, our other setter, ran up to where Rusty was still circling around the spot from where the bird flushed, and she became all excited with the fresh scent. I called the dogs back then worked them up the edge of the cover sending them into the spot where the woodcock had landed to see if they could relocate the bird.
Both dogs were wearing hunting bells and I hoped to hear the steady ring come to a stop which would indicate the dogs were pointing. Instead, the ringing suddenly increased and the woodcock flushed again, this time flying up over the trees and disappearing into the distance.
The dogs found two more woodcock before we headed home, flushing them both without pointing, but just getting them on birds is a step in the right direction.
Neither Lacy or Rusty are real naturals like some of our other setters have been. Our first English Ssetter Annie started pointing woodcock staunchly at seven months of age and never stopped. Her daughter Daisy didn’t steady up for a year and a half, but developed into a great hunting dog after that.
Of the two setters we have now, Rusty is showing the most promise and he usually starts pointing fairly well as the season progresses. Lacy works hard in the field and finds plenty of birds, but flushes most all of them without pointing.
Once in awhile she surprises me and I still have hopes that she could come around. For now, though, once the season opens up, I hunt the two dogs separately so Rusty won’t learn her bad habits.
I know I shouldn’t even run them together during preseason training runs. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to train two dogs individually and I can only hope Rusty’s natural instincts will kick in once we start hunting for grouse and woodcock up in Maine.
The upland bird hunting season opens in Massachusetts on October 17. Maine opens on October 1, and I’m looking forward to traveling north once again to spend some time in my favorite covers in the areas where my hunting camp is located.
I’ve run the dogs in a few more covers this week and on our last outing I heard Rusty’s bell stop on the edge of an alder run. I worked my way into the cover and found him locked up on point looking like a picture from a sporting magazine.
His tail was up high and one foot was slightly lifted. He only held the point for a few seconds before the woodcock flushed. Lacy arrived on the scene a minute later and semi-pointed a few times when she found the hot scent.
That’s more than I hoped for after just a little more than a week of working with the dogs. The season is upon once again and I’m looking forward to upland bird hunting once again during the wonderful month of October.
Enterprise correspondent Randy Julius’ Outdoors appears Sunday in