Henry gets ready for school

[El Jason]

Well, his first hunting trip is tomorrow. We are going to look for some quail, Huns, and possibly grouse.

The little guy is growing fast. He is four months old now. We have been working with the Dokken trainer, and he is doing very well at his retrieving. I took him for a run yesterday, and this little guy is a machine! Hills that would have my lab panting for mercy didn't even phase him.

He really is a fun little dog, and despite his recent fetish for eating socks and underwear, the women of the house love him very much.

 

[What Map]

Looking forward to report of successful hunt. I assume date stamp on pics is wrong.

 

[El Jason]

Henry's Journal:

Dad took me out two days in a row. Wow did I have fun. I ate a lot of deer shit, chewed on flowers, chased dickey birds, barked at some old broken down farm machinery, and rolled in an old deer carcass. It was awesome, I love this job.

Dad's Journal

Henry and I hunted three state sections we'd never hunted before. No birds at all, except a few quail that were augered in to a briar jungle. We saw some good whitetail bucks. Henry didn't run off, and is coming back when I call/blow the whistle. Henry is pooped after two days. Looking forward to the pheasant opener, as I have better luck finding roosters and chukars than I do quail for some reason.

 

[spook12]

Ha.........
Good lookin Pup.

 

[El Jason]

Class Tuesday was on chukar hunting. Thankfully, Henry did not fire the hunt coordinator who chose this spot. We conducted a death march from the Snake River to the top of the breaks and back without flushing or seeing a single chukar.

Not sure what is going on, I think it may be a pretty dismal hatch year. We had fun, here are a few photos from our trip. They are not MtMiller quality, but I hope you enjoy them anyway.

 

[Sawtooth]

JLS, Great looking dog. I have been hearing the same poor reports from some of the guys here on this side of the Snake River. I haven't been out yet this year as I have been working on getting my son his first Bull Elk the last couple of weekends. Hope to get out in the next couple of weeks, but from what I have heard from my bird hunting friends were that the numbers are way down and all they got were holdover birds from last year. Hoping to find a few areas where numbers are a little better. Good luck to you and your new pup.

 

[WV Hunter]

Good stuff JLS. That is a great looking pup.

 

[FishN4Eyes]

Need more journal entries!

I enjoyed those and your great pics.

Keep us updated on the progress.

 

[Festus]

Good stuff JLS. That is a great looking pup.

Sure is...

 

[El Jason]

Need more journal entries!

I enjoyed those and your great pics.

Keep us updated on the progress.

Here you go

Henry's Journal:

Mom let me out before she left for work. I found a huge pile of dog crap that looked delish. I started eating it and Mom freaked out. She was yelling at me so I took off running. I am WAY faster than Mom. We made several laps around the yard, behind the garage, and through the house. She finally caught me, and used a lot of words I usually only hear from Dad. Holy cow was she pissed, must be a hormonal day or something.

Mom's Journal:

I don't know who I should kill first, the &*#%#$ dog, or my husband that convinced me to buy him.

 

[El Jason]

All right, mid term progress reports are rolling in. I'll dowdnload a couple of pictures later today.

Bird numbers are tough, very few young of the year birds. Nearly all of the pheasants and chukars are holdovers, so they are well versed in the antics of hunters and their dogs.

Henry has had several points a day over the last few trips. Yesterday, he pointed a covey of chukars. He doesn't have a laser beam bead on the bird locations yet. Most of his points are way early, and he hasn't yet got it figured out where that sweet spot is to hold the bird.

He is learning to search very well. It's been fun watching him work a bird scent in the CRP. He is figuring out how to determine direction of travel. Once he gets on a runner, it's game on. Unfortunately, thus far he hasn't been able to lock up the brakes in time before the bird flushes.

I shot a pheasant for him the other day (I flushed it) and he got to maul a dead bird. I also shot a chukar for him yesterday (I flushed this one too) and he got to "hunt dead". He found the bird, and pointed it before I told him to fetch. He isn't retreiving yet, but he is 5 1/2 months old right now. We'll work the hell out of that in the spring and through the summer, and then force fetch in late summer.

This dog is going to be a hunting machine I think. He has unbelievable endurance and seems to have a good prey drive.

He'll get a Thanksgiving vacation as I make a last ditch effort to kill an elk, then we'll be back in full go mode for December and January.

 

[El Jason]

Henry is ranging out very well, and will pretty consistently hunt from 80-150 yards out when he's fresh. Sometimes he'll get way out when he is after a deer, but has come back well with the beeper tone on the GPS collar.

 

[idahofishnhunt]

Great looking pooch!

 

[stillkickin]

Drahts are the best!

 

[El Jason]

One big rooster.

 

[EODRay]

That last picture is great! Henry looks like he's a keeper.

 

[1_pointer]

Great looking dog! I only wish I was lucky enough to live somewhere I could justify a GWP!

 

[idnative1948]

Henry, you lucky dog!

 

[El Jason]

Henry, you lucky dog!

After some of his antics at home the last couple of months, he is very lucky. Lucky my wife hasn't killed him AND me.

 

[El Jason]

Great looking dog! I only wish I was lucky enough to live somewhere I could justify a GWP!

No pheasants and ducks in Indiana?