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It has been a good year for huns, typically I flush at least one covey hiking into my cattail rooster spots. Pretty bird. The wing and side feathers are popular for fly tying patterns. Bigger than quail, smaller than chuckars/grouse. Coveys can be as large as 20-30, but usually about 8-12...

There are several upcoming December(link) workshops throughout the state on Canine first aid, CPR, trap release, etc.

Had a good solo hunt yesterday on roosters in cattails. I think the rain overnight helped as close flushes at sunrise with the lab working the edge of cattails. I silently position myself way in front of the lab crashing through cattails. Rain and cloudy days, early morning seem to work best for us.

I hunt 5-7 mornings per week. Houndstongue and beggarticks seeds are the norm. So I wear a cheap pair of Froggs Toggs rain pants that I sacrifice as a shredded pair of pants after a couple months of hunting. The cheap rain pants are quiet, lightweight and waterproof. At the truck, I simply...

Hunt roosters long enough and sooner or later you get a cripple. My strategy has always been to be quiet and trust the dog. An experienced pheasant dog knows more about tracking cripples than I ever would and a human yelling "find it!" or "hunt dead" commands seems counter-productive to me...

With a record high vole population, we have a record high population of hawks in Montana focusing on voles. This harrier flew right over (within a foot) of the rooster to capture a vole.

Hunting silently is so important. No slamming of truck doors, no talking, etc. I hunt my labs silently and in big country, way out of gun range...up to 200 yards away. For big country hunts, covey flushes is a function of mileage and letting the lab hunt out as far as I can see her. Same with...

When taking dog photos with my cell phone, I aim for 3 easy objectives: Place the phone slightly below the dog Capture the landscape we are hunting in Capture the "catch light" in the dogs eyes This photo was from our hun hunt this morning.

I've hunted huns or gray partridge in Utah, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota. Here in Montana, I typically hunt them early season (starting 1-Sept) the first hour or 2 when it is cool or late season in December if my rooster spots have noisy crusted snow. I can usually find snow-free hills that...

Sharptails, Spruce Grouse, Ptarmigan are dark meated birds (as well as ducks and geese) What is your favorite recipe for these type of birds. I like to make sharptail enchiladas.

Basics in the Retriever world can involve many concepts. When I see posts about Basics, it is typically procedures: Force-Fetch, Single-T, Double-T, Multiple Marks, Cheating Singes, Swim-By, etc. Instead of procedures, I think of the end product: Line Manners: Will the retriever sit quietly in...

Having fun taking photos of migrating ducks here in Montana. I've been using a relatively inexpensive used bridge camera (Nikon P900) on my daily morning hikes at a local refuge. Lots of diversity in Montana...mallards, pintails, widgeon, gadwall, 3 teal species, wood duck, shoveler, diver...

The Fish and Wildlife Service staff was displaced from the Bison Range when the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes reclaimed the refuge in 2020. Since then, FWS employees have been stationed on leased tribal land. The current proposal is to develop the Montgomery Waterfowl Production Area...

My labs routinely do 300 yard blind retrieves in competition. My most memorable blind hunting was less than 5 yards. Shot a pair of huns on a cut bank. The first fell in the stream and drifted lodged 30 yards below my feet by the current on a cliff cutbank. Lab marked and easily retrieved the...

I started in the 1980s with a Visla, then English Setter, then I fell in love with labs. I've owned at least 2 labs since the early 1990s. I love their speed and biddability: I love their endurance: I love their toughness and ability to track cripples through gnarly landscapes: I love...

I am blessed to live in an area with so many potential spots (Montana). Spent yesterday looking at some new areas I had not yet hunted. Good exercise for me and the dog. I covered 8 miles, the lab probably 25 miles. Flushed some cattail roosters and also found some new spots for waterfowl hunting.

I thought this would be a fantastic book for anyone with their first dog. Advanced trainers might find this book too elemental because they learned these six principles years ago. I found this short book ($9 on Amazon) an easy read. There were not many specific examples, but the reader can...

We need snow! I took the pup yesterday and was in a short sleeve t-shirt.

One of the benefits of a real cold snap in interior Alaska is seeing the northern lights.

It is too icy at our place to train outdoors. So I train 1-year old pup inside in our carpeted living room. We run hunt tests and field trials in the summer, so train for these events: 1) Multiple marking mechanics where I teach pup to return with perfect spinal alignment in relation to my foot...