12:14/15

[reddog]

I took a quick look at the weather forecast on Thursday, and decided that I would try to get my son in law out for a hunt on Sunday. I didint really want to activate his license for one day (or mine) but with the forecast for our next weeks hunt scheduled to be considerably colder, and possibly in jeapardy because of it, we decided to try to make it work. Because this was a one day hunt (for him), I decided that we would stay east river to shorten the drive..

I had a business meeting Saturday morning, and as soon as that was done, I activated my license from my office and headed west with the wife riding shotgun.. I arrived about 1pm, and promplty strapped on my new Garmin 320 gps collar on Breez to try and learn how it worked when I was on my own. It took a little while till we had some bird contact, but once it started, it was non stop action between the hens and roosters. First point, the rooster jumped up 35 yards from the point. Dont know if the scenting conditions were that great or not, or if he moved from his original spot, but i would guess he moved.. No shot, but he just flew over the hill, so he was still on the radar We moved thru a thick valley of Big Bluestem/Switch up towards where he headed, and Breez locked up up on top of the hill, where Mr Rooster ran out of available cover. Two quick shots, and he laughed at my marksmanship (or lack of) as he soared over the hill.

Without going into a point by point account, the next half hour was filled with about 6 hen points and some incredible dog work by the youngster.

The next point was an upwind situation, where she mustve stopped at the hot scent. I walked up, and a rooster jumped up about 20 yards to my front/left. A snap shot sent him tumbling to the ground, where he quickly tried to scamper for some cover with Breez on his tail. As he jumped in the air, Breez caught him, and brought him back with a rear ended retrieve..

Pardon the use of the Neoprene vest, but it was all I had for this trip. I ordered a K-9 Topcoat Arctic Fleece Body suit last week, but it wasnt here.. (in Salt Lake City this morning) Hope it gets here before the weekend..

We then skirted around a brome grass patch by walking in some bean stubble to get back to an upwind approach. As soon as we entered this patch, Breez was on point. It took me forever to get to her as I tried to plow thru the large, deep drift on the north edge of the Brome patch.. Breez was steady and never moved, for what had to have been several minutes, all within sight of me.. I finally got to her, and proceeded to walk in front for a ways. A rooster jumped up, and I promptly sent him back to earth with a load of 4s.. Breez makes the retrieve, (another butt in mouth, as thats the way she fished him out of the snow) and we move onward.

One of the few point pictures for the day.. Too dang cold to get the gloves off.

We continued onward with several hen points and a few roosters breaking out in front of us. We get to the end, and Breez locks up on out limit bird, and all is right with the world, at least for these 2 1/2 hours.

Deer were everywhere, and I had the muzzle loader along and a doe permit. I opted to not pursue filling this license, (and seriously doubt that I will) It just doesnt seem like hunting to me at this time of the year.. more like culling..

Wife and I went in to Plankinton for a great steak at the Plank Inn, and we settled in for the night at the acreage..

Sunday continued:

 

[reddog]

Sunday morning found me anxious for my son in law and daughter to arrive.. SIL is a dairy farmer, and meshing his tense schedulle with my relaxed schedule is a chore sometimes.

Pacing around the house till the phone rang at 9, found that they hadnt left yet, but were ready to leave. That puts them there about noonish for his one day hunt..

I decide I cant just stand around the house and wait, so I grab the rifle and head out the door in hopes of finding a coyote.

I throw two scoops of food in Breezs kennel, in anticipation of her being hungry.. She has other ideas.

I have breakfast at Als, and head out, in no particular direction, or destination.

I drive by a piece of property I can hunt, and am overwhelmed by what I see.

The owner informed me that the county had sent out a declaration that all trees and brush in the right of way, needed to be cleared, so he contracted to have them removed.. This is a 3 mile gravel road that nobody lives on, and there is no reason to even plow it in the winter time.. I wish I had a picture of it before this was done, but if I can explain it, it was like driving under a canopy of trees (some huge) for 3/4 mile, with mixed heavy shrubbery lining the ditches. This is what it looked like on Sunday.

Sad, Very sad.



I guess not all habitat destruction going on is producer based..

No coyotes wanted to play, so I headed bak to the farm house. I tried to get a better fit for Breez in the vest, while I was inside, and came up with what I thought would work better, and close off the neck a little..

While doing this, Ellie, my old dog slips on the newly installed laminate foloring, and pull up lame on her right rear leg... My mind kicks in a little, and I fire up the IPAD and do a search on dog injuries on slippery laminate floors.. Not a clear consensus one way or another, but I know for a fact this caused her injury, and I will be more careful around them next time.

DD and SIL show up a little after noonish.. We gear up and hit the food plots (which I avoided the previous day) One hour in, we have 4 birds in the vest.. (no pictures today) We drop them off and head across the road to another set of food plots, and bag one more. Early on in the hunt, Breez manages to drop the vest.. We track it down, and stuff it in my hunting vest. (17 degrees, but a stiff wind) We trek off across a (different)brome patch in search of one more bird. Not today. Around the corner of a tree line we go, when my Garmin says Breez is on point. We move that direction, but Mr Rooster wants nothing to do with meeting us, and leaves before we get there. We head off into a 160a Grass patch, and about 100 yards in, Breez is acting wierd.. She comes up to me, walks over to Brad, then comes and sits by me... Totally unlike her. I have Brad get the vest out, and get her in it, but its evident to me, its too late. Ive got to take her back to the house... quick.. We get half way back. and she is standing in a tree line, howling.. I give Brad my gun, I snatch her up and hustle the last 100 yards to the house. I get her inside and ungeared, and get out the food, and she promptly eats a large serving.. We spend an hour in the house, watching her, and it appears Ellie has recovered, so we suit her up with the vest.(which was originally bought for her). We got out to one of the first food plots, and Ellie points, and Brad knocks down our last rooster.. Great day in the field. Scary day for me, and a lesson learned about making your dog eat prior to hunting.. She simply ran out of fuel working under those conditions.. Ive always fiigured that the dog knows if its hungry or not, and that may well work in warmer weather, but under inclement conditions, Im going to do something to get some fuel in her before the hunt, and also Im going to carry an emergency snack..

If anyone feels like chastising me for letting my dog get in danger, feel free to do so. I probably have it coming.. But, It wont happen again..

Hopefully, this experience will help anyone else that is going to venture out the rest of the season.. They need fuel to hunt.. Lesson learned..

 

[carptom1]

Keep posting your stories, my SD hunting is done for the year so I have to live on through you guys that are lucky enough to live there. Too bad about the trees, I hate seeing stuff like that. I make sure my dog eats a can of some kind of food in the morning when it is extremely cold out. When dogs are exerting that kind of energy, both hunting and staying warm, they can run out of fuel. That said, my dog typically runs 66-68 lbs, he was at 64 before this last trip. I weighed him sunday at 61 even after four days in the cold. Since he has been back he is eating everything in sight.

 

[reddog]

My daughter the nurse told me that Breez was too skinny. I told her she can eat as much as she wants.. shes a little girl.. 39 lbs. I may have to adjust the K9 Top Coat a little in her waist..

IN regards to the new Garmin. Loved everything about it, except the 5 second refresh rate.. Actually, I hate that part of it. But, I think theres another thread on that..

 

[haymaker]

The trees is a liability issue. The Supreme Court has ruled that they have to go. The liabilty is the landowners and the townships, and the township board both as a board and individually. No township supervisor is going to take that risk. That is also why old township roads are being vacated. Somebody who will never see here puts us in the crosshairs of a slick lawyer, so the trees will go.

 

[Hockeybob]

Great story! I'm confused on the feeding of the dog... I was always told that dogs should never be fed just prior to taking the field for fear that their stomachs could "turn"? I thought it's always best to feed heavily the night before and of course when you are done hunting but not during.
Glad your dog is ok. Scary.

 

[870-Lefty]

Great story! I'm confused on the feeding of the dog... I was always told that dogs should never be fed just prior to taking the field for fear that their stomachs could "turn"? I thought it's always best to feed heavily the night before and of course when you are done hunting but not during.
Glad your dog is ok. Scary.

This is what I have always heard also. It is called "Twisted Gut Syndrome".

 

[canthitathing]

In my younger days (40 yrs ago) I use to field trial beagles and I was always told by the old timers never to feed the dogs in the morning before you work or trial them. I have followed that advice since even with my labs. All they ever ever told me it could cause the dogs to cramp up and just quit. I do carry some dog energy bars when we have the labs working long days pheasant hunting.

 

[SX3]

I have enjoyed your stories Reddog.

Wish I could be out their.

I fed my lab granola bars every couple hours and seemed to give her some pep. I took her a bit too far the fourth day this year, will never do that again....felt horrible. I just wore her out and will never do that again. Took her a good 24 hours of resting and some good eating to get her back to normal.

 

[carptom1]

I have given my dogs a can of wet a couple hrs before hunting with no ill effects for years. Feeding them a huge bowl of food is not the same thing. Dogs expend a bunch of energy hunting when it is that cold, I would think the risks are about the same either way.

 

[Curious]

Don?t agree that anyone has the right to chastise you. Without being there we really don?t know what happened. Thanks for sharing.

 

[mnmthunting]

Congrats on some fine hunting and good dog work.

I don't worry about feeding the dogs in the morning of a hunt if the weather is warm/hot. Different story in cold weather like you were in. Dogs will use up a lot of calories just to keep their body temp up.
My dogs love scrambled eggs on buttered bread, that seems to give them some cold weather fuel. :thumbsup:

 

[reddog]

Don?t agree that anyone has the right to chastise you. Without being there we really don?t know what happened. Thanks for sharing.

I just thought I'd leave the door open for it, considering the "snarkiness" of almost every message board I follow nowadays, from fishing, to racing to wrestling. They all seem to want to argue.. Thanks

 

[reddog]

Congrats on some fine hunting and good dog work.

I don't worry about feeding the dogs in the morning of a hunt if the weather is warm/hot. Different story in cold weather like you were in. Dogs will use up a lot of calories just to keep their body temp up.
My dogs love scrambled eggs on buttered bread, that seems to give them some cold weather fuel. :thumbsup:

I think that is exactly what happened. I dont think she was cold, she ws just out of fuel. Scary, nonetheless..

Im definitely going to make sure she has some sort of food in her this weekend.

 

[Uncle Buck]

The trees is a liability issue. The Supreme Court has ruled that they have to go. The liabilty is the landowners and the townships, and the township board both as a board and individually. No township supervisor is going to take that risk. That is also why old township roads are being vacated. Somebody who will never see here puts us in the crosshairs of a slick lawyer, so the trees will go.

Can you explain a little more re liability and how the Supreme Court (State I presume) got involved. Who issued the edict in the first place?

 

[tanner10]

Reddog - You should be a columist in a hunting magazine! I am sure everyone would long to hear of your last adventure. You do such a great job writing! Think about it...hunting and then writing...no day job to worry about! lol:10sign:

 

[BRITTMAN]

Be interesting if Township boards followed the same rules in the Northern half of Minnesota.

 

[PA Grouse Hunter]

Low blood sugar in dogs

Hunting in Kansas a few years ago with a friend and his English Pointers, I witnessed his young pointer collapse in the field from this condition, thought the dog had died. Carried her back to the truck and put her in the kennel. Driving back from the hunt to the farm we were staying at she recovered and was OK. This condition is most common on lean dogs, pointers,GSP,Etc. I did have one of my Britts with a condition were she over produced insulin and the same thing would happen to her. Energy bars and small snacks during the day are a must. I only have 2 Britts and hunting out in Kansas, SD, and NE for 2 to 3 weeks straight takes its toll dogs lose 6 to 8 lbs during this time, I feed at least 3 times more than normal. Hunted in SD end of Nov. West River all public land with some success, although did not see as many ditch birds as last year. Reddog keep a close on your pointer when she is running in cold weather,none of us want to lose a dog that way. My young Britt went through the ice this year and to get him back to the truck asap to warm up. Good hunting wish I was out there with you chasing rooster.

 

[reddog]

Hunting in Kansas a few years ago with a friend and his English Pointers, I witnessed his young pointer collapse in the field from this condition, thought the dog had died. Carried her back to the truck and put her in the kennel. Driving back from the hunt to the farm we were staying at she recovered and was OK. This condition is most common on lean dogs, pointers,GSP,Etc. I did have one of my Britts with a condition were she over produced insulin and the same thing would happen to her. Energy bars and small snacks during the day are a must. I only have 2 Britts and hunting out in Kansas, SD, and NE for 2 to 3 weeks straight takes its toll dogs lose 6 to 8 lbs during this time, I feed at least 3 times more than normal. Hunted in SD end of Nov. West River all public land with some success, although did not see as many ditch birds as last year. Reddog keep a close on your pointer when she is running in cold weather,none of us want to lose a dog that way. My young Britt went through the ice this year and to get him back to the truck asap to warm up. Good hunting wish I was out there with you chasing rooster.

Thanks PA. This dog has no reserve tank/storage. Didnt have it going into the season, and certainly doesnt have anything now.

Shes very small to begin with. When I measured her for the TopCoat, she had a 17 inch lenght from base of the neck to base of the tail. Shes barrel chested, like most pointers, with a 25inch girth on her chest and a 17 inch waist.. weighs 39 lbs.

My other GSP female is more traditional sized at 20" length, 29 inch chest and a 20" waist and weights 56 lbs..



I learned so much over this episode... Trust me, it wont happen again..


This dog sleeps on her back almost every night.. Anybody else have one that does that?

 

[reddog]

Reddog - You should be a columist in a hunting magazine! I am sure everyone would long to hear of your last adventure. You do such a great job writing! Think about it...hunting and then writing...no day job to worry about! lol:10sign:

No day job to worry about???? Hmmm... #somedaysoon

Thanks..