October means grouse hunters for me and a lot of running for the dogs. One of the challenges in late September is always clearing enough time in my day to do a little walking in the woods with each dog. I have been managing to squeeze in a couple of hours here and there over the last few weeks.
For those of you looking for a grouse and woodcock forecast. It seems like the bireds did pretty well last spring. No there is not a bird every five feet but there are more in the mid coast than we have seen for a few falls. I have not been to northern Maine to look around there yet but hope to spring a couple of days this week to ride into the north woods and see what we can find for birds.
Copper my young pointer spent the summer at the trainers but still is not handling wild birds very well. It is the hardest thing to be patient while a young dog learns the game. She had three finds on grouse one morning last week but flushed every bird by getting too close for the birds comfort. Of part of the problem is comparing Copper to Mae my five year old pointer who now has hundreds of grouse points to her credit. Mae is a pro there is no other way to put it. I put on her bell collar and walk along waiting to hear the point beep, when it goes on you can count on a bird being there.
Bringing on a new team member always takes a little time to learn each others strengths and weaknesses. I am sure that is where Copper and I are at the present. Hopefully that will change by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.
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