Birddogsunleashed

02/19/2023

Out hiking with Finn.. he wanted a piece of my Apple...

12/10/2022

The fall colors and aromas are etched In my mind as winter sets in.

12/01/2022

December 1st finally arrived and here in Michigan that means ruffed Grouse season resumes along with Pheasant.
I hope everyone enjoyed the firearm deer season.

11/27/2022

Finn is doing as good as his owner. He's only going to be as good or bad as me. Time is of the essence with a young dog, Ira been said that pups learn more and faster in the first six months of life. I don't know this to be true, I got Finn as six months old. With a lean grouse year I worked him a lot on woodcock which are great for young dogs. Contacts with wild birds makes a bird dog. Sometimes you have to receed from the old habits and think outside the box.
Finn has done well on pheasants and the few partridge or Ruffed Grouse we've encountered. But it's up to me to move beyond my old haunts to find more birds so he can be all he can be.
December 1st starts the late grouse season here in Michigan. I'll be out chasing Ruffs with Finn and still in training mode since he's not two yet, we both can learn something.. good luck, good hunting

09/09/2022

Good cover,good food is essential for a productive season.

09/09/2022

It's that time of year to get your gear and guns out ,check it over. Your dog should already be in shape and ready for the fall hunting season...
Enjoy your Birddogsunleashed.

06/29/2022

In 2005 I bought a good female Brittany off my brother, that same year I picked up another female then I made a trip to Kinchloe Airforce base and bought a male Brittany. My idea was to start a breeding program. In 2007 I had a batch of nine Brittany puppies. These pups all seemed that they would be good pups but two I kept my eyes on. A female and a male. The female started pointing a grouse wing at four weeks old, the male started pointing the Grouse wing at five weeks. It was those two I kept from that litter. It was no surprise that these were going to be exceptional dogs because their mother found a Woodcock I had downed and lost in ferns and made a retrieve, she was fourteen weeks old.
By the fall of 2007 these two pups were ready to take to the Grouse woods. I had worked them on pigeons,pheasants and chukars. At two and a half months old I shot woodcock off both dogs.
The male however was being what I'll call an As***le. I had a kennel with wood decking. Though they were out daily he decided he liked being out more than in and would chew the aluminum wire around the post and fencing and push it to get out. After numerous fixes I decided to try overhead cable TV wire I had and I wrapped it through the fence over the bottom rail and pounded it down with heavy duty staples... surely that would hold the as***le...
Yup two days.... he chewed the cable ate it and pooped it out.. Another repair.
Then Easter of 2008 I was helping my sister at her restaurant to ready for the Sunday feast working into late evening I got home after dark. When I pulled in the drive the as***le Came running out to my truck... I wondered where was Annabelle... I called... nothing... so I hoped she was still in the kennel... she was not. I went to the end of my driveway with a flashlight calling soon I found the reason she did not come. Along side the road was a lifeless body of a dog barely nine months old hit by a car... I was heart broken. I was so mad I wanted to shoot Jeb for causing Annabelle to lose her life that way. I found out the next morning that a person hit her and never stopped, maybe not knowing what they hit. I couldn't blame them, it was Jebs fault for being an As***le.
My dream was over . I could not keep the as***le I didn't feel I would be fair to him, I wasnt.
I sold him to a guy that took him to the Dakotas, Iowa and other states and said he was the best dog he ever had...
I sold the females. I couldn't bare to have pups and have this happen again..

04/07/2022

When you are working a pup, it is good to remember to Keep the sessions short. Also remember things that seem simple in action can cause other issues down the road. Such as tug o war with a sock or anything..even playing Frisbee for a dog to retrieve seems OK. But what happens in certain cases any hard objects that require a dog to bite hard to hold can cause them to ruin game you wish to eat..
Once a dog is completely broke you can do some of these things without issues.. good luck good huntin

04/04/2022

Some two year old cuts will eventually be home to some ruffed Grouse, but may quite possibly be home in the spring to the returning Woodcock.

03/26/2022

When you decide to take a pup out in search of Woodcock, you may just find a bird of another color...

03/15/2022

It's time for those little Russett fellows to return to their northern regions. In the coming weeks we should see some moderate returns of woodcock.. I hope mother nature is kind so they can have a productive brooding season...

02/27/2022

It won't be long now and our Russett fellows will be making the trip north to its mating grounds. Some woodcock are already said to be in the Grand Rapids Michigan area according to GPS coordinates on migrating woodcock, however they can head back south as quick as they came if adverse weather conditions persist ...

02/27/2022

01/20/2022

I had Finn out on his first pheasants on Saturday, the 8th of January . He located birds well and found a downed bird that crawled under brush pile. Without a dog, I would not have found or been able to reach this bird.

11/21/2021

Finns First month in the woods produced some fun and birds...he's learned a lot but gas a ways to go..looking forward to December birds...where did septober go ?

10/13/2021

Took Finn out for an hour before work. Finn pointed five woodcock very good. I put a shot on one and again winged it. The best training is on a wounded bird that can sorta fly and run... he tracked this one like a pro..

10/09/2021

Had my Young boy out in a good woodcock area for less than a half hour.. he made a couple good points and a very nice track on a wounded bird.. second find this year his third time out.

09/21/2021

Finn is learning every day..it's an Adventure.

09/18/2021

Find the food find the birds..
Working Finn at home..he's coming along pretty good.
H

09/14/2021

TWO MORE DAYS UNTIL RUFFED GROUSE AND AMERICAN WOODCOCK SEASON OPENS HERE IN MICHIGAN... Are you Ready ?
Find the food source find the Grouse...
Good luck h
Everyone.

www.ruffedgrousesociety.org

Join The Movement photo by NatureExposure.com Support Our Cause photo by NatureExposure.com Watch Now HealthyForests Become a conservation leader by promoting the development of Healthy Forests. AbundantWildlife Advocate for the health and future of the Abundant Wildlife you support through our miss...

09/12/2021

Finn is a six month old Brittany male that until I picked him up from the U.P. on the 10th of September he had no formal training. So that meant I had to see what raw talent this dog has.. and I am nothing short of pleased. The first time with a grouse wing on a pole he pointed it. Today I got out the throw dummy, first throw he retrieved it. Not to hand but he came back close and I can work with that..

09/11/2021

My First Bird dog in 1989. Lincoln was a year old and a house dog. It only took me a bit over a year and he taught me how to make a bird dog. I had an awesome ride with Lincoln for twelve years..

09/11/2021

Young pups cool nights can mean a couple things, Fall is near and it's Bird Season...
Work that pup smart the first time....Finn is gonna be just fine.

09/11/2021

.Michigan's Small game season is Wednesday September 15th
More importantly Grouse and Woodcock Seasons. Don't forget if your using a gun capable of holding more than three shells to put a plug in.
Have a great opening day!
Hunt Hard,Hunt Safe.

09/08/2021

Welcome Finn my New Buddy to birddogsunleadhed.....
Can't wait to pick Finn up from the U.P. Friday

09/06/2021

In just a short time I will once again be back at having a pup to work with. I got lucky and am picking up a Male six month old Brittany. I don't know anything about this dog except it had no training and was on its way to a dog pound..Thankfully I have a friend up in the U.P. a guy I've never met but is a friend on social media and he was able to pick the dog up for me and hold him in his kennel until I get back to Michigan and then up to the U.P.. I want to Again Thank Dennis Stachewicz for all the help in securing this dog. Seeing the Passion Dennis has for his family I would only expect his passion for bird dogs to be the same and I would trust him with any dog.

08/27/2021

Curious.. how many of you use a f***y pack to carry shotshells? I have two. One is for 12 gauge and one is for 20 gauge. I've found it keeps the shells cleaner from debris than can cause a malfunction on your gun. It allows you to shift the weight of carrying a box or more of shells to a different position as needed. This particular pack has three compartments. Two in the front with one in the back. The two front compartments I use for different shotshell sizes depending on what I am hunting. From #8's to #4's. The back compartments I carry pliers two kinds and a handy tool that comes apart for three uses. A hammer, a flathead screw drive and a Phillips screw driver.

08/26/2021

My travels have not been far, I was born in 1960 to a hard working mom and dad. My dad liked to hunt snowshoe hares with our beagle named Jack.
Hunting put extra meat on the table for a family of eight. We didn't complain if you didn't like what was fixed you went hungry.. I got to go after begging my dad one winter chasing hares with my dad and uncles, it was cold I almost froze but my dad made a fire then said see you should have stayed home and he was gone again trying to get in a good spot to get a shot at the hare the hounds were running...
One year after moving to the country I was riding with my older brother we were looking for a new area to bow hunt for deer. We went down a two track that had a lot of water in mud holes then we made a turn on an old railroad grade.. the sign said "deer management area"...so we said let's take a walk because the railroad grade had posts blocking traffic.. it led us down to a beaver pond and a big ten acre rye field we thought we were in heaven.. after putting up a stand by the back end of the beaver pond I sat watching for deer. Season was not far,just a hour before dark I started seeing ruffed Grouse glide across the rye fields into a piece the size of a football field that had autumn Olives on its outer edges and hazel on the interior with aspens and a few oak and spruce trees.. I l Iost count after fifty birds flew into the center
Piece. For awhile deer was my only thought,but after some nights and a few mornings of no deer in range and watching a steady flow of birds landing in the autumn Olives my brother and I decide to put a plan of trying our luck on Grouse. I don't remember how many we got but I know we were good shots in those days.
This is also where I met a guy named Steve Winkler better known as "bird dog winkler" it was Steve that would teach me the love of a good bird dog and how to train a bird dog..Finally in 1989 I got my first dog that was an English setter, I found him in the freebie section of our local paper "The Record Eagle" after talking with the owner it was apparent this dog just wire out his welcome. They had no idea the English Setter would get over eighty pounds and be so tall he could knock things off the kitchen table with his tail ... his name was Lincoln... I had a lot to learn..and so did Lincoln. The first year I had him it was a blur because that dog ran like crazy...I was told Setters don't do anything until age three...Lincoln's second summer I worked him when it was legal to train dogs on public lands, again that dog would run for hours and not slow down, on one outing he busted bird after bird ,I got so mad I tried to leave him in the woods, but he caught up to me before I could get to pavement. I let him In and we tried again...one day I got so frustrated I dug a hole I was gonna shoot that dog, he climbed in the hole wagged his tail as if to say "thanks it's much cooler here" I couldn't shoot him... I talked to bird dog Winkler who said it's not the dog" when I told him I just don't know about that dog...the second season Lincoln was three, I had bought a beeper collar because he ranged so far. On one outing the beeper made a different sound I thought is he pooping or pointing...it took me a bit to locate the big white blob I walked in a Woodcock flushed a snap shot blew the head and most off the bird and into pieces...I said ok let's do that again. I was also using a whistle this time Lincoln learned two blasts were to release or move one blast meant come around.. We were learning together...he still ranged about a hundred yards but when he pinned a bird he stayed until I flushed and released him...his first day pointing I got three woodcock and missed a mess of them Timber doodles. I had finally gotten me a bird dog in the true form.. one lesson to this story is know what your expecting out of a dog, have a plan so the dog understands what to expect or what you expect from them because they really want to please. The saga of a bird hunters dream began...

08/25/2021

Some great foods to be looking for ,for yourself and Ruffed Grouse.

08/25/2021

The time is near our well oiled dogs and guns will be put to the test.....are you in shape? What is your favorite walking/ hunting boot?