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My wife taught me this trick, she feeds the puppies treats while I fetch me and Tom a beer.

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Grouse Hunting In Northern Wisconsin

Now That's What I'm Talkin' About.

Grouse Dogs.

We all know just how spooky the Grouse are. These birds can raise total chaos with bird dogs and their owners. One sure fire way to avoid some of these problems start with the purchase of your pup. If you follow these simple rules your success with the woodland chickens will increase dramatically.
1) Make sure the puppies jowels touch together on the top of its nose with out pulling or stretching them.
2) The ears easily reach the tip of your dogs nose.

If these simple rules are followed, you can just about bet the farm your new puppy will be a fine grouse hunting machine.

Bird Hunting Unwritten Rules

The unwritten rules of bird hunting.
1) Never hunt some ones favorite spot with out an invitation.
2) Your dog has bad days too, keep your mouth shut.
3) Cooler is full of ice and refreshments.
4) If your partners bird count is higher it's O.K. to hunt with your safety off.
5) Keep some smoked bacon in your pocket, keeps dogs in front of you.
6) Give reloads that you are not sure about to your best hunting buddy.
7) Don't complain about the bill being shot off your hat because of low flying woodcock.
8)Pointers only know how things are, not how they should be.
9) Never tell people in the local tavern that if you scratch your pointers nuts he will work closer. Although this does work on the yuppies! Seen it for myself.

Signed, Scooter and the Judge.

The Hills, and the Hillhaven Kennels- Thank You!

Before we get too far into our bird hunting biography. A special "Thanks" has to be mentioned.
To Dave and Jan Hill of the Hillhaven Kennel, without those wonderful German Shorthairs from them over the years none of this could have taken place. Thanks Again!

Pointers and Athelstene Wi.

Me and Scooter found Woodcock heaven North of Athelstene. It's a small town in Northern Marinette County. It consists of two taverns and a general store called Krummies. Our favorite places were the Nimrod bar and the general store, which had a meat counter of fresh cuts that you don't see anymore. Old hardwood floors that were uneven and a cowbell on the front door. We were in heaven. The bar was a hangout for loggers, tourists, and the locals with unending stories. We fit right in, telling our camping and bird hunting tales. They thought we were a bit crazy and loved hearing Scooter use me as the brunt of his humorous stories, seemed like I was always in some predicament that some how was turned into hillarious event. Many more stories on the way.

Find The Shorthair

German Shorthairs, Camping and Kennel Gas.

Now we were spending a week in the tent and sharing our sleeping bags with the dogs. No running water, we would bring a couple five gallon jugs. So needless to say we would be a little gamey ourselves. Let's remember those pointers were sharing our meals with us. Why eat dog food when there is bacon, eggs and camp taters. Well this change in the shorthair's diet caused them to get a bit gassy to say the least. The dogs had no problem ridding themselves of their gas problem in the sleeping bags at night. Hence the phrase "kennel gas" was born. Let's think about this for a minute. No showers, kennel gas, heavy hunting clothes, some beer and our own gas, we probably didn't smell like a lilac bush for sure.

Woodcock Mania, Pointers and Tents.

Back around 20 years ago a decision was made to tent camp and chase the Woodcock flights. Good ole Scooter had all the best of gear, except the leaky air mattress that I some how ended up with each year. Imagine this if you will, one tent a weeks worth of food two sleeping bags and two restless pointers. A good nights sleep was almost impossible, due to snow, rain, and stiff leggin' shorthairs in our sleeping bags. We cooked our meals over a wood fire, also our only heat source. Clyde and Otis slept well and ate off our plates, Shorthairs like to share, and did a nice job on the birds. At least when we would happen to run across those two rangey hounds!

The Clyde And Otis Years, WOW!

Ever heard of rangey pointers? We had them. We weren't quite sure if we were doing things right or wrong with these big going males. When we weren't lost ourselves, the rest of our time was spent looking for the dogs. Usually to be found in another time zone on point. Yes we shot a lot of birds but those two dogs wore us out on a daily basis. Hunting big rangey male shorthairs in the pecker pole popples should have been an olympic sport.

Meeting Clyde

I met Clyde on a pheasant hunt over 20 years ago. I had never seen a pointer work before. Clyde was almost solid liver in color and had a big houndy looking head. He was solid on point and an awesome retriever. After shooting a couple of birds over the 'Southern Gentleman' as we came to call him I immediately went home and told my wife that we had to get one of these. Over the top dog lover that she is she went on a quest to find a Short Hair for me. She decided to go to the source.'O' was Clyde's owner and he was planning on letting the Gentleman get a little stud work. After a time I was able to claim the pick of the litter. My wife named him Otis. More to follow, a lot more.

The Move To Peshtigo

The relocation to Peshtigo, all farmland. Where are the woodcock? No hunting buddies, just me and Clyde. After a short time I made some new friends and they hunted pheasant, O.K. me and Clyde can do that. One of the hunts took place by a friends house, we shot a few birds and had a good time. One of the guys hunting with us was a fella called Scooter, same thing happened to him that happened to me in Mercer, Scoot got himself one of those "Shorthairs" and the rest is history. We have hunted together ever since, over twenty years. Now we have this blog to fill you in on our crazed hunting stories, so hang with us. It will be a fun ride.

My First Pointer

This german shorthair craze started in Mercer Wisconsin in 1980. I went bird hunting with some friends. One of the guys had one of those "Shorthairs" After a day of hunting I realized these dogs were very special. Well as it worked out the fella with the shorthair had 1 male left from a litter. Seventy Five dollars later "Clyde" was mine. He was a solid liver, houndy looking thing that showed me what bird hunting was all about.

How Pointing Dog Blogs Get Started

After an intense therapy session which involves porch drinking and reminiscing about the "Good Old Days", we had a vision. Now, I'm not sure if it was because we were half way through conquering a 30 pack or that we have stories that most short hair hunters only wish they could tell and thought it was about time that we shared them. There may be a few things that you want to keep in mind when reading our blog. First of all do not have anything in your mouth that could be a potential projectile. Secondly, do not have any beverage in your mouth, we wouldn't want it to spray all over your computer - How would you be able to follow our blog if your computer didn't work? And lastly you may want to consider Depends.
And yes, we will be adding plenty of photos.

Woodcock Mainia, The Beginning

It all started 20 plus years ago in Northern Wisconsin.