Lake Michigan Retrieving Training

Here Bruno and I are at our favorite, secret Lake Michigan shoreline in Leelanau County practicing multiple water retrieves on dummies I typically throw or launch 40-60 yards into Lake Michigan. Today was a calm day with virtually no waves, but in August, conditions were much different.

My wife Christine, a woman who was German Shorthaired Pointer breeder from the Lansing area and her two male GSPs, my GSP Bruno, and I all visited this very same site on the hot August evening after our day-long Northern Michigan Chapter NAVHDA dog tests. Bruno didn't compete in the tests because I had volunteered this day to assist with the Natural Ability Tests and to grill burgers and dogs for lunch. However, this Lansing woman and her two GSPs did test today, and afterward they asked Christine and me if we'd bring them to a pleasant Lake Michigan beach where they could go swimming and cool down. Why not? It had been a very hot day, and swimming in Lake Michigan sounded refreshing!

So naturally, I brought along my retrieving dummies and launchers, but I was somewhat concerned because a strong onshore breeze had picked up since late afternoon and was now generating two-feet-high rollers. This lady from Lansing, being unfamiliar with the perils present, almost immediately launched one of the retrieving balls 60+ yards into the lake and tried to get her two male GSPs to retrieve the ball, but her dogs wouldn't retrieve the ball for they couldn't see it--the ball was well hidden in the water-surface layer and by the action of the two-foot-high rollers.

"Great!" I thought to myself. "I don't want to loose that ball," I grimmaced silently knowing that finding a perfectly-fitting replacement ball for my launcher would be a challenge. So I asked the Lansing lady to call her dogs to her side, while I prepared to send my GSP Bruno on this very challenging blind retrieve. By now the sun had set, and the light was diminishing quickly. I commanded Bruno to heel, squared my shoulders perpendicular to the direction I wanted to send him on this retrieve, and ordered him to fetch while simultaneously motioning with my right hand and arm the direction I wanted him to proceed. All summer long I trained Bruno to go on multiple and blind retrieves in similar manner, but that training had usually been conducted on land, and the few times we practiced wet retrieves, they had been done on small and always calm inland lakes and ponds. Conditions here was seriously and significantly different. After Bruno had swum out from shore 40 yards precisely along the line I had sent him, I whistled for him to whoa and to look at me for new directions, for the waves had moved the ball to a new location, and I needed to adjust the direction he was swimming. He complied perfectly, and with my hand-and-arm motions I redirected him to swim in a more south-easterly direction. All of this was much more challenging than it sounds, for we would regularly loose eye sight of one another in the cresting and ebbing action of the two-foot Lake Michigan rollers. After Bruno had swum another 25 yards to the SE, I shouted excitedly to alert him that he was near and getting close to the ball, "Right there! Right there!" And as trained, he began to alertly search for the ball in the surface film of the rollers.

"Bingo! He's got it!" I excitedly announced to a concerned Christine and Lansing lady. Bruno turned and swam 60+ yards with the rollers back to the shore, climbed out and gently placed the ball in my outreached right hand. "Good boy!" I told him proudly. That was certainly an understated compliment on my part.

The Lansing lady swiftly turned and said to her two GSP male dogs, who were sitting onshore beside her and watching with her Bruno's superb long blind retrieve, "Now boys, that's the way you retrieve!"

Well said Lansing lady, and well done, Bruno.

Woodcock Banding, Flyfishing, and Camping at Big Bay, MI

Scenic Big Bay is located a half-hour's drive NW of Marquette in Michigan's rugged Upper Peninsula. It was a favorite hangout for Henry Ford and his auto executives and also the setting for the 1959 American courtroom crime drama film Anatomy of a Murder, which was directed and produced by Otto Preminger and in which starred James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, George C. Scott, Arthur O'Connell, and Eve Arden. The film is based on the best-selling book having the same title that was written by Robert Traver, whose real-life yooper name was John D. Voelker, a retired Michigan Supreme Court Justice, former yooper district attorney, and passionate flyfisher who also penned Trout Madness and Trout Magic. Voelker based this book on an actual murder case for which he was the defense attorney. If you haven't seen the film or read any of these three books by Voelker, I highly encourage you to do so for Voelker writes splendid stories that are packed with as colorful characters from Michigan's U.P. as the region's geographic names are: Yellow Dog Plains, River, and Falls; Hairpin, Halfway Location, Squaw Beach, Big Eric's Bridge, Salmon Trout River and Bay, Hiawatha Water Trail, 40 Foot Falls, Big Pup and Little Pup Creeks, Lost Creek, Blind M35, Dodge City, Gold Mine Road, Dead River Bridge, Big Garlic River, Bulldog and Stag Lakes, Brown Deer Road, Pinnacle Falls, and Bushy Creek Truck Trail (WARNING: one better have a very good 4x4 truck, extra tires and radiators, jacks, shovels, winches and/or come-alongs and a good map to travel on certain parts of this bitchy trail). Several of the movie's scenes were filmed in Big Bay at the Thunder Bay Inn, the Lumberjack Tavern, which was the actual 1952 murder site on which much of Voelker's book is based, and Perkins Park, where the very last scenes of the movie occur. If you've seen the film and decide to visit Big Bay, you will recognize the Lumberjack Tavern and Perkins Park, but much of the original Thunder Bay Inn has been renovated to its original splendor and today offers fantastically-delicious menus and quaintly comfortable, cozy rooms for its guests.

My wife Christine invited me to accompany her to her second Becoming an Outdoor Woman(BOW)action-packed outdoor weekend. This year's BOW weekend was to take place in Big Bay in early June, and Christine was eagerly looking forward to attending it and seeing her outdoor womanfriends again. These BOW weekends and events are sponsored by Michigan's DNR and offer training in various outdoor skills and activities from experienced outdoor women instructors. I readily accepted my wife's invitation and decided that I'd take my GSP Bruno along for I knew from previous experience that there was a catch: Men are NOT allowed to stay at the the women's BOW park or to participate in their scheduled classes and events, such as flyfishing, kayaking, canoeing, GPS orienteering and map reading, trap shooting and archery. "Oh, c'mon ladies, can't you make exceptions for Bruno and me?" "Defintely not!" they responded. Oh, well, I guess Bruno and I will enjoy a men's weekend together woodcock banding in the regions's vast forests and wilderness areas and camping happily at Perkins Park on Lake Independence in Big Bay. Huh, we men shall have some fun outdoors, too!

And did we ever--all of us did! We spent a fantastic weekend of adventure exploring the local wilderness areas, forests, waterfalls, and amazingly gorgeous Lake Superior shorelines, prospecting and flyfishing for trout in the local streams, viewing all sorts of wildlife: cow moose with calves, wolves, deer with fawns, black bear, foxes, bald eagles and various other accipitors, ruffed grouse and sharp-tailed grouse, loads of Canada geese, ducks, and loons, plus bountiful, beautiful brook trout. But, alas, no woodcock! The forests were horribly dry for the region hadn't received any rain or snow in four weeks. Bruno and I searched in vain promising-looking woodcock nesting habitats, but locals told me that the woodcock were likely hugging the riverbanks further south where the forests were wetter.

The nighttime temperatures at Perkins Park dipped into the mid-thirties, but Bruno and I cuddled together to keep one another warm. We happily shared a male-bonding weekend together as did Christine with her female friends.

Michigan's Upper Peninsula may seem like a world and years away for many of you, but for us northern Michiganians, the U.P. is our paradise nearest heaven. Come visit Pure Michigan's Pure U.P. and while you're here, be sure to try our local pasties!

Woodcock Banding, Spring 2009

Please click on this photo to see an enlarged view of a woodcock chick that is from a brood of three chicks I banded in May 2009. The chick is attempting to flee after being released from my nylon mesh holding bag to its nearby mother who is calling to them. I regathered the three banded chicks, placed them under my hat for a while to calm them down, then released them calmed, unharmed and together to their mother who reclaimed them minutes after my departure. Their average bill length was 40 mm, which indicates that they are 13 days old and will begin to fly within a few days. Little wonder they were so energetic upon their initial release from my holding bag! Cute little buggers, aren't they?

Winter Wonder Dog

I love this photo of Bruno. He loves snow as much as I do!

Beautiful Bruno Photograph and Framed Watercolor Portrait

For Christmas 2007 my wife Christine and I received a very generous gift from our relatives Tim, Terry and Emily for a custom watercolor portrait of our beloved Bruno commissioned by Custom Pet Portrait and Wildlife Artist Carol Wells of Texas. Carol Wells' work is portrayed on her Web site at http://www.watercolorpetportraits.com/ . Thank you Tim, Terry, and Emily for your beautiuful gift, Carol Wells for capturing Bruno's handsome beauty on canvas, and our friend Steve Baase, owner of The Art of Framing and Gallery on 430 W Fourteenth Street in Traverse City, for his superb mounting and framing of Bruno's watercolor portrait. Steve has a fabulous framing shop and gallery. Visit Steve at The Art of Framing and Gallery either in person or online at http://artofframingandgallery.com to see the many beautiful artworks displayed and for sale.

Prior to selecting and submitting our favorite photograph of Bruno for Ms Wells to paint, Christine and I had visited her Web site for months to help us with our decision. We agreed that our favorite photo of Bruno was one that Christine had captured when Bruno was whoaing beautifully on the training table at the Northern Michigan NAVHDA training grounds when he was just four months old. Isn't he handsome? The gaze of his eyes just penetrates your soul and shows maturity much beyond his age. We are amazed by the number of compliments Christine's photo of Bruno, Ms. Wells' watercolor portrait of Bruno, and Steve's superb framing of Bruno's portrait receive from friends, family members, and guests to our home.

Thank you all, again--we love this framed watercolor portrait of our beloved beautiful Bruno!

More Adventures with Bruno: 10/25/2008

My friend Gene accepted my invitation to go with Bruno and me for a few days of ruffed grouse and woodcock hunting near our cabin in NE Lower Michigan. Gene hadn't bird hunted in several years, so he was eager to join us on our adventure. For most of the 7-8 hours that we hunted, we were in Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Otsego, and Montmorency Counties.

Wednesday afternoon, 10/22, we arrived at the cabin. We hunted first in a large, dense aspen stand in Montmorency County, where Bruno beautifully pointed two woodcock and one grouse in 1.5 hours. Gene made a splendid shot on a woodcock that initially refused to be flushed from its thick aspen cover. I saw where the timberdoodle lay hidden as it tried to blend in with the ground cover eight feet ahead and to the right of Bruno's nose, but when I stepped into the thicket, it tweedled and launched straight up over Gene's head, then zig-zagged through the aspen boughs. Gene twirled, shot, and smiled as he watched his first woodcock in years tumble to the leaf-littered forest floor and my GSP Bruno retrieve it splendidly to my hand. Our upland bird hunting trip was off to a great start!

We continued our pocket-hunting strategy and traveled north to another consistently-productive aspen-oak covert in Cheboygan County. Immediately, Bruno became birdy, and within fifteen minutes, he pointed three ruffed grouse and I flushed another while he scouted for more birds 20 yards to our right. I shot one of these grouse, which Bruno retrieved happily to hand. Nothing is more joyful, more beautiful than watching your bird dog perform as trained.

As sunset approached we hunted still another pocket of promising cover consisting of tag alders, white birch, scattered oaks and pines, and bright red grouse-berry bushes, where two weekends earlier in the middle of the tag alder swamp we encountered fresh bear scat that was still steaming. This time, however, we found neither birds nor bear.

Thursday morning, 10/23, we hunted one hour in one of my favorite coverts in Cheboygan County. Within four minutes of our arrival, Bruno pointed a grouse, but the sly bird sneaked ahead of Bruno a few yards and flew out from behind a medium-sized red pine before we could position ourselves to shoot. A few minutes later as we approached an always productive aspen stand, Bruno again snapped into point. His staunchness and squared and lowered head just inches off the ground indicated that he had located a woodcock. As I stepped ahead of Bruno to flush the bird, it exploded into flight farther ahead than I had anticipated its location to be. I quickly fired twice then watched closely as the bird continued its flight to escape. It showed no signs of being hit. I analyzed my hurried shots and suspected that I hadn't snugly placed my right cheek to my o/u's stock to view the bird well along my o/u's ventilated rib--it seemed that my shots were close but apparently not close enough to down the bird. Anyway, I marked the vicinity to where the woodcock had flown some 50 yards away. As we approached that aspen thicket, Bruno again pointed statuesquely. While I crept ahead of him, I thoroughly searched the leaf litter for the bird. There, three yards ahead of me lay the dead woodcock that I had shot with both its wings symmetrically outstretched as if it had fallen directly to the ground in mid flight. I ordered Bruno to fetch the dead bird, and he obediently complied. The valuable lesson we learned here is that although none of us had seen any indication that the bird had been hit by my shots, we followed up to check just in case. And the reward was one beautiful bird in the bag. For the next 30 minutes, we continued our hunt in this covert; Bruno, Gene and I encountered three more grouse and one more woodcock, but the cover was too thick, so we didn't get shots.

The next few hours we toured the vast Pigeon River State Forest wilderness. We stopped to hunt briefly along one attractive segment, where Gene shot a fine grouse. We then returned to hunt a place where another friend, Paul, and I have banded woodcock in Presque Isle County. There we encountered two grouse and two woodcock in one hour but couldn't connect. We returned to the cabin where I made Gene some bear chili, which he hadn't eaten in decades.
I challenge you to think of a more splendid way to spend and end a joyous day in northern Michigan's autumn woods.

On Friday, 10/24, after the rained had stopped, we hunted for 2.5-3 hours grouse and woodcock in three different coverts in Presque Isle County. In the first covert, we encountered one wily grouse who sneaked just ahead of us in an alder thicket, then jetted away as we neared the end. The second covert that I took Gene to has always been productive for both woodcock and grouse. Just as we locked my Explorer and commenced our hunt, Gene observed a grouse streaking through the trees in front of us. We certainly hadn't flushed it and suspected that it hadn't seen us. We noted the location to which it had flown, then proceeded to a ridge overlooking a marshy creek valley. I asked Gene to walk along the top of the ridge and stay even with me as I hunted with Bruno below in the dense tag alders that stretched for hundreds of yards along the creek's edge. My plan was to have Bruno locate and then I flush woodcock and grouse that frequented the excellent bird habitat along the creek toward Gene atop the ridge . It would be very difficult for me to get a clean shot at any of the birds that I expected to encounter for the dense cover along the creek would prevent me from swiftly mounting my shotgun and taking a shot. Gene, on the other hand, was strategically situated and significantly more likely to get a good shot.

My plan worked: within minutes Bruno was tracking a grouse, which catapulted itself through the dense creekside cover and up the slope toward Gene. Surprisingly the grouse didn't level off upon reaching the ridge' top; it continued its ascent virtually straight up 35 yards before Gene. It looked as if it wanted to fly over a tall red pine tree, but before it could safely escape, Gene fired. The grouse fluttered, then lingered momentarily in mid air near the peak of the pine, then dropped 40+ feet to the earth. From creekside fifteen feet below, I yelled to Gene that he'd shot the grouse for I suspected that he couldn't have seen the bird fall from his shooting position. He hadn't seen the bird drop, but it didn't matter; Bruno witnessed the entire event and raced to retrieve the fallen grouse. After politely showing Gene that he had successfully shot the grouse, Bruno proudly ran downhill and delivered Gene's prize to my hand. Gene made the most spectacular shot on a ruffed grouse I had ever seen! Never before have I seen a ruffed grouse fly as high as this one did (nearly 45 feet!) in its attempt to escape. This bird hunting moment will last among my cherished hunting memories the rest of my life--thank you, Gene!

Tweet, tweet! Where do you think you're going? Get back here... We're not done with our bird hunting adventure yet. With Bruno searching before us, Gene and I continued our bird hunt along the top of the pine ridge. And within minutes, Bruno located and finely pointed another bird that was attempting to hide among the mixed pine and tag alder thickets. As Gene tried to move ahead of Bruno to flush the bird, it launched up, tweedled, and flew straight away. Gene quickly fired once but was uncertain whether he had hit the bird. But Bruno was certain that Gene had hit his mark, then trotted several yards through the thicket in the direction of the woodcock's escape flight. We next heard splashing sounds as Bruno swam into the woodland pond that was still hidden from our view. By the time Gene and I arrived to the pond's edge, Bruno was climbing out from the water holding Gene's downed woodcock in his mouth, which he then delivered gently to Gene's hand. Nice shot, Gene, and atta boy, Bruno!

For our final hunt, I took Gene to another aspen stand in Presque Isle County. There we quickly encountered one ruffed grouse and three woodcock. I bagged one of the woodcock, which Bruno finely retrieved, and we called it a day. We returned to my cabin, ate a quick meal, then packed up our gear and drove to Gene's cabin for a quick inspection of the premises before driving home to lovely Leelanau. A good dog, a good friend, a great hunt, and several tasty wild game meals made memorable moments for all. Do your mind, spirit, and soul a favor: get outdoors and enjoy life!

Upland Game Bird Season-to-Date Report in Northern Lower Michigan 10/10/2008

Late this afternoon, Bruno and I hunted 1.25 hours in Cheboygan and Presque Isle Counties. He superbly pointed one grouse and three woodcock. I shot two woodcock in thick cover, which Bruno magnificently retrieved. I didn't get a shot at the grouse--the foliage was too thick. Since I'm a woodcock bander, I faithfully practice conservation and limit my kill rather than kill my limit (during the Michigan woodcock season, the daily limit is three). Thus far this season (ruffed grouse season opened 9/15 and woodcock season opened 9/20), we've hunted 9 days/approximately 15 hours usually in dense, young aspen and tag alder stands during which Bruno has pointed 58 different woodcock (I do not count repoints/reflushes in this tally) of which I shot eight. The number of woodcock we've encountered thus far this season is substantially higher than that of this date last year.
Since we primarily hunt in woodcock habitat in early season until more leaves fall from the trees, the number of ruffed grouse we've pointed/flushed thus far this season is approximately equal to that of this date in 2007. We expect our number of ruffed grouse encounters to increase significantly as the season progresses and the leaves fall.
All in all, bird-season-to-date 2008 seems much better than bird-season-to-date 2007.
Are you getting outdoors? If yes, then great--enjoy the serenity and beauty of nature! If no, then do your heart, your mind, your soul, and your bird dog(s) favors--get out of the office and leave work behind, c'mon Up North and pursue your passions. Wild wings are waiting...