August, bird dogs and sharp-tailed grouse

CH JTH Izzie (CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer, 2011). Look at her eyes.

August is an auspicious month for bird dog owners. First of all, autumn is in the air—especially on cool evenings. Too, even though they might have been conditioning their dogs all summer, they now begin training in earnest on wild birds.

JTH Scion (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015). It doesn’t get any better than this.

Jeff Hintz is an excellent example.

He owns two white-and-black pointers: JTH Izzie (CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer, 2011) and JTH Scion (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015).

Big bluestem, purple blazing star and yellow sunflowers are a pretty backdrop to a pointer hunting for sharptails.

The preparation and training is, for him, as much fun as the hunting. Since June, Jeff has been preparing his dogs for the hunting season. Scion, the younger dog, needed finishing work on manners around birds. He conditioned both off a reconditioned golf cart, and now is training them on wild sharp-tailed grouse. These birds can be found in open, native grasslands or thicker, mixed cover of oak, alder and prairie plants.

JTH Scion on a foggy morning.

Tracks of a sharp-tailed grouse.

Photos by Jeff Hintz.