Alzada (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013), age 10 years “Thanks for sharing a dog of a lifetime.” ~ Tom Condon, Montana
Northwoods Carly Simon (Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2011), age 12 years “More than a minor celebrity, many have traveled to the hunt camp just to hunt with Carly Simon and spend time with her on ‘her’ couch.” ~ Chris Bye and Jessica Kramer, Wisconsin
Northwoods Rudolph (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023), age 6 months, on left, and his grand-dam Northwoods Vixen (CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer, 2011), age 12 years “Young and a little goofy vs. old and wise. A fun brace!” ~ Both owned by Northwoods Bird Dogs
Maisy (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Houston’s Nelly Bly, 2023), age 6 months “The star of last week was Maisy. She handled well, made beautiful casts, and pointed a grouse!” ~ Zenas Hutcheson, Minnesota
Caddie (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023), age 6 months “This last week, Caddie has really turned it on. Her first woodcock!” ~ Brian Smith, Pennsylvania
CH Tian Elhew Verbena (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Vixen, 2013)
Not much is more gratifying for Jerry and me than hearing from happy dog owners. It is thrilling to see how our puppies have grown up and how they’ve fit into their lives—whether hunting, competing in field trials or sleeping on a pad near the fire.
And not much saddens us more than when we hear of the death of a beloved dog.
Multiple champion Tian Elhew Verbena (call name Bena) was owned by Angela and Tim Schillereff of Sauvie Island Kennels in Portland, Ore. Bena was whelped in 2013 out of Northwoods Vixen by CH Elhew G Force.
Of the nine puppies in the litter, seven were females. Angela and Tim had the fourth pick and they chose a pretty black and white puppy.
The G Force x Vixen litter was whelped on April 21, 2013. Bena is the puppy on the upper right.
Angela has kept in touch with photos and news periodically throughout the years. She recently informed us of the passing of Bena. Heartbroken, she wrote, “It’s been hard to think about her no longer with us.”
“She was an amazing dog and all who hunted her or saw her run in trials recognized how special she was.”
Angela and Tim campaigned Bena in American Field/Amateur Field Trial Clubs of America horseback shooting dog stakes where she won six championships and 2 runner-up championships.
She also earned several AKC titles: National Open Champion, National Amateur Champion, Grand Field Champion, Field Champion and Amateur Field Champion.
Northwoods Sir Gordon (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2016), on right, was named RU-CH at the NBHA Sharptail Championship.
On a soggy, humid weekend in late September, the NBHA Sharptail Championship held its Eastern Regional at the Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area near Danbury, Wisc. The trial was hosted by the Chippewa Valley Grouse Dog Association.
In a field of 46 dogs, Northwoods Sir Gordon (call name Gordie), was named RU-CH with three sharptail finds. Gordie is owned and was handled by Ben McKean.
Northwoods Eddie Setter (CH Northwoods Sir Gordon x Northwoods Valencia, 2023), on left, placed first in the Puppy stake.
Derby and puppy stakes were also held. Ben was called back to the winner’s circle when the placements were announced for the Puppy Stake. Northwoods Eddie Setter placed first with an impressive run and a sharptail flush.
What’s extraordinary is that Eddie is Gordie’s son out of Northwoods Valencia.
RU-CH Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017)
As the sun rises on a recent morning, Atlas points with style and confidence on a covey of sharp-tailed grouse. He is on a training run before the fall field trial season begins. Atlas is owned and handled by Greg Johnson of Wisconsin.
Northwoods Dexter (CH Snyder’s Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022), on right, is posed by owner and handler Mike Rosario.
In an auspicious start to his field trial career, Northwoods Dexter (CH Snyder’s Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022) won third place in a competitive stake of 17 puppies at the Grand Valley Bird Dog club trial near Ionia, Mich., last spring. Dexter is owned and handled Mike Rosario.
Dexter then went on a tear, continuing his impressive placements at subsequent stakes held on the Gladwin Field Trial Grounds near Gladwin, Mich. • Third place in the Ruffed Grouse Field Trial Club John R. Stuart Derby Open Classic with 23 entries. • Second place in the Ruffed Grouse Field Trial Club Ruth Stuart Open Puppy Classic with 19 entries. • Third place in the Beaverton Grouse Dog Club Eaton Spring Derby Classic with 34 entries.
What made these placements even more thrilling is that Dexter was only eight-months-old. Most of his competition in these stakes were older than him; in case of the derby stakes, up to 18 months older!
Northwoods Cedar Edge (CH Snyder’s Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022), is posed by handler Lindsey Saetre, earned a blue ribbon for owners Eric and Lindsey Saetre.
Northwoods Cedar Edge (CH Snyder’s Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022), a littermate sister to Dexter, owned and handled by Eric and Lindsey Saetre, also had a winning start. She placed first in the Region 19 Open Puppy stake and third in the Minnesota Grouse Dog Association’s summer quail trial.
Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017), on left, is posed by owner and handler Greg Johnson.
RU-CH Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017), owned and handled by Greg Johnson, continued his winning ways by placing first in the Northwest Field Association Open Walking Shooting Dog stake. This trial was held using liberated quail at their trial grounds near Hankinson, N.D.
CH Erin’s Three Leaf Shamrock. Photo by Chris Mathan.
In perhaps the biggest award of the year, and for the second year in a row, CH Erin’s Three Leaf Shamrock (CH Erin’s Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2015) is the recipient of the prestigious Elwin G. Smith Award for 2022. This is bestowed on the nation’s winningest English setter in open shooting dog horseback field trials. Shamrock is owned by S. Tucker Johnson and handled by Tracy Swearington.
Besides the obvious charm of this strip— Snoopy in his bathing suit, Lucy content in the pool—there is more.
Some clients already know the trick. (I’m thinking especially of Chris Bye.) For many years, Jerry and I filled up two pools with cold water. After a summer morning conditioning run, the dogs loved those pools. They drank, plopped down, and swirled and splashed around.
Pointers Northwoods Comet (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2018) and Northwoods Vixen (CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer, 2011).
Poetry is an entirely different form of creative writing from fiction and nonfiction. There are fierce devotees and equally strong detractors.
Mary Oliver might make at least some of the latter group enjoy a poem or two.
Over Oliver’s lifetime (1935 – 2019), she wrote 20 books of poetry and six of prose. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for American Primitive, a collection of poetry. She won many other distinguished awards including the National Book Award in 1992 and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
She was an introverted, private person and also a lover of dogs. She devoted one collection, Dog Songs, to them. Here is a poem about Percy.
Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night
He puts his cheek against mine and makes small, expressive sounds. And when I’m awake, or awake enough
he turns upside down, his four paws in the air and his eyes dark and fervent.
“Tell me you love me,” he says.
“Tell me again.”
Could there be a sweeter arrangement? Over and over he gets to ask. I get to tell.
~ Mary Oliver Dog Songs
English-bred May, sired by CH Conneywarren Jason of British Labradors.
Oliver lived for about four decades in Provincetown, Mass., where she developed her passion for the ocean, tides, birds and the Cape Cod seashore. She always carried a pad and pen on her solitary daily walks and, as inspiration came to her, she jotted down lines. Here is a poem about the Cape shore.
I Go Down To The Shore In The Morning
I go down to the shore in the morning and depending on the hour the waves are rolling in or moving out, and I say, oh, I am miserable, what shall— what should I do? And the sea says in its lovely voice: Excuse me, I have work to do.
CH Northwoods Sir Gordon (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2016) and owner/handler Ben McKean.
A key element of any field trial is the quality of the judges. They can name worthy winners or they can, by ignorance mainly, screw up it completely. They perhaps are more important than anything else—including weather, venue, dogs or handlers.
In other words, if the judges are good, then the trial will be good.
In early April in the Eau Claire County Forest neat Augusta, Wisc., Ben McKean ran his male setter Northwoods Sir Gordon (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2016) at the Region 19 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog Championship. Ben was fortunate for not only were Scott Anderson and Bill Frahm judging but they decided on a bold finish.
Gordie is a leggy male setter, ruggedly built with a reaching gait. He is a powerful dog and ran a strong, mature race, always searching in likely cover. He was marked with an unproductive in heavy tangled alders and ended his hour birdless.
Scott and Bill did have a dog with a find on one woodcock in the first series but they obviously didn’t feel it was a performance deserving of a champion. What do good judges do in a case like this?
Scott and Bill decided on a call back.
Wasting no time, the judges called handlers, dogs and the gallery together. Emotion and excitement were sky high. Scott and Bill chose two call back dogs and two reserve dogs. Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017), owned and handled by Greg Johnson, was a reserve dog while Gordie was their choice to see first on a course known to hold birds.
It took only 12 minutes for Gordie’s bell to stop. Scout Ryan Hough found him on point and when Ben walked in, two woodcock flew. Ben shot his gun and walked back to his dog.
Nothing more was needed. The good judges, by deciding on the call back, had their worthy champion.
A young Jim Harrison in the doorway of his cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The Search for the Genuine is a newly published collection of essays and magazine columns by Jim Harrison. Subtitled Nonfiction, 1970 – 2015, these pieces are reprinted from various sporting magazines—Field & Stream, Sports Illustrated, Outside—and prestigious publications such as Esquire and The New York Times.
Jim Harrison (1937 – 2016) was a best-selling New York Times author of 39 books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and one children’s book. He is perhaps best known as a poet and for his Legends of the Fall and Dalva novels.
Harrison’s big draw for me is simply his writing. I can read anything he wrote. Beginning with his first paragraph and then his lyrical, eloquent, clear style, I became enthralled. Subject matter included dogs, hunting and fishing but also his big view of life and his big appetites. Along with his cool friends Jimmy Buffett, Tom McGuane and Guy de la Valdene, he shared a zest for life, food (much of which they had shot or caught) and drink.
A few favorite passages.
“Our greatest politician, Thomas Jefferson, said that ‘good wine is a necessity of life for me.’ I agree but he should have said, ‘Good wine and good dogs are necessities of life for me.’”
“Utterly docile and sweet in the cabin or house these are big-running setters suitable for the Southwest and Montana though they shorten up in the denser cover of northern Michigan. When cynics say that our dogs are ‘too far out’ we’ve learned to give a pat answer: ‘That must be where the birds are.’”
“One August morning in the Upper Peninsula Rose had twenty-nine woodcock points in less than two hours. I was slow to admit that I enjoyed this training run as much as hunting.”
This is a long passage with long sentences but, yikes, can he write. “I’ve begun to believe that some of us are not as evolved as we may think. Up in the country, in my prolonged childhood, I liked best to walk, fish, and hunt where there were few, if any, people. After a ten-year hiatus for college and trying to be Rimbaud, Dostoyevsky, and James Joyce, not to speak of William Faulkner, in New York, Boston, and San Francisco, I found myself back in northern Michigan walking, fishing, and hunting. There are a lot more people now, but there are still plenty of places where they aren’t. Tennis, golf, and drugs didn’t work for me, so for the past thirty years my abiding passions are still centered on upland game birds, fish, and idling around fields, mountains, and the woods on foot, studying habitat but mostly wandering and looking things over.”
“The death of hunting will come not from the largely imagined forces of anti-hunting but from the death of habitat, the continuing disregard for the land in the manner of a psychopath burning down a house and then wondering why he can’t still live there. The illusion of separateness is maddening. We are nature, too, surely as a chimp or trout.”
“Strangely, as you grow older, if you can’t hunt with any of two or three friends, you’d rather hunt alone. Newcomers make the grievous error of talking to your dogs—which are confused by such breaches in taste—or they whine about the weather.”
“I’m very poor at dates and numbers and what happened at what time in our life. But if my wife mentions the name of a dog we’ve owned and loved, I can re-create the dog’s life with us, and consequently my own.”
“Happiness Is a Warm Puppy” is a book written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. It was first published in 1962 and has since been re-published several times.
Anyone who has ever bought a puppy will agree with this simplest, but truest, of notions.
