Bird dogs and bobwhites. Life is good in Georgia.
The #1 dog on our string is liver-and-white female pointer Northwoods Comet (HOF CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2018). She is backed by another HOF-bred pointer female, Northwoods Confidante (HOF CH True Confidence x Red Sunshine, 2022).
The quarry for Jerry, me and our dogs in southwestern Georgia near Thomasville is bobwhite quail—wild bobwhite quail.
Bobwhites are small birds that weigh only 6 ounces. They live in flocks, or coveys, of about 15 birds. For protection from both predators and hunters, bobwhites form a circle with tails pointing toward the center and heads facing out.
A particular, thrilling aspect of a bobwhite quail hunt is when a covey flushes, commonly called a rise. As David Allen Sibley explains in The Sibley Guide to Birds, coveys “flush all together at close range in an explosion of noisy wingbeats.” The rise happens fast and the birds scatter even faster.
A bird dog on point doesn’t get much prettier than Northwoods Snow Bunny (CH Ponderosa Mac x Northwoods Redbreast, 2022).
This marks the twelfth season that Jerry and I have lived in this region of Georgia. While we train a few dogs from clients, now we mostly train, develop and condition our own dogs.
Two males, Northwoods Eddie Setter (CH / RU-CH Northwoods Sir Gordon x Northwoods Valencia, 2023), in front, and Northwoods Rudolph (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023), stopped within feet of each to back another dog on point.
During the quail season, though, we work for our client who leases four-day hunts on an 11,000-acre plantation in northern Florida. The day’s schedule is dependent on weather but generally six braces of dogs are run—three in the morning and three in the afternoon. Jerry handles our dogs and an employee from the plantation handles theirs. While our string includes half pointers and half setters, 90% of the plantation’s dogs are pointers.
On a foggy morning in January, dog handlers meet to saddle their own horses and horses for the guests and otherwise prepare for the morning hunt.
These hunts adhere to traditions handed down through many generations of hunters. Handlers and hunters ride Tennessee walking horses and an open, customized Jeep carries dogs not being run. In addition, a pair of cocker spaniels are on board for retrieving birds.
Hunts conducted on the plantation where we live are conducted off a pair of very cool, customized 30-year-old Kawasaki mules. Before the breakaway, dogs are clipped to the mule while those awaiting their turn to hunt ride in the roomy spaces under the rear bench seat.
We also handle our dogs on hunts on the plantation where we live. The owner of the plantation and her family and guests eschew horses and instead drive 30-year-old modified Kawasaki mules. A number of their dogs are brought along including, among others, Labrador retrievers and a springer spaniel.
Intensity and style on point aren’t trainable attributes. Eyes blazing and ear flipped back, Northwoods Snow Queen (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Houston’s Nelly Bly, 2023) points a huge covey of wild bobwhite quail.
Our main kennel building is a nicely renovated horse barn. Four large, fenced-in exercise pens are easily accessible from the kennel runs.
Running a late afternoon brace of puppies is one of our favorite things to do. Our main goal is exposure to birds—lots of birds. Northwoods Cassiopeia (Cold Creek Hank x Northwoods Stardust, 2025) has the find and Northwoods Something Royal (CH Confident Nation x Northwoods Comet, 2025) naturally backs.
Under the classic canopy of longleaf and loblolly pines, Greg Johnson flushes for his derby Northwoods Rip Roy (CH Woodville’s Yukon Cornelius x Northwoods Redbreast, 2024).
Northwoods Four Roses (CH Rufus Del Fuego x Northwoods Valencia, 2021), on right, and her daughter, Andromeda, by Northwoods Homer relax by the gate in an exercise pen.