“To Break or Not To Break, That is the Question” is the intriguing title of a piece Tom Keer wrote for Ruffed Grouse Society magazine’s Spring 2018 issue.
Keer interviewed seven men with various backgrounds in training, trialing, guiding and handling bird dogs. Among them is Matt Soberg, RGS Director of Communications and editor of Ruffed Grouse Society magazine and Jerry. Included also are photographs of two English setters we bred, Northwoods Carly Simon and Northwoods Guns N’ Roses, and long-time client Jim DePolo.
Our bird dog background is wild bird field trial competition where dogs must be steady to wing and shot. Major differences exist between dogs trained for those championship-level performances and hunting dogs. For our guiding work now, we allow our dogs to release after the shot.
Keer lets Jerry explain our philosophy and some of the differences.
“As a hunting guide, I want my dogs to consistently do three things: find birds, point them right and at a distance close enough to present as good an opportunity as possible for a kill shot.
“I like dogs to be bold and savvy to follow the bird until it is pinned…I allow my dogs to reposition until they have the grouse pinned. My clientele is comprised of serious grouse hunters who spent a tremendous amount of time in the woods. I can’t think of one owner of our dogs that fully breaks his setter or pointer. My dogs all release after the shot.
“I think field trailers prefer fully broke dogs for one reason. Their dogs can’t make errors around game. What counts is the find, so birds must be pointed correctly. If the bird is pointed but flushes wild, it’s still counted as a find. But to a hunter, pointed birds that flush may be out of range and not provide a good shot. Grouse trial dogs aren’t required to retrieve dead birds, but in hunting, getting to a crippled bird fast can make the difference between finding it or not. That is where breaking at shot can give the dog an advantage.”
Northwoods Rolls Royce (Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice, 2013), owned by Bob Senkler. Photo by Chris Mathan.
A common belief about judging the strength of a bird dog’s nose is how far the birds flush in front of a point. The farther away the dog points the bird supposedly indicates better scenting ability and, conversely, pointing closer indicates a weaker nose.
I think the dog with the best nose does just the opposite.
First of all, the time-tested indicator of a dog’s nose is how many birds it finds. Period. It doesn’t matter, in this evaluation, whether the dog points far or close or simply flushes the birds.
Secondly, a dog can smell birds from far distances but not point them until well located. Many times I have watched a dog throw up its head, stiffen its tail and march 75 yards—or more—before stopping.
A good nose finds a lot of birds but the best nose finds a lot of birds and points them accurately. Further, the most accurate point is as close to the bird as possible without causing it to flush. Distance from dog to bird varies from inches to many yards depending on the species, age of the bird, habitat and time of the year. Often it’s a combination of several.
A dog must have the right genetics and development to accurately point its birds. From genetics, the dog should have boldness towards game with a keen interest to engage the bird. It should not be afraid to jump in on the birds and try to catch them. Also, the dog needs the right amount of the pointing instinct—too much point and the dog stops on the first scent it smells while not enough point and the dog won’t stop at all.
Next, development is crucial. The young dog should be allowed to find, bump and chase birds to learn how close is too close.
A dog with the best nose pays big dividends during the hunting season. Why? The shooting opportunities are better with an accurate point. Walking past the dog’s nose and having birds flush where you expect them is a tremendous advantage in killing birds.
For other posts on nose and bird finding, please visit:
Parting with puppies is always a bittersweet time for Jerry and me. Even if we’re keeping a puppy or two for development and future breeding possibilities, we usually have our favorites and want to keep them all.
But we do know that a large part of our business is breeding and selling puppies…and so we brace ourselves. And we do know that our puppy buyers will provide loving homes and ample opportunities to do what the puppies were bred to do. Too, there is just no greater satisfaction than seeing the pleasure, happiness and joy that is felt when families welcome the new puppies home.
Our heartfelt thanks to puppy buyers of our Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Carbon litter.
Charlie is a joy!
~ Jim, Pennylvania
Willow has adjusted to her new life wonderfully. She is a very happy, confident and inquisitive puppy. Again thanks so much.
~ Mike, Minnesota
Alder is a confident, active puppy. He’s adjusted nicely to his new home and fits in well with his new family. He has no problems with snow, as if he’s known it his whole life! It’s evident you and Jerry put a lot of time and heart into the early development of your puppies.
~ Cliff, Minnesota
He’s doing really well. Lot of personality!
~ Bryan, Montana
Bree is picking up everything on our walks, leaves, sticks, oyster shells, etc. The other item of note is that she is very calm and confident around new people, dogs, noises, etc. All in all we want to thank you both for this beautiful, friendly, puppy that wants to please.
~ Ed, South Carolina
Tark is doing well – fitting right in to the family. Thanks for everything.
~ Matt, Minnesota
Spring in Georgia just wouldn’t seem right without a bunch of puppies romping in the sunshine on warm grass.
The current litter was whelped out Northwoods Carbon by Northwoods Grits in late December. At 35 lbs., Carbon isn’t a big dog but she carried and whelped nine—three females and six males—and has since cared for them all in spectacular fashion.
Jerry and I are keeping a couple of the puppies but the rest will soon be off to their excited buyers. Three will be shipped to Minnesota and another is flying to his new home in Great Falls, Montana. Puppy buyers are also driving from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and Falls, Pennsylvania.
During a frigid cold snap, one-week-old puppies out of Northwoods Carbon by Northwoods Grits stay warm on the 100-degree nest and under the red glow of a heat lamp.
As a late Christmas present, Northwoods Carbon whelped a litter of three females and six males on December 26. All nine puppies are tricolor.
This litter’s sire, Northwoods Grits, is out of one of our favorite nicks—Northwoods Blue Ox x Northwoods Chablis. Grits inherited the best of both parents. From Ox, Grits got gusto, drive, speed and his sweet, calm nature while Chablis passed on her bird-finding, class and poise around game.
As previous litters have proven, puppies out of Grits inherit his talents and temperament.
Due to the lopsided gender distribution of this litter, some males are available.
In the grouse woods, not many dogs are as fast, focused and unrelenting as Northwoods Grits (Northwoods Blue Ox x Northwoods Chablis, 2011). Back in the hunting cabin though, Grits’ style is altogether different. He is utterly at ease relaxing and snoozing—especially in the lap of his owner, Bob Senkler.
“Like father, like son” is the usual idiom but in the case of some of our setters, I prefer “Like father, like daughter.”
Northwoods Blue Q Tip (Quinny) was whelped in early April 2017 out of Northwoods Bismuth by Grits. Even though just a puppy, Quinny has had a stellar first season. Not only did she find plenty of grouse but she even pointed some.
In the evening after a long day in the woods, Quinny finds solace in precisely the same manner as Grits—sprawled in the lap of her owner, Brody Dietz.
Dixe Mae (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Bismuth, April 2017) is part of a Kowalski family trout fishing trip in Montana. She clearly loves goofing around in the stream.
This will be the final post of the season filled with puppy photos. Puppies from our last three litters—born within weeks of each other in April and May—are happily settled into their new homes.
As always, many thanks to our wonderful clients for staying in touch and sending photos…but most of all for giving the puppies loving homes and fabulous starts to their roles as bird dogs.
There could be two themes for this last puppy post. It seems our puppies thoroughly enjoy being in the water and also display an early proclivity to point.
Luna (Northwoods Nirvana x Northwoods Carbon, May 2017) is “a quick study” for the Conaway family in Maryland, already proficient at many commands. Pro Jeanette Tracy is also training her on pigeons.
Josey (Northwoods Nirvana x Northwoods Carbon, May 2017) found the perfect cooling-off spot on a terrace of the Clark family home in Georgia.
Finn (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, May 2017) displays good intensity pointing a bug in the backyard of the Edwards family home in Minnesota.
Puppy, mom, son and trout in a Montana stream. Doesn’t get any better than this!
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.
Northwoods Rhea (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017) loves her clicker training sessions with Jerry in the kennel office.
Summer in Minnesota is a great season…perhaps only bested by autumn, the obvious bird hunter favorite.
While most of our fellow Minnesotans are heading to their lake cabins or hauling a trailer somewhere, this summer for Jerry and me has meant puppies—lots of puppies—and groups of talented dogs in for training.
Three litters that whelped within a six-week time frame produced 24 puppies. While dams did the bulk of the work, it meant plenty of chores for us but also hours of enjoyment.
Northwoods Nickel, on left, and Northwoods Carbon reared their litters in neighboring runs.
Eight puppies were whelped on April 3 out of Northwoods Bismuth by Northwoods Grits. Grits was also the sire of our second litter, this one out of Northwoods Nickel, whelped on May 1. Last with her litter of eight was feisty Northwoods Carbon by Northwoods Nirvana on May 12.
The only male puppy of Northwoods Carbon’s litter of eight by Northwoods Nirvana litter has the perfect home with Brandon Eales.
Jerry and I kept six puppies from this group but the rest are very happily living in their new homes (at least according to enthusiastic emails and text messages!). Puppies were picked up by families who drove from Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota while other puppies flew to Helena, Seattle and Philadelphia.
Dogs bring the neatest people together and we always like to meet new clients. But, too, Jerry and I were especially delighted to see Dick and Melanie Taylor and Mike McCrary again who bought second setters from us this summer.
Staunchness training for Northwoods Blitzen (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Vixen, 2016). Photo by Jeff Hintz.
Out in the field, summer means gun dog training using pigeons in releasers, backing dummies and dogs dragging check cords. Jeff Hintz, our friend and neighbor, has helped Jerry for many years. They are an impressive team, easily communicating with hand signals, head nods and grins.
Loki (CH Shadow Oak Bo x Northwoods Carbon, 2016) is owned by James Anderson. Photo by Jeff Hintz.
Nick (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Vixen, 2016) is owned by Larry Young.
Gunner (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2016) is owned by Kevin Zubich.
