While Betsy and I were out walking our Labrador retriever May today, we flushed a grouse from its snow roost.
A snow roost is a place grouse fly into without leaving a trail for predators to follow. A grouse also conserves body heat by burying itself in snow. Though there currently isn’t enough soft snow for a grouse to be completely submerged, it can be partly concealed by several inches.
A grouse flushed from this roost on the south side of some hazel brush next to a birch tree.
Experienced field-trial people have said, “Give a dog a name to live up to.” Betsy and I can certainly vouch for its truth. We named a spirited, feisty, black-and-white setter female Blue Streak.
Streak was a 35-lb. bird dog that lived for the hunt. She had endless stamina and an uncommon level of focus when hunting. She was sure and intense on point and no cover, from Minnesota and the Dakotas to Pennsylvania and Texas, ever deterred her. She was calm in the house but a whirlwind in the field. She was a fierce trial competitor and an outstanding grouse hunting dog.
Streak’s breeding
Blue Streak was whelped in our first litter in June 1995 out of Spring Garden Tollway (Charlie) and Finder’s Keeper (Sparks). The litter contained five males and three females including future grouse champion Blue Smoke and the outstanding Oklahoma quail dog, Colonel. Five developed parvovirus at five weeks but all survived without ill effects. Streak was the smallest in the litter and, early on, we nick-named her “Little.” We tried several times to change it but nothing else seemed to stick. Little it was.
We were neophytes in dog breeding but felt we had a unique nick with Charlie and Sparks—both out of Jack LeClair’s Spring Garden Kennel. Charlie was beautifully conformed and it clearly showed in his stamina and strength. He was fast, also, and could run like the wind. In fact, to this day, he was as much dog as I have owned and it took me several years to get him under control. While hunting grouse in northern Minnesota one fall, a friend asked if I’d ever hunted grouse in Canada. I said, “No, but I think Charlie has!”
Sparks was a medium-sized, chestnut-and-white female that was an outstanding wild bird dog with excellent instincts around game.
Early Years Streak never acted like a carefree puppy. When Betsy and I took the litter out for romps in the woods, she was serious and hunted with focus and determination. This continued as she matured and, ultimately, she pursued anything—birds, rabbits and deer. Deer became her bane. Streak chased so much, so far and for so long that she became lost, occasionally even, overnight. Her record was three days and three nights in Michigan when I lost her at the Lakes States Grouse Championship.
Due to this deer-chasing proclivity, there was a three-year gap between Streak’s last derby placement and her first win as a shooting dog. She and I worked hard and, finally, in the spring of 2000, it started to pay off and Streak began the first of her two “streaks.”
2000
CH Blue Streak and Jerry, 2000
• Won the Region 19 Walking Shooting Dog Championship (30 entries)
• Placed in the next five shooting dog stakes
Streak’s second “streak” was even more impressive. We entered her in six championships and she placed in five—an incredible series of wins. Consequently, she earned several prestigious awards.
2001
Streak earned an invitation to the 2001 Grand National Grouse & Woodcock Invitational Championship. Betsy and I traveled to Marienville, Pennsylvania, where, over the course of three exciting days, she went head-to-head with the best grouse dogs in the country, including three-time-Invitational winner, CH Centerfold Rose. Streak and Rose were the only two dogs in the call-back on the final day. When the dust settled, Rose was named champion and the runner-up was Streak.
• Runner-up Grand National Grouse & Woodcock Invitational
• Runner-up in the National Amateur Grouse Championship
• Won the Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship
• Won the Wisconsin Cover Dog Championship
• Won the Pennsylvania Grouse Championship (80-dog entry)
2002
• Won Michael Seminatore English Setter Award
• Won William Harnden Foster Award
• Minnesota/Wisconsin Cover Shooting Dog of the Year
• Won Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship
2003
• Several local field trials
• Minnesota/Wisconsin Cover Shooting Dog of the Year
Streak was then eight years-of-age and instead of a heavy field-trial schedule, I hunted with her and used her in our guide string. At the hunting lodge, she is now famous for leading me and their guests on some spectacular hunts into heretofore unknown territory.
Blue Streak and Jerry, 2006
Her final competition
Something happened during the summer of 2005 when I was, as usual, out on the prairie working dogs and training them for the fall field trial and hunting season. Streak had been in semi-retirement but, out on those alfalfa fields and in those pastures, she ran and hunted at a high level, beating most of her younger brace mates. I thought, “She could still win the Grand National Grouse Championship!”
The 2005 running was held at the Gladwin grounds near Prudenville, Michigan, and Streak and I made the trip. The judges were David Grub, veteran trainer and Bird Dog Hall of Fame member, and Rob Frame, a competitor and judge of many grouse championships.
Streak ran in the first brace on the first day of the running. She put down a savvy, hard-hunting, forward race and had two grouse finds and one woodcock find. At the age of 10, Streak was named Runner-up Champion over a field of 81 younger entries.
2005
• Runner-up Grand National Grouse Championship
Less than a month later, I took Streak to Texas. She hunted but with little enthusiasm and didn’t eat well. A diagnosis revealed an inoperable tumor located in her chest cavity between the heart and lungs. She died in March 2006.
Streak’s record
Streak was a 4X CH/4X R-U CH and finished her field trial career with 22 placements, all on grouse and woodcock.
• four championships
• four runner-up championships
• two classic wins
• three 1st, two 2nd and three 3rd place shooting dog placements
• one 1st, two 2nd and one 3rd place derby placements
Streak’s legacy
CH Blue Streak
We only bred Streak twice but she left us a legacy. She produced CH Bobby Blue (owned and handled by Bob Saari), winner of the Minnesota Grouse Dog Championship and a powerful competitor, when bred to CH First Rate. We have her daughter, Blue Silk, Bobby’s littermate, and through Silk we have sons, Blue Shaquille and Northwoods Blue Ox. In addition, Blue Blossom (Tina) was whelped from Streak’s breeding to CH Grouse Hollow Gus. Tina was an excellent grouse dog and, in turn, whelped many talented grouse dogs.
Betsy and I are now whelping litters that have Streak as a great-great-grand-dam. We will always be on the lookout for a competitive, fearless, black-and-white puppy…..that just might also be small in size.
Once upon a time, in northern Wisconsin, there lived an old grouse hunter. He was known far and wide for the quantities of ruffed grouse he bagged. Rumor had it that he would go into the woods with five shotgun shells and usually return with five grouse.
This reputation spread to a small town in rural Minnesota where a young man, just learning to hunt ruffed grouse, was having a very difficult time. He could do well enough on open country pheasants and prairie grouse but ruffed grouse, with their craftiness and thunderous flight, was still beyond his abilities.
The young man heard of this legendary grouse hunter and was eager to learn the secrets of someone so successful and so traveled to northern Wisconsin. Upon meeting the grouse hunter, the young man said, “I am here to learn your secret of shooting ruffed grouse as they fly through the dense forest.”
The old grouse hunter looked at him with a quizzical expression and said, “Grouse can fly?”
Blue Ghost x Blue Riptide puppies, Rosie, Piper and Sage, at five months of age.
An early leaf fall in both Minnesota and Wisconsin seems to have been beneficial to grouse and woodcock hunters. Region-wide reports from everyone—training clients, puppy buyers, dog buyers and friends—are outstanding. All are finding plenty of grouse, and the woodcock numbers are up considerably.
Weather not only has contributed to the early leaf fall but the clear, cool days make for beautiful days in the woods. Remarkably, I’ve found grouse are moving into late season habitat earlier than usual.
My dog report:
• Guide string of CH Houston’s Belle (age 9), Blue Silk (age 10), Blue Shaquille (age 6) and Northwoods Blue Ox (age 3) are tearing up the woods and are as good as grouse dogs get. These dogs go from grouse to grouse and you better have plenty of shells when out with these dogs!
• Three younger dogs are doing well: Northwoods Prancer (Fallset Fate x Dashaway), Northwoods Chardonnay (Houston’s Belle’s Choice x Blue Shaquille) and Synder’s Liz (CH Magic’s Rocky Belleboa x CH Houston’s Belle)
• Seven-month-old dogs out of Ox and Houston’s Belle’s Choice are pointing grouse.
• Six-month-old dogs out of Ox and CH Houston’s Belle are also pointing grouse!
• Three females are part of the same grouse hunting camp and are having a blast.
What a great year to be a grouse dog—young or old—and a grouse hunter.
I was fortunate to be invited by a friend, Frankie, to his “Grouse House” on the western prairie for a few days of sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge hunting. Another friend, Ian, accompanied us.
Here’s the wrap-up.
• dog power: 8 English setters, 3 German shorthaired pointers, 1 pointer.
• sharp-tails were plentiful and lots of young birds.
• early-season, young grouse were easy for dogs to handle.
• numbers similar to what I remember from my last trip 15 years ago.
• conditions were unusually cool with snow on the last day.
Betsy and I get many inquiries about how we feed dogs to keep them healthy and in good shape. Feeding properly requires attention throughout the year but, especially now with the fall hunting season looming, a healthy dog is imperative. If your dog is overweight, the physical exercise will be hard on bones and joints and will cause premature fatigue. An underweight dog, on the other hand, will not have necessary reserves for endurance and will lack resistance to fight off maladies.
Feeding your hunting dog properly takes time and effort. Betsy and I practice what we preach and manage our dogs’ feeding programs as described below. This has worked exceptionally well for us for more than 15 years and we’re certain it will work for you, too.
Feed a premium quality food.
Reams have been written about various dog foods and it all boils down to one simple statement. Your dog is what it eats. Good dog food is balanced and nutritionally complete and is made with high-quality ingredients. Companies such as Nestle-Purina have done decades of study and research in formulating their foods and the price is worth it.
Feed the right amount at the right time.
Determining how much to feed your dog is an art that will take time and attention. Recommended feeding amounts on dog food bags are good places to start but are merely guidelines. Find out your dog’s body condition and then take into account its current activity level. Then, it’s simple: if your dog is too heavy, reduce the portion; too light, increase it.
This brings me to another important point: Your dog should eat when you feed it. If your dog is a finicky eater and needs some enticement, try these two tricks. Add warm water and stir until a thin gravy forms. Or mix a spoonful or two of canned dog food into the bowl but then reduce the amount of dry food accordingly.
As with most things in life, timing is crucial. Nestle-Purina has conducted thorough research and their most up-to-date information on when to feed your dog is once per day. Studies show that dogs fed 24 hours before exercise had almost twice the endurance as dogs fed just 12 hours before. Nestle-Purina recommends these guidelines:
— Feed your dog 24 hours before hunting for optimum performance. Minimum time is 12 hours before.
— Feed your dog 40 – 60 minutes after it is done hunting for the day.
Use a glycogen replacement when working your dog hard.
Glycogen is one of the first forms of energy used by the working dog. Studies have shown that glycogen stores cannot be replaced in a short period of time and, further, loss of glycogen can have a negative impact on a dog’s performance. Dr. Ben J. Character, a veterinarian specializing in sporting dog issues has an excellent article on this topic called Power up: The Role of Glycogen Replacement
We have used glycogen replenishment for years. In addition, many field trial competitors use glycogen supplements for both multiple day trials and consecutive days of hard training. We buy Annamaet Glycocharge from Lion Country Supply.
Bill Nettles is a field trialer I met several years ago at the Grand National Grouse and Woodcock Invitational. This summer Bill and his wife have been traveling and working dogs and I invited him to spend a few days training with us while he was in Minnesota.
Bill posted the following message on the Cover Dog Message Board about his visit.
“I benefited a lot from a recent visit to Jerry Kolter’s. Jerry did me a kindness as bracemate in the 2001 Invitational, by letting me know that there was ground water around the bend, thus saving me and my dog some time. This was the first chance I have had to look him up.
"Jerry seems to enjoy tutoring even the most minute details about best practices in bird dog training. He showed me how many seemingly trivial and unrelated aspects all fit together to bring out the best in a bird dog. Each day my thoughts ranged from ‘why didn’t I think of that’ to ‘I never knew that’ to ‘I had forgotten that.’ I just hope to remember most of his teaching. There was quite a lot of detail and he is very soft-spoken, the exact opposite of what I need as a slow learner, but I still learned a lot.
"Earl Crangle wrote something about how the better a trainer is the more organized you will find his gear. I could never maintain the obsessive neatness of Jerry’s operation, it is beyond my skills, but I do admire it. I think Jerry handled the last of Earl’s dogs which ran in competition, maybe it was Earl’s influence.
"We did not get to meet Betsy, but for a place to be that organized and clean, I suspected there must be a strong female supervisor involved there.
"This is all said by way of thanking Northwoods Bird Dogs and to state my observations. If anyone gets up there, note his kennel, which has expanded since the website. There is a grouse feather over his logo that is hard to believe. Minnesota must have some huge grouse, and that feather must have come from the granddaddy of them all.”
Once upon a time, in northern Wisconsin, there lived an old grouse hunter. He was known far and wide for the quantities of ruffed grouse he bagged. Rumor had it that he would go into the woods with five shotgun shells and usually return with five grouse.
Betsy and I get many inquiries about how we feed dogs to keep them healthy and in good shape. Feeding properly requires attention throughout the year but, especially now with the fall hunting season looming, a healthy dog is imperative. If your dog is overweight, the physical exercise will be hard on bones and joints and will cause premature fatigue. An underweight dog, on the other hand, will not have necessary reserves for endurance and will lack resistance to fight off maladies.