When I began hunting with grouse dogs in the mid 1970s, the only way to keep track of my dog was by hanging a bell on its collar. I could follow the dog’s movements and actions and, when the dog stopped, so did the bell. But it could be difficult and time consuming to find it on point if the cover was dense (as is most good grouse cover) or my dog was far away (which it was occasionally!).
The next evolution came in the early 1980s when the first electronic beepers were produced. Now I could keep track of my dog while it was hunting and locate it on point. These beepers generally emitted a high-pitched sound in a certain cadence when the dog was moving and another sound and/or cadence when the dog stopped. I couldn’t determine what my dog was doing as well as with a bell but the capability to find it on point was revolutionary.
Since those early beepers, manufacturers have produced numerous units of various sizes, sounds and functions. Beepers have also been combined with ecollars and these units are quite sophisticated. From the ecollar transmitter, the beeper can be turned on and off and the tone or volume can be adjusted.
Then in 2007, another innovation was introduced by Garmin, a leading navigation and communication company. They launched a GPS-enabled dog tracking system called the Astro 220. I now know exactly my dog’s whereabouts, if it is running or on point and the distance and directions to it.
While training in Tennessee this winter, I took a day to ride a brace of the National Championship held on the Ames Plantation near Grand Junction, Tennessee.
This field trial was been run since 1896 making it one of the oldest in the US. It is steeped in tradition and formalities. Only dogs that have met stringent qualifying criteria can compete and they must re-qualify each year. The entries are dominated by pointers but one or two English setters also make the running. The dogs are handled from horseback. The professionalism and capability of the handlers and scouts to show their dogs in the best manner was impressive.
More than 100 riders gathered at the starting point to watch the dogs. The field trial chairman used a loudspeaker to announce the dogs, handlers, scouts and owners of the brace. Representatives from the trial sponsors such as Pro Plan, Eukanuba and Garmin were in attendance and were thanked for their contributions. Rules and conduct for the gallery were reviewed and, finally, the brace was off.
Point!
These dogs are amazing–
• They are bigger dogs, generally in the 50-lb. range. They have long, powerful strides that carry them easily and efficiently cover the ground.
• The handlers have put hours and hours into conditioning the dogs specifically for this trial and they are in superb condition.
• In the course of the 3-hour heat, the dogs will average about 12 miles per hour and cover around 36 miles!
Most people think all-age venues are in big, wide-open terrain. At Ames, though, it’s quite different. There are some open spaces and long edges where a dog can reach but most of the cover is more dense and vast than I imagined. There are many places where a dog can get lost on point, or just plain lost.
I have followed the running of the Nationals for years and it was truly thrilling to finally see the trial for myself.
Since Jerry and I have our training site in the heart of bird dog country, we thought it completely appropriate to take a drive to Grand Junction and tour the National Bird Dog Museum.
It’s hard to miss. It’s on the main highway through town and if the multicolor flags don’t grab your attention, a huge bronze depiction of hunter, dogs and a covey rise of quail definitely will. Two statues of retrievers grace the walkway and, farther along , we found a gorgeous sculpture by Bob Wehle of CH Elhew Snakefoot.
The museum is under the auspices of the nonprofit National Bird Dog Foundation and the same building also houses the National Retriever Museum, the Field Trial Hall of Fame and the Wildlife Heritage Center. Our timing was good. Within a couple of days, the National Championship would begin at the nearby Ames Plantation and the newest members of the Hall of Fame would be inducted. The place was abuzz!
Joe Cumming
It is both thrilling and a bit humbling to see photographs and paintings of famous dogs and handlers from as far back as the late 1800s. I wasn’t surprised that Jerry could rattle off many of the dog names.
Our venue—cover dog field trials—was represented with a small display. How gratifying for Jerry and me to find CH Blue Streak and CH Houston’s Belle among the placements of the Grand National Grouse & Woodcock Invitational and the Grand National Grouse Championship.
We had to stop one more place before we left Grand Junction. In an unused school building along the main street is the current home of Wilson Dunn’s Sporting Goods. Mr. Dunn, age 92, is still behind the counter and still ringing up sales on his old-fashioned adding machine. We had a blast looking through his training equipment, supplies, clothing and other gear…and even picking out a few to buy.
Er Shelly at Wilson Dunn’s shop
Mr. Dunn then invited us to his personal bird dog shrine in the next room. He was the owner of Dunn’s Fearless Bud, a dog Bob Wehle outcrossed to with excellent results. Wilson sat in his rocking chair and shared some amazing stories about the old days. He spoke proudly of Bud: “My dog was the last one to win the National Championship with finds on wild birds.”
Ever the salesman, Wilson eyed me up and, in his genteel southern drawl, said, “Honey, you need some chaps? I’ve got some over there that would fit you perfectly—Women’s Tall Slender.”
He was right…and we walked out of his shop with another purchase.
There are those who believe the ruffed grouse is something beyond the ordinary.
~ 50 Years in the Making—A Brief History of the Ruffed Grouse Society,
RGS 50th Anniversary Commemorative Issue
In honor of their 50th anniversary, The Ruffed Grouse Society recently published a special issue of their magazine. The 142 pages are filled with entertaining and informative articles and are interspersed with beautiful photo essays.
Jerry and I were pleased to see photographs of two dogs out of our breeding. Chip Laughton’s photo essay, Pointer Passion, features the female setter Georgia (page 52), owned by Dana and Robert Bell III of Asheville, North Carolina. Georgia is out of our 2008 breeding of CH Magic’s Rocky Belleboa x Old Glory Bluebelle (Gusty Blue x CH Houston’s Belle).
Chris Mathan’s feature, Photographing Bird Dogs, includes many of her stunning dog photos. Again, among all the pointers is our Northwoods Blue Ox (page 127), a gorgeous orange-and-white setter out of CH Peacedale Duke x Blue Silk. Ox was bred and is owned by us.
On page 73 is another photograph by Chris—this one an exceptional head shot of a quintessential grouse dog, CH Sky Blue Belle, handled by Steve Groy of Pennsylvania. Belle’s story is amazing…and what a talented and worthy champion. Jerry knew her only too well. In 2006, Belle was the top cover dog in the country and won the Michael A. Seminatore Award. All year long, she battled another Belle and just a few points was the difference in the final standings. Finishing second that year was CH Houston’s Belle, owned by Dr. Paul Hauge and handled by Jerry.
Last fall, Tri-Tronics invited me to field test their new Upland G3 Beeper. I used it for several days of late-November grouse hunting, including one day with a fresh, six-inch snowfall.
Overall, and compared to their previous beeper, the Upland G3 is a vast improvement. (See details below.) Like other Tri-Tronics products, it works with most of their existing ecollar systems. I haven’t used the beeper long enough to evaluate its durability and reliability but, if it’s similar to other products from Tri-Tronics, that won’t be a problem. And while I don’t usually use a run-mode beeper, the Upland G3 may change that.
Features:
powered by a user replaceable CR123A battery.
slides onto an existing dog collar.
has two point-mode settings, single beep or hawk scream, and four run-mode settings, no beep, 1 beep, 2 beeps or 3 beeps.
made in the U.S.A.
Aspects I liked:
The biggest improvement is that the beeper, when used with an ecollar, actually stays on the top of the dog’s neck.
The tone of the beeper is soft and pleasant and while the volume isn’t adjustable, it doesn’t need to be. The volume is loud enough to be heard at a distance but not too loud when close. I could hear the beeper plainly when more than 300 yards away and hunting in snow. Too, my feeling is that it must be kinder to the dog’s ears.
The beeper is easy to operate and can be turned on and off remotely.
The unit is bright orange and is easy to see…especially in dense cover.
The remote locate feature is one I particularly like.
The five-second interval between beeps on the run mode seems to be about right. I really like the two-beep run mode as it allows me to read the dog’s direction and speed—very important when I can’t see the dog.
Aspects to improve on:
Point-mode beep is too frequent at 1 beep/second…and it becomes annoying. I personally don’t like the hawk scream point mode which sounds every five seconds.
The delay before entering point mode is too short. Currently, if the dog quickly stops to listen for you, urinate or investigate scent, point mode starts. I don’t know yet what happens if a dog is slowly creeping on game. Point mode tends to get hunters excited and I’d rather hear it only for an actual point.
The remote locate is too complicated. To active it, the transmitter dial must be set to “A” and then any button can be pressed. I’d prefer one-button activation. For instance, if I’m locating a dog on point with the locate feature and the dog bumps the bird as I walk up, I have to set quickly the transmitter dial to the level I need before pressing the stimulation button.
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.
Most of the time, Jerry and I called him Dasher. Sometimes it was Dash or Our Dash or, if he did something particularly annoying or naughty, Jerry called him Your Dash.
Physically, Dasher was a specimen. He was liver-and-white with a gorgeous, square muzzle and an even mask. Dasher weighed a solid 58 pounds—the biggest of our bird dogs. He was beautiful in motion. He moved with the strength and power of a thoroughbred but was graceful and light on his feet. Dasher was enjoyable to watch run—not only for his style but because he always seemed to be having so much fun.
Dasher was intelligent, too, and intuitive and his large, expressive eyes seemed all-knowing. He had his quirks and oddities, like all dogs. We’ll always remember his jerky motion when he noisily lapped water from the water bucket.
Dasher was almost 14 years old and had lived a happy and productive life. For almost two months, he’d been ill with a failing kidney and a fist-sized tumor on his spleen. Like so many proud, strong and stoic dogs we’ve owned before, Dasher would rally from a couple of bad days to eat well, grab a chew toy and trot happily outside for his short walks.
An uncanny Christmas evening
Dasher had endured a tough Christmas day. Food didn’t appeal to him and I couldn’t tempt him with canned dog food, cooked meat or even holiday dog treats. It was difficult for him to get up and go outside, notwithstanding the cold weather. We stoked up the fire and left him to sleep on his thick bed in front of our wood-burning stove.
Not two hours later, Dasher had shuffled to our bedroom door—something he had never done—made enough noise to wake us up and then, because he was so weak, lay down in the hall.
Jerry and I leapt out of bed and carried him back to his bed in front of the fireplace. We brought blankets and pillows. I curled up with Dasher on his bed and Jerry slept beside us on the couch.
Dasher died peacefully the next day.
Dasher’s pedigree
Dasher was out of our first-ever grouse champion, Dance Smartly (Dancer), and a dog campaigned by Jim Tande, CH Brook’s Elhew Ranger. Among his littermates were CH Sidelock’s Rogue Trader, owned by Mitch Stapley from Michigan and RU-CH Dancing Queen, a female that produced Frank LaNasa’s CH Centerpiece, a six-time champion/two-time runner-up champion.
We kept Dasher because he was evenly marked like his dam and seemed most like her in temperament and ability. Just for fun, we continued the reindeer-naming theme.
My Memories
• When he was a puppy and being worked with the check cord, he’d pick up the end of it and run around with it in his mouth. It was “so cute” but was he really “so smart” because he knew that if he had the end I couldn’t grab it?
• Dasher had a superior nose. Jerry lost a glove one day while we were working dogs. The next day, just by chance, we worked eight-month-old Dasher on the same trail. He found that glove and proudly bounded by us with it in his mouth.
• He loved heat. On a hot summer day, he would lie in front of our south-facing glass door…utterly content.
• Dasher could leap. The fence around our pasture was 5’ high. Instead of waiting for me to open the gate, he raced around the corner of the garage and took that fence in full stride—gracefully launching himself off the ground and clearing the top by several inches.
• He was a morning dog and earned the name Mr. Perky. We never had to wake him up or prod him to go out. He was always sitting up straight with ears pricked and an eager expression in his eyes.
• Dasher chewed his way through hundreds of dollars of dog beds. I bought beds from L.L. Bean, Orvis, Cabela’s and Fleet Farm. Finally, last fall, I succumbed to the grandest of beds, a Mud River Homebase. This thing is gorgeous! It is made from 6”-high memory foam and is extremely comfortable. Plus, it’s a whopping 43” long x 30” wide. Dasher loved his bed, guarded it and rarely shared it. Forever it will be known as “Dasher’s bed.”
Jerry’s memories
• Dasher had an outstanding nose and was a natural at finding and pointing ruffed grouse, even at a young age. One day I was working him with two other year-old puppies. One by one, the other two came out to the logging trail and hunted on ahead of me. Dash was the last one to catch up. When he was about 75 yards ahead of me, on the same trail the other pups had just gone down, he stopped, turned his head slightly and pointed. I walked up and a grouse flushed noisily and Dash was off in hot pursuit!
• I remember well (so does Betsy) the day he beat his kennelmate, CH Blue Streak, in a spring grouse trial when he was three years old and Streak was in her prime.
• Dash had endless stamina and, amazingly, kept himself in excellent shape without any real conditioning.
• Dash was a member of the guiding team on the day I clocked the highest flush count of my life. I ran him in the middle of the day and he found as many grouse as those that were down during the prime morning and evening hours. When Dash pinned a grouse, we’d follow the beeper. The hunters likened him to a hound—follow the dog to the treed game!
Dasher’s legacy
Dasher was bred just handful of times but left outstanding progeny. Jason Gooding at Goodgoing Kennels bred his female, Moxie, to Dasher twice. Out of that came Goodgoing Hannah Montana, a field trial dog handled by Brett Edstrom, and fabulous hunting dogs owned by Todd Gatz of Ely and Wayne Grayson of Mississippi. Jerry and I have an attractive orange-and-white female, Prancer (remember the reindeer thing?), from a breeding to Fate, Mark Fouts’ extremely talented grouse dog. We plan to breed Prancer to CH Westfall’s Black Ice this year so we’ll have grand-Dashers. (How about a Vixen or a Blitzen?)
Finally…
Jane, my sister-in-law, sent a kind note with the perfect sentiment: kindred spirit. To some it might seem odd that a dog and a woman could be kindred spirits but that, in a nutshell, is how I feel about Dasher.
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?”
Molly (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Houston’s Nelly Bly, 2023) backs Charlie (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Carbon, 2017) ~ Ken and Caroline Taylor, Jim and Flo DePolo, respectively, Pennsylvania
Filly (May’s Pond Hank x Northwoods Stardust, 2024) ~ Tom and Lauren Strand Family, Minnesota
Rae (CH Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay, 2013) ~ David Larson, Minnesota
Junie (HOF CH True Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2021) ~ Joey Paxman and Amanda Allpress, Montana
Normanie (RU-CH Northwoods Nirvana x Northwoods Carbon, 2017) and her pal ~ Walter Manley, Florida
Archie (CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet, 2024) ~ Blake and Solveig Nelson, Minnesota
Molly (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Houston’s Nelly Bly, 2023) ~ Ken and Caroline Taylor, Pennsylvania
Caddie (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023) ~ Brian Smith, Pennsylvania
Frisco (Blue Riptide x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2014), on left, and Zion (CH Snyder’s Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022) ~ Rick and Jodi Buchholz, North Dakota
Rip (CH Woodville’s Yukon Cornelius x Northwoods Redbreast, 2024) ~ Greg and Michelle Johnson, Wisconsin
Miles (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Northwoods Madrid, 2024) ~ Lars Totton, New Jersey
Rip (Northwoods Louis Vuitton x Houston’s Dancing Queen, 2022) ~ Mark Fitchett, Kansas
Vida (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2019) ~ Tom Condon, Montana
Suki (May’s Pond Hank x Northwoods Stardust, 2024) ~ Eric Beauregard, Massachusetts
Winnie (CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet, 2024) ~ Joe and Jess Nelson Family, Minnesota
Tally (May’s Pond Hank x Northwoods Stardust, 2024), on left, and Georgia (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2015) ~ Joe and Deb Wech, Minnesota
Cosmos (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2019), on right, and his pal ~ The Collins Family, Georgia
Stanley (May's Pond Hank x Northwoods Stardust, 2024) ~ Johansson Family, Minnesota
Tyler (CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet, 2024) ~ Josh and Des Matel, Minnesota
Filly (May’s Pond Hank x Northwoods Stardust, 2024) ~ Tom and Lauren Strand Family, Minnesota
Sage (CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet, 2024), top, and Louis (CH Erin's Hidden Shamrock x Northwoods Nickel, 2018) ~ Joey Paxman and Amanda Allpress, Montana
Racer (CH Miller’s Upgraded Version x Northwoods Comet, 2024), right, and his very special pal JTH Cooper (HOF CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen, 2015) ~ Doug and Nicole Miller, Oregon
Russell (CH Woodville’s Yukon Cornelius x Northwoods Redbreast, 2024) ~ Gregg Pike and Family, Montana
Abby (CH Woodville’s Yukon Cornelius x Northwoods Redbreast, 2024), on top of her new pal ~ Ben and Penelope Pierce, Montana
Annie (RU-CH Northwoods Nirvana x Northwoods Carbon, 2017) on her 7th birthday ~ Lynn and Kathy Olson, Iowa
Maisy (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Houston’s Nelly Bly, 2023) ~ Zenas and Susanne Hutcheson, Minnesota
Molly (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Houston’s Nelly Bly, 2023) ~ Ken and Caroline Taylor, Pennsylvania
Jordy (CH Elhew G Force x Northwoods Prancer, 2014). Look closely! ~ Mark and Janie Fouts, Wisconsin
Speck (RU-CH Erin’s Prometheus x Northwoods Carly Simon, 2018) ~ Mike Watson, Pennsylvania
RU-CH Northwoods Atlas (Northwoods Grits x Northwoods Nickel, 2017) ~ Greg and Michelle Johnson, Wisconsin
Zion (CH Snyder’s Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022) ~ Rick and Jodi Buchholz, North Dakota
Harper (CH Snyder’s Pioneer Scout x Northwoods Cedar, 2022) ~ Tom Dosen-Windorski, Minnesota
Attie (Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023) ~ Jeff and Carol Hintz, Arizona
Chester (RU-CH Northwoods Atlas x Northwoods Stardust, 2023)
~ The Milles Family, Minnesota
Millie (RU-CH Northwoods Nirvana x Northwoods Carbon, 2017) ~ Mercer Clark, Georgia
Belle (CH Southern Confidence x Northwoods Comet, 2023) ~ Kevin Sipple, Wisconsin
Piper (CH Northwoods Sir Gordon x Houston’s Nelly Bly, 2021) ~ Tom and Ashton McPherson, Pennsylvania
When I began hunting with grouse dogs in the mid 1970s, the only way to keep track of my dog was by hanging a bell on its collar. I could follow the dog’s movements and actions and, when the dog stopped, so did the bell. But it could be difficult and time consuming to find it on point if the cover was dense (as is most good grouse cover) or my dog was far away (which it was occasionally!). 
There are those who believe the ruffed grouse is something beyond the ordinary.
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.
