Nebraska Pheasant Hunting | Bluestem Kennels Bluestem Kennels Home of hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffons About Our Dogs About Us/Contact Hunting Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Photos Puppies Owner Testamonials Home So much to be thankful for… November 23, 2014 Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Association, AWPGA, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, North Dakota pheasant hunting, South Dakota Pheasant Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment I really should not be blogging, but I know how much y’all have been missing me. Well, not so much me these days as these fab updates from our owners. But that comes later. First of all, I wanted to say that I had no idea how much work it takes to run an AKC breed parent club. Boards, committees, and lots of blood, sweat, and tears from dedicated volunteers. I am really stressing about my first issue at the helm of the Griffonnier, but it looks like it is coming together well. “How do I get this Griffonnier,” you say? You have to join the AWPGA: http://awpga.com/ Another awesome must-have magazine is Versatile Hunting Dog from NAVHDA. I’m excited/embarrassed to be in the November 2014 issue. Guess how you get Versatile Hunting Dog: you have to join NAVHDA.http://www.navhda.org/. I went ahead and scanned a copy of the article so that the non-members can check it out. Thanks again to New Englander Jason Wade for coming all the way out to Nebraska/Iowa to put it on, and to Tracey Nelson for being a great hostess. Also thanks to the people who let me ask about their recent Handler’s Clinic experiences: Susan Davy, Dan Dorfschmidt, and Matt Heard. I was also recently published in Tufts University Seabird Ecological Assessment Network’s publication Field Guide to Beached Birds of the Southeastern United States. The field guide will be used to help citizen scientists to identify bird carcasses. They needed a photo of a female canvasback carcass and found it here on the blog. Here is the link to the guide, my photo is on the bottom left hand corner of page 72: https://app.box.com/s/k01qk2eic0ojc0h0tjv7. I’m always happy to donate my work in the name of science and conservation. Birthday Hunt I bagged my first official shot-it-all-by-myself Nebraska rooster on my 40th birthday. That’s about the best present I could get. I’ve been attributed to some Nebraska roosters in the past, but it was always up for debate since others had also put pellets in it. But not this time. I love chocolate cake, but I love birthday roosters more. So that was the high point of the hunt. The low point of the hunt was at the end where we had to cross this shallow creek into a fallow field that was all plowed up and uneven. I tripped on a giant dried up dirt clod and didn’t even catch myself. It was a full-on face plant into the dirt. I may not be known for my gracefulness, but I have become an expert in totally wiping out safely while holding a firearm. Oh yeah, and Charles got a rooster too. But you expected that. That is my poor photography skill with the glare, not evidence of any supernatural forces. Pupdates Bob and Ed, who hail from Minnesota (and from our “E” Litter 2013 between Sam and Sue), had a great hunt up in North Dakota this year: What a fantastic trip to North Dakota for Ed again this year! 5 guys hunting and we brought home our limits even with the tough wind we had. Ed’s performance was fantastic and I could not ask for anything else from him. He is a solid pointer and retrieves to hand with no hesitation. He proved his worth when he found a bird we knocked down which ran into a cattail slough. I am once again very happy for having found you while researching the breed. I can’t wait for our trip in 2015! Bob Ed, Bob, and the birds in ND. Trucks, dogs, and birds is where it’s at! Jealous! In more news from North Dakota, Susan and TracHer (2012 “C” Litter between Sam and Mae) took out some roosters in the western part of the state: A good friend got permission from an old high school classmate who farms in western ND, but north of I-94 (where the famed pheasant hunting area is) yesterday. I experienced an all time first in my hunting life. I shot a double, and was the first in our party of 3 to get birds. I end up in that category of, I GOT ONE! only to be told by the guy hunting to either side of me, that no, they got it. I’m a little slower to shoot so do better when I can get away from the others enough to get a bird on my own time, and it happened in spades yesterday!! TracHer did great again…in the pics she is bring my bird back to me, with our friend Don Winden in the pic as well. There were, indeed, a huge number of pheasants out amongst the oil drilling rigs and wells…The birds seem to have adjusted alright for now. TracHer on retrieve with Don looking on. Closeup of TracHer and the pheasant. TracHer and the cows I love how she manages to shoot with a gun and a camera! I need to work on that. Staying in the North Dakota theme, Ernie put together this cool video with footage from his GoPro and some tunes, “Country Boy” by Aaron Lewis and “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynard. Here’s a photo of Ernie and Duncan (from our “H” Litter 2014 of Sam and Mae) Duncan, Ernie and a North Dakota pheasant limit. A bit closer to home, it looks like Rob and Maggie of Omaha (from our 2013 “E” Litter between Sam and Sue) had a great trip to South Dakota: Maggie did fantastic for the start of her second season. She works perfectly in my opinion. She stays close, her drive is fantastic, she is very methodical and thorough yet not too slow and her nose is awesome. She points solid and does a great job at retrieving, especially the sneaky ones that are hard to find. When I turn her loose I almost never even have to direct her. Just when I think that she might be nearing a range that I would consider being too far out she puts her head up to check where I am at and readjusts to stay in the working distance that I prefer. Sometimes it’s like she can read my mind. I’m sure I am biased but I just can’t say enough about how well I think she hunts. I love this dog! Take care. Rob Rob, Maggie, and roosters. Taking it way down south, I got an update from Charbel in Mexico with Freyja from our 2014 litter of Sam and BB. I’ve been off the grid lately with lots of work but finally manage to find some time for R&R. Sorry I couldn’t send you pictures sooner but here are a couple. This is Freyja´s first hunting trip in the beginning of November, we went Dove hunting, it wasn’t a good weekend because of the climate but we manage to get a few doves and the dogs had a lot of fun. I have her leashed to me or to a long check leash since she still need to learn that there is no point in chasing flying birds, she will run all the way trying to follow a bird that fly’s by specially falcons when they are kiting the area and she tends to draw out thorns like a magnet, specially one I hate don’t know how its called but its a round seed fool of thorns that acts like Velcro. Took me more than an hour to remove all the thons from her, the bright side is that the thorn never actually gets it the skin but it does tangle in the hair. But I would let Freyja run free after every hunting morning. The second morning while we were lunching in the field she dash into a corn field, after a few minutes suddenly a entire covey of quail flush out and 2 seconds after that Freyja came out of the field with that smiley doggy face she makes. We were all shocked since no one was expecting that. It was amazing!!! This weekend we are going to be flying to Mexicali Pheasant hunting I´ll send you pictures after we come back. Best Wishes, Charbel Freyja ready to go. Charbel and Freyja taking a break from dove hunting for a selfie. Four labs and a griff cooling off. Freyja coming back in. Wow, thank you owners! You force me to come back and blog even when I don’t think that I want to. Then when I’m done, I see how much fun you have with your pups and it makes everything worth it. The week of Thanksgiving is upon us, isn’t it? So that means that we go hunting, right? I hope so. I’ve been stuck at home the last couple of weekend with deer season. Charles didn’t see one big enough to shoot out in the Sandhills last weekend and went out yesterday for a doe along the Platte River and didn’t see anything. We really should be thankful to God every day. As my grandfather says, “You’ve got a roof over your head and food on the table”. We take important things for granted, like clean water. 1 billion people on Earth don’t have access to clean water, and we’re lucky enough to be able to fuss over hunting dogs. I am thankful for you, my readers, for hearing what I have to say and enjoying what my kind puppy owners are nice enough to share with me. Full on pheasant season November 5, 2014 Charity Upchurch Uncategorized Blood Tracking Big Game, NAVHDA, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, North Dakota hunting, Pheasant Hunting Leave a comment I will be 40 on Sunday. Not sure how to feel about that. Hopefully I get at least 40 more years and I get to hunt for most of them. We plan on going out to dinner Saturday night and probably chase some birds either Saturday or Sunday. The other day we’ll spend with the kids and my mom. I’ve told everyone no gifts since I’m spoiled enough as it is. Brian over at Ultimate Upland wrote a post this week about slowing down as a hunter as we age http://www.ultimateuplandnews.com/upland-with-friends/. Charles and I have been discussing the same thing this year. I can remember being in our 20s and how we would hunt all day, then party for most of the night back home in Valentine for several consecutive days. Over the years, the beers have become fewer and evening hours have grown shorter progressively. I’ve actually given up drinking altogether as of two months ago (I’m making it official here on the blog since I’m going to stick with it this time). I hope that is enough oversharing for everyone this week. AWPGA Mr. T says so http://awpga.com/index.php. Since you get to read my blog free from advertising, with the exception of the junk WordPress puts at the bottom, I am going to start plugging AWPGA membership. Especially those of you who own griffs and do NAVHDA testing. Now that I’m working on the Griffonnier and Charles and I are starting to help with the field committee, I see that probably less than 10% of those prizing are AWPGA members. We are going to change that. Plus, we are looking to get more AWPGA sponsored field events across the country. I am very excited to be helping out the elders who have been doing this for a long time and using my blog as a way to help get the word out. AWPGA Database: I have not yet added my litters to the database, but will have done so by the next time I post to the blog. That will allow any of my puppy owners to add health and title information. Griff owners can add information at http://awpgadb.com. This is not only for AWPGA members, but any griff owners. Pheasant Season Update I was out of commission last weekend with a cold, but Charles and his friend, Matt, made it out into the field with Fire and BB. Charles got a rooster and the world’s smallest quail and Matt got two roosters. Charles with Fire, Matt with BB Pupdates Sounds like last weekend was beautiful up in North Dakota and there were plenty of birds to be had. Ernie, Duncan and a large party of fellow hunters and dogs found a mess of roosters! Duncan is from our 2014 “H” Litter between Sam and Mae and is 7 1/2 months old. Duncan and a big pile of ND roosters Of course, TracHer, Susan, and Tom are out chasing roosters again. They were joined by Jim Borg, participant in the 2014 NAVHDA Invitational and owner of VC Agate Hill’s Akeeta (who had to sit out of the hunt due to injury). Susan said, “The weather has been unbelievably gorgeous for this time of year and we are so glad we can take advantage of it. TracHer really is coming into her own…she’s showing great drive, points, retrieves—I couldn’t ask for more from her, and it took until this season for her to come into her own. We hunted with Jim Borg today with his 12 year old Griff Max.” TracHer on point. She is from our 2012 “C” litter between Sam and Mae. Jim with TracHer and Max on point Close up of TracHer and Max on point. TracHer, Tom holding Max the GWP pup, Susan, Max the griff, Jim, and Zepher. An aside for those of you who are not familiar with the NAVHDA hunt testing system. The Invitational is held every year for those dogs who earn a Prize I in the Utility Test. From the NAVHDA website: Field work consists of a search, pointing, steadiness, backing and retrieving with the dogs being run in braces. Water work consists of a blind retrieve, double-marked retrieve and honoring a retrieve. Cooperation, obedience, desire and nose are judged throughout the entire test. Dogs successfully completing the Invitational Test with a passing score will receive the title of “Versatile Champion,” further recognized by placing VC before their names. Susan does such a great job keeping me in photos! I hope to make it up to a Central Dakota Chapter NAVHDA Test one of these years so that I get to meet all of these great griff hunters who are members up there. Danny down in Texas has Fern from our 2013 “F” litter from Sam and Mae. He said: We work on upland, waterfowl, fur and tracking. This morning I shot a doe and she tracked it about 100 yards. I was so proud of her, even though it appeared to be super easy for her. We start duck season next weekend, so with a deer in the freezer we can concentrate on what she/I love the most. We moved this summer to a house on ~6 acres. It’s fully fenced and she is a hunting machine. She spends so much time hunting at full throttle that I was remiss in her training for a couple of months. We have stepped up our effort and she is getting back to her old obedient self. Fern’s blood track That is so cool, we have never used our griffs for blood tracking big game, but it is one of their historical purposes and it is great to see one of our owners out there doing it! Rob lives just across town here in Omaha and has Maggie, who is from our 2012 “E” litter between Sam and Sue. He said: Maggie is doing fantastic. She hunted last year at 9 months and our hunting friends were shocked she was that young, because of how well she did. Since then we have been training all the time, in the hope that she will be better at hunting than I am at training!! And it’s going well. This is us working on retrieving, and hopefully I will get some great photos, or maybe video, after we spend next week in Winner, SD chasing those roosters. Maggie and a rooster Wow, owners, thanks for all of the great updates! The day is getting away from me and I need to fix supper. I have some big projects due for grad school coming up, so I don’t know if I’ll be back in one week or two. But God willing, I’ll be back. Talk at you then. Pheasant 2014: North Dakota and Nebraska October 27, 2014 Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales, Upland Hunting Trips, Waterfowl Hunting Trips Bird Hunting, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Nebraska, Hunting North Dakota, Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, Pheasant Hunting, Snipe Hunt, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment North Dakota Wrap-Up As mentioned in the last post, Charles and the dogs were in North Dakota last week from Sunday until Thursday. Sunday they got a hun, and Monday a duck and two pheasants were in the bag (both of those photographs are in last week’s blog post). Tuesday they bagged 4 ducks, but they were mixed in with everything else on the stringer in the photograph and it was getting dark, so I opted to spare you another body count photo. Wednesday, they got a snipe and a rooster. Snipe and Rooster from Wednesday, October 22nd One of Charles’s friends tipped him off to a good spot to hit on his way out of North Dakota, where he got a limit in an hour and a half on Thursday. North Dakota Rooster Limit I apologize for the body count photos, especially to one of my regular readers who scolded me recently about having too many of them on my blog. We’ll get some more artful action photos with dogs in them and such next year, I opted to stay home since I got in plenty of travel earlier in the year. Nebraska Opening Weekend We decided not to wade into the fray of opening morning, but I was bound and determined to get out on Sunday. Charles decided that he wanted to come along too even though he had a cold and had just spent the whole week hunting. We went out midday and by the time we were headed back to the truck later in the afternoon it was 86 degrees out. Way too hot. He got 2 roosters within the first 5 minutes of our arrival to the field. I got a shot off on one a bit later, but missed. The second rooster that Charles shot yesterday still had enough juice to fly 80 yards or so into some thick sunflowers, making Sam and Fire work hard to find the carcass. Fire was the one who found it and brought it right to Charles. He wanted to make sure that he got the bird from her in a timely fashion, so I didn’t have a chance to take a picture since I was carrying my shotgun. Darn. I took Wednesday morning of this week off from work so that I can get out on my own. Not that it will necessarily change my shooting luck with rooster pheasants, but I’m going to give it a try. Yet another dorky hunting selfie from Charles and Charity It appears that the top pheasant in the photograph below was released by Nebraska Game and Parks this year, if you notice the nostrils are enlarged from the blinders that were on the bird during its time in the pen. The bottom bird is either a survivor from last year or a wild hatch. Notice the size of the pheasant nostrils Pupdates Bob from Minnesota sent me an e-mail and photo of “Ed” from our 2013 “E” Litter from Sam and Sue. Just wanted to give you a quick update on Ed. We finally made it out pheasant hunting in MN this past weekend. I managed to get Ed and my oldest daughter, Faith, out for a bit. In a year in which MN DNR says the numbers of birds are down, Ed managed to find and point 7 birds in a quick morning walk. We have done no live bird work since last year and he was flat out amazing! He is definitely ready for our annual trip to North Dakota next week. I will get you some pictures upon our return from that trip. Definitely looking forward to it. Ed and Faith in MN Curt out in Central Nebraska shot this video a couple of weeks ago of our Fire’s sister “Gracie” doing her first water retrieve at 8 months of age: Congratulations to Lindsay and Bluestem’s Big Sky Rendezvous CGC NA I “Midge” in Montana for qualifying for the AKC Owner Handler Series. Midge and Lindsay were #8 (tie) in conformation show points in the series (click photo to enlarge results). AKC Owner Handler Series Rankings I hope that everyone who celebrates Halloween has a happy and safe one. I do not dress up my dogs, so don’t even think that you’ll be seeing that next week. Not gonna happen. But thanks to all of my owners for the updates and I’ll be sure to keep you posted as to what is going on here. Happy Haunting and Hunting! Puppies on the way and pupdates! January 20, 2014 Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons chukar hunting, Duck Hunting, Elevage du Bourg-Royal, Hunting Nevada, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Puppies, Quebec, Water Retrieve, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 2 Comments Sue’s retirement Sue out on the South Dakota prairie 12 year old Trey gave me an update on how 10 year old Sue is doing up in South Dakota. He says that he is finally licensed and has a shotgun and is ready to shoot some birds over her. We miss Sue and my youngest boy Caleb (age 4 1/2) asks about her at least once a week. We want to keep our dog numbers at 4 here at the house, so that we can hunt them regularly and give them personal attention, so retirement and re-homing is a necessary sadness. But we are so happy to give folks an opportunity to experience the griffon who might not be able to afford or have no desire to raise a puppy. I can’t wait to see pics of Trey and Sue with some birds in the fall!! Sue’s sweet face Pupdates I really appreciate all of my puppy owners who contribute photographs and stories of their dogs as they grow up. It is truly the reason why we do this. Pete, Whiskey, Andi and chukars in NV Great job to sharpshooter Andi and our oldest boy Whiskey, who will be four years old soon! He is from our first, or “A” litter in 2010 with Sue and Sam. Andi and Whiskey really tore it up in the chukar field and we couldn’t be more proud!! Thanks to Pete, Deborah and Andi for giving him such a great life out in Nevada!! Sal and 2 year old Chester We received a lovely Christmas card with photos of Chester from Sal and family out in New York! When Chester isn’t out with Steve “Hoss” Anker training or out with the Hudson Valley NAVHDA Chapter, he’s having a good time at home on Long Island. He is from our 2012 “C” litter from Sam and Mae. Sal has done a great job working with this dog and he has a bright future ahead! Chester taking a rest Chester’s “C” litter sister TracHer is having a good season up in North Dakota. She has a new brother, a 10-month old German Wirehaired Pointer named Max. Thanks to Susan and Tom for the lovely Christmas card with photos. Tom had surgery is on crutches from a knee injury incurred while hunting, so we send prayers for a speedy recovery. TracHer and Susan in the ND snow Chester and TracHer’s little sister Zoey, from our “F” litter in 2013 also from Mae and Sam, is having a blast down in Oklahoma with Jimmy and Sandi. Here’s what Jimmy had to say: This girl is the best thing that every happened to Sandi and me. Here some updated photos. She is now 10 mos old and weighs 55 lbs. We just bought some land in the badlands of SW Oklahoma and she loves it. Here is some photos of her expeditions so far. She loves hunting antlers and when go into the shop she will go to the gun safe and sit there until I either get a gun out or tell her we aren’t going hunting. Jimmy and Zoey Zoey on point Zoey water retrieving a stick Zoey retrieving an antler Zoey patiently waiting for the ducks Zoey and her mallard haul! Thank you so much again to all of my owners for contributing to this and keeping me up to date on how their dogs are doing. It is really important for us to see their success, it keeps us going during the times that we find the pressures of breeding overwhelming. Watching the gun dog lifestyle continue in our pups is one of our greatest joys. I will be sure to keep everyone posted on the upcoming litters. BB is already heavy and I need to get some pictures of her, along with updated shots of the rest of the dogs. I’d also like to do video of Tor. Now that I’ve recovered from travel, the holidays and a major plumbing project, I will do a better job of keeping the blog updated. Charles and Matt are out right now trying to spook up some pheasants, all of the chaos lately has really cut into their time in the field. Until then, stay warm and don’t blow away in these winds! Hunting season slowing down and puppy season upon us December 17, 2013 Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized Bird Hunting, Hunting Colorado, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Nebraska, Hunting North Dakota, Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, Puppies, Quebec City, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment With all of the holiday and end-of-year activity, Charles has only had a chance to get out hunting once on November 30th, for the first time since my birthday hunt. They did manage to bag a few birds and we all hope to get out for a few more before the season ends at the end of January. Charles and Matt each bagged a rooster on November 30th Breeding season is upon us! Sam and BB mated on Friday and Saturday, so we are looking at puppy whelping around Valentine’s Day (February 14) and homegoing in mid-April as long as everything goes as planned. I am checking Mae every few days and we are getting closer, pro-estrous (bleeding) could be any day now, or it could be a few weeks out. Having some space between the two litters is a good thing! We are also waiting on Velma, but she has until mid-March to cycle within our cutoff time. Right now I have 18 reservations for this breeding season and have already have a reservation for 2015. I am really flattered by all of the attention and positive feedback that we are getting on our puppies. We have so much fun raising them and love sending them to great families! Feel free to call me at (402) 682-9802 or e-mail bluestemkennels@cox.net if you have any questions about our breeding program. Speaking of our breeding program, our new male is just over 6 weeks old and looks like a fat little dude! Renee says that he is very active and inquisitive. We can’t wait to meet him. It sounds like his registered name might be Bourg-Royal FC Hector and we would call him “Tor”. A tor is a medieval pagan/early Christian holy hill in England. Here he is with his littermates Tor at 6 weeks up at the very top of this photo on the left Cordelia and I will be flying up to Quebec City on the Friday after Christmas and will bring him back on the Monday before New Year’s Eve. Of course, we will enjoy lots of great food, sightseeing and good friends while we are there. Pupdate time. Roxy is from our 2011 “B” litter from Sam/Sue and lives out in Utah with Randy and Pam. Sounds like Roxy and Randy had a great time in North Dakota. Randy said: Wanted to send a few photo’s of the results in North Dakota this year with some of my buddies. Bird counts were a little over the limit with what the picture shows but it took more people to run the cameras so they couldn’t all be in the picture. Over all another excellent trip in the Dakota’s even though the bird numbers were down. Roxy done an amazing job and has lived up to everything an owner could ever expect. Again,,thanks for the ability for me to experience life like this with her by giving me the opportunity to get her as a pup from you. Griffs forever. Randy and Roxy on the left Another great day for Roxy and Randy in ND with the gang Frankie from our Sam/Mae 2012 “C” litter is having a great life out in Colorado too. Her owner Mike said: Frankie had a great year last year with several good wild hunts and a LOT of preserve training (82 successful points last year ). Not as many preserve hunts preseason but my oldest helped me gear her up a few times with some planted chukar. Opening day in Kansas we limited out. And we took a Wednesday last week into eastern Colorado. Very few birds and It took all day but me and a buddy both got our birds. Fetching is really coming in this year, was sketchy last year. She is doing great, just thought I would say hi. Mike and 20 month old Frankie with CO roosters 18-month old Abby is from our Sam/Sue 2012 “D” litter and lives with Rob down in Western Illinois. Rob said: Abby was wonderfully today. Took her by herself for a few hours today trying to get more range. She was stretching out farther and covering ground methodically leaving nothing untouched. She worked for over an hour with no bird contact. Then she got birdie and tracked for about 150 yards. Then stopped on a dime. I was not sure she had it the it erupted from the switch grass a rooster. One shot later it was in her mouth and on its way back to my hand. She dropped it out about twenty yards and started tracking and up came number two. Hit it but not real hard she was on it and caught up to it. Two roosters in less than five minutes. She was great. Thanks Rob, 18 mo old Abby and roosters Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and most prosperous New Year! I will be sure to post a report when I get back from Canada with Tor and hopefully we’ll have some breeding news on Mae too. Sorry, I don’t get the dogs dressed up in elf garb or make them sit in front of the Christmas tree. May your days be filled with family, friends and some late season hunting too! Mid-season hunting update November 20, 2013 Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Gun Dog, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Nebraska, Hunting North Dakota, Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, Nebraska Sandhills, Puppies, Quebec, Southeastern Nebraska, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Leave a comment I think I’ll start off on telling you all what is happening with this blog. It is blowing up on me a bit. Right now I’m getting between 60-100 individual viewers everyday, each reading between 5-10 items. If you search anything online about Wirehaired Pointing Griffons and hunting, we are the top kennel name that pops up. I’m getting phone calls and e-mails every day about puppies, which is great! But if you have to leave a voice mail, get me on the phone and I sound stressed and frazzled, or send me an e-mail and it takes me a week to respond, please try to understand. We are not a big farm with lots of kennel hands or anything. We are just a busy family that loves hunting with our dogs, which takes us on the road this time of year quite a bit too. I respond to everyone. If I had to wager, I would bet that my females are getting ready to cycle in December. They are both showing about the same amounts of changes and Sam’s interest is high in both of them. Mae might be a little ahead of BB. So, I’m thinking that they’ll have puppies in February that go home in April. But it is Mother Nature after all, so we’ll just wait and see. My birthday was on November 9th, so we went and chased some birds. Charles got 2 pheasant and a quail. I missed the shots that I had. But it was fun to get out on a beautiful fall day anyway. Birthday girl Charity, your loyal narrator BB, Sam and Charles with my birthday presents Last weekend, we took time away from bird hunting for Charles to go after his annual mule deer in the Nebraska Sandhills. I was able to stay back in town and visit my family. He took this bad boy opening morning. It is a tie with his muley from 1999 for personal best deer antler rack. Charles’s mule deer buck and rifle out on the prairie Up close with Charles and his deer I’ve been all amped up about trying to shoot a goose. There is a pond along the Platte River that I have access to and I went out to it for a couple of hours the day before yesterday. Saw lots of geese on an adjacent pond that is property of the gravel mine, so I’m hoping that if I get in some morning in the dark and set up, I might be able to get them flying into the mining pond. But we’ll see, it is a work in progress. Charles will take the weekend off from pheasants due to it being the last weekend of rifle deer season. We don’t want one of the dogs to get shot on accident. I am also getting ready to go to Quebec the weekend between Christmas and New Years Eve (God willing!). The puppies are three weeks old now and have their eyes open. I’m not sure which one of these three is mine, but I plan on calling up there tonight and I’ll find out. Renee and Gilbert have very busy jobs on top of having way more dogs than I do, so I completely understand. Cristal and Fortis puppies at 3 weeks old. I am so thankful for all of my owners who take such great pictures and write such nice e-mails to keep us up to date our our pups. 8 month old “Ed” is out of Sue and Sam’s 2013 “E” Litter. Here is what owner, Bob, had to say about their trip to North Dakota: We had a great hunt in North Dakota this year. We had 5 hunters and got our limits 2 of the 3 days we hunted. It rained all day on our second day so the hunting was pretty short. Ed figured out the game and has picked up the art of pointing just like I hoped he would. He also has shown his desire to retrieve with no hesitation. Very successful first North Dakota hunt for Ed! It is awesome what a good dog can do. And at only 8 months old is unbelievable! Bob and Ed had a great time in ND! Ed’s stack of ND pheasants And as always, year and a half old TracHer, from Sam and Mae’s “C” Litter is having a great time living in North Dakota! Susan and Tom are so generous to share their photos with us. On this day, Susan got the first bird of the day, but missed for the rest of the day (I know that feeling!!), but Tom got his limit. Here comes TracHer with a pheasant! TracHer retrieving another pheasant TracHer is excited about the bird that she brought to Tom Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for! Hopefully we’ll get out to chase some pheasants around then. Take care. North Dakota Trip, AWPGA Nationals, Nebraska Pheasants and other news… November 6, 2013 Charity Upchurch Hunting Tales, Kennel Update, Puppy Update, Uncategorized AKC Hunt Tests, Bird Hunting, Dog Training, Duck Hunting, Ducks, grouse hunting, Hunting Dogs, Hunting Nebraska, Hunting Nevada, Hunting North Dakota, Korthals Griffon, NAVHDA, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Pheasant Hunting, Pheasants Forever, Puppies, Quail, Sharp-tailed Grouse Hunting, Southeastern Nebraska, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon 2 Comments When you go three weeks without blogging, stuff piles up, so I apologize if this seems a bit like a random barrage. What most people come to my website for is to find out about new litters, so I suppose I will start there. Mae is starting to have changes and Sam wants to be in the kennel with her, so by the looks of things we will have a breeding between them within the next month. So, let’s project that they breed at the beginning of December; that would have puppies being whelped at the beginning of February and going home at the beginning of April. This is all just my somewhat educated guesstimation and by no means guaranteed. Mae is 6, so I suspect that she will have a litter around the same size as last year, which was 4. BB (who lives with us) and Velma (who lives with a friend) are set to have their first litters this year. They should come into season anytime between now and April. I will not breed after late March because any pups after that would interfere with being able to take a summer vacation before school starts for the kids and hunting season starts for us. Right now I have 12 reservations with deposit and other folks trying to decide. I could have anywhere from 12-30 pups if all goes as I plan, but it isn’t up to me. Feel free to call (402) 682-9802 or e-mail bluestemkennels@cox.net if you would like to discuss things further (I know I still have a couple of callbacks and e-mails, so bear with me another day or so to let me get those returned). October 19-24 Charles, BB and Sam met up with Lou, Murph and Midge in North Dakota for a pheasant/duck hunt combo. Also along was deer camp friend, Ozzie, and Lou’s father, Lew (AKA Lou Senior or Old Lou). They saw some stuff. They shot at some stuff. They stayed in a cabin and cooked on a Coleman stove. I’ll spare you the second-hand details and get down to the bird totals and photos. Saturday, October 19, 2013: Charles and Young Lou got 3 sharp-tailed grouse. Sam brings in the sharpie retrieve with BB on backup. Photo courtesy of Oscar Hollenbeck Sam bringing the sharpie into Charles. Photo courtesy of Oscar Hollenbeck Young Lou, Murf, Sam, BB, Midge, Old Lou, Charles and the sharpie. Photo courtesy of Oscar Hollenbeck The day’s stringer of sharpies back at camp. Photo by Charles Sunday, October 20, 2013 – skunked Monday, October 21, 2013: Charles got 2 roosters Charles and the first pheasant of the trip. Photo courtesy of Oscar Hollenbeck Tuesday, October 22, 2013: Charles got a rooster pheasant and a mallard hen late in the day. Wednesday, October 23, 2013: Charles got one rooster Thursday, October 24, 2013: Young Lou got two roosters (no photo available) Random pic of Lou cooking since there is no pheasant pic. It snowed Saturday night, so this must be Sunday morning. The trip was more about the memories and the time spent together than the bird totals anyway. I hope that the guys enjoyed themselves even without game bags overflowing. The griffon masters As Charles was driving home from North Dakota, Cordelia and I were on the road to the American Wirehaired Pointing Griffon National Specialty in Greeley, Colorado. We missed the fun hunt, specialty show and annual meeting, but managed to see the supported entry show on Saturday and go to the banquet. We also had an awesome sojourn into Boulder to shop and eat on Pearl St. and do some hiking in Boulder Canyon and at the Flatirons. Cordelia and Charity in Colorado for AWPGA Nationals It was great to catch up with some griffoniers and talk dog nerd talk freely. AWPGA National Specialty 2014 is on for Kennebunk and Union, Maine from August 25-31. In addition to the events held this year in Colorado, they’ve got the Korthals Cup back on and there will be AKC and NAVHDA hunt testing opportunities available (in place of the fun hunt), and an interesting grooming and handling seminar. I hope to make it out, but it is cutting it awfully close to the opening of dove and grouse Sept. 1. I encourage any and all griffon enthusiasts to join the AWPGA and attend a specialty, so much fun! Here are Susan Edginton’s photos of this year’s specialty dog show, if you want to check those out: http://sedgintonphotos.photoreflect.com/store/ThumbPage.aspx?e=9111641&g=1ZZR001G02 Last weekend also had plenty of excitement! Charles and Matt went out on Saturday in search of rooster pheasants and actually found some! Nebraska Game and Parks planted 4000 pheasants this year on public land across Eastern Nebraska (finally). If you’ve read my blog during pheasant season over the past few years, you know how much I like to whine about the decline of pheasants in our part of the state and how much NGPC needed to stock. Well they have heard the desperate pleas of the hunters and “did us a solid” (as my kids would say). The Pheasants Forever Rooster Road Trip party took 17 pheasant out of Northeastern Nebraska in one day off of public land. We are very excited for this pheasant season in Eastern Nebraska, now that we know that we actually have a chance. Both Matt and Charles took their limits and Charles got a quail too. In total he said that they saw 20 pheasants and 50 quail. Mid-day bag in Southeastern Nebraska End of day bag. One of Matt’s roosters somehow got away. By the time they pulled into the driveway, it was dark and the kids and I were in the middle of dinner, so no great photography went down. Sorry. On the same day we found out that our new male was born!! He will be coming from Bourg-Royal Kennel in St. Lambert-de-Lauzon, Quebec, Canada, the same kennel as BB. Different parents, both French imports. We are very excited to bring him home around the first of the year! Cristal and the 4 puppies: 1 male and 3 females Announcement in the last Griffonnier with the parents’ credentials And the blog post wouldn’t be complete without some pupdates. Here’s Midge (who went on the North Dakota trip), from Sam and Mae’s 2013 “F” litter with a big haul of pheasants from Montana. Charles said she is a hard charging little dog with a great coat and lots of prey drive. Midge and Montana Pheasants Midge’s older sister TracHer from Sam and Mae’s 2012 “C” litter has been having a great season up in North Dakota and is showing off all her skills. According to Susan, “Gorgeous day today….we limited out 50 miles from home. TracHer retrieved 4 of the six birds, one in water with cattails.” 18 month old TracHer on retrieve of a North Dakota rooster TracHer on left with Tom, Susan with Zepher (griff unrelated to my dogs) and their friends, the week prior to the close-up photo And one of my first dog babies, Whiskey from Sam and Sue’s “A” litter 2010, took his girl Andi out on her first duck hunt out in Nevada. They did so awesome and I love how much Whiskey is Sam Jr! Andi, Whiskey and some ducks Well, that pretty much wraps it up for right now. Charles and I are heading out on Saturday in hopes of some pheasants and ducks. We are still debating about where, but it will be pretty close to home. I’ll keep you posted. Until then, stay warm, winter is coming! AKC Walking Field Trials and other updates February 11, 2013 Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update AKC Field Trials, Amateur Walking Derby Stakes, Bird Hunting, German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Lincoln, Gun Dog, Gun Dog Stakes, Heart of American German Shorthaired Pointer Club, Heartland NAVHDA Chapter, Hunting Dogs, Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, Open Walking Derby Stakes, Puppies, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment Waiting for puppies Sue is very pregnant and about 3 weeks away from whelping and Mae is definitely showing and about 5 weeks away from whelping. I really need to get into gear and get the whelping boxes and areas ready! Right now I have 13 reservations with deposits. I would be willing to take additional reservations, but at this point have no idea how many puppies I will have. Anyone who makes a reservation and does not get a pup out of these litters can either have their deposit refunded or have it carry over to next year’s breeding season (I have 2 reservations for next year currently). Contact us at (402) 682-9802 or bluestemkennels@cox.net with any questions. AKC Walking Field Trials Charles and BB participated in the first AKC Walking Field Trial in the area for the year, down in Osborn, Missouri (just east of St. Joseph) over the weekend, put on by the Heart of America German Shorthaired Pointer Club. This was a much more relaxed atmosphere than the 250 dog trial that we went to near Lincoln last year, it really felt a lot like a hunt test, except that we were the only ones there with kids. Unknown judge and handler in the Gun Dog stakes Charles and BB, center, head out for the Amateur Walking Derby run There were four dogs entered in each of the stakes that they were entered into: Amateur Walking Derby and Open Walking Derby. There was a male and female Vizsla pair that was braced together, then BB and a male German Shorthaired Pointer were braced together. In both stakes, the Vizslas took first and second, BB took third and the GSP fourth. Charles and BB at the trial grounds with their third place ribbon from Saturday The weekend’s ribbons: third place in both the Amateur Walking Derby and the Open Walking Derby I would really like to see more diversity of versatile breeds in the AKC Walking Field Trials. Charles told me that one couple who traveled from Colorado to St. Louis for a WFT two weeks ago had a Spinone Italiano that was entered. I would love to see griffs, Weimaraners, Spinones and the other versatile breeds recognized both by the AKC and NAVHDA participate in the AKC Walking Field Trials, not just GSPs, GWPs, Vizslas and Brittanys. The way that BB is winning over her bracemate is NOT by running like a bat out of hell and ranging far and wide. That’s not to say that she’s “pottering” as is the technical term for what we normally call “bootlicking”. She is just diligent in finding every single bird in the field. On Saturday, the bird planters double planted the field, hoping to get the two Amateur Walking Derby braces covered with one trip. Well, the GSP had one find and BB had FIVE. She “cleared the field”, as they call it, and had to plant more birds for the next brace. They didn’t make the same mistake the next day, but there were still plenty of birds, as the GSP once again had one find and BB had three. Some of the positive things that the judges said to Charles is that BB is very smart, meaning that she knows how to analyze the terrain for bird cover, understands how to work the wind and the bird scent cone. Of course, the judges would like to see her range farther, but there really is a place for these closer working dogs in the walking field trials. It really should be about finds and not about running haphazardly and missing birds. Like I say, I want to see more diversity of versatile breeds out there so we can show the judges how we do our thing. The next field event in the area is the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Lincoln’s Hunt Test and Walking Field Trial on March 9-10. E-mail Tresha Moorberg at lincolngspc@gmail.com if you are interested in receiving premiums. As BB turns two at the beginning of March, she will age out of the Derby Stakes and now need to qualify for the Gun Dog Stakes. The AKC Field Trial Gun Dog Stakes require the same skills as the AKC Master Hunter test. So in the Derby Stakes, you are basically at Junior Hunter level skills, now we need to move up to MH skills. Our biggest challenge is stone steadiness on point and on honor. As my dogs are allowed to relocate without commands in the hunting field, they have a tendency to creep when the birds start moving. We are going to see if we can get Sam and BB ready for Senior Hunter test runs and Gun Dog Stakes walking field trials in time for the March test, but if not, it is something we will be working on all off-season. Pupdate Rick sent a great write-up with some photos of Sam and Sue’s 2012 “D” litter pup, Dottie, who is now 8 months old: I wanted to give you an update on our pup, Dottie, and a recap of our winter hunting season here in Eastern Nebraska. The drought really took it’s toll on the habitat this year. We spent a lot of time trying out new CRP fields. Dottie has really developed nicely over the season. She did a good job with obedience and acclimating to the fields on her first outing in the fall. She covered a lot of ground, but the experiences were all brand new. We kept taking her out about every weekend, and by the last hunt in January, she was really doing great hunting out the birds. We didn’t encounter many pheasants for her to hone her pointing skills on, but it was a great year for quail, and she really did a great job working them out. Below are a few pictures from the season. Here is a picture from our December 16th outing. Dottie sees something of interest here. We saw a few hens this trip, but the field must get hunted a lot because they spooked and flushed out pretty early. Dottie checking something out. December 28th. Rick and Dottie with the first “all Dottie” quail. She pointed the covey and located the dead bird! We’re still working on retrieving. Rick and Dottie got a quail! We went out again on a January 13th Hunt. This time Joey, my 9 year old son, was able to see Dottie in action. Once again, all we brought home was a single quail. (good thing we’re not counting on my hunting skills to feed the family all winter!) Joey sure liked seeing his dog in action. I think we’ve created a new hunter in the family. He’s asked to go every week since then. Joey is fired up about bird hunting with some help from Dottie!! Dottie and I were very fortunate the last weekend of pheasant/quail season to be invited out to my friend’s land to hunt with him and his griff, “Bear”. We had a lot of fun and got into a covey of quail that kept us busy for an hour or so. The dogs did great pointing out the covey after it broke, but we weren’t much of a shot. We bagged one out of the ordeal. (I can’t come home with just ONE quail AGAIN! 🙂 ). Luckily, the last field we hit yielded us some roosters to end the season. We bagged two to end the year. Dottie and Bear found some roosters! All in all, I’d have to say that reflecting back on the season, we had a pretty good first year with Dottie. Unfortunately, a lot of the CRP land we used to hunt is either out the program this year, or mowed down due to the drought, so it was a tough year to find good habitat for the birds. We’re really happy with Dottie. She is just excellent with the kids, and has a great demeanor. I’m interested in working with her more this spring. I’m going to try and watch for any field trials that might be close to Omaha. I know you guys do this quite a bit, so any help or pointers would be great. Thanks Again! Rick & Dawn and Family We are seeing if Rick and Dottie want to take a shot at Junior Hunter at the GSPC of Lincoln event in March, looks like she is ready to me with all the wild bird hunting, but I’ll let Rick and Charles talk through that one. I had hoped to get the pregnant females out on some birds, but we might run out of time. This weekend we’re finishing preparations on the whelping areas, the weekend after that we’ve got our first Heartland NAVHDA Chapter meeting of the year, then the weekend after that I’ll be hovering over Sue waiting for the puppies to come. But we might be able to scrounge up some quail and do it this weekend, who knows. Thanks to Rick for the great write-up and photos, they are always appreciated and enjoyed! I’ll keep you all posted as to the latest. Good luck tomorrow to the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon gang out in NYC for the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, I have plans to join you some year (just as a spectator!). Also, those of you going to Pheasant Fest in Minneapolis this weekend have a good time, hope some AKC griffs make it into the Bird Dog Parade! Hunting Season Ends, Puppy Season Begins January 27, 2013 Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update Bird Hunting, Korthals Griffon, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, Puppies, Quail, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment Puppy Season Begins Sam and Mae mated from January 12-15, so that puts us with another litter around March 15th. So Sue will whelp around March 1st and Mae will whelp around March 15th. It will be a busy spring around here! Sorry to be out of touch as of late, but we are also working on a big development for our family and kennel that we aren’t prepared to announce just yet, but hope to have the news finalized by mid-February. For those who are looking for a puppy, I do want to be up front that I currently have 14 reservations for the two litters. I could very well have two large litters and have no problem producing more puppies than that, but there are no guarantees. We are planning four litters for next spring/summer breeding season, so anyone not getting a pup this year could hold their reservation over to a pup next year. Sue and Mae are definitely looking pregnant and I will be sure to get belly pictures of them next weekend. Hunting Season Ends Charles and Matt have figured out the new game in these parts and had some end-of season success with Sam and BB. Last weekend Charles got a couple of wild quail, but no pictures, so we had to resort to the picture in the house after dark. Conveniently, Sam retrieved one and BB the other. Charles and the dogs took two male bobwhites the weekend on Jan 19th. Yesterday they returned to the field for the final push for the year, as wild upland season in Nebraska ends on January 31st. Charles took one hen quail, with Matt filling the game bag for the day with 2 male bobwhites and the elusive Nebraska rooster pheasant. Matt, BB and Sam in the parting shot of 2012-2013 Can you see the griffs? Matt, Sam and BB take on some quail. Pupdates It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Nate and pup Ben, from Sam and Sue’s “B” litter of 2011 from near Palmyra, Nebraska. Here’s what Nate had to say: It has been a while since I had given you an update on Ben. He is doing fine and we really enjoy having him. He is an excellent family dog and we are starting keeping him in the house more and more so we can spend more time with him. He does well hunting (I need to work on his retrieving) but our hunting has been very tough this year. I couldn’t find any birds in my grouse spot this year and pheasants and quail have been very few and far both at my place and in central Nebraska. Finally had a good half of day of hunting yesterday in central NE that would have been better if I would have shot better but that is the way it goes. I am going to try to do some things this spring after season to make up for that like participating in hunt tests, buying some birds, and maybe even go to a preserve (which I never thought I would say). I have attached some pictures of Ben pointing some birds this evening. Ben two years old from our “B” litter Ben pointing, from behind Ben checking out the snow Of course TracHer up in North Dakota continues to have adventures with her griffon pals Mr. Favor and Zephyr and people, Susan and Tom. TracHer is also practicing wearing her cross country skiing harness, to join everyone on their next trail adventure. We hope that everyone has had a good beginning of the New Year. We are looking forward to more griffon adventures ourselves. Charles is planning on putting on what we’re calling the “Old Bitches Hunt”, where he plants some farm raised quail for the two pregnant females and me to hunt up, since I’ve missed the last part of the season while Matt and Charles figured out the new game for this area. We’ll take it slow and easy, but we think it is good for the pregnant females to hunt to send the hunting endorphines to the pups. I’ll get some pictures up of Mae and Sue next weekend, but until then, stay griffy! Mid-season Slowdown, Pupdates and Happy Holidays!! December 13, 2012 Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update Bird Hunting, Duck Hunting, Korthals Griffon, Korthals Griffons, Nebraska Pheasant Hunting, Nebraska Sandhills, Pheasant Hunting, Puppies, Sharptail Grouse Hunting, Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, Wirehaired Pointing Griffons Leave a comment After the big hunting trip to North Dakota for Sam, BB and Charles, filling the game bag has taken a pause. It isn’t that we haven’t tried! Charles went out for deer the first two weekend in November on our friend’s land on the Platte River and saw deer but didn’t have any good shots. Our freezer is full of birds anyway, so I think he was really just getting out of the house. The latter part of November and the first part of December he’s gone out for ducks, pheasants and quail, with very few sightings and no shots. There were two weekends where he drove 3 hours one way (in different directions), even going down into the Flint Hills of Kansas, but still no luck. We are hoping that when the snow finally comes (we’re at a historical record for days without snow), that we might be able to come across a few roosters, but are really looking forward to our planned grouse hunt on the Sunday before Christmas up in my Nebraska Sandhills home. For the most part we’ve given up on Eastern Nebraska this year and are going to turn our attention to getting Sam and BB trained up to take a shot at some legs of the AKC Senior Hunter test over the course of 2013. Looks like we’re getting closer to breeding with Sue and I suspect that Mae won’t be too far behind. I won’t have an exact calendar of events until pro-estrous (bleeding) actually starts, but there are definitely changes going on and I just have to keep watching. Yet despite our slow time here lately, things appear to be going well in other parts of the country with our puppy owners! Aaron of Ohio and “Pepper” from Sam and Sue’s 2012 “D” litter (age 6 months now) posted an update on our Facebook page saying: Pepper, aka Derry, from the D litter is doing very well. We worked her on quail in a call back pen all late summer and early fall until the quail “went native”. On Monday we decided to shoot over her for the first time after a fair bit of work with a starter pistol. She pointed and retrieved two chukars with no concern for the gun fire. She trailed a wounded bird to a groundhog hole where it escaped. She is also doing great in the house. It’s so exciting to keep up with all of the pups and how they are doing, knowing how much joy a good dog brings to the home and field. Randy and “Roxy”, from Sam and Sue’s 2011 “B” litter, out of Utah are having an outstanding year. Randy wrote: Man, has the light ever came on with Roxy. She did all that could ever be wanted while hunting Iowa, North Dakota, and Utah this year. Best all around dog I have ever had in the 50 years of hunting. I will attach a few pictures. Thanks you guys for making my hunting career come together. Click on any of the photos to enlarge: Randy, Roxy (18 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female) and company after a great day in the field Randy and Roxy (18 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female) had a great time in North Dakota! Another great day for Roxy (18 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon female)! I really love the last photo of Randy and Roxy because aside from being absolutely gorgeous, it’s a great shot showing that she looks exactly like Sue’s head on Sam’s body. Of course, having a hunter say that you’ve given him the best hunting dog that he’s had in 50 years of hunting makes a person feel like a million bucks!! But that is our goal!! Cliff down in Oklahoma and his pup “Belle” out of Sam and Mae’s 2012 “C” litter, which is 9 months old now, are having a great time thus far in Kansas and Oklahoma: Wanted to give you a quick update on Belle. We’ve been out every week since the season opened in OK & KS. I had to work the weekend of Nov 10th & 11th, but that was just as well because it was so warm and windy. Belle & I hunted the following Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning in KS. Saw very few pheasants (no quail) and bagged the only one I shot at. That was Belle’s first pheasant. Attached is a picture of us with #1. The following weekend in KS we got 2 more pheasants. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we hunted Kansas once again and got into a covey of quail and bagged 2 birds. Belle as having rock solid points and also found a bird that had been hit and flown a considerable distance to which we only knew a general location. With the quail, Belle made the connection that she was to bring them back to me, so she now brings the birds back to me in addition to fetching the paper daily. So far the hunting reports across the state of Kansas are what I have experienced. The bird population has been severely impacted. Yesterday was opening day for pheasants in OK. When I got up it was 59 degrees and windy. The high got up to 76. I should have had my OK limit (3 roosters), but missed the easiest shot of the day . We saw a good number of birds, but with the weather most flushed far ahead. Overall, I am very pleased with Belle’s performance. Responds to commands, hunts close, has a great nose, does not flush birds wildly, and has learned to hold point and to find and retrieve downed birds. I just need to keep giving her the opportunity to hunt so that we can refine her skills. I have attached additional pictures. Cliff and Belle (9 month old female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon) with her first pheasant Belle (9 month old female Wirehaired Pointing Griffon) and the Oklahoma opener game bag Awesome success, Cliff and Belle, so happy for you!! It gives us hope that there is still upland bird hunting to be had out there since honestly, we’ve been in a bit of a funk about how things have been going lately. I have pictures from the 1990’s of Charles and our Brittany “Sheaf” going out every weekend and getting a limit of pheasant here in Eastern Nebraska. It really hurts my heart that those days are probably gone and we’re going to be stuck with three options: 1) extended bird hunting safaris to the Nebraska Sandhills, North Dakota and other states with sustainable bird populations 2) joining a hunt club 3) buying and planting our own birds on the local dog training wildlife management area or on a friend’s land. Okay, back to something happy for the holidays!! Joel and Jenn from Kearney, Nebraska shared this picture of Roxy’s brother, Mowgli, from Sam and Sue’s 2011 “B” litter. He looks like he enjoyed the snow that they had out there! What a face! Mowgli (18 month old male Wirehaired Pointing Griffon) chillin’ in the snow Keeping in the holiday spirit, Sal and family in New York were kind enough to mail us a Christmas card with a cute photo of Belle’s brother, Chester, also from Sam and Mae’s 2012 “C” litter (9 months old): Merry Christmas from Chester (9 month old male Wirehaired Pointing Griffon) Many thanks to all of my puppy owners for making this blog fun to put together and read! You really go out of your way to take the time to send us great photos and write-ups and it is appreciated more than I can ever express. We put a lot of time and love into our puppies, so it is a big warm fuzzy to see that loving spirit carried on in their lives in their forever homes. Wishing all hunters and lovers of griffons, our puppy owners, friends and family the Merriest of Christmases, from Bluestem Kennels and the Upchurch family! “Not a creature was stirring…” Clockwise from top left: BB, Mae, Sam and Sue. 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