My new grouse dog

[Tom Flanigan]

My new grouse dog arrived today from Ohio. A field trial reject a year and a half old. I've been hunting grouse with my retriever using him as a flush dog. We've gotten some birds but it's not the same. I need a setter. I'll start working her on grouse when she has a week to acclimate. The dog didn't have the range for field trialing so I'm hoping she works out as a grouse dog. You never know but I'll get her into many birds and she will pick up the caution needed for grouse if she is smart. But it will take many birds. My grandfather used to tell me you had to kill about 30 birds before a dog became a true grouse dog. I can't disagree. That's been about my experience too. So we'll see but its great to have a setter again. I really can't live without a good setter bird dog.

[Tom Flanigan]

Sorry guys. I just realized I posted in the wrong place. I guess I'm excited about my new setter. It's been a while since my last one died.

[Mills Morrison]

Good job! We are hoping to introduce our puppy to birds in the near future.

[Eric Eis]

Tom, don't care about which forum, where are the pictures!

[Louis Rotelli]

That's great Tom. Do you still live near Pawling? If so I can provide a chucker or pheasant hunt on 900 private acres less than 30 minutes from you

[Tom Flanigan]

Tom, don't care about which forum, where are the pictures!

Eric, no pictures yet. My camera is still packed away in one of the boxes I haven't gotten to yet. Thanks for asking.

[Tom Flanigan]

That's great Tom. Do you still live near Pawling? If so I can provide a chucker or pheasant hunt on 900 private acres less than 30 minutes from you


Louis, I've moved back to Pawling for good and I'm living in the house my great grandfather built in the 1800's. It's always been in the family. I moved to Maryland for my job but now I'm back to stay since I retired in June. I've always came back to Pawling for my hunting but it was a six hour drive from Maryland. Now my coverts are as close as minutes away. It's great being back for good.

Lets talk Louis. My number is 301-732-0664 or email me at thomas.j.flanigan@outlook.com.

[allen newell]

Congrats Tom. My dad, who was an early member of the setter club of new england and an avid grouse hunter always said that setters not suitable for field trial campaigning made better close working grouse and woodcock dogs. That's been my experience also. You want a close working dog.

[Tom Flanigan]

Allen, this isn't my first field trial reject. The second best grouse dog I ever owned, Stoney, was a two year old field trial reject. Other than my first bird dog at 14 years old, Stoney was my best grouse dog. He hunted close in tight cover and opened up in Saskatchewan for huns and sharptails. He was also a good quail dog. Bill Murphy has hunted quail with him. I'm hoping my new little setter turns out like Stoney and the others. I've had many grouse dogs. With a little luck this one will join the ranks.

[Shawn Wayment]

Tom...

I feel the same way about setters :)

[Dean Romig]

Me too...

See below.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

WooHoo!!! I've still gotta ship you that thing.....

DLH

[Tom Flanigan]

Thanks Destry. Those specklebellies will be waiting for us next September.

[Bill Murphy]

I guess I wasn't "raised right". Tom's Stoney was the first setter I hunted over who rode on the rear seat of a late model Mercedes Benz sedan. I remember that my Eva, at that time in history, rode in a crate in the rear of my Toyota 4-Runner. If Tom had not been a Parker guy, I may have been a bit suspicious of his training methods. I am sorry that Tom and I have not continued our time with our dogs. However, we did spend some time hunting semi-wild quail, out of season, where there were supposedly no birds, but there were birds. You can ask Tom for an explanation.

[Tom Flanigan]

The place Bill and I hunted was state land, a portion of which was set up as a dog training, field trial area. Milo was planted in the fields which were surrounded by very thick hedgerows. It was the best quail cover I have ever seen. Few people used it other than the field trials and it was a very large area with great fields and hedgerows abundant. You were allowed to work the dogs and hunt starting September 1st. There were leftover quail there from the training and field trials but there was also natural reproduction that few knew about. When there with Bill, I remember the dogs found a covey of mostly young of the year. They must have been a late hatching because a number of the birds were half grown. It was a rare day when I couldn’t find a couple or three coveys.

I am generally a lone hunter. But the days Bill joined me were special. He is one of the few people I would take into my grouse coverts. If he were up to it, I would drag him to Pawling for a week of hunting grouse in the morning and ducks in the evening. I’ve got a bedroom with his name on it if he ever comes North.