Grouse Hunting TV
 

It was a cold, grey and damp day yesterday here in SE Tennessee. I was looking for something on TV related to upland hunting or fly fishing. I came across a show on "Carbon TV" entitled "Grouse Hunt in WI". I have a great interest in grouse hunting even though I have never been on a grouse hunt. I was hesitant when the shows host said he was going on his 1st grouse hunt and he was carrying a camo'd up plastic stock auto of some sort. I tried to overlook his extremely poor choice in grouse guns as the men he was hunting with had 4 beautiful English setters in their truck. I meant to try to find a date the episode was filmed but forgot to do so.

The guys refused to shoot woodcock flushed and they refused to count woodcock flushes in the total flush count. They said they would not hunt or shoot anything that ate worms. Those setters would make a beautiful point and when the woodcock flushed they just watched it fly off. I couldn't believe they refused to shoot at a woodcock. They pointed and flushed a ton of grouse, the total flush count they said was 30 (not counting the woodcock flushes).

What really shocked me was to find out at the end of the show that the hunters were from Tennessee. They said they had been hunting in WI for about 10 years and loved the northern woods for the upland hunting. They went on to say that they normally on average had about 5 grouse flushes a day on their Tennessee hunts.

They called their Setters "foot dogs" and he told the bloodline they were and said there was only one breeder in the US that had that bloodline and he was in Kentucky. Anyway I loved watching those dogs point grouse after grouse.

All in all a very enjoyable show.

Hmm... Never heard of a "foot dog" and I'm kinda sorry to see nickname like that attached to an English Setter.

I wonder what it means...?

Some peoples' attitudes, huh?





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He was referring to them as "close" hunting dogs. He went on to mention hunting with dogs that once you turned them out they were out of sight. His dogs stayed within 50 - 75 yards he said. Tennessee attitudes I suppose.

I get it... as opposed to the hunter being a-horseback, maybe?





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Yes, big running dogs that a "foot" hunter can't keep close.

I heard that term from a Ryman owner once, ran into him in the Catskills grouse hunting. He said his dog was "Bred by a good foot dog breeder in Ohio..." I asked and he said, "Close working..." And I'm sure I've seen it somewhere else before.

I've only seen grouse hunting on TV once and that was a Michigan hunt.
Foot dogs hugh:whistle: Well my foot dogs (GSP's) just got back from 4 days quail hunting in Georgia which would have made great TV.

Reggie if you want to hunt grouse just let me know. I have a place in the upper peninsula and your welcome any time.

Thank you Rich! Very nice of you!

You think foot dog is bad, anyone know what a canoe Lab is? I know a guy who has one, damn thing is about the size of a Beagle.

https://www.duckhillkennels.com/canoe-dogs

Okay, I have a camp chair setter...


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I have two of those Dean:rotf:

They earn their down time, however they spend it and wherever they spend it.






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Those foot hunters were finding tons of birds. They can call them whatever they want!

Rich there's a hunting show called Rooster Tales. Those boys do some grouse hunting. They chase a little bit of everything. I find it entertaining but I'm a poor judge as I have little interest in the big screen, for now anyway. Bless the DVR :bowdown:

XXXXXX

I have heard of close working dogs referred to as "foot dogs", singles dogs" and close working dogs. This does seem to have an attachment to differentiate between close dogs and horseback shooting dogs although todays "shooting dog" classes look more like the All Age classes of 25 years or so ago.

JMHO

Dean ,I loved the pictures of your " Camp Chair Dog " She's a Beauty for sure ! We used to have a neighbor that would say his Nephews Brit was a Good Foot Hunters Dog ,maybe the fella on TV just took a short cut !

Dean, my setter, Beau, is curled up on my lap as I type this! I love this boy!

Dave

Its genetic, my setters sleep the same way; its the secret to longevity increasing the blood flow to the brain. Very smart bird dogs!

Reggie,
I would second what Rich offered for a grouse hunt. You need to experience that a few times with leaves on the trees and leaves off the trees:) Rich I am currently looking at property s.e. of sault ste. marie for grouse and woodcock, there is supposed to be some sharptail areas in that area too.

Ed a friend of mine trains his setters there on sharptails. There is a limited season

As far as not shooting Woodcock, we try to hit the flight in Michigan every year. When the timing works out you can often get 50 to 200 contacts in a day. Have had times in the right cover, that you seem to go from one point or flush into the next. Great for the Dogs and we shoot very few. Like maybe 10 total in a week for two of us.

The trip is for training a new Dog or tuning up a veteran and not shooting. Get into Grouse and things change. Even then we have passed thru the numbers game.

These Tennessee guys didn't by any chance have the last name "Clampett", did they?? :rolleyes:

This thread just popped up again for me, and I read it with a smile. As Bruce points out, in the South and Mid-West (at least in Southern Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas) you will see field trails often advertised and talked about as "foot trials" to distinguish them from horseback trials. Two distinctly different trials in terms of what is sought after by the participants. Range and speed, along with "style on point" (read as: high head and tail) were the winning combination among the horseback set, while the foot trialers wanted dogs that worked to the front and that pointed (with style), but were within a comfortable range for a person on foot. Except for the Shoot-to-Retrieve crowd, many foot trialers really wanted their dogs to range and run like horseback, All Age dogs.
It often seemed to me that they were horseback trial "wannabes."

There was also a term that was used for a dog that found lots of birds, but did not run out of sight or point with the rigid high tail. Those were called "meat dogs." It was frequently used in reference to any non-English Pointer/Setter. In the trial circles, those dogs were held is disdain, but on the side, guys would ask if they could hunt with their owners.

The eye of the beholder is sometimes fickle, but a dog that loves his business and produces birds for his master is a jewell, and if his looks meet his master's aesthetic sensibility, he's a winner in my book.

Deans "chair dogs" look like how I feel after getting my Covid shots!

Maybe so!

FYI if anyone can watch the YouTube channel on their internet TV you can search for "grouse hunting" or any other type of hunting I imagine, and find show after show of hunters in the grouse woods.

Well said Garry!

Reggie:

I did view a couple of Maine Grouse hunt videos on YouTube last night, filmed by a two-man team (no dogs).

Nice camera work, beautiful country, and a variety of game was depicted.

Right off, I noticed that the camera was not showing birds getting up -- that is, until the first shots were fired. And the guns were usually angled down and held steadily and aimed toward the brush like a rifle at the first shot, maybe raised or swung for the second. The occasional wing-shot was duly-noted.

Being out there, harvesting for the daily limit, cooking and enjoying the fare at the end of the day, and sharing the experience, was the object. The punctilio of how the shooting was accomplished was absent.

Not much point, for those who seek to acquire guns specifically built for shooting on the wing, and practice on moving clay targets with them in the off-season, to culminate in a test of gun and skill on flying birds. Different strokes.

Russell, are you saying they were shooting grouse in any presentation, be it on the ground or in the air?






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Dean:

Yes. As soon as the Grouse was seen, be it on the ground or in a tree, it was shot at. If missed and thereupon flying, it was shot at again.

I just reread this thread and thought I would add some info etc.

I grew up in the very NE corner of NJ. Woodcock and grouse were still present there. Woodcock in great numbers when the flights were in. Remember this was the 50's so there was not near the development we see today.

My Dad broke his early year pups on the spring return woodcock flight. The nursery property we lived on was a hot spot for those birds flying back north. He always wanted his dogs snappy, meaning moving through the cover with some speed but using their noses to guide them to the point, nose in the air, not down. He also wanted a stylish dog pointing with high tail and erect head. Not something crawling into a point although that could happen as most of you know.

As I aged and went off to school (1960's) I ended up working for Herb Holmes at Gunsmoke Kennels when he was in Illinois. That started a long relationship for Dad with the Gunsmoke line as well as the Elhew line through Bob Wehle.

I was after the setters and looked to several grouse trial lines as well as the Smith line of setters. I wanted as did my Dad a gun dog that hunted to the gun, not one that needed to be hunted for.

That is the point of this discussion. A dog that goes about its business in an animated way within the desired distance from the gun. Thats a "foot dog, gun dog, meat dog" although style and deportment may be a bit different for each owner.

Over the years that we hunted and trialed our dogs many were able to discern the difference between the handler being mounted and a foot. What a pleasure to have such an animal... I like others here, I am sure, would love to dial the clock back to enjoy those days once more.

Amen to that.