Thanks for the warm welcome guys.
Harold - I've been dogless for quite a few years now (not counting my wife's Jack Russell). I have always owned setters (Irish first, then Gordons and a Bondhu Llewellin), the last Gordon (Bill and Diane Klumb's Bydand dogs) was laid to rest some time ago. While those Wisconsin Gordons excelled on grouse and woodcock, no dog I've ever owned could hold a candle to my English setter. She was old school Bondhu with tons of experience. I bought her when she was 5 when I lived in MN back in the mid-80s. Grouse were at a peak in MN and WI then. I've always considered the upper northern tier of WI as one giant bird cover and those days did not disappoint. Bill and Diane Klumb guided hunters out of their Maple, WI farm back then and Bill often asked me to bring the dogs and help with an abundance of clients. That Bondhu already was a top grouse dog. The next couple of years pretty much put her over the top! She pointed her last two grouse outside of Dover-Foxcroft, ME in the fall of 1993. The old girl was able to go for almost an hour. I ended up carrying her back to the Suburban. If we are to own only one great dog, she was it for me. To this day, there is a photo on the wall of her, me, and two dead grouse, taken outside of Hayward, WI in October 1987. I was 34 years old and had just shot my first true grouse double over her point.....two beautiful gray phase birds.
I wish I had the makeup to be able to shrug off the death of a dog. It hits me hard. It takes me a good long while to get to the point of obtaining another. That said, I have always admired Pointers.....specifically Elhew Pointers. When Bob was alive I came close (more than a few times) to buying one of his pups. I have hunted over a few that belonged to friends......they all shared similar characteristics......and grouse sense in spades. I will have a started Pointer (with a few lines to Strike and Kiwi) by the end of the summer.
Dennis - I live in Yorktown Heights right near the Putnam/Westchester line. You can find a couple grouse (and woodcock) here and there in Putnam and Dutchess, but not enough to hunt. It pretty much takes me at least 2.5 hours to drive to suitable covers in the Catskills or a bit longer to PA. You are right.....millions of houses. Thank God we own a lake house on Sebec Lake just outside of Dover-Foxcroft, ME. Thanks to the lumber greed up there, there are supreme covers almost everywhere you look......and the birds to go with them.
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