Rusty the grouse dog

[Tom Flanigan]

With the snow storm, I am at home today going through old pictures. These pictures are of Rusty, my first bird dog. Rusty came to me as a two year old finished Brittany. I was fourteen years old and hunted grouse sans dog the first year. I killed some grouse and my grandfather was convinced that I would be a grouse hunter for life, as he was. He gave me his grouse gun, an open bored Parker VH in 20 gauge.

My grandfather was very fond of a club dog owned by the game keeper and dog trainer at the venerable old Dutchess Valley Club, in Pawling, NY. He thought the easy handling and experienced dog would be perfect for me. He had a hard time convincing old Chet Sprague to sell the dog. But Chet relented when he was told that the dog was for his young budding grouse hunter grandson.

Rusty became my best grouse dog of all I have owned since. And I have owned some great ones. Rusty and I were inseparable. When I became eighteen and went to bars and on dates, Rusty was always with me. He learned early on not to crowd grouse and handled them beautifully. Back in those days, there were a lot of grouse. What makes a true grouse dog is a lot of experience with the bird. And Rusty had more experience than any of my other grouse dogs. I averaged better than seventy grouse a season back in the day.