The Ultimate Grouse Dog by Tom Keer originally printed in Ruffed Grouse Society

SUMMER2015 | Volume27, Issue2

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GROUS

THE ULTIMATE ANNT]AL REPORT GROUSEDOG

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My buddies and I were enjoying the 25-cent wings and dollar

drafts at the local bar. Halloween

was around

the

corner, and we had a good hunt that day. All of the leaves were down save for those on sorne stubborn

oaks, and we

rnoved rnore grouse than we had in a while. We had setters, pointers,

and a Vizsla and a Lab were joining Phont bv Legh Higgirrs

and a shorthai4

a Brit, sorle wirehairs

We were into our second round

us tornorrow.

at the only-show-in-town

when a fella with thick white hair poking an orange hat walked shirt,

out frorn under

in. He wore a thread-bare

a pair of green Dickies

trousers,

flannel

and judging

frorn

his posture, his back had seen better days.

"I see a bunch he yelledfrorn youfellas Plnto by Shau,nWalment

22 RGS/AWS I www.rufedgrousesociety.org

of dog boxes in the back of those trucks," the door.

running?"

"Whqt

kind

of grouse

dogs are

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iven the cliversityof clogsanlougst our uroup, that u'as a loaclcclcluestion.Grouse l-runting is net,cr preclicterbleancl l.runting ol' I{Lrfl across most ot l'risrar-rge nreanslve'll encollntcr very clift'crentter rains. Our choice of ckrgstenclsto reflect our varyfirr ing tastesancl prefi:rencesx'hich iilso accour-rts our cliversehr,rr"rting conditious. Fur sonre,tl-reulti mate grolrseclogu,oulclbc fion.ra big running, high pelfirrmance field trial stock *'hile otl-rerser.rjovclose-rangingcovcr clogs.

This to1'ricrcccntly camc Llp witl.r my ti'iend Roger Hoover cluring a westenr Pennsylvaniagrouse hunt. ILoger is a highly respecterlPennsvlr.irniagrollse ancl rvooclcockguicle nho also judged fielcitrials between the 1970sthrough the 1990s.During that tinre, he jucleecljust about every grousc cl.ranrpionshipincluding the Grancl National Grouse Championsl.rip.We startecl the ciiscLrssion by clefining the chariicteristicsof a goori grouse clog.

To Hoover'.snrincl, ir eoocl grouse tlog has "an excellent nosc, good brains ancl thinking thirt corles tiorl instinct ancl genctics. It nrr,rsthavc the ability to slarmon point atter wincling a bircl betr,veentirot ancl bocl1,scent. and be able to rluickll'c'lifl'crcntiate I)r.rpsnray be born lvitl-rgoocl genetics, but very f-eware naturally burn grouse dogs. Hunters rvho get their dogs as mauv contacts

a clog that ktron'sIton as possibleare u,ell on their rvav to har,it-tg to handle grouse. "'fhere arrct\\'o clominirntt1'pesof clogs:held trial clogsthat firr lvhatever rcason tlicln't mirke the cut irncl cover clogs.lhc tield trial stock hunt bircls the i.vavMichael Jorclanplayeclbasketball; thcr"re :rlx'avsn'orkirru the eclgeand pushing berrrncltheir linrits.

Oover dogs tend to hancllebetter ancl n'ork n'ithin a urorc Inoclerate lirnge. Tl.reyare bicldablc, aim to pleaseancl f lequently cl.reck in n'itl.rtl.rcirhandlersl' In my honre turi of Nerv F.ngland,I see difl'erentapplicrrtions firr botl.rtypes of clogs.I harveone big-runt.tingsetterthat I rvrote about ir.rthe summer 2012 issue cirllccl"Ever1'l)og l.rashis Da1', Sonretimes'two'l Albert is an cclgemnner, and if l.regets regular contircts,he hits the cover anclcasts.I1'birclsarc sparse,he drives firrrvard until he finrls tl.remn'ith his norrnal rangc beinu 2-50to 350 yards. iVly personal preferenceis to be in the rvoocls,ancl I therefbre like clogsthat cirst between 60 to 100 yards, ancl that'.s n'here n.tyother three settersconrein. Ther.check in at brcaksancl passthrough zonesancllvhen I ruu a brace,I nratcholte that cirsts at 60 yarclswith irnother that castsat 1(X)yarcls.I enjo,vrvatcl.ring the clogsn'ork, but I'nr also close erlor.rghso I can quicklv n'ork o r t p n g r2 1 The Ultimate (irousc Dog, .ontitlLtcd

S u t r r r t t2a0r 1 5 | R G S / A W S2 3

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rr'"urir-","c;;;;; b;;, ;;;,;iii,",,,iij,"'p'1")s throughthe coverand get up to the point. Fewerbirds run offor getlidgetyand flush.I like my biggerrunning dog for the looser terrainin the big woods.He'll get to more productivecoverfaster,and I alsolike him in the rolling hills. I can seehim working down the hillsideswhen I'm at the top and vice versa.Overall, I want them to have a combinationof patiencear.rddrive, and with experiencethey all learnto naturallyrepositionto pin birds ratherthan to spooktl.rem.

In sharp contrast to my preferences,Legh Higgins frorn TwomblySettersand CoronationKennellives,trains and hunts grousein the GreenMountainsof Vermont.You may alsoknow him from his winter work on quail in the Red Hills of Florida.

Leghhascontinuedthe century-oldTwomblysettersline first establishedby his grandfather,Earl Twombly (Corey Ford'sCider and Tober both came from Twomblyt kennel). Legh prefers close-working dogs."Due to the coverdensityin Vermont,I like my dogsworking insideof 45 yardsl'he said."Because our birds are so skittish I keepthe noiseto a minimum and useneitherbellsnor beepers.

We train on bond contact- I rely , ,F t o n h a n ds i g n a l sa n d e y ec o n l' tact. Our dogs check in

on a regular basis,and we can read them and theycan readus.Our terrain varies in elevations, and

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Havel favors is their conformation and athleticism, particularly since the dogs adjust to their environment. "I want my pointers running at between 50 and 100 yards, closer in cover and further in more open areas.

- _ - - - ' - I prefer because Bob Wehle r - - - - - Elhews

createdwhat amountsto a templatedog, dogswith naturalintelligence,athleticism, instinct and drive that causesthem to respondappropriatelyin the easyto navigate goldenrodas well as the thick raspberries.Mel Pfeiflehasa few new litters that are showir.rgexcellent promise for cover dogs."

Are folks in the Land of 10,000Lakes surprisedwhen they seea Texaslicenseplate and a dog trailer gettinggas in grouse country? If they are then they're probably about to meet RussPrice,

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river bottom up a hillside and then back dowr.ris irnportant.We get far more bird contactswith this type of dog and approach, especiallyin areasthat receivetremendousamountsof hunting pressure."

With Minnesota being the nation'sgrouse capitol, I had to check in with some different folks in the North Star State.My first call wasto ferry Havelfrom PineridgeGrouseCamps.Over the years,ferry has worked and seena lot of dogs work grouse, anclthat experiencehas led him to favor Elhewpointers,particularly thosefrom Mel PfeiflesElhew HampshireKennels.What

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Photo by Shawn Wayment

a Texasbobwhitequail guide.Pricebrings a braceofbig running pointersand a braceofcover-dog-styleshorthairsto grousehunt in Minnesota."My pointerswill cut up a quail field in no time flati'he said."Theyrun wide open.But ratherthan let them work the edges,I trainedthem to cast.What that doesis transfertheir speedso it'susedlaterally.They'll still work edges,but when they get into a cover,they'll carve it up pretty quick. My shorthairs are more in the cover-dogrange,sometimesworking,in a close 30 to 50 yards.While I run the pointers togetherfor quail, I'll mix a pointer and shorthairfor grouse.The pointer'sspeedchallengesthe shorthairto move out a bit further,and the shorthairs consistency reins-inthe pointers.The combinationis a winner in the grousewoods.I may be the only personin history looking to movefrom the South to the North but that'swhat grousehunting will do to a man. So be it" Brothers Shawn and Andy Wayment hunt ruffed grouse in Idahoand in Utah, and their choicesin a grousedog couldnt be moredifferent.Up until lastyearShawnhad beena resolutesetter man, favoringsmallercover dogs in the 20 to 3O-poundrange.

He likesthe smallerdogs'maneuverability in the woods.Most of the terrain he'shunting is Ponderosapines and youngeraspens, andhis settercastsinside of the 100-yardrange.In a move not seenby many grouse hunters, Wayment runs a brace with the seconddog beingan Englishcocker.No coveris too thick for the flushingdog, and Shawnenjoyshaving one dog out at a distance with the seconddog stayingin close.He'sshot a lot of grouseover hiscockerworking insideof30 yards,too.

Brother Andy hunts big country with patchesand benches of quaking aspen,and his'first dogs were Elhew pointers that worked at a 400 to 500-yard distance.The pointers worked fine on sharptailand blue grousebut the rufs wouldnt stick around

Phoro Photo by Legh Higgins

Photo by Shawn Wayment

long enoughfor him to catchup. He did shoota lot ofbirds over the high performancedogs."Idaho ruffed grouseare very different than grousein other parts ofthe countryi'he said. "They're not as fidgetybecausethey dont get as much pressure.As time went on and I lookedto replacemy dogs,I decidedI enjoyedseeing a dog work. My current combinationis my FrenchBrittany Sunny that castsat about 50 yards while my American Brittany Misty pushes out upwards of 200 yards. Itt the best of both worlds. Western grouse dogs need to be well versed in terrain and tactics, particularly when ruffies, blues, huns and sharpies arein adjoiningareas."

I dont believethat there is any one right answerto the ultimategrousedog question.Huntersin the samestatesand terrain prefer different q?es of dogs; some like big running dogs while others like closer working cover dogs. That leads us to believe that the perfect grousedog answerlies in personalhunting pref'bne'l erence.The Holy Grail causesus to searchfor the Some of us will find perfection in a big running dog while others in cover dog. The road to the summit is worth the a close-casting effort, and that's exactly how we'll reflect on eachand every dog we put down in the woods. We'll talk about this sametopic come Octoberin grousecamp.|r

2015| RGS/AWS25 Summer