Ramblin' Maggie the Wirehair's...

first venture into the southwest Montana sagebrush was, I think, a resounding success. In typical fashion Maggie was undaunted by the sagebrush being in most spots three times as tall as she. Unaware at first she stumbled into scattered prickly pear, stuck her nose into it and came up with a couple spines. Gale held her and I pulled them out...and that was it, at least for today, for prickly pear.

Splitting time between chasing after big sister Annie and exploring on her own as we hiked beside a familiar two-track--naturally she finds it easier to ramble the open trail. And naturally too, she stopped frequently to sniff all the new smells and, of course, sample antelope and sage grouse poop--both of which are easy to find in this neck o' sage.

  While I would like to report finding the birds made the poop alas didn't happen but she did find and enjoy playing with a 20 ga. shotshell--no not one of mine, I make a habit of picking all up even if I have to return after to find them. And yes, it would be nice if the rest of you did like-wise, plastic as we all know is not biodegradable...

Ramblin' Maggie's house breaking is coming along, if ever so slowly--more fits and starts than any pup I can recall...way more "pee mistakes" than Annie and not even close to Katie, our other wirehairs. As for the pointers, setters and Britts sorry but my lizard-like memory is fading fast and I just cannot bring it up...Anyway, we didn't have any yesterday and none so far this morning so we'll keep our fingers crossed that maybe, just maybe, we're at least sort of on the right track...stay tuned.

Crate training is coming along nicely as she rarely makes much fuss and what little she does, does not last long. In the truck you rarely here even a whimper; ditto when time comes to shut down things for the night. Yesterday she slept from around 8:30 until 6:30 and this morning she did get up earlier--5:30 but after going outside, eating breakfast, back out to pee and poop, she went back in the crate and slept for over an hour...can't hardly ask for better...

Wirehair Affair...

Late great Katie got it started. In her long run she pointed and retrieved a bunch of upland birds and waterfowl. I can't imagine a bird dog knew more about sage chickens; in the last years of her life she proved time and again an uncanny sense letting us know almost as soon as she left the truck whether or not birds were around. Hard to believe I know but trust me, a true story.

 Like Katie, 8 year old Annie also struts her stuff in sage chicken country. And like Katie she run up quite the upland bird life list. Just back from a sort of marathon Arizona quail hunt (Hunting 38 of the 50 days of season we were down there, she pointed birds almost every time out and despite being tired and sore only once, hunting scalies down Tombstone way, did she refuse to give it her best shot...Shame on me for asking, eh?

 Comes now, Ramblin' Maggie...Not much I can say at this point beyond high hopes the little bitch does her best to keep the affair burnin'...Whether or not the ol' boy can hold up his end of the deal, of course, remains to be seen...Stay tuned...

Training the Western Bird Dog...

When a friend heard we were on our way home to Montana bearing 8 week old Maggie the wirehair he laughed  and said, “What you gonna teach her first, ain’t much you can teach an 8 week old pup.
Well maybe…Like building a house first thing is to build a good footer and lay up a solid foundation…Mags has just been yanked away from 11 littermates, shoved in a crate by strangers and transported 4 long days and nights to a strange home (in this case the move from balmy Arizona to frigid Montana  involves not only dealing strange folks, sights, smells and sounds…it’s damn cold here boss, I ain’t got much hair and…

So the usual simple operation of keeping a close eye grabbing her up, haulin ass  to the yard to pee and poop is suddenly compounded big time…like upon hitting the grass she is almost instantly shivering, suddenly not all that interested in relieving herself and—no dummy she bounds up the steps to the deck and races pell-mell  for the backdoor…Can you blame her? Hardly but she still needs to pee and poop outside NOT inside…So you repeat the process over and over until…
This in itself can quickly feel like a full-time training exercise but there can be no slacking off…every in house mistake is a step backwards. Eliminating mistakes entirely is the only way.

Crate training then goes hand in hand with house breaking. Why because I cannot watch her 24-7 so two things: 1) Since whenever she is loose in the house I must maintain vigilance the best way is to confine her to one room; 2) or… into the crate she goes.

Stay tuned, next up—Crate Training.

Montana Wirehair...

With everything out the camp trailer and at least sort of put away we decided to take a break and get Maggie (8 weeks and a couple days) out of backyard for a real run...For such a little thing man can she ramble...undaunted by tumbling into a dry irrigation ditch twice she then swapped directions and took a big rambling circle a couple hundred yards in diameter, chased sister Annie (8 years old) for another hundred yards or so, took a short breather then headed off on another jaunt all the way back to the truck...Whew! One can only hope she hunts birds with same gusto...Soon as the mud dries a bit we will take her out to the sagebrush see how interested she is sage chicken smells...I'm bettin' she'll like it pretty good...stay tuned.

Newsflash: Power Grab of Our Public Lands...

...Is NOT About to End Anytime Soon...

As the last of the armed occupiers left the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon this week, supporters vowed "the fight would go on." Five angry words which should serve sportsmen across the country as a rallying call to not let our guard down--to stay the fight however long it takes to insure public lands remain public and that future generations can enjoy them as we have forever.

That fact hasn’t been lost on Land Tawney, executive director of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. “Now that the Bundys are in jail, it’s time to focus more on the politicians and fat cat industry executives bent on stealing our public lands,” said Tawney. “Those are the ones we should really go after. These people are licking their chops, looking at ways to steal our public lands so they can exploit them for their own profit. That’s the danger this really exposed.”

Those industries include the usual suspects—oil, gas coal, timber, big agriculture—that typically spend tens of millions annually trying weaken the environmental regulations that protect wildlife habitat on public lands and waters. They also pour millions into the campaigns of politicians we elect to protect our property.

On another track we need to weed out the politicians in favor of selling off public property. Here in Montana Senator Jennifer Fielder,was recently appointed CEO of the American Lands Council--
the despicable Utah group that boasts on its Web site: Our No. 1 goal is the timely transfer of federal public lands to willing states for local control…

Training the Western Bird Dog...

8 year old, Annie the Wirehair pointing sage chickens in SW Montana

We just returned from Arizona. A marathon 30 day desert quail hunt. We started hunting in late December and closed down the operation 50 days later when the season ended February 7. Mearn's quail numbers were off the charts and the Gambel's weren't too shabby either...in case you wondered.

Toward the end of the season we put down a deposit on a wirehair pup--Maggie Mae--who today is 8 weeks old.  She came to us highly recommended by our Arizona friend, Web Parton. Web, as you may or may not know, is one of the premier bird dog trainers in the country, a 30 plus year veteran desert quail and waterfowl guide and an expert snake aversion trainer. He was looking for a pup and when he heard Central Basin Wirehairs (Camp Verde, AZ) had a litter for sale he checked out the breeding discovered he'd recently trained two pups from the exact same breeding. "Chuck I really liked both these pups so I put down a deposit today. There are two females left, if I were you I would put down a deposit pronto." We did and so...Stay tuned, I promise regular updates on Maggies progress hope you enjoy the tale...