It was three years ago today I got a call in the early morning from a good friend to say his black lab Clover was having puppies. He said the first one born was a yellow. The next words out of my mouth were "save me a yellow female".

Turned out Clover gave birth to six puppies. Two blacks, two chocolates and two yellows. A male and female of each.

They were 10 days old when this picture was taken. Bay is the yellow at the top.



What Bay lacks in natural hunting instincts she more than makes up for in her love of mankind. There is a true bond between us. You would think she knew everything I said.

Our house is an empty nest. Our son's have moved away to start their own lives. And until they bless us with grandchildren we consider Bay our Granddoggie.

Long live Great Bay Babe.

08-18-12
Started the weekend off at daybreak in the lobster boat. Who ordered the rain? The whole time I checked traps the precipitation fell. Found all 15 traps which produce about a pound apiece average. There were just as many short lobsters in my traps as keepers. This is a sure sign the fall run has started.

After some home chores I loaded up the four wheeler and the yellow dog and headed north to camp. After we arrived the lounge chair was unfolded and I took a seat as all of the world’s worries melted away in my view of the mountain summit.

Bay was restless. She kept looking at the four wheeler. So I told her to “up” and go sit on her ride. To my wild amazement that is exactly what she did.

So “up” the mountain we went.



She absolutely loves to ride.

The afternoon was spent mowing grass and clearing thunderstorm debris from around the yard. Sleep came easy as the temperatures dipped into the low 50’s. What a refreshing break.


08-19-12
Sunday after a hearty breakfast at the country store we took a wildlife drive. No sightings.

Then it was back to work finishing camp chores.

This spring my BIL and I released the front yard of the old homestead. Yesterday I turned the old lawnmower into a brush hog and I really like the results.



My mountain dog had had enough of watching me work and eagerly mounted her ride.



This would be our third trip in two days to the “Break in the Stonewall”. The four wheeler trail dead ends about three quarters of the way up the mountain.



This is the western corner of the property line. The stonewall T’s here. It is the start of gobbler country.



If I am ever having a bad day.......I just think of Sampson's Bay.

There is some slight color showing in the swamp maples. The deer flies are almost past the stay out of the woods phase. These little signs of the approaching fall season start my mind thinking about hunting with man's best friend.

It is time to start washing the salt from my veins and replacing it with hunter instinct. Shot a round of sporting clays this summer and last week a couple rounds of 5 stand. It was good to smell burnt gunpowder. Only the whirl of wings could have made it sweeter.

Bay's retrieving skills are like cream and are starting to rise to the top. My secret training tool has been what we call MB's or short for Milk Bones. Took her to Family Grounds last week to practice retrieving in the water. Our first recon to the Family Grounds Beaver Pond is scheduled for tonight. You can bet there will be a few MB's in my pocket.

I can smell it now. I hope the beaver are still there.



Bay just came into heat. Perfect timing as she will be done before the upland season opens.

I am ready for the "change".

08-29-12
Family Grounds Beaver Pond
Took the yellow dog out to the beaver pond on Family Grounds last night to practice her water retrieves.
This was our first visit since last winter.

It was good to see this familiar sight as we arrived. The canoe was just as we left it.



The water was very low. Not much fresh beaver sign at the dam. I'm hoping the beaver just moved up the flow-age and have a new dam. A recon in the canoe is going to be required.

Bay had an audience during her practice session. A hen mallard kept a very good eye on her but never flushed. She disappeared into the swamp which is starting to show its fall colors.

From a dog who avoided water the first year of her life she is now definitely wet behind the ears.



Not all retrieves were to hand but it sure beats swimming after the ducks myself when the time comes.



It is a long ways in the woods to this waterfowl honey hole. The setting sun kept our visit short. Knowing Bay's love of riding the four wheeler our next trip out will include a chain saw to widen the trail to accommodate her ride.

Bay is a homebody. She lacks wanderlust around the yard. So when she came up missing Sunday night at camp there was a slight cause for concern.

There shouldn't have been. Bay found a new resting place.



While it doesn't look that comfortable my wife tells me she does it so I can't go for a ride without her.

09-05-12
Tonight Bay and I saw nine gobblers at the start of our walk. She showed little interest. Then about a half mile into our walk we saw two hens and two poults, second hatch. Half the size of the hens. They ran off into the bushes. I brought Bay to where I last saw them and instantly she was scenting. I let her off the leash and she tracked the turkeys down to a nice cackle flush. Having shorts on I have the raspberry pricker scrapes to prove it.

Turkey dog?

As Bay ages her maturity is showing in her abilities. I admit my labs coming of age has been a lot slower than I experienced with my first bird dog, an English Springer. The springer was a natural on winged quarry. Bay is a natural people dog with a strong will to please. I've often thought of boarding her with a trainer but because of having a life to live that wasn't possible.

To be honest I have never given up on her ability. Coming down the mountain this weekend while scoping out a new four wheeler trail the landowner is allowing me to build we came within a 100 yards from the mountain spring dug out by the late 19th century settlers. I wasn't paying attention to Bay. I was thinking about the work it will require to build the trail when I heard "SPLASH". We haven't been here together since April yet she remembered that muddy spring and looked proud as a peacock on her return, covered in mountain silt from generations past.

I never show anger when Bay's actions in the field do not please me. In her third year of life we are starting to see the rewards.

Bay and I are scheduled for now what looks like a soggy chukka hunt this upcoming weekend at the club. Remember to show your dog the right path and be patient. It is starting to show signs of growth for these two weekend warriors.

09-09-12
Went up to the club yesterday for a chukka partridge hunt. Temperature was in the high fifties with wet vegetation from the previous nights rain. They seeded our field with a dozen birds. The first few came easy but as the morning ticked by it allowed time for the birds to develop wanderlust.

Bay did a great job for her first hunt of the season. I watched numerous times as she caught wind and then scented the birds to flush. She works very close to me. You would have been proud of my wing shooting. I used the 12 gauge O&U Daley with 7.5 trap/skeet loads I had left over from a recent 5 stand shoot.

Out of a dozen chukka we flushed ten. Although it took two shots a couple times I downed every bird I shot at. The real highlight of the day was when Bay put up a double on quail. I really had to look twice because I had never seen a bobwhite flush. They don’t flush very high. The first shot was going away. The second bird went ninety degrees hard right.

I got both of them!!! Even though there was no one around to see it the gun did make a noise.

We also had our chance with two stray cock pheasants. One was in the road and ran into another field. Bay saw it and trailed it to flush. Try calling a bird dog off a visual. The second cock was in my field but was a runner. It ran across the road into another field with Bay in hot pursuit. She never did get that one in the air. I sure would have loved to add those birds as a bonus.

Bay needs to be exposed to birds. She is a quick learner. Also we need some cooler weather. She can’t take the heat. My only disappointment was Bay would not pick up the dead birds. A couple times the birds fell in dense brush. Both time she told me where the birds were but even though I had milk bones (her water retrieve bribe) she refused to pick up the birds. She never got a milk bone in the field.

I extremely enjoy the sound of whirling wings. No beepers, no bells. Just me and the dog. I had to feel bad for the guys with the pointer in the next field. I could clearly hear where ever that dog was by the beeping collar. I could always tell where the hunters were by them yelling for their dog.

My camera went on the blink for the hero shots. I got a couple with Bay but the time lapse pics refused to stick to the memory card. It was past my time in the field so we wrapped it up.

Got a pheasant hunt planned before our upland season starts. Did I mention pheasants run?

It was a good day to be alive.

Surf and Turf
09-15-12
Started at 0530 Saturday morning at the boat. Low tide 0700. Was the first one to the clam flats. The tide went out much lower than last week so I was able to dig in undisturbed ground. Got a peck in less than an hour. It was still outgoing when I finished and the USS Coalman was beached so I picked half of a 5 gallon bucket of oysters right off the bottom.

On to the lobster line. I brought four traps back into Great Bay last week. Two by the clam flats and two just before Adam’s Point. Those traps produced five keepers. Ran the line all the way to Fox Point and when I was done I had 14 keepers. Brought the seven traps from Fox Point back into Great Bay. The bugs are looking to shed. I caught a couple shorts that looked like they were bursting out of the shells. Next shed…you are dead.

09-16-12
Sunday I loaded up the four wheeler and Bay and we went to cut an ATV trail to the Family Grounds Beaver Pond. It took most of the afternoon. When we finally cleared trail to the beaver pond I splashed the canoe and we went for a ride.

So I would call this weekend “Surf and Turf”.

As I worked in the woods Bay kept an eye on me from her perch.



As soon as I flipped the canoe right side up it had a passenger.



I decided to knee and paddle the canoe as Bay left mud on my seat.



Truck, four wheeler or the canoe. This dog loves to "ride".

09-21-12
The weather is cooling down. Our nightly walks are becoming more regular. The sidewalk on the main road leads us to a new apartment building complex. Where there use to stand two homesteads, approximately ten acres was clear cut about seven years ago. Phase One was complete about 5 years ago. Phase Two is just completed and it looks like move in has started. In the back about three acres is still undeveloped with thick raspberries and lots of new growth. It has bird cover written all over it.

When I was a kid those homesteads were occupied. By the time I became a hunter the land was abandoned. In the early 90's I met a gobbler out there that would not gobble but would come to the call. I got busted by him two times before I formulated a plan. I sneaked into his roost at O' dark hundred. He only gobbled a few times from the tree. I remember he spoke way after it got light and I wondered if he was even there. After one of his gobbles I clucked a couple times on my Lynch Foolproof and did a fly down cackle. Then the call went behind my back. I heard him fly down. I never called...he never gobbled. He almost busted me again when a short time later I saw him step out behind a big boulder into the hardwoods. In an instant he saw me. His mistake was to turn and run straight away from me.

He weighed over 21 pounds with inch plus spurs.

I tell you this history because where the undeveloped three acres are, is the hardwood flat he stepped out into.

A week or so ago on our walk is when we saw the four turkeys there and Bay flushed them. Since that time we have been back once. When we got to the edge of the cut it was too dark to continue. Bay voiced her displeasure we did not finish our walk into the woods.

Forward fast to tonight. Before we got to the end of the hard road Bay's nose was in the air and she wanted off the lead. I looked to where she was pulling me and there stood turkeys in the cut.

We did an end around and then blitzed up the middle. Bay put five turkeys into flight. Two of them went by as close passing shots. I dreamed of the bobwhite double a couple weeks ago.

Some birds flushed to the wood line. We followed. The trail enters the woods into hardwoods. The white oaks have acorns. The ground is rolled under their boles. There is a four foot wide dust bowl. I know this piece supports more turkeys.

There is no pictures with this post. The image I see in my head is hunting Bay behind camp during Maine's fall shotgun turkey season and seeing the shot opportunity afforded me tonight.

I love walking behind the Yellow Dog.

09-23-12
Just like any good team sport it is always nice to get in a couple scrimmages before the season starts.

Today Cory and I teamed up to do just that. By 0830 Field #4 was stocked with a dozen pheasants while a pointing dog and a flushing dog took the field. Our hunt today was a repeat of a couple weeks ago…..good wing shooting.

Cory’s GSP, Rose, is a star. She works very close. It was cool watching Rose hold point while Bay moved in for the flush. We flushed twelve pheasants and brought home eleven. Yours truly missed the only bird.

The highlight of the day was a rooster who surprised us all. He got up and Cory fired then I fired. It looked like a clean miss but I saw that bird flinch. We visualized the line and went in search. About a hundred yards later in that general direction Rose goes on point. No flush? We looked in the brush and there is the bird stone dead. From the evidence at the scene it looked like he just fell out of the sky. It pays to follow up.

Last night I cooked some clams and lobsters. Drained the water out of the pan, put them in the fridge and after our hunt today we feasted on Great Bay Bounties.

Thanks Cory, Rose and Bay for the memories.

Field 4 parking. Can you see Bay in the front seat? She wasn’t happy. I made her stay in there while they stocked the field.



Some of the shots were classics.



Our shellfish feed was better than any fine wine. Cheers to the upcoming bird season.

10-05-12
Tomorrow the firing pin meets the primer.

I am blessed to have a multiple species dog and the woods to find our quarry. I never knew how much I loved to bird hunt until I got this lab.

The past two birds seasons we have started with ducks at the Family Grounds Beaver Pond. Bay has the natural instinct to fetch. My poor shooting ability has delayed the pride of Bay's first retrieve. On our walks to the pond this summer we discovered the beaver are gone. Compared to last year there is only half the water flooding the brook. The recent rains have raised the water level. Our shooting position from shore has always been minimal at best. It was time to rectify.

This afternoon we were on a mission to find a place for a blind in the open marsh where birds have been avoiding me the last couple seasons.

When the canoe launched so did the ducks flush that were already in the pond. Mallards and wood ducks took to the air.

We paddled around the corner in the flooded meadow and found the old beaver hut.



The lodge is elevated over the most open spot of the brook. The mature white pine behind the blind is where we launch.



Nine mallard decoys were positioned just off center to the left of the hut in a little cove in order to leave a landing zone directly in front.



Straight away view from the blind.



This open water is to our right.



We stayed until about 1730. Bay is listening to the chorus of wood ducks that began to sing from the secret channels of the flooded marsh.

We are ready to roll.



Bird Season 2012............here we come.

I forsee splashes in the morning!

10-06-12 AM
We were in the canoe at 0530. By the time we got to the first corner we had the whole gaggle of ducks very nervous. The sound of their wings as they lifted up and set back down had Bay almost jumping out of the canoe.

I had visions of sugar plums dancing in my head.

At 0545 we were on the hut. By 0600 the ducks had calmed down and the whistling and quacking was deafening.

Along comes 0610 and the roar of wings started. And by the 0617 shooting time the pond was mostly empty.

I had two shots at a hen woody doing about a hundred. Why break our streak now. Both clean misses.
Three drake wood ducks buzzed the pond but every time I blew on the call Bay was in my face checking the sweet noise out. They flared and my opportunity for the day was done.

There were hundreds of ducks there this morning. This is a roost. Sunset is at 1813. Leaving now for the pond with just a camo tee shirt on. Indian summer is here.

I hope our luck changes.

10-06-12 PM
Back on the beaver hut at 1630. Dressed for Indian summer when I left. Where did the wind and rain come from? By 1700 the rain was sideways. I wasn't dressed for it but committed to stay.

The woodies sure did fly............and land about a hundred yards out of range in the flooded swamp. Couldn't catch a break.

It was really sad to flip the canoe upside down and stow the paddles and preservers for what might be another year of my failed marksmanship to get Bay her first duck.

Aroostook County, ME Partridge Camp 10-08 to 10-11-12

Once again this year I was granted permission to go to our traditional Aroostook County, ME deer camp to hunt partridge. Arrived with my friend Dale Sunday evening.

Camp chores took first preference.



After making camp warm and cozy we took a drive around the back roads to check out the partridge population. We were not disappointed. We saw over a dozen grouse, three snowshoe hare and three deer. One cock partridge was in full display in the road. What an awesome October sight.

We stole his picture after he flushed to a tree. It would be the most mature bird we'd see all week. And of course we never did see him again.



Monday's hunt was a milestone for Bay. When the first grouse finally succumbed to our flying lead. Bay made a flawless retrieve. This may sound like normal bird hunting but in Bay's three short years of life she has never retrieved a dead bird. Personally I think she was just showing off for my friends.

But never the less it was new chapter in our bird hunting career.



From the time she picked the bird up until after the picture was taken she held that bird. It was only when I asked her for the bird did she drop it in my hand.

Bay is now an official bird dog. She retrieved every downed bird to hand. I am very proud of my little princess.



Partridge camp is only made better by the company you share it with.



Lots of memories were made.



There is just too much to say and too many pictures to post about the rest of my hunt on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll take this back up when time permits.

Stay tuned it only gets better.......................................

Tuesday 10-09-12 AM
Due to my fellow bird hunters have prior commitments Bay and I would hunt alone for the next couple days.

Today we started back where we left off Monday. It was a wise choice. It rained most of Sunday night. We found that the soggy conditions kept the birds in the roost long after they should have flown down. Lots of flushes Monday were wild from the trees as we walked the roads. This morning the birds were back to their normal getting grit routine.

In no way did that improve my shooting skills. Only Remington and Winchester were richer for our efforts. It didn't take long to confirm that hunting wild partridge was a whole lot different than shooting preserve birds.

This morning reinforced my trust in Bay's nose. I can't count the times when she was out ahead of me on the road, caught wind of a partridge and charged into the woods. Many, many birds escaped without a shot and the ones I did shoot at showed no signs of pellet contact. Only one bird made a fatal mistake. Bay did one of her exits stage left and a grouse flushed up into a tree. At the moment of landing it saw me and flushed across the open road.

Our diary reads, "6.7 miles, 18 encounters, 13 flushes, 3 shots, 1 bird." On the drive back to camp we saw another 6 birds in the road. Two were doubles. Lunch tasted very sweet in anticipation of our afternoon pursuit.

Just before these self photos were taken I dropped the camera in the wet grass. Hence the blurriness.





10-09-12 PM
I decided to take the four wheeler this afternoon because we had passed a few roads that looked a little soft to traverse with my truck. That was a mistake. Every time we'd see a partridge in the road and slow down Bay would jump off the ATV and flush the bird. By 4PM were at the entrance of a road that looked like virgin ground. There was no sign anybody had been there recently. We parked and started our quest.

I'm sure glad I'd brought plenty of ammo. The birds on this road were supersonic. The travel way had many twists and turns. Many times Bay would be just ahead of me at a corner, I'd see her ears and eyes lock up, she would start a sprint and I would hear the flush. This happened more than I liked but it sure kept Bay's interest up.

The afternoon diary reads, "Hunted the other side of the brook. Lost count at over 25 flushes. One brood was 6 strong. Shot more than 10 times, 2 birds in bag, 1 loss. This place is partridge nirvana."



It's whats for supper.



Stay tuned for Wednesday's hunt. Can it get any better?

10-10-12 AM
After all the action Tuesday afternoon on the new road it was easy to decide where to start today. No motor vehicle required today. We walked from camp.

We reversed direction from the previous evening hunt and did the road backwards. It started misting light rain. It made our footfalls very quiet. The action was hot. My shooting was poor. The gun was shouldered at every flush but poor shooting lanes prevented touching the trigger. More than once a bird would flush low with Bay in hot pursuit. Nice straight away level shots. But fearing for the dog another encounter was logged without any gunfire.

Another milestone for Bay this morning. While walking the edge of a logging yard I heard a bird flush wild in the woods, followed by an unseen second. Before my frown was complete a bird busted right under foot and offered a going away banking left for the woods shot. At the sound of the muzzle there was a puff of feathers while the bird flipped and fell in the woods.
Bay saw the whole thing and was already in hot pursuit. She returned to the road with a live partridge in her mouth and offered it to hand.

Our Wednesday morning log read " Other side of the brook this AM. 8.1 miles, 25 encounters, 2 shots, 1 bird.

10-10-12 PM
The saying don't leave fish to find fish was all the encouragement I needed to head back across the brook for our afternoon hunt. Finally a ray of sunshine returned to my shooting skills. In one hour we had 15 encounters, 9 flushes, 6 shots and 3 birds. This completed our second limit in as many years at partridge camp. On the way back we continued to flush grouse.

I also abandoned the single 20 for the O&U 12. It was a wise choice.



While it may be hard to beat the weather and success of Partridge Camp 2012 plans for 2013 are already underway.

Nice, I have to get up there soon.