One of my new neighbors is Russ Peterson who owns and operates Rooster Valley Pheasants, a private hunting club not 1/4 mile down the road from our new home. Russ has at his disposal over 1000 acres of prime Pheasant and Chukar habitat. He was kind enough to give me a tour of his hunting lodge and pheasant hatchery. In the picture above you’ll see a few of the 2500 2-week-old phesant chicks that he is raising for the upcoming hunting season. He says each year they burn through between 5-6K birds. Looks like me and Jake won’t have to look far for good training grounds with plenty of birds to chase.

Russ is also a good dog trainer and a big fan of German Shorthairs. While touring his facility we got a chance to sneak a peek at a new litter of 7 beautiful Shorthair puppies that were whelped just the previous evening. It looks to be a good litter with 3 liver females, 3 liver males and a white and liver female. I’ll keep an eye on them over the next few weeks and hopefully if I be real good my wife will let me bring one home. I’ve been wanting to find Jake a girl-friend, but I am having a hard time convincing my wife that I need another dog. She thinks one is too many. I hope to build nice kennels off of the shop at our new house in Annabella, UT.