The past few weeks I have been shown a few WMAs (waterfowl management areas) near my home. They are State managed lands where waterfowl and other wildlife can flourish in prime conditions. Today we explored a 560 acre WMA just a few short miles North of Richfield, Utah. It is bordered on the North edge by a sizeable reservoir and along the eastern edge by a river. After yesterdays big snowfall we thought it would be a perfect chance to get the dogs on some tight-holding pheasant. The dogs pointed quite a few hens but the lone rooster of the morning flushed out of range and flew across the river onto private land. I was impressed by the amount of cover available for the birds.

Up until today my only pheasant hunting exerience locally was at my neighbors pheasant farm. The public vs. private lands debate came to my mind as I wandered for hours on public lands only seeing one other hunter way off in the distance. I enjoyed seeing a large variety of birds and waterfowl, most of which I have never seen on the local pheasant club grounds. We were surprised to flush nearly a hundred mallard ducks that were resting on a bend in the river.

From a training standpoint it is nice to have easy access to both types of lands. The pheasant farm is a very controlled environment which is nice for training puppies on bird introduction or working on specific problems. As my pups progress it is fun to present them with new challenges in cover and conditions. The public lands are quite difficult to predict and much harder for the dogs to get lucky on. They learn to work smarter and to make thier searches a little more thorough. I am fortunate to have many types of terrain nearby where my dogs can hunt Chukar, Grouse, Pheasant, Quail, Dove, Ducks and even Geese.

When choosing a new puppy from a litter of healthy german shorthairs it is often hard to decide on a color. When they are first born they are distinctly white or liver in color and more often a combination of the two colors. After a few weeks the puppies true colors and markings start to show up. A primarily white puppy at two weeks old can easily turn to a heavily ticked or almost roan in a matter of a few weeks. It is amazing the changes that the puppy goes through during the first 6-8 weeks of life, not just mentally but physically as well.

In the Southwest and high desert country many hunters prefer dogs that are mostly white simply because they are less likely to overheat when hunting in the late Summer. Some people avoid all liver or dark colors because they seem to disappear in the shadows and are difficult to spot when they are on point. Largely it is a matter of personal preference and has less impact than factors like pedigree and temperment. But, this dog will be apart of your life for 12-16 years so it is important that you like how she looks.

The picture above is the Sire to the puppy I am purchasing at the end of December. The male is heavily ticked with a liver head and white-tipped tail. On the other side of the coin the Dam of the litter is a solid liver color with very little white markings. I am waiting to see if the mostly white female in the picture below will morph into a more ticked dog or will stay heavily white. I am also curious to see how the white on her muzzle will turn out. I will go for another visit at 6 weeks old where I will be able to get a pretty good idea of where her color and markings are headed.

A new litter of German Shorthaired Pointer puppies was born on Halloween to Taylormade GSP in American Fork, Utah. Bart and Cindee were kind enough to hold my deposit on a previous litter for a few months so I could get pick of the litter. At this point I am leaning toward the white and liver female with the blaze on her face. I think she will probably have some good ticking like her father “Taylormades Out of the West” a Utah product sired by Rock Hard’s Mr Destiny. It will be fun to have a new puppy around christmas time. TaylorMade seems to have some nice dual potential dogs combining show lines and proven hunting lines.

I am discovering how out of shape I am as I find myself frequently out of breath while chasing chukar. They seem to enjoy living in steep rocky terrain where most people wouldn’t bother hiking for a trophy mule deer, let alone a feathered creature with eyes in the backs of their head. Even though we were able to locate the roosting spot of a sizeable covey of chukar, it is still quite a challenge to sneak up on them. We are able to find them eventually but quite often they are way ahead of us and flush out of range. So far, the best tactic we have found is two hunters approaching from different directions for a squeeze play. Even still, we rarely get a decent shot off. The troubling thing is that we are enjoying the challenge and we keep going back for more. One day I hope to actually get my limit. If nothing else it has been good excercise for a couple of computer geeks.

A few weeks ago I saw an ad in the local newspaper for a used dog house, two of them actually. I called the lady and she said that she was selling them for five dollars each. I couldn’t pass up a deal like that so I drove across town and picked them up. They were very simple dog houses and not constructed very well although they did have shingles on the roof. I brought them back to my woodworking shop and proceeded to add some bracing and a lot more nails. I also added a few slabs of two inch solid-core foam insulation panels in the floor, back and sides. Most of the stuff I had just laying around like 2×4 scraps and wafer board. The only thing I had to purchase was the metal corner round that I added to the doorway to discourage chewing on the wood. Puppies love to chew on things, especially wood.

Since I have a female puppy now I am facing the fact that my three dogs will have to be separated at some point in the future. While on the prowl for cheap construction materieals I found another treasure in the classified ads last week. Somebody in Salt Lake City had several rolls of used heavy duty 8 foot tall chain link fence for sale. They only wanted $100 for all of it so I picked that up for a future kennel addition. There ended up being two 50 foot rolls, as well as 4 smaller lengths of fence totaling just over 150 linear feet of chain link. I hope to use it to add a large 25×50 play area to my existing dog kennel as well as two or three individual outside dog kennels.