Guided a group of pheasant hunters this week at Rooster Valley Pheasants in Annabella, UT. The weather was beautiful and the dogs were dialed in and finding birds. There were 12 shooters in this large group of hunters, so Russ split them into 3 hunting groups. I took this small group and worked the canal and the river along the Northeast edge of the property. We had a good safe hunt with some good shooters who only missed a few roosters. I think we ended up with around 25 birds at the end of the hunt. Some real nice guys and a great day of hunting pheasant.

I really enjoy the opportunity to get my young dogs out on some more birds and get valuable experience. The roosters were running on us a bit more than usual and the dogs didn’t take long to figure it out. We had to hustle a few time to catch the runners but we only had one give us the slip. Abby looked sharp and was holding her points very well. The wind was just right and she was slamming on point about 20-30 feet in front of the bird. Abby and Annie fought a bit over retrieving but they always brought the bird to hand. Annie had a great find on a wounded bird that lit across the river. She hadn’t seen the rooster dropped so I sent her blind across the river. She was hesitant at first but swam the cold water and finally found the bird 50 feet back in the brambles. I was so proud. Not bad for a couple of young dogs. Annie (Brittany) is 18 months old and Abby (Shorthair) will be two in April.

This past week Annie and I were able to tag along as co-guides at the Rooster Valley Pheasant Farm. The owner’s son Wade was kind enough to let Annie and I tag along with him and his very talented GSP Whitney. We guided a small group of hunters through some great cover along the river and up onto the sage brush flats. Wade had warned me before hand that Whitney was a retrieving fool and that Annie would likely be a spectator. Lucky for us the first point was solid with Annie and Whitney pinning the birds in. Even luckier two birds flushed, a hen and a rooster and both were shot. Annie bolted after the second bird and Whitney got the first so it worked out great.

As we continued hunting Annie was able to get a few more retrieves as Whitney was out of position or on another point. It was fun to watch the seasoned GSP work those pheasant and I believe Annie learned a bit from her. I was especially pleased that Annie behaved nicely and once even retrieved a bird to hand for one of the guests. Usually, she will only bring the birds to me. A big thanks to Wade and Russ at Rooster Valley for letting me and Annie get some more birds under our belts. We hope to get out on some wild chukar this week while the weather is still nice. Abby’s heat cycle should be finished by the weekend so I’ll be back to two hunting dogs instead of one.