Building a Grouse Dog Paperback

Building a Grouse Dog: From Puppy to Polished Performer by Craig Doherty, is the most comprehensive, how-to manual there is for taking an eight-week-old little squirmer of any pointing breed and turning him or her into that most coveted game bird finder there is: a finished grouse dog. 

Unlike many general pointing-dog training books, this one concentrates on one species the ruffed grouse. Grouse are notorious for their caginess, their wariness, and their difficulty in being pinned down so a hunter can get close enough to flush and shoot. It takes a dog that has been trained nearly from birth to handle that task, and no one knows how to do it better than Craig Doherty. 

Craig was the driving force behind Field Trial Magazine, is a columnist for The Pointing Dog Journal, regularly competes in grouse trials throughout the Northeast, professionally trains grouse dogs for clients from all over the country, and this is important guides grouse hunters using his own dogs trained in his outstanding methods; important because paying clients need results, and those results can only come by following dogs that know the game. 

A number of how-to training books tell you what to do from beginning to end; but if you have started your own training, run into problems, and consult the literature, many times you ll find that the advice is something along the lines of, Well, you messed up because you didn t do X, Y, and Z. Remember that so you won t ruin your next dog. Not Craig if you have run into a snag with your current dog, Craig tells you what to do to get past it and on with the dog s completed training. So if your aim, your goal, is to own and hunt behind a finished grouse dog that knows what s what in the coverts, Building a Grouse Dog is the best guide you ll ever have.

 

 

Eight Wolves trapped between Ely and Babbitt due to dogs being taken

by Parker Loew

After reports of pets being taken, federal officials set up a trapping zone and captured and euthanized eight wolves between Babbitt and Ely.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services Division doesn’t take decisions like these lightly and only performs the trapping of wolves under extreme circumstances.

“After the first report, they (USDA) didn’t set up a trapping zone, just deterrence plans. After the second report two weeks later, they opened a trapping control zone,” said Anthony Bermel, conservation officer with the DNR.

The trapping zone established was only around one acre in size, and lasted roughly a week, but the USDA trapped and euthanized eight wolves in the established zone.

While they would prefer to not euthanize any wildlife, Bermel explains how it isn’t that simple.

“Wolves have their territories, it is very difficult to relocate them,” said Bermel. “Once they identify humans as a food source, it makes it much more difficult.”

The DNR and USDA have received an elevated number of calls this fall from residents in the northwoods on their pets being chased and taken by wolves, and wolves that aren’t afraid of humans.

The wolf-deer dynamic is likely to blame for the increased interaction between people and wolves this year.

“I think it is primarily low deer population in the wolves’ territories,” said Bermel. “The abundance of deer in town and close to residents who often feed the deer plays a large part in drawing the wolves close to people.”

The eight wolves trapped by the USDA were described as “healthy, but fit.”

This time of year, it is early for wolves to be fit (thin), and further adds to the hypothesis that there is an abundance of wolves this year and a low deer population in their normal territories.

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“If you live out in the woods or if you’re out grouse hunting or walking your dog, just be aware because there’s been several of these incidents over the last few weeks,” he said.

Read the full Ely Echo article