Happy birthday Rogue!
14 years old yesterday. To the dog that started it all for PRL
PRL update from the UP
As we start our second week of hunting we’ve put on the miles every day and the dog work has been nothing short of terrific! Here are a bunch of photos to share in the experience!
Lacey with her Llews
Here is two-month-old Lacey Scarlet in our evening routine with the setters on the bed.
Pre-season is here at PRL!
We’ve started to get the Llews back out on birds this week and will continue to do so until we leave for our five week hunt trip to the UP in September. The kids are looking good after their first day back to work in many months! Click on photo to enlarge and use slideshow feature.
Pre-season training for our Llews
We haven’t gotten in as much as pre-season bird training as we would have liked due to working so much to enable our time away in the UP for 5 weeks but all the Llews are seeing birds at least once a week and receiving conditioning 3-4 days a week. After our first week in the UP I think we’ll be look’n pretty darn good! Here are a few pre-season photos our Llewellins doing their bird dog thang in the Catskills of NY. Enjoy!
p(oint)-ersonable
Please daddy please! Take me hunting today!
This is Rogue and I exchanging from Llew-love prior to going out on a our traditional Thanksgiving Day hunt. When Rogue sees the hunting chaps come out of the closet it’s all excitement from there on out!!
Duncan and Rogue teaming up for the afternoon
It’s been a very down year for grouse populations here in the New York…. either seem to hit a nice patch of birds every so often or nothing at all. Tons of food this year…. a llew friend of mine from Michigan feels that they are around but food is so plentiful that they are spread out and habits are different. I’m starting to feel he is right…. the dogs are working really hard and getting birdy often with their cautious grouse behaviors, flash points then tracking around a bit…. in premium habitat. So though a down year for grouse ….. I think it’s even more so the year of the smart grouse!! I’ve hunted in an area where the dogs have found 9 birds in 20 minutes and then spent the next two weeks working that area and the square mile around it and not found a bird…. a lot of the birds I’m bagging this year are several years old so they know the rules of survival quite well. Here’s a photo of Duncan and Rogue after teaming up and working a handful of grouse very nicely….. their dad finally had a good shot and put a smile on their faces!
What it’s all about…. October in the U.P.
I always say….”there are dog people—and then there are bad people.” I can absolutely understand not owning a llewellin setter if you don’t hunt and or don’t have lots of space for the dog to run and hunt on it’s own around your home (property) but for those of us who view our dogs as an extension of ourselves…. well— then, you have found a great place to hang out online and read about amazing dogs with amazing abilities that are at the center of a dog person’s world.
Three things that warm my heart are: a llewellin setter giving me a hug, a llewellin setter snuggled against my body while I’m in bed watching a movie and a llewellin setter fiercely on a stunning point rock solid and as sure as the day is long. What do these things all have in common— a llewellin setter.
My first hunting season in the U.P. with my young llews could not have been more fruitful for both the dogs and myself. Nearly every time I came out of the woods from a hunt for a couple hours with one of my dogs or running a brace with Scott Lazur of Laurel Mtn. Lllewellin Setters with one of his dogs I pretty much always came out of the woods glassy eyed because it’s just so beautiful to watch these dogs do what they were born to do and do it with such style, with such grace and with such tenacity. I wear my heart on my sleeve but these dogs in incredible wilderness were just the song this country boy has been yearning for his whole life. There was no time, no place…. nothing…. ever…. that made me feel more at peace, more happy nor more excited than these few weeks of watching my kids do what they were born with. Here are some more photos that you can see for your own viewing pleasure.
My veteran hunter and diva— Rogue
My old llew, Rogue, felt she was getting pushed to the cyberspace curb so she requested that I show a little respect and put a few photos up of her. Click on the photos to enter a slideshow of the gallery.
Widget wants to know why everyone is sleepy?
Our veteran llew is finally opening up to the new kids but then again Piper running for mayor on cuteness!!! Click on photos to see slideshow gallery.