training with birdie

went out today for birdies 2nd day under gun shot. i use a dummy launcher that fires a .22 blank so she can get used to the gun sound. i didnt expect any retrieves today because i didnt think she would be able to fit the dummy in her mouth. once again she proves me wrong. i tossed the dummy by hand and birdie happily retrieved for me. the launcher fires to far for her at this age but she had fun chasing me as i ran for the dummy. i always let her pick it up. shes still a champ with the gun fire. she is unfazed by loud noises. good girl birdie!

meet birdie

thursday morning i drove to raleigh, nc to pick up our new dog, birdie. we got back home late last night. she is a beautiful german shorthaired pointer. cant wait to get her out in the marsh this season for a ride along on a few hunts. as soon as she settles in at her new home we will start our training. a big thanks to the robertson family for letting us be a part of the gsp family. they have a wonderful blog, German Shorthaired Pointers of Raleigh

also, a big thanks to chris boll for riding up and back with me to help handle birdie on the ride and to will and ellie campbell for letting us crash at their house for the night.

crawfish hunters

fern and lyla had a great time hunting for crawfish in the creek

nc trout final day

went out early yesterday caught two nice brookies before the rain started. had a blast in north carolina this year.

nc trout day 5

took a day off from fishing yesterday. went out this morning and it was pretty crowded. found a few small streams out of the way and caught a few nice trout including the second brown trout of the trip.

nc trout day 3

got to the river around 9 yesterday morning. caught about 15 trout today and all were brook trout. fished dry flies early, which produced small fish, then switched to a weighted san juan worm to get down into the deeper holes. caught all my best fish that way. a couple of friends drove their motorcycles over from chattanooga and met me around noon. a few mins after they arrived the skies opened up. we waited about 3 hours for the lightening to let up but it never did. it was good to get to fish with them even though it was only for a little while.

nc trout day 2

day two produced some nice trout. a mixed bag of rainbows, browns and brooks. plenty of flies in the air and on the water and the trout are willing to take a dry fly which is always fun. most were caught on an elks hair caddis dry fly. the best trout of the day was on a san juan blood worm. the weather up here is so nice and the kids are having fun playing in the creek next to the cabin.

north carolina trout

got to the cabin this afternoon. made it out for about an hour to fish. managed two brookies. had a few more risers but they did not take. first one was caught on an olive woolly bugger and the second on an elk hair caddisfly. weather is awesome. cant wait to get back out on the water tomorrow.

goodbye bailey heidegger kirby

we had to let our sweet bailey boy go this morning. the whole family is having a tough time but it was the best decision. bailey was a great family dog and we loved him very much! this photo is from a little less than a year ago.

birthday decoys

im posting these a bit late but better late than never. these are the decoys i had carved and received for my birthday. bender did a great job. cant wait to float them next season!