Early this morning I drove down out of the mountains to Fryeburg, ME where the Maine Bird Dog Club held a work day in preparation for the Northern New England Woodcock Championship. We were able to get courses one and two done at Fiddleheads with the help of two tractors brought and operated by Club VP John Short (no relation to Kellie) and the venerable Bob Paucek who is recovering from a heart attack and the insertion of a stint four weeks ago. Club president Kellie Short and our new Sec/treas. Bruce Brunell help Bob on Course two while Rick Despins, Peter Mooney and I help move logs and flag course one. Peter was out ahead with the tape and walked up to good size broods of grouse and a woodcock. I put up another woodcock when I was try to route John and the tractor around a ditch. The club decided that we will hold a derby and a restricted shooting dog on the Thursday September 16th before the Championship begins on Friday. There is also talk of a half hour derby and shooting dog later in September.
After spending the the morning in Fryeburg I came back over the mountains, where the high today was in the upper 60s, hooked up with Tony, and we took Jack and Ginger for a training run. We moved a total of eight woodcock in about an hour. The dogs had not run in about a week and Jack was all over the place as he expended his pent up energy. Thank heavens for the Garmin, on one find he was buried in some raspberry canes that were shoulder high on me. I almost stepped on him before I saw him.
Tony’s Garmin was having a problem dropping the signal from the collar and we sent in in for a “repair” and received a reconditioned one back. Today was the first time he’d used it and the new one did the same thing. It looks like another call to Garmin.