Dutch Mojo
Just popped into town for a booze run.... not much time to write, but I can say that our Dutch guests certainly have some mighty powerful MOJO working for them!
Weather? Perfect
Birds? Gajillions
Dog work? Outstanding.
Every single dog has been on a freakin hot streak!!
Uma, my wife's 7 year old Ponto has pointed about 8 snipe in her life, 6 of them yesterday!!
Maizey my LH female somehow figured out stop to flush on her own and yesterday I kept her steady to wing and shot...and I have NEVER trained her for that! She had 11 points in just over an hour while running like a field trial dog. (note to self, check the pedigree one more time...there HAS to be some yankee FT blood in there somewhere even if she is from Germany!)
Zeiss, my buddy's LH male has been putting on a clinic on how to hunt grouse. His run, point, fetch..everything is off the charts right now. Mar had a hard time believing he is German!
Henri is still battling Giardia, but he put on a picture perfect run and pointed like a seasoned pro the day before yesterday. Today he will be back out there to demonstrate the concept of "rockin and rollin" in the big wide open fields we have out here.
The two dogs that Marjolein and Roel brought with them have been doing great! Barak is a 7 year old Drent Partridge dog and he is really living up to his name...he is handling our "partridges" very well! The day before yesterday (his first day here) I hunted with him and Uma, the Ponto. Barak had a beautiful point on a ruffie and Uma backed him. That alone was a sight to see! But then Mar gave the command for Barak to flush (that is how they do it in Holland) and I became the only person on the planet to ever shoot a ruffed grouse over the point of a Drent Partridge Dog, backed by a Pont Audemer Spaniel....with a French Darne shotgun!!!
Mar's young LH weim Dirkje has been very impressive. She is only just over a year old but has managed to point grouse, snipe and woodcock...and she has never been hunting before! We've run her with some of the more experienced dogs to help her figure things out but it looks like she can figure them out for herself! And on top of being a great hunter, she is really pretty (I could say the same thing about Marjolein, but I don't want to make her husband jealous)....
All in all, the Dutch Adventure has started off with a bang...actually lots of bangs!
Other tidbits:
Barak's new nickname is Mouffette (skunk in French... he got a little too close to one on his first day in the field!).
Mar is a really good shot...better than all the guys combined I think.
Snipe fried in butter is like heaven on a cracker.
Grouse cooked any way you like is even better.
There is water everywhere....bring extra socks and boots if you venture north this year
Ok, time to get back at it...more updates later
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