Grant Wright
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A few pic finally posted, I’m not sure why the others didn’t upload but will try again this evening.
600,000 acres of private land — one of the largest ranches in the country. My handful of pics don’t do it justice. Everything about the ranch is wonderful: The fish, the streams, the lakes, and the land make for a unique and wonderful experience. The staff and accommodations are incredible.
Our view from the lodge
The No.1 stream, a short walk from the lodge. The streams are full of brookies, browns, and rio grande cutthroat
Some alpine lakes up near the tree line. We caught some beautiful brookies up here.
Wading the lakes was a great way to spend an afternoon.
…probably gonna get hazed for this one…had to go with the kung fu grip
This guy ate an adult damsel on top
Casa Grande (Ted Turner’s pad)
As usual, I didn’t take enough pictures. On top of the Ranch’s beauty, the fishing is really good. The service is unrivaled. A private chef for a week spoils you with beef, quail, bison, elk, veal, crab legs, wine, etc, etc.
The transportation to and from wasn’t bad either.
Zach — The steadywithstyle website has a free training manual in addition to some great articles.
Looks like a nice dog — I’m guessing you decided on the Griffon over another setter?
Training with live birds is the best way to go if you have the option. The danger with penned raised birds (pennies) and pointing dogs, is getting crappy birds that cannot fly. If your pointing dog, especially a young dog in training, begins catching birds on the ground this can create problems with creeping/bumping birds that you can avoid with strong flying birds.
Quail are highly succeptible to sickness/disease and are looking for an excuse to die. A call back pen is nice if you have an area to release the birds and can keep them healthy (not easy). The phantom quail kennel that Dan Hendrickson out of Abilene developed is the best recall pen I’ve seen (google it). If you get pennies, do your best to avoid all contact with the birds. They can quickly become tame to people and will not act wild, decreasing there value as a training tool.
IMO, homing pigeons are the best option for urban bird dog trainers. I keep about twenty homing pigeons and work my dogs on pigeons twice a week and run them another three days a week in the off season. Homers are indestructable, easy to care for, multiply quickly, and can be reused constantly. I have several places to train around town from golf courses to over-grown fields, so my dogs don’t get used to training in the same place day after day. The golf course property where I train most often is about 10 miles from my house. By the time I finish working my dogs, load up my dogs and gear, and return home, my birds are waiting for me in the loft.
Thankfully, I still live in a place with enough wild birds to train with and hunt during the fall and winter. I send my dogs north to the Dakotas to run on wild pheasants and sharpies in July/August.
I highly recommend the Smith Kennels training system and like the West method too.
This is a very good resource from people who know what they are talking about: http://steadywithstyle.com/
Good Luck — It’s addictive!
They’ve go some great looking boats in there line up. I’ve been drooling over the Gladesman for several years now.
I’m looking forward to the trip and will have plenty of pictures to share when I get back (hopefully some of which will include some monster trout)!
Nice job, Zach! We’ve got Rio Grande Turkeys on the ranch and I always enjoy taking a big gobbler in the spring.
Their are a few red setter lines that are throwing nice bird dogs that have racked up some wins in the American Field Horseback trials.
One of the many advantages of living in West Texas are the bird hunting opportunities that begin minutes from your front door.
