Our German Wirehair Pointer, Broomhilda (Hildy), birthed her first litter on November 25th and 26.  The final count after thirteen hours of labor was twelve puppies.

We bred Hildy with Brad Wood’s German Wirehair Pointer, Cooper.

Both parents are great hunters, I use Hildy for guiding upland hunts, you can find many videos of Hildy hunting here.  Cooper has been to Sandy Run several times and done a  great job hunting pheasant and chukar.  Cooper and Brad just got back from hunting pheasant in Iowa.

Hildy and Cooper, like most wirehairs, are incredible pets also.  Hildy is great in the house, lodge and the field.  Both of these dogs are extremely trainable and have massive drive in the field.  Plus even with a day to go in her pregnancy, Hildy still gives great hugs.

So if you are looking for an awesome hunting and home companion, the pups in this litter are perfect.  Call, text or email for more information.  Puppies will be available at day 49 on January 13th.  Prices start at $800, pick of each gender, $950.

Larry Kleiner set up a quail hunt, usually a warm up for wild bird season, that came a few days after the opener. Mark Meyer, Joe Mioux, Bob Dasenbrock and Doug Hays came along to hunt the coveys in the Cabin Field. Doug and Bob both brought setters, Pepper and Libby, Joe, his pointer, Ginger and Larry brought Holly, a german shorthair. Some nice covey rises, good dog work and shooting in this video.

Kevin Diekroeger came out with his two pups, Ina and Penny to hunt some quail. I talked him into trying a covey in a field we haven’t hunted in a few years. I added some new prairie and removed a bunch trees from some old prairie in the field south of the timber. Just as planned, the covey rise ended up with singles in the fencerows and some fun shooting. Then we headed back to the Cabin Field and found a couple of coveys around the timber finger, nothing but fun.

The Missouri Sportsman’s Club brought out a group of hunters to get in some early season upland bird hunting. The weather was not ideal, patches of mist and rain driven by some strong west winds made for tough conditions and a switch to hunting primarily pheasant with a few chukar and quail. Brett Goldschmidt served up some BBQ chicken and fixin’s while the hunters did some warm up on clay pigeons. Brett held a quick safety meeting before dividing up into five groups and spreading out to the fields. Lots of nice pheasant rises and a really nice quail covey rise caught on camera. Lousy weather but still a good time in the field and in the clubhouse.

Mike, Cliff, Chris, John, and Jack Morton came out with Brian Goff, Tyler Williams, Jason Carroll and Eric Quandt to hunt some pheasant and chukar. I filled up the North Tinkerfarm Field with birds and then came out to watch Mikes’ shorthairs, Cash, Libby and Daisy search the prairie/milo strips. No birds snuck around the trio of dogs or nine guns. Some birds got more of a chance than others, including a chukar that took 12 shots before it finally crashed. After I left, Mike gave Belle and Queen a chance finding the birds that had scattered to the fencerows.

My long-time friend and neighbor, Steve Bradley, is trying to find a home for his dog Gee.  He recently retired and plans to be doing a bunch of traveling and does not have enough room in the camper for Gee.

Seven years ago Steve bred his pudelpointer, Duchess,  to my lab, Ty.  Gee was the pup he kept and trained to find deer sheds, retrieve ducks and hunt upland birds.

She is excellent at finding sheds, bringing back as many as four or five in a hunt.  Including this monster.

Wow,  that is an ugly dog, but as far as duck hunting, she can sit still in the blind and run blind retrieves.  She can be handled through whistle and hand signals.  Although, she may not be the best in extreme cold conditions.

Gee was also trained to hunt upland birds.  She is an excellent retriever, but over the past couple of years has become less steady.  She does not back and likes to crowd the birds at point.  She could be hunted close for upland birds as you would any flushing dog.  Excellent nose.

Gee has been a kennel dog her entire life and is excellent health.

Steve is looking to sell her for $200 to home where she will get ample opportunities to get in the field or woods after birds or sheds.  Call or text Steve Bradley, 618 335-6683 to meet Gee or just G for short.

Todd Parke brought out his young, black lab, Slick for another round of pheasants before their wild bird hunt. Noah Reynolds came along to watch and learn from the duo. Slick was on again and found and flushed all the birds from the Cabin Field.

Brent Brooks brought out his setter, Sam, for his second pheasant hunt of the season. A lot cooler and damper for this hunt so Sam and Brent had a more enjoyable time in the field. We headed down through the Clubhouse Field to the East Bottom Field, picking up a rooster on the way. Sam found all the pheasant in the bottoms plus an extra rooster and a covey of quail.

Todd Parke brought out his young, black lab, Slick to hunt some pheasants. Todd wanted to see how Slick would do before he headed north on a wild pheasant hunt. She did awesome, found all but one of the big birds, plus a big covey of quail. Slick and Todd flushed, knocked down and retrieved three quail in some thick cover. She is most certainly ready for their next hunt.

Kevin Diekroeger drew a fifth season, Fayette County turkey tag in spring of 2018.  Kevin has some property in Missouri where he does some turkey hunting along with several of his family members.  He also usually draws a turkey tag to hunt public ground in Illinois, but has no private ground in Illinois to hunt.  He really enjoys coming out to the Sonnemann Woods to hunt turkeys.  

Kevin came out the afternoon before his season started.  He set out his ground blind.  That evening after a Sandy Run dinner, Kevin headed out into the Clubhouse Field to owl hoot trying to find where turkeys were roosting that evening.  

The next morning Kevin and I headed to his blind.  I went along to try to get some video footage.  Kevin is a much better caller, so I was just there to watch and record the hunt.  As it turned out, I was just in the way.  Kevin set up his blind on the west edge of the Cabin Field, close to the big woods.  About half hour after sunrise, two different toms started gobbling from the west in the timber.  Just a bit of calling and soon they were headed our way.  Shortly after, a third tom started gobbling and coming in from the south.  That bird was focused on the decoys  and was headed in fast.  I slunked down in the blind, trying to give Kevin a shot over my lap, no video of this shot.  The big tom got to about 15 yards away when Kevin pulled the trigger, but I could see that with crowded blind and awkward direction from where the bird approached, his gun was not well seated on his shoulder.  Bang!  and then wingbeats, then some expletives, and some good-natured laughter.

We headed back to the lodge for breakfast and after a short nap, Kevin decided to try a mid-morning hunt.  He trekked off to the north west corner of the timber to the small food plot.   Kevin set up on the edge of the small open spot in the timber on his ground seat nestled up to the base of large oak.  After making a few hen clucks, being quiet and then a few more raspy hen clucks, a tom gobbled from the south deeper in the timber.  With just a bit coaxing the big gobbler worked it’s way to the edge of the opening, and this time, with his shotgun seated well against his shoulder, Kevin didn’t miss.  

I came out to see his trophy and while waiting on me, Kevin found a nice pile of huge yellow morels.  We searched and found a few more mushrooms and then went back for pictures and lunch.    That afternoon Kevin did some fishing and we shot some rifles and handguns.  Little celebration that evening with dinner and after breakfast the next morning Kevin hit the road with some more turkey stories to recount.