Category Archives: Hunting

Sand Spring Year In Review 2023

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As we end 2023 I want to reflect back on the year and share with you what we have been up too.

Starting off in January Gertie received her AKC Rally Advanced title. We did virtual videos, we needed to pass three courses.

In February Slammer and I completed his UKC Conformation Grand Show Champion with a Total dog to boot! This makes his 6th Total dog pass.

In April Slammer became a dad again to a lovely litter of pups born to Ruby. 7 more kids out there.

April 22nd was the ACC WI Chessie Fun day held at our home (Stancerville). People and their chessies came from all over the US again. It was a fun filled day. We are always thankful for the beautiful day we are given with so many wonderful friends. This couldn’t happen without everyone chipping in.

In May Slammer and John passed their first AKC Master Hunter test.

While JoAnn got to take a trip to Vegas with her friend Jodie. We had a wonderful trip, we saw so many things and places. We put on 90,000 steps while there, we got around! A special moment during the trip was when I brought my friend Susie back to Vegas to be laid to rest. She passed away 9 years ago and her last wish was for me to take her ashes to Vegas and spread them at the place where Susie took me to Vegas for my first time. It was so bitter sweet. I miss her dearly and she is pulling the one arm bandit all day long.

Another very special memory from my time in Vegas will stay with me forever as it is permanently on my arm for me to each each day. I designed a tattoo and had an artist at H & H tattoo company apply it.

The paw print is Guilty’s, the heartbeat is her actual heartbeat, the outline is her and the cattails are actual cattails that I got when I put her great grandfather Norman to sleep. Her memory lives on.

The end of June W.A.C.K.O. club hosted a Elite Shed Dog event at Stancerville. It was a three day event. Slammer and Gertie passed each day. On the second day Slammer received a 3rd place. Slammer has 65/100 and Gertie 30/100 points needed for their champion titles.

In July Slammer and John passed their second AKC Master Hunter test.

Slammer also became a dad for the fourth time. Dicca and him had a litter of 11 pups which kept Dicca’s owners on their toes.

August was a productive month. Slammer and John passed their 3rd AKC Master Hunter test.

September started out the busy month by JoAnn going Bear hunting with a friends brother and his bear hound dogs. I was successful the first morning I went out.

My friend Kim S talked me into showing Slammer in AKC conformation. I couldn’t show the first day so Kim showed Slammer, I then received a text stating that Slammer went WD/BOB for a 3 point major. To say I was surprised was an understatement. Host clubs were the Greater Racine Kennel Club and the Cudahy Kennel Club.

The second day of the show I showed Slammer and we received WD/BOB for another 3pt major. This guy was on a roll.

September was the month I had been working all year for. The ACC National Field Trial Specialty was being held in Stoughton, WI. I was one of the committee members to make this happen. It was such a great 4 days. The chair-cochair, committee members, volunteers all did an amazing job. I was happy to be apart of this event.

Right after the NFT John and Gertie headed to Saskatchewan for a week of snow goose hunting. They had a great time with their friends. Hoping this next year I can get back into going.

While John was in Canada I went to another dog show with Slammer. This show was hosted by the Sheboygan Kennel Club. He received a second and a RW.

The end of September I entered another dog show this time with Riggs. Host club was Rockford-Freeport Kennel Club. Riggs was 1st and then WD for his first 3pt major. On the second day he was 2nd/RW.

The end of October I hit a three day dog show with Slammer again. Host clubs were the Kenosha Kennel Club and Skokie Valley Kennel Club. The first day Slammer went 1st/wd/boboh for his 3rd 3pt major. The second day he went 1st/RW. The third day he went 1st/WD for his 4th 3pt major. He’s on fire!

We ended the show season of 2023 with 4 majors, 12 points and NOHS Bronze with 10 points. Unbelievable!!

October we started guiding at Lone Oak Shooting preserve again along with regular hunting. The dogs are having fun picking up birds. Gambler at 12.5 years and Glory at 12 years are still hunting and doing a great job at it. I have to scream a little louder as they are deaf but they get the job done.

Through out the year Gambler, Glory, Slammer and Gertie visited Clearview Health Campus once a week doing pet therapy. Bringing smiles to the residents.

The middle of December Slammer and I went to another Elite Shed Dog event. He timed out the first day, passed the second day and had to scratch the third day as I was called to go bobcat hunting. He now has 75/100 points to earn his champion shed dog title.

John and I both had bobcat tags, John drove me up to Sheldon, WI to hunt with the same peeps who took me bear hunting. John happened to be near the cat before I got there so he tagged it. There wasn’t another chance for me to hunt as it hadn’t snowed again before the season closed. We hunted with hound dogs and what a trip it is to witness another breed hunting.

Gambler got the privilege to hunt with his Boykin buddy Ted one last time. Gambler is 12.5 years and Ted is going on 14 years with walking disabilities. They have been hunting together a couple times during the pheasant season for the past 10 years. Gambler doesn’t play well with others but he respects Ted and it’s amazing to watch these two dogs work together to get the job done. I always have fun watching the Boykins hunt and hunting under them. Thank you Ted for many hunts with Gambler.

Bruce was able to snap this photo of Gambler and I walking side by side hunting. When Gambler’s dad Norman was 12 years old John snapped a photo of Norman and I walking side by side at Lone Oak Shooting Preserve. I now have to favorite photos of me and my pals.

Shank is Shank and has been visiting the Vet School every 3-4 months to have her cataracts evaluated. She is on daily medication and her eyes are stable. She is a fun loving little gal that doesn’t know she has a problem. Bones is her buddy as she is always stalking him and trying to play with him. He is still going strong with his megaesophagus with not having any health issues from it.

We had a uneventful Christmas and New Year.

This brings Sand Spring Chesapeakes 2023 to a close. We had a fun filled year with hoping more fun and accomplishments in 2024. We hope you all had the year you wanted and hope you have a happy, healthy and safe 2024. We will be seeing you!

Year In Review 2022 Sand Spring Chesapeakes

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As we close out 2022 and bring upon 2023 I would like to take a moment to reflect on 2022 the good the bad and the ugly. I do this so I can have a record of what the year has brought when I look back and to share the year with others.

Our 2022 was started out with the good and the bad that was carried over from December of 2021. It was on Christmas day 2021 that we welcomed 2 precious Norman and Guilty pups into this world. This was Guilty’s last breeding and when we found out the bad that Guilty had something going on with her liver.

Guilty was such a great mom during this time, her liver was failing and she marched on and took care of her pups. It’s amazing what mothers will do for their young. For the next six months Guilty would be on medications for her liver and bloodwork to monitor her values. During this time she didn’t act like anything was wrong, she was still a happy go lucky dog that would do anything to please us.

The middle of February Jake and Kola went to their forever homes. I accompanied Kola on his flight to Alabama to live with our best friends Alan and Nichole whom also have another Sand Spring pup Hector. The night in the hotel and flight went so well with Kola, he adapted to everything without skipping a beat. I had a great time visiting Alabama, I got to see and do so much in the short time I was there.

Gertie and Slammer were invited to the UKC Premier. Both of them were in the 2021 Top Ten for conformation which meant they were invited to the 2022 Premier, we didn’t make it to the Premier but it was a honor to be invited.

Gertie received her AKC Therapy Dog title, she made 50 therapy visits to earn this title. Mostly she visited John’s dad who was homebound then in the nursing home. It made Gertie’s day and Howards day to do the visits. It’s always nice to make visits and put smiles on peoples faces.

Slammer and John competed in two UKC HRC Seasoned tests, passing both of them to earn Slammer’s Hunting Retriever title. During the summer he continued to train towards his UKC finished and AKC Master Hunter title. He ran two master tests in which he failed both. We learned that more training is needed to accomplish this task.

Slammer and JoAnn received their AKC Rally Advanced title. The rally events were all done virtually. He passed three rally courses.

April 25, a litter of 9 was born to Belle, Slammer was the sire. Since we were not breeding Guilty anymore and Gertie was spayed due to health reasons we took a puppy in lieu of a stud fee. We picked out this little beauty and named her Shank.

At six months of age we got some bad news on Shank. It turns out she has pretty bad cataracts so we won’t be able to breed her either. This was some pretty sad news to us as it pauses our breeding plans for a few more years. Shank is currently being treated by the UW Madison Veterinary School. So far we are managing her cataracts with medications. Surgery to replace her lens will probably be in her future but for now we are going to hope her eyes stay quite and she keeps her vision for a long time.

The ugliest thing that happened this year is that we lost Guilty to liver cancer. She was doing great on her medications until she wasn’t. Her liver was one of the worst that the pathologist has seen, we can’t believe she did as well as she did. Guilty never woke up from an exploratory surgery and after assisting in surgery and seeing how bad the liver was we chose to let her go peacefully. Guilty was 6 years young. One shouldn’t have to loose a dog that young. We will remember the great times we had with her and are blessed to have 2 of her children to keep her memory alive.

This summer I tried something new with Gertie we entered some AKC Fast Cat events. Gertie received her BCAT title. It took a little bit to get her to chase the bag as I think she thought that was dumb but she caught on or she just wanted to run to momma, which ever she got it done.

The most amazing thing of 2022 was that my friend Nichole invited me along with her on a trip the Europe. Thank you husband Alan for not wanting to go so I could go. What a trip of a life time, I can’t thank her enough for that opportunity. I also need to thank her niece Casey for being an excellent tour guide and hanging with us. Casey picked us up at the airport with her two young children, drove us to their lovely home in Bury St. Edmund, showed us their town and then it was off to Guernsey Island then Normandy then back to England then Nichole and I were off for a layover in Paris which was spent in the very boring airport. Can’t complain the rest of the trip was to die for!

We went to Normandy did all the Dday history stuff. One cannot even imagine the feeling one gets to visit that part of our history. It had so much meaning. I can’t thank those soldiers enough for their service and braveness. I will never forget what they did for our freedom.

Another favorite part of the trip for me was that I got to meet Karen from Jersey on Guernsey Island. She took a short 12 minute flight over to the Island to hang with me. What a wonderful day it was, can’t believe we’ve been facebook friends forever and we finally got to meet in person.

I didn’t get to meet just one facebook friend I got to meet three. While in Normandy my blogging friends Mark and Katty drove 3 hours one way to meet up with me, how great is that? We’ve been blogging friends back with Norman and their Easy was alive, we shared their lives and then we grieved their losses. We exchange doggie bday and xmas gifts. They are such lovely people I am so blessed to have gotten to meet them and their new doggies Phenny and Nelson. I will never forget meeting my facebook friends.

When I got back home it was time to run another UKC Elite Shed Dog event to try and get Slammer and Gertie their Working Shed Dog titles. They both passed all three days giving them their titles. Off to Champion level for us now.

Another sad time for our family was John’s dad Howard passing away. He live a good long live until Alzheimer’s took over and ended his life. We will remember him for always hunting and fishing in his spare time. He loved all our dogs and helped us out by letting them out while we were at work. He loved Gerties therapy visits when he couldn’t get out of the house.

Another good time in 2022 was when Slammer became a dad for the second time. This time he was bred to Dicca and they had 5 beautiful boys. I’m blessed to have had a part in this and to now follow along in the adventures of some of the puppies.

During 2022 Slammer and I attended a few UKC conformation shows. We have one more champion leg we need to earn to grant him his UKC Grand Champion title. We already have dates in 2023 where we could possibly get this done.

Before the dog show we ran a shed dog event in the champion division. It was snowing hard that morning so the antlers were hard to find. Gertie timed out without finding all her antlers, Slammer on the other hand was a rock star and found his 5 antlers in 4 minutes and some seconds. He ended up in fourth place for the day. We were super happy. When we were at the dog show I entered Slammer in Rally Obedience for a chance to receive Total Dog. Slammer received third place in rally with getting reserve in the show ring gave him Total Dog for the day, so all in all it was a great weekend.

This fall we didn’t go to Saskatchewan since when they decided to lift the bird ban there wasn’t enough time for John to get off work to go so we had to decline the offer to go. We did do a little bird hunting here in Wisconsin. The most fun is guiding at Lone Oak Shooting Preserve, all the dogs get a turn at guiding. What’s not to love about picking up birds, they don’t care who shoots them and I don’t care that I’m not shooting them. All I care about is my dogs getting birds in the mouth. Gambler and Glory both turned 11 this year and they still have it.

To close out 2022 there was Christmas and now Sunday 2023 starts.

All in all through the hard times 2022 was special and very memorable. Every year there are going to be good times and bad times along with some devastating times. All I can say is that these times make us stronger for the next phase in life. With family, friends and our dogs by our sides we can get through anything.

Peace and love to all!

Pictures And Poems

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The Sand Spring crew did another guided pheasant hunt at Lone Oak Shooting Preserve. One of the dads walking along with his son took photos while his son hunted. I don’t get to have my photo taken  with the dogs as I am usually the one taking the photos so I added some poems to the photos that were taken of me and my dogs.

Have a great day. For those of you that are crazy like I have a great time Black Friday shopping, may you get all the sales that you wanted without being trampled.

Saskatchewan 2018 ~ At The Farm House

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Saskatchewan 2018 ~ At The Farm House

Yesterday I wrote and showed pictures of our Saskatchewan snow goose hunt out in the field, today I will talk and show pictures of life at the farm house for the one week a year when we take the Sand Spring gang hunting in Saskatchewan.

When we arrived at the farm house it was raining and then it turned to snow. I didn’t want to leave the farm house as it was cold and I wanted to just snuggle in by the fire but I grabbed my camera and the dogs and headed out to the snow filled lawn to take a couple pictures. The old wagon and barn are my favorite subjects so of course I had to get them with the dogs.

When we’re not out hunting we are doing shenanigans in the farm house. Snowy and raining days makes for many shenanigans.

This year’s hit shenanigans was the Bug-A-Salt gun that Mike brought up to take care of the fly’s in the farm house. Last year was a warm one so we battled the flies so Mike thought this would be a fun way to battle them this year. With the cold weather we had there weren’t many fly’s so it didn’t get used that often except to salt our food.

When it was cold outside we had a fire going in the kitchen so the dogs all snuggled around the fire. In the picture above is Pearl who is out of Nellie’s first litter in 2007 and then Glory who was out of Nellie’s last litter in 2011. Two special half sisters hanging out together.

Above is of course shenanigans from Gambler, who else would make a mess like that? I do have kennels in our bedroom but I thought I would let the gang run free in the room while I was making supper since they were crated for a bit already. Let me tell you I can hear a rip a mile away and upstairs I marched and came across this mess. I had brought along Norman and Nellie’s ashes so I could give them to Mike as he is carving me a couple of duck decoys to put the ashes in and he needed them to fill the decoy. Gambler of course ripped open his dads ashes and spread Norman around the room so now Norman is forever in the bedroom for the years to come.

My girlfriends from Regina, Saskatchewan made another trip to the farm out to visit with us. Patti and Jill always bring the best food, drinks, prezzies and laughs to the farm house. We always enjoy the time spent with the gals.

Each year we keep a tally of our birds gotten and anything else that tickles our fancy. I thought I would take pictures of the sheets to share with you all. We have a great time at the farm house and can’t thank Terry enough for opening up his door to us and for always having it ready for us each year. We love the friendship that has been made and enjoy talking about the past years and future hunts. A vacation is always about what you put in to it and the memories made.

Till next year I hope the wind is always at your back and the birds plentiful for your hunting dogs.

Saskatchewan 2018 ~ In The Field

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Saskatchewan 2018 ~ In The Field

September 20th we hit the road for Saskatchewan it’s our yearly trip with the Sand Spring gang to hunt snow geese. When we arrived in Saskatchewan there was snow, rain, cold, wind things that we thought we wouldn’t see since each year when we go we go a week later. We decided to go a week earlier this year and hit some nice weather. Well you never know what your getting with mother nature.

The first day we hunted in the snow, after that it was rain, wind and cold.

The birds were plentiful but they were also high flyers. Each day we had different challenges. One day we set out decoy’s in the rain so when the sun came up it shined on the decoys and the wetness of the decoys reflected a light back at them that made them go WHOA real geese don’t shine like that so the birds steered clear. When the birds didn’t come in Gambler hid under his tarp and kept his nose warm.

We did manage to get a little hunting in, so here are some of the action shots that I took during our week of hunting.

This little lady below is gonna be 11 years young in December. This is Pearl and if you have followed my Saskatchewan stories you have seen and heard of me talking about her as she is the reason we have made Saskatchewan a hunting spot each year. She was out of my first ever breeding with my foundation bitch Nellie and Rebel from Washington. After Mike took Pearl home we have had this incredible friendship that Chesapeakes have made.

Pearl was born in 2007, she didn’t make it to Saskatchewan the first year after her birth and then missed only one other year since then because her owner underwent heart surgery and his doctor advised him not to make a trip that year. It was a year well missed with out them there. Unfortunately Pearl was born before the DM (Degenerative Myelopathy) testing was available and we suspect she indeed has the disease. She has been tested affected and is showing signs so this year was about getting Pearl birds as she most likely won’t be able to retrieve birds next year. She gave it her all and made some fantastic retrieves.

 

As this Saskatchewan hunt came to a close friendships got stronger, the love of the Chesapeakes got stronger and we will still include the black Lab who is the wanna be Chessie and we know one day there will be a Chessie by his side as well. We didn’t have a great bird count for the week, we ended up with only 44 birds but it is not about how many birds we got it is about the memories made.

Thanks for a wonderful week!

Weekend Hunts

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Last weekend the SS gang finally got to get out and do some waterfowl hunting. Guilty was the first one to go hunting on Saturday morning. She was the only dog hunting with 6 guys for some ducks.

 

Guilty said she had enough of photos and she was out of there!

Next to go hunting was momma bear Glory, she had the Saturday afternoon shift with the same hunters.

Glory retrieved some really pretty wood ducks. All of the girls photos were taken by my pal Justin, he captured some really nice shots. There was a suggestion on Facebook that some of the photos of Glory would make a really nice puzzle so I’m thinking of doing that. I haven’t put together a puzzle since I was a kid so this might be a fun thing to do.

Gambler was the last one to go hunting. He got to go goose hunting with John, my Uncle Randy and myself. We hunted a corn field and was able to get 7 out of our 9 bird limit. He was in heaven retrieving the big geese. There isn’t a bird to big for Super G.

Gambler thought since he worked so hard at retrieving the geese he should have a taste of them. Sorry Super G you get none but thank you for your retrieves.

It was a great hunt all around for the Sand Spring Gang.

New Year Pheasant Guide For Gambler And Guilty

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The gang took December off from any pheasant guides at Loan Oak Shooting Preserve in Montello, WI. The past two weeks we have had sub zero temperatures so the gang runs out to potty and then they come right back in. Stay out any longer and they hold their paws up. To say they are stir crazy is putting it mildly.

Gambler and Guilty were the guide dogs on Sunday. Glory had to stay home since we bred her in December and still haven’t found out if she is preggers or not we decided it was best she stay home and rest. There were 5 guys so Gambler and I took three of them while John and Guilty took the other two. Since I had the camera Gambler got the most pictures taken of him. I was able to catch one photo of Guilty.

The hunt was from 8 to 12 pm. The temperature was finally in the twenty’s, it was still cold but when you were walking and the dogs were running doing something they love to do they didn’t have a problem with the cold. Gambler and Guilty both caught a couple pheasants on their own. They said they didn’t need any guns. They both did an excellent job for the hunters who at the end of the hunt ended up with 31 birds.

A great day was had by all!

Want to book a hunt contact:

LONE OAK SHOOTING PRESERVE

N 3976 Hwy C.

Montello, WI 53949

Call 608-297-7104

The Pounce

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The Pounce!

I think I smell a pheasant.

Get out of the weeds now!

I have to go in deeper!

Third flush and retrieve.

ah ha I got you!

It’s gotta be in here.

I hear it, I smell it I just can’t see it.

How about I just pounce on you!

Glory had fun with this pheasant. It was in the really tall marsh grass buried in deep. She knew it was in there from the scent it gave off. The bird held tight to the ground and didn’t want to flush. She worked and worked and did everything to get it to flush. After pouncing it on it finally flushed and she got her bird.

It was really fun to watch her, she put a smile on my face.