Bird Dog – Palouse Upland Media

Is Avian Influenza Infecting Mammals Cause for Concern?

April 6, 2023Brad Trumbo

On February 9^th, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) released information about various wildlife species testing positive for avian influenza. Among the critters found carrying the virus were a skunk, mountain lion, and black bear. All had died from the virus.

“All three of the confirmed cases showed signs of [avian influenza] before or after death including neurologic symptoms such as seizures or circling, general signs of illness such as weakness or lack of responsiveness to human presence, and organ damage including encephalitis, hepatitis, and pneumonia”, reported Travis Duncan with CPW.

The current strain of avian influenza is highly transmissible and was first detected in North America in wild geese in March 2022. In the past year, the virus has readily jumped from avian to mammalian species, which sounds alarming, but this phenomenon is not news.

Zoonotic diseases – diseases transmissible between humans and other animal species – are due to infectious agents that more than one species is susceptible to. Nearly every big game hunter is aware of disease transmission between livestock and elk – brucellosis and elk hoof disease are common examples. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies cause diseases like scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, mad cow disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans. While these diseases are all different, the pathogenic vectors among species are typical and often include contact with bodily fluids or respiratory droplets.

The 2009 “swine flu” outbreak in the US was caused by the H1N1 influenza virus – the same virus that caused the “Spanish flu” in 1819. The swine flu virus appeared to be a new strain of H1N1 that resulted from a previous triple reassortment of bird, swine, and human flu viruses, which further combined with a Eurasian pig flu virus[1]. Miller et al. (2017)[2] identified 87 percent of swine pathogens listed by the World Organization for Animal Health cause clinical disease in livestock, poultry, wildlife, and humans.

Humans have contributed to zoonotic diseases through industrialization and the expansion of communities to accommodate the global population explosion[3]. Landscape development encroaches on wildlife and exposes species to pathogens through close contact with humans and livestock, etc.

Caserta et al. (2022)[4] tested white-tailed deer harvested by hunters for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) during the 2020 and 2021 hunting seasons in New York State. Test results found only 0.6 percent virus occurrence in 2020, but 21.1 percent occurrence in 2021, including all three variants (Alpha, Gamma, and Delta). The variants were present in deer long after they had subsided in the local human population. This presents an example of wildlife acting as a “reservoir” for a virus that can infect other species. Still, it seems odd that a specific disease or pathogen can infect mammals, including humans, as well as birds.

Aquatic birds of the world are the reservoirs for all influenza A viruses, and the virus is spread by fecal-oral transmission in untreated water[5]. Transmission involves mutational or recombinational events and can occur through fecal contamination of unprocessed avian protein, e.g. animals preying upon infected birds or drinking contaminated water. The transmission of avian influenza viruses or virus genes to humans is postulated to occur through pigs that act as the intermediate host[5]. Once avian influenza viruses are established in mammals, they are transmitted from animal to animal by the respiratory airborne route.

While disease outbreaks and spread may be somewhat manageable among livestock and poultry populations, controlling disease spread in wildlife is complicated due to the free movement of wild animals. Brucellosis presents a textbook case study.

Cattle introduced brucellosis to the Yellowstone area in the early 1900s and transmitted it to local wildlife populations[6]. The disease has supposedly been eliminated from domestic livestock in the US, yet it remains in the bison and elk populations of the Greater Yellowstone Area[6]. Like many zoonotic diseases, brucellosis has not significantly threatened wildlife populations.

Understanding animal travel and contact networks is imperative to understanding a disease’s potential movement and risk – information that is not readily available for wild animals, particularly when facing a novel disease.

Researchers have studied ecological niche modeling as a means of predicting disease spread within and among wildlife populations, but data on levels of infection in wildlife are often scarce, open to bias, and insufficient for the assessment of cross-species transmission[7]. Complexities in wildlife populations including host movement, variation in host population size, density, and contact rates, unpredictable variation in climate, and species differences in the host–pathogen relationship lead to low model predictability.

Johnson et al. (2019)[8] found that adapting the traditional biotic, abiotic, and movement framework of ecological niche models by summarizing the interaction of three factors – dynamically linked biotic interactors, unlinked abiotic stressors, and dispersal capacity – improves model prediction capability. A practical application for common wildlife species seems unlikely; however, modeling disease spread with high predictability may allow wildlife managers to avoid significant population-level effects from novel and highly virulent pathogens for known distributions of threatened and endangered species.

The complexities involving host-pathogen interactions are utterly fascinating, but the discussion may be academic in the grand scheme of life and potential impacts on species at the population level. Animals and pathogens evolve continually together, each modifying their defense or attack strategy in a game of win, lose, or draw – the draw being the common outcome when an animal endures symptoms from the pathogen, recovers, and builds immunity.

Although unnerving, the cross-species spread of pathogens rarely leads to significant population-level effects. These interactions represent the pathology continuum that ebbs and flows through time. Take caution when handling game that appears to be sick and cook it thoroughly if it must be consumed.

You can read more about the effects of avian influenza on wild birds at Harvesting Nature.

Avian influenza – Unprecedented Spread Among Wild Birds – Harvesting Nature

[1] Trifonov V, H Khiabanian, and R Rabadan. 2009. Geographic dependence, surveillance, and origins of the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus. The New England Journal of Medicine 361 (2): 115–19.

[2] Miller, RS, SJ Sweeny, C Slootmaker, DA Grear, PA Di Salvo, D Kiser, and SA Shwiff. 2017. Cross-species transmission between wild pigs, livestock, poultry, wildlife, and humans: implications for disease risk management in North America. Scientific Reports 7:7821 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-07336-z.

[3] Fong, IW. 2017. Animals and mechanisms if disease transmission. In Emerging Zoonoses: Emerging Infectious Diseases of the 21st Century. Springer International Publishing DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-50890-0_2.

[4] Caserta, LC, M Martins, SL Butt, NA Hollingshead, LM Covaleda, S Ahmed, MRR Everts, KL Schuler, and DG Diel. 2022. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) may serve as a wildlife reservoir for nearly extinct SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 120(6), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2215067120.

[5] Webster, RG. 1997. Influenza virus: transmission between species and relevance to emergence of the next human pandemic In O Kaaden, C Czerny, and W Eichhorn, eds., Viral zoonoses and food of animal origin. Springer Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-6534-8.

[6] Brucellosis – Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

[7] Morgan, ER, M Lundervold, GF Medley, BS Shaikenov, PR Torgerson, EJ Milner-Gulland. 2006. Biological Conservation 131:244-254.

[8] Johnson, EE, LE Escobar, and C Zamrana-Torrelio. 2019. An ecological framework for modeling the geography of disease transmission. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 34(7):655-668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2019.03.004.

*Feature Image Credit – USDA APHIS

Blue Mountain Pheasants Forever Receives 2022 National Education and Outreach Award

February 26, 2023Brad Trumbo

Shared by the Waitsburg Times and the Walla Walla Union Bulletin.

On February 18th, 2023, the Walla Walla, WA-based Blue Mountain Pheasants Forever (BMPF), Chapter #0258, was awarded the 2022 “National Chapter of the Year” for Education and Outreach, having provided 23 conservation-related events and reaching approximately 450 participants in Southeastern Washington – more than any other Pheasants Forever (PF) chapter across the nation.

“Just being nominated for this national award was an honor, but to actually receive it – to stand out among over 800 chapters – left us speechless. Taking a step back to look at what we had accomplished in 2022 illuminated just how hard this Chapter’s volunteers work, and their personal investment and the value they see in Pheasants Forever’s missions.” Said BMPF Advisory Board Chairman, Brad Trumbo.

PF, a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based nonprofit known as “The Habitat Organization”, was founded in 1982 with a focus on wildlife habitat conservation. The organization relies on the grass-roots efforts of individual chapters to raise funds for and execute on-the-ground habitat projects, and recruit and educate members on conservation, firearms safety, and upland hunting. PF is the only conservation nonprofit that leaves one hundred percent of funds raised by chapters within chapter control to be reinvested in the local communities.

BMPF was founded in 1988 and has since completed approximately 75 habitat projects in Walla Walla and Columbia Counties in Washington, and Umatilla County, Oregon. Each year, BMPF sponsors a youth education and shooting program.

In 2022, BMPF started a “Women on the Wing” program to diversify their outreach and encourage more women into upland hunting and conservation. The program was wildly successful in its first year, drawing participants from as far as La Grande, Oregon, and Missoula, Montana.

BMPF is currently completing six local habitat projects and rolling out 2023 program details. To learn more about BMPF, to make a donation, and to get involved with this highly active and effective PF chapter, visit their website at www.bmpf258.org, send an email to bmpf@bmpf258.org, and find them on Facebook and Instagram (@pheasantsforever258).

ESA-Listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken – A Tenuous Move for Species Recovery

December 3, 2022Brad Trumbo

On November 17th, 2022, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced the listing of two distinct population segments (DPS) of lesser prairie chicken – a northern DPS and southern DPS. Over approximately the past 40 years, this iconic bird of the North American Great Plains has lost 90 percent of its habitat to land use practices. Once enumerating in the millions, there are scarcely 30,000 individuals remaining across the states of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas[1].

This recent ESA listing has been a long time coming, dating back to 1998 when the USFWS identified the lesser prairie chicken as a candidate for ESA listing and protections, and a 2014 ESA listing as “threatened” that was “vacated” following a lawsuit. But ESA listing may not be the best approach for protecting the species and their habitats.

Ninety-five percent of the land across the lesser prairie chicken range is privately owned, and significant conservation efforts have been made for the species over the past two decades. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), through the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative[2], has worked with nearly 900 landowners to implement conservation actions on approximately 1.6 million acres. Landowners currently have enrolled more than 1.8 million acres in the Conservation Reserve Program across the lesser prairie chicken range. Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are working in concert with these conservation programs.

Conversely, the ESA protects listed species and designated “critical habitat” from “take”, which is defined as “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect, or attempt to engage in any such conduct”. Rather than working to make improvements for the species, the ESA works to avoid impacts to the species, including those that are short-term and temporary as a result of an action that will benefit the species in the long run (i.e. habitat restoration).

Section 9 of the ESA presents “prohibited acts” that constitute take, for which there is no exception for species listed as “endangered”. This means that every action within the endangered lesser prairie chicken southern DPS range, from a landowner grazing cattle to a habitat restoration project, will require some form of “incidental take coverage” from the USFWS.

“For more than two decades, the [USFWS] and its partners have been working together to conserve this iconic species and its habitat. Together we have developed a suite of conservation tools and plans, including Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances (CCAA) and Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP), across the lesser-prairie-chicken’s five-state range to protect the species and provide certainty for industry and landowners”, reported Aislinn Maestas with USFWS Public Affairs.

The “assurances” written into CCAAs and HCPs are basically conservation measures imposed by the USFWS to “minimize and avoid” incidental take, which may or may be relevant to a given action. Depending upon what assurances are written into USFWS regulation, the assurances may require an inappropriate proportional cost for little benefit to the species, when those funds could be better used for proposed restoration efforts.

Additionally, the USFWS Ecological Services Branch is regularly understaffed and overworked, making ESA consultations inefficient to the point of stalling project proponents from taking action. This is a common scenario with federal land management efforts in other parts of the nation, where impact avoidance to an ESA-listed species or critical habitat has stalled important invasive species control efforts, resulting in further degraded habitat for the species in which the proposed management actions are intended to support.

Actions may be taken in the range of the threatened northern DPS under ESA Section 4(d). “The 4(d) rule applies all of the ESA section 9 prohibitions to the Northern DPS, but provides that farmers can continue their routine agriculture activities on existing cultivated lands. In addition, it recognizes the importance of proper grazing management, and includes an exception for those producers who are following a site-specific prescribed grazing plan developed by a qualified party that has been approved by the USFWS. Lastly, the 4(d) rule also provides an exception for implementation of prescribed burning for grassland management[3].” 

Because of the pitfalls of bureaucratic process and the vast majority of private lands where lesser prairie chickens reside, grant funding and non-profit habitat improvement projects likely provide the best opportunity for these imperiled birds.

“These new [ESA listing] classifications will impact landowners who, in the end, are going to be key to saving a species from, yes, extinction”, says Ron Leathers, Quail Forever and Pheasants Forever Chief Conservation Officer. “We believe voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs — the kind of programs we help implement on the landscape — are the greatest opportunity to positively impact lesser prairie chickens and save them.”

Voluntary landowner/non-profit and NRCS partnerships ensure that actions can be planned and implemented, cooperation and buy-in can be gained from neighboring landowners, and improvements can adapt to change on the ground. This has been proven through programs like the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative and the Sage Grouse Initiative. The ESA regulatory and impact avoidance processes work counter to this productivity.

At the end of the day, protection for the lesser prairie chicken and their habitat is a win, but will ESA protection do more harm than good by imposing potentially unnecessary process on progressive habitat restoration and beneficial land management practices? Only time will tell.

The final rule to list the two Distinct Population Segments of the lesser prairie-chicken and the final 4(d) rule published in the Federal Register[4] on November 25^th and will become effective 60 days after publication.

[1] Conserving the lesser prairie-chicken | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (fws.gov)

[2] Home – Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative (lpcinitiative.org)

[3] Lesser Prairie-Chicken Listing FAQs | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (fws.gov)

[4] Federal Register :: ESA Status of Two Distinct Population Segments of Lesser Prairie Chicken

Feature Photo – Lesser Prairie Chicken by Ryan Haggerty, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain

Body Photo – Lesser Prairie Chicken, Public Domain https://www.flickr.com/photos/larry1732/5644328619/in/photostream

Federal Agencies are Planning for the Infrastructure Bill

April 28, 2022Brad Trumbo

Published April 20th, 2022 at Harvesting Nature.

In August 2021, the House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684), also known as the “Infrastructure Bill”. While the $1.2 trillion dollar bill is geared toward improving roads, bridges, airports and ports, broadband internet, and water and energy systems across the nation, it also contains around $20 billion aimed at natural resources management, enhancement, education, and protection.

Projects to be funded include but are not limited to wildlife road crossings, reauthorization of the Sportfish Restoration and Boating Trust Funds for fisheries conservation, drought planning in the west, and other water quality improvements.

Funds earmarked for federal agencies will go toward projects of this nature, and other specific uses and programs identified by agency missions, and the agencies are thinking big. Summarized here are the funding amounts and planned uses for the US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service over the next five years.

US Forest Services

$10 million – Decommissioning and removal of non-hydropower dams on Forest Service lands
$80 million – Collaborative aquatic-focused landscape-scale restoration
$100 million – Invasive species eradication at points of entry to Forest Service lands
$180 million – Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership with the Natural Resource Conservation Service
$250 million – Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Program

US Fish and Wildlife Service

$17 million – Lake Tahoe
- Aquatic invasive species removal
- Invasive species monitoring pre- and post-removal
- Bio-security infrastructure investments
- Develop a Tribal Trust for Lake Tahoe resources
$26 million – Delaware River
- Fund the Delaware River Basin program, which provides matching grants for habitat conservation in the Delaware River Basin in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
$50 million – Sage-Steppe
- Build on the current collaborative process with the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and other federal, state, and nongovernmental partners
- Defend and grow high quality sagebrush habitat “cores”
- Sustain the region’s rural, natural resources-based economies and communities, including tribes
$162 million – Klamath
- Klamath Falls National Fish Hatchery construction
- Securing water for Klamath Wildlife Refuges and improving water quality
- Implementing Tribal and stakeholder basin-wide Klamath restoration priorities
$200 million – Fish Passage
- Fund the National Fish Passage Program to work with Federal agencies, State governments, private landowners, Tribes, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to restore fish passage and aquatic connectivity by removing or bypassing barriers.

NOAA – National Marine Fisheries Service

$77 million – Habitat Restoration: National Estuarine Research Reserves
$172 million – Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery
$207 million – Habitat Restoration: Coastal Zone Management Program
$400 million – Fish Passage
$491 million – Habitat Restoration
$492 million – National Oceans and Coastal Security Fund

What all of the above points to is better public lands access, fish and wildlife habitat expansion, and increased connectivity and genetic diversity for fishes at the landscape scale. Where and how the myriad projects to be funded through each of these avenues will occur remains in the works. Many will be funded through grant programs facilitating an application and award process to ensure the money is well-spent.

Birds, Books, Setters, and Upland Hunting

March 14, 2022March 14, 2022Brad Trumbo

I’ve had the great pleasure to chat with the Crew at Harvesting Nature about Wingshooting the Palouse, and I believe you will enjoy the conversation. Give it a listen on the Wild Fish and Game Podcast.

Wingshooting the Palouse is available at Amazon.com.

Sage Grouse Translocation Reverses Population Decline

December 1, 2021Brad Trumbo

Published at Harvesting Nature, November 26th, 2021.

Think you’ve heard it all when it comes to greater sage grouse conservation? Think again. When an icon of the sagebrush ecosystem becomes imperiled, conservation dollars flow to the far corners of habitat and population research to find solutions to species sustainability and persistence.

Mary Meyerpeter and colleagues with the US Geological Survey and Idaho State University are currently studying translocation to stabilize or even grow two declining sage grouse populations on opposite fringes of their North American distribution. The “Bi-State” population on the California-Nevada border was selected as a small, isolated group facing low hatch success and overall decline. A North Dakota population was selected after a suffering a severe West Nile Virus outbreak, reduced the population.

Wildlife translocation has been a tool in the scientific toolbox longer than the words “science” and “research” have been in existence, and with this tool comes many benefits to imperiled populations. Declining genetic diversity and abundance of reproductive individuals are two challenges recipient populations typically face that may be overcome by translocation. Precisely what Meyerpeter et al. had in mind, coupled with estimating the population-level effects of introducing new individuals to the imperiled populations, and removing individuals from the donor populations.

From 2017 through 2019, the Bi-State population received 68 adults and 125 chicks from a nearby source population, while the North Dakota population received 137 adults and 66 chicks from an interior Wyoming population. The populations were monitored across the translocation period and continue to be monitored.

Photo by the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Preliminary study results suggest that translocation efforts have been successful for the recipient populations. The Bi-State population increased 160 percent with egg hatch success increasing from 31 percent to 86 percent. Similarly, the North Dakota population increased 188 percent compared to pre-translocation estimates.

The Bi-State donor population declined 31 percent following translocations, which may have been attributed to that population also being relatively small, among other potential factors. The Wyoming donor population showed no change.

Translocation results are considered preliminary until a monitoring period of up to five years has documented population responses, but the results appear promising. Additionally, successful translocation coupled with habitat restoration can perpetuate the species and play a role in range expansion into historic habitats.

Tree Removal Benefits Greater Sage Grouse Population Growth

June 19, 2021Brad Trumbo

Tree Removal Benefits Greater Sage Grouse Population Growth – Harvesting Nature

Woody plant expansion into shrub and grasslands poses a significant ecosystem issue for multiple uses. In the Great Basin of North America, pinyon–juniper expansion into the sagebrush biome is threatening the greater sage grouse, a sagebrush obligate species, as well as pronghorn, mule deer, and livestock grazing due a major shift in the vegetation community and associated ecosystem components.

According to Brianna Randall of the Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI), “More than one million acres of sagebrush grazing lands in the Great Basin have turned into pinyon-juniper forests in the past two decades alone.”

This is problematic for sage grouse because they avoid landscapes with trees, likely because trees provide raptor perching and nesting habitat. Additionally, trees crowd out and take precious water from perennial grasses, forbs, and other plants that a variety of wildlife rely on, and can effectively reduce habitat carrying capacity and suitability, causing species to relocate.

Protecting and restoring the sagebrush ecosystem is at the forefront of the Natural Recourse Conservation Service (NRCS) mission. Through the NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife program, the SGI was born and includes partnerships with other land management agencies, universities, and landowners. As a collective, these entities work to enhance the sagebrush ecosystem for cooperative wildlife and agricultural uses.

Sage grouse on the lek. (Photo credit USFWS)

Since approximately 2011, a pinyon–juniper removal effort has been underway in the Warner Mountains in south-central Oregon. Concurrently, researchers GPS-tracked 417 hen sage grouse over a 109,000-acre “treatment” area with active tree removal.

Study results published in June (Olsen et al. 2021) show that within the treatment area, sage grouse population growth rates increased approximately 12 percent within five years of tree removal compared to a population within an adjacent 82,000-acre “control” or area with no tree removal. Similarly, a 2017 SGI report identified that 29 percent of tracked hen sage grouse in Oregon returned to restored nesting habitats within four years post-restoration. Encouraging results for the future of sage grouse and the sagebrush ecosystem.

The rarity in seeing such positive population results from habitat management was summarized appropriately by Olsen et al. (2021).

“Examples of positive, population-level responses to habitat management are exceptionally rare for terrestrial vertebrates, and this study provides promising evidence of active management that can be implemented to aid recovery of an imperiled species and biome.”

References

Olsen, AC., JP Severson, LD Maestas, DE Naugle, JT Smith, JD Tack, KH Yates, and CA Hagen. 2021. Reversing tree expansion in sagebrush steppe yields population-level benefit for imperiled grouse. Ecosphere https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3551.

Sage Grouse Initiative. 2017. Conifer Removal Boosts Sage Grouse Success. Science to Solutions Series Number 12. Conifer Removal Boosts Sage Grouse Success – Sage Grouse Initiative

Flurries and Tail Feathers Inspire Future Upland Hunters

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020Brad Trumbo

The Blue Mountain Pheasants Forever Chapter (Chapter) held their annual youth hunt at Clyde Shooting Preserve November 8^th. The Chapter-sponsored event is typically held in September during the early Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife-designated youth hunt weekend, but fire danger this year resulted in the September hunt being canceled. A lucky break for this year’s attendees.

An inch of snow blanketed the Walla Walla Valley as folks awoke in preparation for the hunt. Twenty youth attendees and their families arrived from as far as Tri-Cities to attend the coveted event. Kit Lane, owner of Clyde Shooting Preserve, welcomed his guests in fine fashion with a bonfire outside, and a shelter with seating and large fire pit surrounded by a lovely brick hearth, blazing warmly to cut the chill.

Friends and families scattered about the yard, toasting hands and bottoms over the bonfire. Stories and laughter echoed among the buildings, setting a celebratory mood.

Fields were stocked and parties assembled to follow the skilled and stylish canines careening across the white-washed prairie. Snow fell in force as the initial hunters embarked, many first-timers eager to experience what the upland hype is all about.

Chapter volunteer Randy Snyder explains the retrieving basics to a youth hunter following a successful retrieve by his golden retrievers.

Through snowflakes and windchill, pointing dogs struck statuesque poses while flushing dogs encircled, pushing stunningly-plumed fowl skyward. Wily roosters took to wing as pump guns and doubles tracked.

The occasional bird came to hand by means of luck and skill, sometimes both cooperating harmoniously. Retrieves of all kinds, some at length and some nearby, aided young hunters in securing their airborne quarry. And true to the hunt, a number of birds exacted daring escapes into the hills surrounding the canyon bottom as hunters looked in awe and puzzlement.

Eight waves of hunters passed through the golden range. Experienced mentors handled bird dogs, orchestrated hunts and imparted lessons of firearms and shooting safety. All in attendance enjoyed opportunity and real-time coaching to improve accuracy.

Bird hunting is a balance of chaos for the well-seasoned, let alone someone new to working dogs and kicking up a colossal, boisterous, flailing bird capable of reaching 55 miles-per-hour flight speed in seconds.

While some first-timers were unable to connect, their skill across the hunt improved markedly, becoming accustomed to their scatterguns, dog behavior and the adrenaline-pumping rush of an explosion of cackles and tail feathers trailed closely by a flash of driven fur and wagging tails.

A savvy yellow lab retrieves a rooster to hand.

Hunters were all smiles as they parted the fields, eager for the warmth of the truck heater, excitedly recalling the events with a clarity known only to those stricken with the same fiery passion for the hunt. Fortunate hunters selflessly shared their bounty with their unlucky field mates. And talk of next year already on the lips of those eager for another chance.

The Chapter appreciates Kit and Cindy Lane, our membership and the assistance of other volunteer mentors who selflessly sacrificed their day to share the magic of the uplands. Without the support of these fine folks, and the revenue from Chapter fundraiser supporters, this coveted opportunity to inspire the hunters and conservationists of tomorrow would not be possible.

Pushing the Limits – Emphasizing the Hunt over Harvest and the Role of Social Media

February 16, 2020February 16, 2020Brad Trumbo

I got my first lesson in conservation as a boy, the age of four. Well, maybe not my first lesson, but the first I could remember. My grandfather would carry me atop his shoulders in the farmland woodlots of the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, as we hunted squirrels with a .22 caliber rifle. And there was no shortage of squirrels.

The bag limit was six in those days, but we never once killed more than three. When I asked grandpa why we would stop hunting before taking our limit, he replied “We only take what we can eat. Leave a few for the next hunt.”

The harvest is the obvious measure of success, and taking a limit of any game provides a rewarding sense of pride and accomplishment. But should the measure of success be the harvest of game, and should we portray taking a limit as the Holy Grail of a hunt?

⇑⇑ Lynnhill’s Finnigan with our first ever limit of Washington roosters. ⇑⇑

Poetry in Motion

Sailing across the Palouse, my Llewellin Yuba’s vigorous tail feathering wafted in the breeze, as did her soft, black ears as she bounded. The day was blossoming with the promise of a rare, bluebird morning in late fall. Rich, golden sun rays shown thick across the chilled landscape as if viewed through a Mason jar of honey.

Bounding toward the cusp of the ridgeline, Yuba slowed to a halt, crept up a few feet, and locked into the most beautiful point a setter fanatic could ask for. With tail held high, sunlight streaming through her feathering, her gaze set hard on the short grasses ahead. Approaching the edge, the backdrop was breathtaking. A narrowly carved valley opened up with the dappling of milky green sage and rabbitbrush among the variety of fawn-colored grasses, spent vetches, and basalt outcrops set against the cotton candy pink of the distant horizon with a blue ribbon on top.

Shuffling into Yuba’s fixed gaze, a covey of Huns levitated from the bunchgrass, then bailed over the ridgeline like a cinnamon cloud burst. Mesmerized by the moment, my Fox double trained on the stragglers a little too late. The entire covey floated into the next draw as we looked on from behind, the sun warm against our backs.

Moving on in search of singles and roosters, not a bird one reached my vest that morning. I didn’t care. I got exactly what I went for.

⇑⇑ Yuba with a bird pinned. This is what every pointing dog owner lives for. The result of the point is mere icing on the cake. ⇑⇑

Sweetening the Pot

In my Uplander Lifestyle blog post, “Anticipate the Flush“, I made a firm statement on the climax of an upland bird hunt.

“Probably the most rewarding experience of bird hunting is approaching for the flush and seeing confidence ablaze in the dog’s eyes. When her whole body is locked and loaded, she glances up at you, then back to the precise location as you approach. Both hunter and pointer anticipating the flush.”

The hunt itself, that poetry in motion cast on a perfect canvas, calls upland hunters more than any other in my experience. And the stats don’t lie here either. Project Upland’s fall 2019 survey elucidated that approximately 75% of ALL uplanders are drawn to the prospect by the dogs. Its more than a game. It’s a partnership between hunter and canine. The search for that moment of purity, perfection and connection can only be found in the uplands.

⇑⇑ Releasing the dog is to embark on an upland journey together. Each day is new with various challenges, success and failures. Birds are a bonus. ⇑⇑

More often than not (for most bird hunters), the hunt results in bird(s) in the vest. But is a bird in hand really worth two in the bush? I proffer that it merely sweetens the pot. It’s not necessarily the bird that draws us afield, but the orchestration of the hunt. One could argue that the hunt is meaningless without the bird, and with that I agree. But I am not the only uplander who would volunteer with alacrity for a catch-and-release opportunity. To marvel over the bird and a job well done, then simply return it to Mother Nature to be hunted again another day.

Enduring the Social Scene

Social media is a blessing and a curse. The incredible photography is inspiring and evocative, but brilliant displays of the harvest can unintentionally overemphasize the kill. And for upland bird hunters, pushing a limit sets a high bar, particularly for those new to the field.

Hunting wild birds on public land is a challenge in itself. The vast majority of my hunts end with a single bird; the next most common result being bird-less. I rarely take multiple birds or a mixed bag. That’s not to say that my opportunities are really that rare. Wingshooting ability is certainly at play. But an end-of-the-day photo of a dog sitting behind a tailgate stacked with birds is an unlikely outcome on public lands, generally speaking.

Every uplander revels in the moment, cradling in hand the most beautifully plumed species the uplands have to offer, particularly when taken over flawless dog work. But emphasis on harvest can reduce the significance of the hunt itself.

The instant gratification of social media and the desire the be “Instafamous” puts tremendous pressure on performance. What’s more is that for an up-and-comer to the upland realm, social media has the potential to stunt one’s confidence in their young dog, etc. Once new to the upland scene myself, seeing other folks in my area continually posting photos of birds and boasting limits set me back a couple years in having 100% confidence in the ability of my setters. Only after some particularly good hunts in the same season did I understand that when my girls weren’t finding birds, there were no birds to be found.

⇑⇑ Setters doing setter things. No better reason to take up upland hunting! ⇑⇑

Occupy the Canvas

Worry not of the success of others on social media. The best uplanders out there offer a holistic approach to upland hunting from the significance of carrying an heirloom shotgun, to the memories of grouse camp, hunting with family, and a stylish canine on staunch point.

Utilize social media to seek the inspiration and learning from your upland brethren. Revel in their successes and reach out to expand your knowledge and opportunities.

Never lose sight of the significance of the hunt. Boots on the ground behind your own dog or among your favorite coverts with that particular, familiar scattergun in hand is the setting for any work of upland art.

Push the limits of your body and the terrain (with your dog’s conditioning and health in mind). Cherish the days afield with an empty vest or meager single as much as the truly epic moments. Immerse yourself in the beauty and innocence of Mother Nature’s canvas. Chase the Flush!

⇑⇑ A picture is worth 1,000 words. Yuba has a rooster pinned here. Her tail feathering was so full of houndstongue seeds that it hurt too bad to present a high flagging tail on point. Her eyes told the whole story, and capturing this image was worth far more than the rooster my buddy bagged over her just moments later! ⇑⇑

Upland Destiny

October 5, 2019October 5, 2019Brad Trumbo

The feel of the old, familiar stock brings a smile to my face; slick, cold, comfortable. The foregrip checkering is rough against my left hand. Rolling the gun under the lights, the fox engraved on the underside of the box peers smugly up at me as if to say “If it flies, it dies!”

The marbled bluing on the box appears prismatic with hints of purple and bronze. Admiring the precise barrel fit into the action, my thoughts drift to a moment afield under an overcast sky. The barrels are broken open over a flannel-sleeved forearm above tawny bunchgrass; two spent shells presented by a single-piece extractor.

Double triggers are guarded safely by a softly rounded, modest steel housing. The safety is nestled a comfortable measure behind the action lever on the tang. A custom recoil pad fits beautifully against the dark walnut stock creating the perfect length and fit. The gun shoulders smoothly; the rib meeting the eye impeccably.

The width of the side-by-side barrels and sight window instills a feeling of confidence, foreshadowed by the smug fox engraving. With my eye on the bead, dozens of hunts past flood into memory where staunch points and explosive flushes were met with accuracy, putting a period on an exquisite moment of poetry; a momentary dance backlit by the glowing embers of deep passion and firm upland style.

The lettering on the left barrel boasts sixteen-gauge. Marveling at the double in my father’s gun cabinet as a small boy in Appalachia, I was unaware that a sixteen-gauge existed. No one could have known that nearly forty years hence, it would swing through and place in hand the spectacular upland bird species of the western grasslands over my own Llewellin setters.

This double harvested my first rooster pheasant over a pointing dog; my first and oldest Llewellin. I toted it through my small bunchgrass pasture the first fall that I owned land, where it harvested a stunning wild rooster; just one, save the rest for my winter picture-window entertainment.

It harvested my second Llewellin’s first wild rooster from a frost-encrusted wonderland of reed canary grass and Woods’ rose one frigid January morning. It came to shoulder and found my first Hun as a cloud of cinnamon plumage erupted frighteningly underfoot.

But its significance is deeper than the harvest. It’s the entire package. This old double is a pillar of my upland lifestyle. The feel of the stock in my hands, the sheen of the deep bluing, the sly fox engraving, the aroma of solvent and lubricant, the double triggers with the front trigger set awkwardly far forward, and the thumb safety placed exactly at the right spot, which clicks satisfactorily when the butt hits my shoulder.

What’s more is the feeling that my father walks beside me, and when the flush is just right, he may even guide the gun to shoulder in fluid motion with the bead instantly tracking the bird’s trajectory.

Nary an upland hunt is as sweet as those spent traversing the endless miles of rolling Palouse and riparian quail coverts with a perfectly-ticked setter out front and this old double broken over my shoulder. Whether fired or simply packed in anticipation, its more than a fine firearm. It’s a companion. A large part of the upland hunter that I am today.

Is my love affair with this old double is merely coincidence? I rather muse it as a bond meant to be. A pairing in the cards since before my own conception. My upland destiny.

Grass Awns and Gun Dogs

July 7, 2019July 7, 2019Brad Trumbo

Have you ever stopped to consider the impact upland bird hunting has on your gun dog? Birds hunters are well aware of the physical exertion on ourselves, whether its pounding the prairie for sharptails and pheasant, or pushing through draws of aspen for ruffies. But I often ponder how many hunters really understand the effort a gun dog puts into a hunt, or the stress they endure.

Upland bird hunting is a full-contact sport for a your dog. No, there are no physical altercations with other dogs (generally…), although one of our feathered quarry may be run down and tackled on occasion, but the conditions endured by a gun dog in the field are downright hazardous.

In the grouse coverts, thickets of woody shrubs and aspen, prickly hawthorn, and windfalls stand to challenge your dog’s stamina, but can also poke, pinch, scratch, and gouge. In the southwest quail country, cactus, mesquite, barbed wire, venomous critters, and a hot, dry climate stand to work your dog into the ground. The rolling prairie appears to be the most benign of the common western settings, but are you aware that your hunting companion covers three to seven times the ground you do in a day’s jaunt, not to mention porcupines, badgers, and even grizzly bears on the plains of the Rocky Mountain Front?

Gun dogs are prone to exposure to a variety of habitats in pursuit of upland game across a given season, but among the plethora of potentially harmful phenomena in the field, grass awns stand among the top contenders for most harmful. While there are a number of precautions and post-hunt measures one can take to ensure the well-being of your fur baby, grass awns can go undetected, wreaking havoc on you pup’s health.

Two common, menacing grasses: foxtail barley (left) and cheat grass (right).

Grass awns are responsible for a number of unexplained illnesses, and even deaths among gun dogs annually. But how can a grass seed be so injurious? In the western US, several grass species including cheat grass (Bromus tectorum), foxtail barley (Hordeum jubatum), and cereal rye (Secale cereale), which are largely invasive grass species, form barbed tails on their seeds or awns. The awns attach to the dog’s fur, and the sharp point of the awn may work its way into the skin between toes, in ears, eyes, mouth, nose, arm-pits, etc., and the awn barbs continue to work the awn deeper into the tissue until it can enter the interior body cavity or muscle tissue.

The awn may carry bacteria as it enters the dog’s body, and/or it may carry bacteria that are normal inhabitants of one part of the body, usually the mouth, into other parts of the body where it is abnormal, establishing an infection, typically in the form of an abscess.

As we approach and enter upland bird seasons, late summer through fall, grasses dry out and the awns loosen, becoming prone to drop. The best advice? A careful tailgate inspection of your dog before leaving the field may allow removal and avert any illness. But, with awns that have been ingested, odds are that the damage is already done by the time you and your dog leave the field. Routinely check your dog for swellings, particularly at the lower rear sections of the rib-cage, a prime site for abscess development.

What to look for:

Hair: Matted hair that may eventually lead to sores against the skin if not removed.
Ear canal: The dog shakes the head, scratches or rubs the ears, holds head at a slightly tilted angle.
Between the eye/eyelid: The eyes of the dog get inflamed, sometimes including discharge or tears.
Nose: The dog sneezes, paws at the nose, and may experience nasal discharge
Gums, Tongue, Mouth: If swallowed, grass awns may stick to the back of the throat causing inflammation and swelling.
Lungs and Other Organs (inhalation or migration): The dog shows signs of serious sickness, coughing, short breath, and vomiting.
Rectum and Anal Glands: dog abnormally licking or scooting on the ground, trying to defecate often or for prolonged periods.

Zeta at the vet, June 2019, to have cheat grass awns removed from both anal glands.

Learn to recognize hazardous plants, and be watchful where you are hunting, training, or just exercising your dog. Typically, a simple tailgate inspection post-hunt or run to remove awns before they have the chance to penetrate the skin and begin to migrate will eliminate problem awns, but inspection may not always reveal hidden awns immediately. A best practice is continued monitoring of your pup’s behavior after hunting through dangerous grasses. Being mindful of the vegetation in your hunting or training areas, coupled with thorough inspections will keep your four-legged partner pointing or flushing long into their upland career.

Product Review: Ranger and Worker Vests by Hurtta

February 24, 2019February 24, 2019Brad Trumbo

With the upland season far enough past that my office legs have caught up with me, my time for reflection on the recent upland bird season has brought to bear a review of two dog vests by Hurtta.

For those not familiar with Hurtta, this Finnish company opened its doors in 2002 and is quite popular among European countries for their canine accessories. Founded by clothing professionals with a need to outfit their own dogs with functional performance gear in snow country, they reached out to dog owners around the globe for inspiration, designing a variety of coats, vests, harnesses, collars, and more to provide comfort and protection.

More than twenty years hence, Hurrta’s success encouraged the opening of a North American branch, Hurtta America (@Hurtta.America), to serve the US and Canada. To promote sales and awareness, Hurtta America reached out to folks through Instagram, offering free products in exchange for testing and marketing opportunity. As luck would have it, my wife Ali (@SixTailsSetters) was chosen to be a product tester.

We selected the Ranger (below left) and Worker (below right)vests in orange, testing their performance against a season of bird hunting from the September grouse coverts, to the icy December pheasant haunts of the Washington Palouse. Here is how they shook out.

Specs

Similarities

Right off the bat you will notice the style and beauty of these vests. They are just flat sharp on my Llewellin setters.

Both vests are made with a light-weight, stretchy, breathable, very quiet material with snug fit. Hurtta boasts their “Houndtex” weatherproofing layer that is treated with Clariant Sanitized® containing permethrin as the active substance protecting against insects such as mosquitos, horseflies, and ticks. (NOTE: permethrin is toxic to cats.) Both vests have high-visibility 3M® reflective material and zip down the back, and a button-like apparatus on the top left shoulder to attached an LED for night activities.

Differences

The Worker is a longer vest with a Cordura® belly fabric that extends from the neck back. There are lines along the back of the belly flap indicating a trim-to-fit (I did not trim for our setters). The Worker neck line extends a bit higher than the Ranger. The Worker also has removable straps along the neck meant to secure a GPS collar.

The Ranger is more adjustable in size, meaning it has Velcro-like front shoulder straps that can be adjusted, where the Worker is a solid piece vest.

Fit and Comfort

“Tight-fitting” is Hurtta’s description of these vests, and they are not kidding. Based on Hurtta’s sizing chart, we ordered medium vests. The Ranger would not fit our larger 35-pound Llewellin, Finn, but Fit our smallest 28-pound Llewellin, Yuba, perfectly. It stretched exactly to the back of her rib cage and fit snug around her chest.

The snug fit was great for reducing the amount of grass and twig debris and weed seeds from getting into the vest. Both vests appeared to be comfortable, the soft fabric being gentle on their armpits.

Heat and Cold

The thin material these vests are made of provides absolutely no warmth, nor did I expect it to. The upside is that these vests are exceptional for September – October when the temperature is still warm. At no time did the vest cause my girls get too warm hunting early-season grouse.

The downside is that these vests are not great for high-energy setters or pointing dogs with little body fat and thin coats once winter decides to dabble in your hunt. Yuba was wearing her Ranger when she went into hypoglycemic seizure on a wet, icy day afield. The cold temps contributed to the seizure. There were a number of other factors involved (see my earlier blog post An Ounce of Prevention) and an insulated vest alone would not have prevented the seizure, but certainly would have been a better choice over the Ranger.

Noise and Utility

One of my favorite features is how quiet the vest material is. With birds like pheasant that spook at the slightest disturbance, these vests are nearly silent through timber and grasslands. I firmly believe that this played a role in the number of successful points my girls had on pheasant over the 2018 season.

The reflective strips and orange color provide excellent visibility at all times. Seeing a small dog in the bunchgrass or riparian thickets can be more than tricky, particularly if you hunt without electronics. A small dog on point can be hard to spot, but much easier with a good, bright vest.

The zipper down the back of the vest is an excellent feature as well. Vests that clip on have straps that can loosen or get caught on brush, but the low profile and lack of bulky hardware made these vests great for thick cover. The stretch of the fabric is also forgiving where brush can grab bulky material.

One minor, yet thoughtful feature is a button on the back near the start of the zipper. To put the vest on your pup, snap the button together and it holds the fabric in place as you zip it up. This is superb for squirmy pups.

Durability

Durability is lacking in comparison to some of the more rugged vests that use rip-stop type fabrics (e.g. Sylmar Bodyguard). Weed seeds like yellow starthistle spikes did not penetrate any more than other vests we have used, but the stitching is far too weak for a hunting dog vest.

Fabric around the neck and armpits is surged with a fine thread comparable to what may be used on a tee-shirt. The Ranger neck stitching was in tatters after about two hours in grouse cover. With that said, the fabric itself never frayed, stitching be damned. I hunted Yuba in that vest for two months afterward with no issues.

Tattered neck stitching on the Ranger ⇑⇑.

Another plus is that the fabric held up to barbed wire much better than I expected. My setters believe there is always a bird on the other side of a fence, so we had many encounters this past season, but only twice did Finn hit a fence hard enough to tear the fabric on the Worker; the Ranger suffered not one tear.

Barbed-wire tears on the Worker ⇑⇑.

Speaking of barbed wire, the LED attachment button could stand for heavier stitching as well, but again, it withstood a lot more abuse than I anticipated.

LED attachment “button” nearly ripped off ⇑⇑.

Hitchhikers

Weed seeds stuck readily to the fabric, but for the most part were easily brushed off. A small, black weed seed known as the stickseed did a number on the soft armpit and neck fabric edges and stitching. There are permanent stickseeds in this area of both vests. Otherwise, the fabric stood up to the roughness of the seeds quite well.

Houndstongue and small, black stickseeds embedded in the armpit fabric on the Ranger ⇑⇑.

On the Ranger, grass debris and weed seeds get into the Velcro-like patches on the shoulders over time, causing the corners to peel up. They never came completely unhooked in the field, but cleaning these patches out can be troublesome.

Houndstongue, stickseeds, and grass debris stuck in the Velcro-like shoulder straps on the Ranger ⇑⇑.

Overall Satisfaction

Overall, I was impressed with the vests. They were comfortable, cool in hot weather, relatively durable, visible, stylish, and low-profile in heavy cover. Weed seeds were a minor issue and the fabric held up to rough stuff like barbed wire as well as could be expected.

My one recommendation for Hurtta would be to use heavier thread to surge the fabric edges.

If I had to give these vests a numerical rating, I would go 4 out of 5 stars with the Worker being the better vest. My girls will be wearing their vests again next fall when the September grouse season opens, and I anticipate this will be the case for several years to come.

You can find Hurtta products at https://www.hurtta247.com/. The Ranger and Worker vests are priced at $45 and $55, respectively. If style and comfort are important to you, you will be hard pressed to find another vest comparable to the Hurtta line. If durability is number one, you can find tougher vests, such as they Sylmar Bodyguard (about the same price), which we also use in the field and recommend.

Yuba and her Ranger vest looking sharp and sporting a fair covering of houndstongue ⇑⇑.

God Loves a Pointing Dog

December 24, 2018December 24, 2018Brad Trumbo

Obnoxiously loud, the alarm clock shattered a peaceful sleep. I awoke to another day off, but Ali had commitments at the office. Working through the morning routine, I slipped into a tee-shirt, stumbled into the kitchen, and ground some fresh beans for the pot. The cats squawked for breakfast as the pups stretched and shook in preparation for their morning duty. All seemed to be quite typical.

It had been seven days since Yuba developed a severe allergic reaction to who knows what. After four vet visits, the cause remains undiagnosed, but our suspicion lies with a leptospirosis vaccine administered on December 5th. Nevertheless, Yuba’s bout with a hypoglycemic seizure on the 10th, followed by severe hives, vomiting, and diarrhea for the past week has left the little Llew tuckered and vulnerable.

With the coffee brewing, I shuffled to the front door in the dim lighting of the Christmas tree. And much to my surprise, there were three perky setters waiting eagerly for the door to swing ajar.

Yuba had barely begun to eat on her own the day prior, partially due to the quantities and variety of medications I had forced upon her for the past week. But upon reentering the house, she trotted to her crate, sat upright, and gave me the beckoning glare of a pup in dire need of breakfast.

I obliged with a small helping of kibble mixed with a little tasty canned food and an antibiotic pill tossed in. She indiscriminately ate it, pill and all. We were both quite satisfied with this, as well as the fact that there were no messes to clean from overnight. Yuba quickly staked her claim of the love seat and drifted off into a crack-of-dawn, winter’s morn dog nap which only a hunting dog can do justice.

Upon bringing Ali her morning coffee in bed and feeding the rest of the herd, I took up residence on the couch to proof-read an article I was about to submit to Pheasants Forever Magazine. Ali headed off to work as the girls and I hung out on the couch. But a miracle happened just before 7:30am when a boastful, cackling rooster pheasant soared straight over the house.

Yuba erupted from slumber and dashed across the room, perching swiftly atop the far couch arm, where she kept watch over the wheat field and a pair of roosters feeding in the damp morning fog. Now this was looking more like recovery!

About an hour later, I headed out the door with the girls to fill bird feeders and visit the mail box. But before I could get my Muck Boots on, Yuba and Zeta were both on point in the driveway as our flock of California quail scampered through the blackberries and down the road on their morning commute to breakfast.

Thinking the chores could wait, I crated Zeta, then slipped out with my Ithaca Model 37 and a couple 6-shot. Yuba remained on point.

Lingering by the driveway until all the quail had passed, I swung the paddock gate open and released Yuba to peruse the overgrown swale that spans the length of our property. Thick with white alder, woods rose, blackberry, and a couple old Russian olives, the deep swale flows with surface spring water all year and provides food and shelter for the quail, pheasant, a few whitettails and mule deer.

I hadn’t made it 30 feet into the paddock when Yuba turned into the swale and locked up. Nervous little birds chirped and scurried in the tangle leaving me little shooting room, so I dialed the polychoke to a notch between Improved Cylinder and Modified. I was being picky as well, waiting for a single male. And, as luck would have it, a single male flushed and fell to the old 37, coming to rest at the bottom of the swale beneath a nasty mess of tree limbs and blackberry tendrils.

One hundred quail must have flushed upon the report the shotgun leaving Yuba and I to stare in silence at the final movements of the beautiful little bird gifted us this fine, wet morning. Encouraging Yuba to “Get that bird!” , she merely traversed the swale and pursued the larger flock. “Lord, send me a retriever!”, I pleaded as I slid down the muddy embankment into the fallen, slimy, algae-stained tree limbs, all the while snagged and shredded by the piercing clutches of blackberry.

Completing the retrieve, I called Yuba back to bask in her victory, and it occurred to me that God must love a pointing dog too. Coming out of a week of hell into the promise of Christmas, Yuba was gifted a short, successful, Christmas Eve hunt on the homestead when I thought she may only have one more shot in mid-January.

I grabbed an old whitetail shed I found on a hunt two days prior and staged a couple photos on my old fence row before heading back inside with my not yet fully recovered pup. Satisfied with her outing, Yuba climbed back up onto the love seat, curled into a setter ball, and drifted off into a post-hunt snooze, that again, only a hunting dog can do justice.

Merry Christmas, indeed!

An Ounce of Prevention

December 13, 2018December 18, 2018Brad Trumbo

The Backstory

Yuba sat trembling atop my lap, peering out the back of the cabin as the 225 horsepower Yamaha outboard thrust the North River Seahawk onto plane. The night brought freezing rain and wet snow, but the morning was dawning beautifully; the Snake River meandering its way between fog banks under a pink cotton candy sunrise. On board we had Dave, Brett, Rhett, two old, rotund Brittanys, and Yuba and I.

Our plan was to swing into a remote US Army Corps of Engineers habitat unit and split up. Cautioning the guys about Yuba’s big-running tendency, Dave, the only dog-less crew member, volunteered to hang with Yuba and I, while Rhett and Brett took the Brittanys to the other end of the property. Yuba is certainly the baby of the family, terrified of water, and is unsure of strange dogs, but she hit the ground running as the boat slid in under the Russian olives at the foot of a looming basalt bluff.

Dave and I barely made it around the toe of the bluff when we strolled right into a flock Rio Grande wild turkey. Yuba had seen a single or two, but the flock of 30 birds erupting from under the Russian olives sent her into a new dimension of crazy. Carrying a valid turkey tag, I wasted no time releasing a round of 4-shot steel from my old Ithaca model 37 pump, resulting in a notched tag and heavy vest.

From Yuba’s perspective, the Rio hen was simply a giant prairie grouse with strong scent. And clearly, they were fair game as ole dad bagged one instantly. Therefore, in classic pointing dog fashion, she bounded off to peg the next bird. The turkeys amusingly dispersed like a flock of quail among the grassland. Yuba pointed and we flushed about a dozen singles throughout the hunt. But the real show began when we got into the pheasant.

As if Yuba weren’t crazy enough, there were dozens of pheasant along the riverbank, hiding in the false indigo and flushing wild. As we pinched in toward Brett and Rhett, the pheasant started busting in all directions, bird dogs were pointing, scurrying, and looking for birds to retrieve from a volley of shots.

I noticed I was on the whistle a lot more than normal as Yuba careened in, around, and through every bit of cover she could find. But even in the chaos and sensory overload, I was impressed with her finding and pointing prowess, telegraphing with precision where a bird was, should be, or was headed. The entire show was simply unprecedented.

I never touched a rooster all morning, but was amped and proud as we made our way back to our pick-up point. Yuba was beat, of that I was sure, but I had little worry as she was actively and intelligently hunting the entire morning. Still, I kept a keen eye on her as I am accustomed to her hips getting stiff and sore as a result of dysplasia. So, it was no news when she suddenly started to show some signs of hip pain, or so I assumed, from a seemingly stiff gait.

Almost to the boat, I noticed Yuba’s hind legs quiver a bit, so I scooped her up and carried her the rest of the way. Her reward for an incredible hunt would be to warm up, grab a snack, and retire from the afternoon hunt. Handing her up to Brett, I swung myself aboard, regained my feet, and reached out to take my tired little setter. But confusion was replaced with dread as I noticed her eyes clenched in pain, followed by the unmistakable convulsions of a seizure.

“Holy shit, she’s seizing!” I yelled to Brett, who swiftly laid her out on the large, cushioned bench seat in the boat’s cabin.

I wrapped her in my insulated overalls while Brett cradled Yuba’s head. Seizures can present with a variety bodily functions, pains, and other involuntary motions and sounds. An eternal minute passed as every muscle in her tiny body went board-stiff, but the worst of it was her uncontrollable screaming.

With muscles finally relaxing and cognizance regaining, the pain must have been unbearable; the cause I am left to assume was perceived as some unknown predator. Large, dilated pupils searched to unveil the culprit as she pled for mercy. Terror, confusion, and panic were evident as Brett and I spoke softly, stroking her ears in an attempt to sooth her fear, if nothing else.

At the two-minute mark, she began to quiet. The convulsions had completely ceased and sore muscles relaxed. I scooped her up, still wrapped in my now defiled overalls, and sat with her curled on my lap like a newborn pup. Brett solemnly motored toward the marina.

She had come out of it. That was the first blessing, but I had no way of really checking her neurological signs as of yet. Suspicious that the cause was either an electrolyte or glucose deficiency, I went for a honey packet, which I had readily on hand for this very situation. She lapped at it eagerly.

Back at the truck, I tucked Yuba in softly among a fleece blanket and the overalls, and offered some water, which she happily drank. She was showing no sign of impaired motor skills, but was still clearly wiped from the exertion of the hunt and seizure. Dropping the Tundra into drive, I dialed the local vet, announcing I would see her in 45 minutes, if not sooner.

Keeping tabs on the groggy pup, I randomly whistled or called her name. She always responded. Carrying her across the threshold at the vet’s office, she wagged at the receptionist, and sat upright on my lap in the waiting room. The visit was short and sweet, and Yuba’s behavior improved immensely in that insignificant amount of time.

The diagnosis was as I suspected afield. Hypoglycemia. More appropriately, Hunting Dog Hypoglycemia (HDH).

What is HDH?

I believe most folks know what hypoglycemia is, but in case you don’t, its low blood sugar. A pup’s normal blood sugar should range somewhere between about 70-150 ml/dl. A dog experiencing HDH will have a value likely below 50 ml/dl. Dr. Shawn Wayment (DVM, @birddogdoc on Instagram) explains that HDH occurs when a canine athlete exerts itself in strenuous exercise thereby rapidly depleting their blood sugar (glucose) before their reserves can be remobilized or released from glycogen storages from the muscle and liver.

Symptoms

There are a number of reliable resources on HDH that share common symptoms that may include the following.

General fatigue
Staggering
Trembling
Shaking
Nervousness
Anxiety
Weakness
Ataxia (loss of control of bodily movements)

As with any medical condition, no two cases will necessarily present alike. Athletes fatigue when they work hard, whether two- or four-legged. Yuba was showing fatigue as she has on every hunt for the past four seasons, but no other symptoms until about five minutes prior to her seizure. At that time, her demeanor appeared similar to her pre-FHO days when her hips began to hurt and stiffen.

Causes

Dr. Wayment refers to current literature on HDH pointing to a lack of condition as a common cause; however, he believes that this is simply not the whole truth and has “…seen it happen in very well-conditioned canine athletes.” That now makes two of us as Yuba is at the height of her physical ability for the season.

So, what really caused Yuba’s bout of HDH? My hypothesis is the perfect storm of conditions creating utter chaos, sensory overload, and compensation for environmental conditions. The novelty of the hunt in general is my overarching suspicion, the specific points exacerbating Yuba’s metabolic rate being the following.

General adrenaline and anxiety for an hour before the hunt: Yuba knew we were headed out hunting and was trembling with anticipation the entire truck ride and wait for our comrades.
First time boat ride: Yuba doesn’t like water more than about a foot deep. She was nervous just walking down the dock to the boat, much less roaring down the river on water she knew was deeper than she is tall.
Strange dogs: Yuba loves people, but the two strange, yet sweet and well-meaning Brittanys, further prodded her nerves and desire to curl up in my lap for security.
Turkeys: Yuba had seen a turkey or two before, but the dozens of turkeys that flushed into the grasslands like a flock of quail inundated the area with bird scent. She was working and pointing turkeys left and right the entire hunt. Upon her first find, it was difficult pulling her off of the scent at all. This was uncharted territory for her.
Pheasant: There were also dozens of pheasant. Everywhere. Between the turkeys and pheasant, she didn’t know which way to go or which scent to key in on and was totally jazzed about it.
Shooting: The two groups of hunters began at opposite ends and worked toward each other with a barrage of shots throughout the hunt. When the gun fires, Yuba kicks into high gear looking for the dead bird, then tears off in search of the next live bird. Focus was a bit problematic as she wasn’t sure what she should do at times.
Frigid Conditions: We had been hunting since September, but this was the first actually cold day afield. And it wasn’t just cold, but wet from icy precipitation. She was soaked and chilly causing additional caloric burn to maintain body temperature.

Prevention

The old saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” could not be more true as you cradle your ailing pup in the field with little to nothing you can do to remedy the situation. I was prepared with the necessary items to keep her energy up, but I neglected to enforce break time to care for her. When Yuba is on fire and thoroughly enjoying the hunt, I have to leash her to make her stay put for breaks. I failed to do this on this particular hunt and will not make that mistake again.

Furthermore, a warmer vest that could keep a lean, 28-pound setter drier may have been enough to keep her energy burn rate to a more normal level.

Proper diet, rations, and conditioning are a must for our four-legged upland athletes. How often to feed your dog is another question that I refrain from debating, but some veterinarians suggests that feeding the appropriate daily ration once per day would condition a dog’s body to store a larger liver glycogen reserve to draw from during strenuous activity.

Dr. Wayment also suggests that feeding a dog 10% of its calculated daily ration every two hours during strenuous activity has shown success in preventing HDH symptoms.

Emergency Treatment

What did I do right during this whole debacle? I provided warmth immediately, and water, honey, and rest once the seizing stopped. Yuba came out of it well, was responsive, excited about the honey, and didn’t show any obvious, alarming symptoms of neurological deficiencies. Nevertheless, I rushed Yuba to the vet for an exam, which was one hour to the minute from the onset of her seizure.

The same resources providing information on HDH symptoms also provide a variety of treatment options listed below. Whichever product you choose, at least 50% glucose is key. A couple ounces should suffice if needed in a pinch, but be prepared to feed your dog in short order and rest them the remainder of the day.

50% Dextrose solution (50% glucose)
Karo syrup/corn syrup (100% glucose)
High fructose corn syrup (50% glucose)
Honey (50% glucose/50% fructose)
Maple syrup
Jelly/jam
Pure fruit juice
Nutri-Cal supplement

Dr. Wayment suggests applying to the oral mucous membranes for rapid enzyme break down; however, you should exercise caution. It may be best to wait for the seizing to end before trying to orally administer any of the above. Seizing animals obviously have no voluntary control over their body, including the mouth. Fingers near the teeth could end badly and at no fault or intention of your pup.

Looking Ahead

I learned the hard way to recognize conditions that may be hazardous to my pup’s health, aside from the obvious. Be cognizant of how novel experiences may impose additional stress on your pup.

Do not dismiss symptoms. This is Yuba’s first season hunting post-FHO surgery on her right hip. She is a new dog with relentless enthusiasm and desire, but the former three seasons of monitoring her pain level through her body language left me to assume that any symptoms she expressed were caused by her other, still arthritic hip. This was clearly not so. I don’t recommend looking for the metaphorical zebra at all times, but I do suggest being suspicious enough of the horse to consider a zebra in disguise.

Preparation does not equal prevention without proper action. Keep an eye on your pup and the clock. This can be a tall order amidst insane action, particularly when you rely on your pup to show you when he or she needs a break. But in Yuba’s case, and possibly the case with other pups in peak condition, no obvious symptoms of extreme exertion or energy expense may be noticeable. Had I forced a break and a snack just once, it likely would have prevented the seizure.

While Yuba’s story has a happy ending, a proportion of these cases end fatally. Keep your pup’s energy up, and by all means, if you recognize any of the above symptoms of HDH, allow your pup to rest the remainder of the day. When caught early, pups can bounce back rather quickly. But finding a few additional birds is not worth the risk, lest you be the next to publish the unfortunate story of your pup’s demise in the Pointing Dog Journal subscriber forum.

Haying Best Management Practices for Wildlife

June 5, 2018June 5, 2018Brad Trumbo

Farming and habitat practices to maintain healthy CRP and alfalfa stands provides significant nesting and brood rearing benefits to upland game birds, fawning areas for deer, and nesting and roosting habitat for wild turkey in the early spring and summer. Long, overhanging grasses provide nesting cover while broad-leaf plants like alfalfa and other native forbs provide insect forage for fledgling broods and hens. These stands draw and hold birds but have been called “ecological traps” in areas where haying regularly occurs.

The term ecological trap refers to a beneficial condition that attracts wildlife, but results in additive mortality, affecting the population overall. Quality CRP and alfalfa stands fit the scenario well where haying normally occurs during nesting season.

As haying equipment approaches, a hen pheasant may not vacate eggs or chicks, rather hunker down and use her camouflage for protection as a tractor passes by. This leaves birds vulnerable to the following mower which may be offset from the tractor. Likewise, small mammals and deer fawns use similar camouflage techniques and experience similar vulnerabilities to upland birds.

Best Management Practices

To minimize the potential hazardous effects of haying on wildlife, the Natural Resource Conservation Service has developed a few simple best management practices.

1) Defer haying. Apply and maintain at least two of the following management actions specifically for improving or protecting grassland functions for target wildlife species.

Do not cut hay on at least 1/3 of the hay acres each year. Idle strips or blocks must be at least 30 feet wide.
For at least 1/3 of the hay acreage, hay cutting must be either before and/or after the primary nesting or fawning seasons based on state established dates for the targeted species.
Increase forage heights after mowing to state specified minimum heights for the targeted species on all hayed acres.

2) For all haying during the nesting/fawning season implement at least two of the following to flush wildlife from hay fields during the mowing operation:

A flush bar attachment will be required on the mower (see figure below).
All mowing will be done during daylight hours.
Haying pattern:
- Begin on one end of the field and work back and forth across the field, OR;
- Begin in the center of the field and work outward.

Following these simple practices can greatly reduce unintentional wildlife mortality, further increasing the benefits of environmentally friendly farming.

Image from the Natural Resource Conservation Service.

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