Today I had the great opportunity came up to help with Sage Grouse Counts. What a great time all in the name of research. These counts are done in areas not currently opened to Sage Grouse Hunting within the state of Utah. Efforts are being made to increase the populations. We were under the direction of a biologist and this was a project being worked on by Utah State University. Hopefully through these efforts, Sage Grouse hunting will be expanded to other areas of our State in the coming years.

My alarm went of at 2:30 this morning. Wow that was early. My adventurous 7 year old daughter Camryn agreed to come along with me. We were loaded up with all three dogs and on the road by 3:30. We made good time and were at the rendezvous point at sunrise.

We were led out to the areas we were to work through. And we got started.

Camryn was a trooper. She walked….

…and walked.

The dogs did great. It was hot. We took lots of breaks and had plenty of water. Any shady spot will do…

The highlight of the day was when we did find some birds. Cooper was out 100 yards running with the wind. He hit scent and spun an instant 180. Locked up solid. It was a beautiful sight to behold. I got about half way to him and the birds flushed wild. Cooper held solid through the flush. And he stayed there till I released him. 7 Sage Grouse. That was our count for the day. I kept holding the camera to get “just a bit closer”. Missed the shot. Still that little bit of great bird work made the whole trip worthwhile.

We traveled through hostile territory on the way out.

It was a lonely ride home.

Last night I took Spooner out to a local pond for some water retrieves. I play Mr. Mom at night while my Wife works. So if I get out with the dogs, I usually have the kids in tow. My oldest daughter had a dance class,. It’s a 20 mile drive to the dance studio, so there was some time to kill while she was there. This left me with only 3 of the kids. I put Holden in his stroller, Camryn had her Roller Blades, and Peyton walked. This particular pond has an asphalt walkway around it, Camryn had a hard time with the roller blading. This big production to get out is worth it. The kids have fun. The dog gets a workout and some training. And most important, we don’t have to sit around the dance studio for two hours.

I took some photos of Spooner and the kids. It was overcast and there was a storm moving in. They all turned out bad, so I won’t bother to post them up. The above photo is Spooner on a previous trip. Spooner did great. He is a strong swimmer. He loves to retrieve. There are some issues though. I need to force fetch him. He thinks it’s ok just to bring the bumper back and when he gets close, he drops it. I have read a couple of books on force fetch. I believe I will tackle that in the coming weeks.

I mentioned a storm moving in. There were some ominous black clouds coming in from the west. When we got there the water was smooth as glass. Slowly the clouds got closer, the thunder was rolling off in the distance. The temperature was nice. Soon the winds picked up, I could tell it was time to get out of there. The rain started just as we reached the Suburban.

There was a lightning strike that hit the ground only a few hundred yards away. You could actually feel the thunder crack that followed. Camryn decided at that point, she doesn’t like lightning.

I got a call from my buddy Chris. He lives a few houses away. He said I was missing “The Storm of the Century”. Apparently back at home there was quarter sized hail and 6 inches of water had accumulated on parts of the roads. I was in some heavy rain at the time, but nothing like he was describing. When I got home there was still some hail on the ground. The rain was welcome. We have not had much at all this year.

An finally…… If you are fishing at a local pond, in a very family oriented community, Please have the decency to clean up your beer bottles as you drink them. There were two guys there who had been drinking beer while fishing. While I don’t have a problem with someone drinking a couple of beers while fishing, I do have a problem with the bottles they were throwing all over the ground around them. There was at least a 12 pack of Corona bottles strewn across a 20 foot area of the shore. Is it too much to ask that you put your empties in nice little pile, or back in the cooler?