An excerpt…Cotton, an eight-year-old English setter, jumped out of the truck, hit the ground, and ran in a circle. A bit short for a setter, she was taller than a beagle, but not by much. She slid to a stop to look at her master.

“Wait,” Mike Crawford told her. She waited. My dog, Liesl, blasted off through the sage and came back when I called . . . and kept on running. Liesl last hunted with another dog when she was only three months old. Maybe now the old dog would teach the young one some new tricks?

We heard chukar when we started away from the truck. Liesl cocked her head. Those sounded like birds, all right, but she was a quail and pheasant hunter and wasn’t quite sure. Stephen Wymer pushed shells into the magazine of his Weatherby, and I dropped two loads into the tubes of my side-by-side CZ Ringneck. Liesl quartered back and forth, while the older dog checked for scent and cast a look over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t too far ahead. Twice I called Liesl back. Then the white dog’s tail began to flag.

Eight years ago, when he was looking for a female English setter, Mike Crawford heard about a breeder in Tennessee who had a dog out of the five-time champion Pennstar. There had been a litter, but only one pup was left. Crawford acted fast and a little white female was on her way to Oregon.

“She was kind of the runt of the litter,” Crawford said. “But the breeder didn’t tell us that.”

At six months, the puppy was a white, energetic but unruly bit of fluff and looked like a tuft of cotton. Crawford admitted he was disappointed when he saw her.

“She was so small,” he said. “But it has proved to be an advantage.” Crawford enlisted the help of trainer Gene Adams. They found the little setter had heart.

An excerpt…I called home and told my wife Ruth I would take her to the Mexican place for lunch. It’s her favorite. I would be banking some “points” should a need arise down the road. It’s not a bad idea, you know. Why not accumulate some goodwill with the wife? Besides, you’ve got to eat, so you just take the keeper of the skillet to her favorite joint.

It is interesting how events happen, for when we returned home a white truck was about to exit our driveway. It had a dog box on the back, so my heart leaped up when we approached. I lowered my window, as did the visitor. It was my friend Jim Bishop, professional bird-dog trainer and sometimes dog breeder. I had no opportunity to signal to him before he spoke.

“Knowing you are wanting a puppy, I thought I would drop by and tell you about the litter of Irish setters out at Five Star Plantation. I have the poppa dog, a Rondo dog, registered as Rondo Muldoon. He has won a skosh of field trials for me and is one of the best dogs I have ever owned. I get the first and third picks, and I can guarantee you a super prospect. Thought you might want to go out and take a look . . . ”

“He’s not interested!” interrupted my bride. “We’ve got all the dogs we need, thank you.”
She was not aware of a certain phone conversation Jim and I had had a couple of months earlier.

An excerpt…Located at the head of Coverdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, in the North West of England, Coverhead Moor lies at an altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 feet, and the dramatic estate spans three sides of the watershed. Since acquiring Coverhead Moor in 1985, the Mawle family has invested in improvements to the property and has worked to enhance the quality of the heather that is so vital to the wild red grouse population.

I arrived at Coverhead Farm at midday, meeting the rest of the team and starting with a relaxed lunch. We stayed at the recently restored Hunters’ Hall, which was originally built as a hunting lodge for King Charles I.

After lunch we loaded into the estate shoot trailer and headed off to the moor. This first afternoon would provide our team the opportunity to practice safe and efficient driven-grouse shooting, through realistic simulated grouse presented over two purpose-built stone grouse butts, and the chance to learn about the habits and habitat of this wonderful gamebird. The Coverhead Moor is classified as blanket bog. This means the moorland has a wet peat base, with sphagnum moss and cotton grass peppering the heather sward, all of which are essential components of grouse breeding and successful chick survival. Combine habitat management with predator control and it becomes apparent why a grouse moor gamekeeper will likely refer to the shooting season as the easiest time on the calendar. The rest of a keeper’s year consists of hard work—often single-handed labor to help the grouse survive if not thrive.