Photo dump: AK bird hunting

[Holmes]

Just finished a week of driving around AK and hunting birds in a bunch of different spots. Mostly we were after willow ptarmigan, but also got some spruce grouse, failed to connect with any ruffed grouse, and put a few snowshoe hares in the freezer too.
The really fuzzy photo is of a wolf that we locked eyes with for several minutes before the wolf, thankfully, decided to head off and not eat our GSPs. We decided to hunt elsewhere the rest of the day. We cut wolf tracks several other times on this trip, found one fresh wolf bed, and heard them howling near us several times. So so cool, I love knowing that those big dogs are on the landscape.

 

[slick]

Thanks for sharing, that looks awesome.

Do you just keep your skis in tour mode with skins on the whole time?


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[Holmes]

Thanks for sharing, that looks awesome.

Do you just keep your skis in tour mode with skins on the whole time?


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Yup, I have heel pieces on my hunting skis, but probably don't even need them. Full width & length mohair skins glide plenty for all I want to do, no need to rip them when hunting.

 

[CKillmer]

Looks unreal. Bucket list hunt for sure.

 

[Rob5589]

Beautiful pics

 

[Rodneyag09]

Looks incredible. That wolf picture is awesome.

 

[tgoode]

Those are some great pictures. Thanks for sharing!

How do your GSPs handle the colder weather and deep snow in Alaska? I'm also the proud owner of a GSP (wonderful dogs...especially for upland hunting) but we don't get a lot of snow in Tennessee. It didn't seem to stop my dog in the limited occasions that we went out.

 

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

epic trip there

 

[Holmes]

How do your GSPs handle the colder weather and deep snow in Alaska?

In general, they do fine, but they are definitely not built for it. A long haired dog would be better suited for most of bird season here, but that's not our only priority.
I try to not bring them out when it's below roughly 5F (-15C). If it's above about 15F (-9C) then they're totally fine. Mostly they are so motivated you could cut one of their legs off and they'd ignore it to keep hunting. The female (liver colored) has a really thin coat, thin skin, and an exposed belly. She's not hunting today because all of her nipples are terribly frostbit, I feel so bad. My wife just left to go hunting with male dog, and my female dog is moping.
We have a pile of different jackets for them, even custom made neoprene jackets. But, no jacket is tight enough on a curvy pointer to keep deep snow out, so eventually huge ice chunks build up *inside* the jacket and they get frostbit bellies. We'll sometimes bring multiple jackets for the female on deep snow hunts and change them up as the jackets get ice bound. The custom neoprene jackets work great for waterfowl hunting though, even on the days when we have to break the ice off the pond in order to put the decoys out. We also have to keep the GSPs in their own covered blinds on those days to stay warm enough. Our friends with Labradors snicker at our "precious princess" dogs in all their coats and huts and such, but the GSPs still love the hunt and they retrieve ducks, so it's all good with me.

 

[Montana Slim]

Awesome pics! I can totally relate with the shorthairs... even in MT, hunting my DD in the late season or cold in general is an entirely different experience than with my shorthair. On the other hand, while I've never really seen my DD get too cold, he is pretty heat sensitive, and you have to be careful... tradeoffs! Love hunting dogs in general, but sure am partial to 'ze Germans'