“Not a fishing report”…

This is my springer spaniel Duke’s first fall hunting season. I recently decided to join Cooke Canyon Hunt Club in Ellensburg. It’s a close drive so we can do day trip hunts. We’ve had three hunts so far and I must say it’s a blast to see Duke get on the birds!

This last trip I was joined by Ryan Hembree of Skiprock Distillers in Snohomish (they make amazing rum BTW...) for a morning hunt. We purchased seven hens and three roosters. Alice, one of the owners, mentioned that there would likely be other pheasants in the area that had been missed from previous hunts. She was right!

Cooke Canyon is the perfect place to train a young dog like Duke (he’s 15 months old). There are separate, 80-100 acre sections of land. You’re met by one of the workers in the morning and together decide how to place the birds. Because Duke is learning I have them mark the locations of birds with a ribbon, and hobble (loosely tie the legs) of the last three birds on the circuit. This keeps those birds from wandering too far.

We hunted area L1 which Duke and I hunted a few weeks back. It’s a nice piece of land with a couple draws, some water, and trees/heavy brush. And lots of sage brush!

I’m working with Duke on not ranging too far ahead of me and hand signals. Duke did flush a couple birds getting too far ahead of us, but mostly he stayed in range and we shot lots of birds. I must say, Ryan is a pretty good shot! Me, well, all I can say is it was good practice… I did get a few.

What was most exciting to me as Duke’s owner and trainer was at the end of the day we had shot at all the ribbon-marked birds and came to a draw near the parking area. Duke started getting birdy and next thing you know he flushed two pheasants that were hold-overs from a previous hunt. Watching him sniffing and zeroing in on those birds was truly awesome! All the hours of training with him are beginning to pay off!

Thanks Ryan for joining us for a fun morning hunt!

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