Pine Straw Smudge - amazing grouse dog and grouse dog producer.

Pine Straw Smudge (CH/RU Chip's Torquato X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid) has earned a reputation in the grouse woods of Michigan as being a pre-eminent grouse dog. And now he has proven to be a producer of top quality grouse dogs.

In mid October of 2018 I got to spend a weekend in the U.P. hunting grouse and woodcock with Smudge, his buddy Dale Ash, and Dale's brother Les. I also was fortunate to see two young dogs out of Smudge: Dale's 6 month old female Patty and year and a half old Rusty who belonged to Les.

Smudge did his thing and got multiple grouse and woodcock finds. He is an amazing wild bird dog. He just knows where to find grouse and how to handle them.

But what really warmed my heart was seeing the two young bird finders allowing their inbred talent to show on grouse and woodcock.  Patty is a pretty white and orange Smudge daughter with a facial marking like her dad (I told Dale he should have named her Smudgette).  She was amazing for a 6 month old baby. She was fancy, well mannered, and seemed to always pattern to the front. And she could find birds! Every time she hit the ground she had productive points.

The last time we had her on the ground she had a long stretch with no bird contact and we were afraid her streak would end.  Just about that time she pushed out on an independent cast over a hundred yards to the front and went on point. Dale and I rushed to her and after a whirlwind 10 minutes we had one woodcock in the bag and 3 more pointed that didn't give us shots. This little girl sure seems like she's going to be some kind of cover dog.

Rusty, Patty's half-brother from Smudge and a different dam, put on awesome performances every time down.  I don't want to jinx Les, but Rusty was extremely biddable all the time.  While he hunted independently, the connection he showed with Les was impressive for a dog of that young age. I love my bird dogs to want to please and Rusty showed that.  He also showed he could find birds. Every time we had him out he found woodcock AND grouse. Every. Time.

The find that sticks in my mind the most came only minutes after we'd turned Rusty loose one morning.  We were literally within 50 yards of the truck when Rusty's bell went silent. He had dropped off the edge of the road into a thicket of mixed types of trees that bordered a marshy area. We located him quickly and as the three of us tried to get close a gorgeous red phase grouse rocketed out. None of us had a shot. We started lamenting our inability to knock the bird down for the young Setter. Rusty had held firm through the explosive flush, which impressed us all as well.  Les started to get close to Rusty in order to release him, and a woodcock flushed from within a few yards or where the grouse had been. Les was able to stop the timber doodle's escape and reward Rusty for his diligence and manners.

I was so happy to be able to hunt over Smudge again.  And I was just as glad to see that he is passing along both his bird finding abilities and biddability.

Big thanks to Dale and Les for taking me along and showing me these promising Smudge puppies.

If you'd be interested in getting a pup out of Smudge or any of our dogs, give me a shout.

Sugar takes Runner-Up at Garden State Championship

Sugar is now CH/RU Pine Straw Sweet Tea after her Runner-Up win at the Garden State Shooting Dog Championship. Sugar's 4 finds and great race for handler Jeanette Tracy on the last day of the trial were enough to garner the Runner-Up title. We greatly appreciate Jeanette's work with Sugar and guiding her to a pretty good year so far.

Sugar wins Northeastern Open Shooting Dog Championship!

Pine Straw Sweet Tea (Sugar) has won the Northeastern Open Shooting Dog Championship. Sugar was handled by Jeanette Tracy of Ladywood Farms.  Sugar had 8 finds in her bid to take the title.  Sugar has shown a lot of promise even from a puppy. She was runner-up for the Bill Conlin Setter Shooting Dog Derby award in her derby year and had amassed some quality placements in her first couple years as a shooting dog.

Pine Straw Sweet Tea is out of Multiple CH Highground Jax Jabba and our RUCH Pine Straw Katydid.  She is one of the most classy Setters we've produced and is obviously a very good bird finder.

Huge thanks go to Jeanette for developing Sugar and bringing her to the level that she has achieved.

Sugar shows she's back from maternity leave with two solid placements.

Pine Straw Sweet Tea has returned to trialing with a vengeance. Sugar took second place in a 22 dog Open Shooting Dog stake at the English Setter Club of America's fall trial at Medford, NJ. She followed that up with a 1st place in a Open Restricted Shooting Dog stake at an AKC/American Field dual sanctioned trial in late September. We're hopeful Sugar is on her way to a great trial year.

Pine Straw Magpie available for sale to the right home.

WE HAVE FOUND A HOME FOR MAGGIE. THANKS TO ALL THAT EXPRESSED INTEREST.

We are offering our Pine Straw Magpie for sale to the right home. Maggie is 6 years old and is a finished gun dog.  We think Maggie would be a great fit for someone looking for their first fully trained bird dog, someone that makes regular trips to a hunting preserve and needs a well mannered hunter, or a family that has up and coming young bird hunters that would benefit from the thrill of hunting behind their own dog.

Maggie is very petite, weighing approximately 34 pounds and is quite portable.  She is affectionate and very much wants to please. She points, backs, and retrieves.

If you are interested in hearing more about Maggie you can email us at pinestrawsetters@gmail.com.

Erin's Hidden Shamrock X Pine Straw Sweet Tea pups have arrived!

We are excited to have these four beautiful Sugar Babies from or breeding of Sugar (Pine Straw Sweet Tea) to Erin's Hidden Shamrock.

We think that this breeding of a multiple titled AA champion to our promising up and coming horseback shooting dog Sugar will be a good one.  Sugar was runner-up for the Bill Conlin Setter Shooting Dog Derby Award her derby year and garnered some wins as a shooting dog last year.  She came close to some really big wins a couple times this fall and then she took the rest of the year off to have these pups.

We are really looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Pine Straw Evangeline gets her first field trial placement.

Pine Straw Evangeline (Emmy) earned her first field trial placement on January 20, 2018.  Emmy's three find performance in the Amateur Derby stake at the Vizsla Club of Metro Atlanta's field trial helped her take third place.  Emmy is out of our breeding of 2X Nat'l CH Shadow Oak Bo to RUCH Pine Straw Katydid.