I am getting an English Setter - German Shorthair mix turkey dog puppy in a few weeks from good turkey hunting bloodlines. The parents are turkey dogs intentionally bred for this. It was a planned breeding and this is her second litter. Attached are a few from age 4 weeks (of the entire litter). There are 6 males and 1 female. I'm getting a male but my buddy who has the parents is keeping the female. She seems to be one of the most energetic of the bunch. 6/1/2005

Here she's about 8 1/2 weeks old. I made a last minute change to get the female instead of one of the males. I had the opportunity to spend time with the pups while puppy sitting this week while my friend is on vacation. After one-on-ones with each pup, she was clearly the choice for me. Her name is Gracie. She has a good set of lungs. She is very easy to handle and appears to have a good nose and hunting instincts. 7/6/2005

Gracie is doing well. The bag is getting better. I'm letting here play in it, and she will lay in it covered to her head and chew on the straps. She loves her bag. I've backed off in training intensity a little. She starts obedience training at PetSmart 8/11 for 8 weeks. That should help shore up her basic skills. She is coming to the .22 training pistol beautiful. I'll have my wife hold her, then I go far down into the woods and shoot it and she beelines to me. I then let her play with the dummy stuffed with turkey feathers when she arrives. She loves the turkey feathers - I've been following your advice and putting some in her kennel to play with and chew on. Loves to ride in the back seat of the truck. She is using her nose more, but at 11 weeks, her olfactory still has some developing to do. I think she'll be fine. Thanks for the tips. 7/27/05
Some pics from last night's bag training session. Worked out that one of my cats got in a tree above us and she was fixated on it. She did good. I had her pretty pooped before we started. I was yelping while she was in the bag. Two nights ago, I took her to some land I own to do some mowing and a hen went up the ridge when we pulled up. She didn't see her, but when she got to the area where the turkey had been, she really sniffed it up and trailed a little. It was encouraging. 7/29/2005

 Some pics from last night when I introduced Gracie to the entire frozen turkey I have been stealing feathers from this summer. She barked good at it in the tree, and went bananas (as you can see) once it thawed out a bit and scented up good. I put it back in the freezer for later sessions. I think she has the bug now. This was encouraging. I am taking her with two of her brothers on a pre-season "hunt" Saturday. We have some good recon on a gang using a cow pasture. I'll keep you posted. 10/12/05

Had a little luck yesterday. We flushed two gangs (I did most of the flushing), but Gracie sat in the blind with me and did really good. She was with me when I called this one in and shot it. She didn't quite know what to do when she ran up on the flopping bird, but in short order started barking at it then grabbed it and had a ball. I was happy. I'm taking off the rest of this week and some of next - hopefully we will have some more luck. I think once she matures some more and gets out a little more in the woods, she'll be A-OK. She is getting some good experience. She saw birds run, fly, and die, plus got to hear them yelping and walking in the woods while in the blind - not all bad. She got a little ansty when they got close and she could hear them walking - she sat up in the blind but it worked out.11/1/2005

It's been a nice week, got really dry though. Gracie did well and we found some more birds. My buddy killed another one for her on a joint flush with us and her, and she got to it while it was flopping and didn't hesitate. Going again Saturday. 11/9/2005

Finished up the fall season the week after Christmas. Got to hunt Gracie with her two brothers four days straight. Had a hard time finding birds - it is like they went in a hole. The dogs did however have two flushes. We only saw one bird at a distance from the second flush, but Gracie barked like crazy when they flushed. I think it was a small group of old birds - we did not try to call them back and they flushed downhill away from us. But, it was encouraging to see how she reacted. I am going to keep practicing blind setups and call backs. She also has flushed and chased several covies of quail this fall - no barking on these - but jumping and chasing out of sight - once again - encouraging. Really doing good on commands and her training. As she matures a bit, all the work I put in last summer is paying off. We have a ball together. I am scheduled to be off the entire first two weeks of our early fall season here this fall. Can't wait to hunt her every day. 1/13/2006

Took Gracie out for a romp Saturday based on some good recon from some deer hunting buddies on where they had seen turkeys the last part of deer season. There were two jakes walking in the woods from a logging road when I pulled up. It was raining and she hit the trail strong, but I think the birds had flown before - it was like she ran out of scent - she went about 200 yards, then came back. But later on another ridge, she disappeared then I heard her frantic barking. About 150 yds in front of me, I saw a big gobbler fly, then I saw a bird running toward me in the woods with Gracie hot on the trail barking - the bird flew - would have been a decent shot - sure wish season had been open - would have liked to kill it for her. Bottom line - she did great and it was a textbook flush. I think it was a small group of old birds based on their size and the amount of scratching. I went to the truck and got the blind and bag and we sat up for an hour or so, but they didn't yelp - not unusual for old birds - plus it was very windy (not good yelping conditions). She did great in the blind. I think once a bird gets in sight I may have to manage her a bit now that she is getting tuned in on flushing them. All in all, I was very happy and encouraged. Not too bad for an 8 month old dog. I plan to take her out as much as I can. Can't have too much practice. 1/23/2006 

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