Finally

With all the news I’m hearing from others about seeing birds out there, I finally had some good results. Most of the reports I have gotten were from road sightings and I had a few of them myself. But me and the dogs finally got some good reports from the field.

In our last two outings, we found several good coveys of 4 to 6 week old birds, which flew very well. No younger birds, to my surprise. All of the birds we saw won’t look any different than mature birds come hunting season. Two of the coveys were very large. 40 to 50 birds. I’m sure from several pair, but sure is good to see.

For those keeping up on Layne’s progress, I got some great news this morning. I was really worrying about if she would honor naturally or not, and she honored Grady twice this morning. I took a picture but it’s hard to even see the point or the honor, but it’s there.

So far she is on track to having a great opening season. The only thing she hasn’t done is to point by scent. She points by sight when she happens to see a bird but hasn’t let her nose do the job yet. I’m looking forward to that and I feel like 2026 is going to be a fun year for Grady, Layne and me.

If the fires don’t burn up the northwest, I’ll keep letting you know what we are seeing as the season gets closer. I know it’s hot, but still get your dog some exercise when possible.