Happy Birthday Chev (and Biff!)

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Chev turned 8 today and Biff is now 62.  We had ginger desserts to celebrate – a ginger pancake for Chev, Finley and Xupe to share and gingerbread cake for Biff and me. It was a beautiful January day in Minnesota, with snow sparkling in the cold sunshine this morning. The peace was broken, however, when the dogs cornered an unlucky rabbit and Chev wound up with the bunny.  ((t was a mercifully quick kill.) Griffs are known in Europe for being hunters of feathers and fur, and they proved their dual purpose today.

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Updates from Croix and Edgar

We received some hunting photos in December with Croix and with Edgar, both pups from Norling Rise’s summer of 2015 litter.  Croix was number 12 and his brother, Edgar was number 7.

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That’s Croix (above) after what looks like a very successful day of hunting. His person wrote, “A little hunting update: My dad and I took Croix out to North Dakota for a quick 4 day pheasant hunt this year on public land. He did very well staying close and working back and forth. He put up 22 birds but only 3 were males. A local game farm contacted me after hunting there last year and ask if Croix and I were interested in guiding pheasant hunts. This last Sunday afternoon, after 10 inches of snow, we did our first guide hunt for a couple of gentlemen from the area. It was a 10 bird hunt, and like normal, Croix found another one off to the side with his nose (the one that the hunters missed.)  Compliments from everyone where given to both of us, as the question on how old he was came up.  The hunt lasted 2 hours and Croix was still itching for more.”

 Below are all Edgar with his birds and his people.

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from Edgar’s person…

“Edgar and Nick hit the field on December 26 and got their first pheasant! Ed pointed like a champ and carried the bird. We’re still working on retrieving to-hand 🙂

The boys hunted with three other men and two other dogs–one (dog) called it quits after an hour, and the other wasn’t really a hunting dog. All the guys were impressed with Edgar’s drive, energy, and focus. He’d have gone hours more if he was allowed.

Edgar had a blast and napped the entire following day. I hope to join them next time.”

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Happy New Year from Norling Rise

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With hunting season for pheasant and grouse ending on January 1st in Minnesota, Biff took Xupe out for grouse yesterday, sneaking one more day of hunting in for the year.  The crusty snow made for crunchy loud footsteps.  Although they saw a couple of grouse, they didn’t come home with any.  Still, Biff said that he enjoyed hunting one of his familiar places and checking out a new stretch that he hasn’t hunted before.

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Photo of ruffed grouse among catkins from the Ruffed Grouse Society’s website