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PRS JANUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER!

Hi Everyone!

It's been a long time since our last newsletter, an entire year in fact! Life with setters seems to fly by! Much to catch up on that has happened over 2023 here at Paint River! Training pups from last summer, new dogs, old dogs, podcasts, the 2023 hunting season and the 2024 breeding season!

Scroll to the bottom of the newsletter to find past newsletters to catch up on if you've missed any! Please check out the newsletter in a location on a device that will allow for video content. Most posts here have videos so allow for time for them to upload.

Enjoy the read and always feel free to reach out with any questions via email.

Make sure to click on view in your web browser to see all the great photos and videos content in this newsletter!

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2023 BREEDING SEASON

The 2023 breeding season gave us many nice pups throughout spring and summer. We had a handful of litters sired by, Duca, our newest addition to the program. His pups went all over the country and have done well on many species as most of them hit 6-11 months of age in their first season.

A few Duca pup stand outs in 2023 were: Osier, Milo and Aadi. You will see some videos and photos of them in the newsletter below. Given that we had litters throughout the summer it was a challenge for me to juggle the normal number of pups I like to hold back for myself to assess while training puppies out of our program for clients as well. I decided to keep a female out of the Missy by Duca litter born the end of June. This pup we named Aadizooke, which means she tells a scared story or legend. Aadi’s season didn’t start until November 1st or so but she did outstanding on late season ruffs having had over 150 productive grouse points and handling most of her birds beautifully for just being 4 months old at the starting on wary November birds. I was able to bag more than a dozen grouse over her and her retrieves were quick and joyful. Just a little love. Her assessment season will next 2024 so I’m hopeful that she stays in the program. Check out some of our Duca kids below!

SOME HIGHLIGHTED DUCA KIDS

Osier, a Missy by Duca boy born November 2022.

Milo, a Namé by Duca boy born February 2023 and Otis, an Omiimii by Zhingos boy born December 2019, Ina’amii’s litter brother.

A determined Milo roots out a ruffed grouse that buried itself in debris after the shot.

Aadi, a Missy by Duca girl born June 30th, 2023. She was outstanding in the grouse woods on late season birds in November & December at just 4-5 months old!

2023 SUMMER TRAINING CAMP

2023 Summer Camp was jammed packed with Paint River dogs here for training. Enjoy the photos and videos of our Paint River pups honing their instincts at their birthplace this past summer!

Here’s Osier, a Missy by Duca boy born in November 2022. He’s just six months old here in June. Caught wind of a launcher that had launched a bird just five minutes earlier for a previous dog. Osier has seen many North American upland species this season and he has shown caution, control and created some great opportunities for his owners.

Bodhi, an Ina’amii by Hatchet boy, 13 months old here last summer. Very talented boy. He spent a month with us honing his basic bird skills. He’s a litter brother to our girl Gichigami. Bodhi had a tremendous first season in Minnesota taking full advantage of their banner year.

Here’s Oakley, he’s a third generation Paint River pup on both sides of his pedigree being out of Izhinoó by Riffle. He’s a very, very nice pup at only four months old here. Promising future for this lad.

Here’s Wedge, litter brother to Bodhi & Gichigami. He’s a docile boy with a traditional old school setter style. Solid nose and a lot of determination in this fella. He had a very progressive season on grouse in Michigan this season. Big things out of this boy to come!

Here’s Colt, an Azaadi by Javi son. He was back with us last summer for some polish work. He’s an incredible close working fella with old world style for days.

Sadie, an Omiimii by Javi girl here to prepare for her second season at 18 months old.

I held back a couple Ina’amii by Duca puppies that I sold as started pups last summer here’s one of them at 13 weeks old.

Here’s Jett, a Namé by Duca boy we started for a client last summer. We brought him up to six months old and then he headed east to hunt ruffs.

Here’s Rocky, a Namé by Duca boy back last July at five months. His first week on birds.

Here’s Ember, a Waawaate by Zhingos girl. She’s 13 months here and has the fireball personality of her mother that’s for sure!

SETTERS IN THE SUMMER

Besides chasing grouse in the great northwoods one of our favorite pastimes in the great state of Michigan is enjoying all the lakes in the region. The grand favorite being none other than Lake Superior! We are getting geared up to start taking the setters to the lakes this week as our swimming season as well, is now underway!!

Our summer lake time is one of the primary ways we start to get our setters in shape for the upcoming hunting season. We try to get them on rotation constantly several days a week with nearby local lakes, our homestead quarry pond and most days that it's 85 degrees or warmer you will find a chunk of our crew enjoying Lake Superior for a few hours on those hot summer days.

Pictured below are a few photos of fun with the setters in the lakes— Duca, Namé, Omiimii, Python, Gichigami and Ina’amii.

ADULTS HAVING SUMMER FUN WITH THE BIRDS!

Duca and Duncan having some summer fun!

Missy, Omiimii & Miiko with their first birds of the year last June.

Duca getting one of his first bird runs of the year.

FIRESIDE WITH PRS
True stories from the Northwoods

The 2023 grouse season in the Northwoods had a bit of a slow start with a third consecutive year of dry weather during the summer months into the fall. It wasn't until the second half of October in my geographic one hundred square mile hunting area that I started to see an uptick in bird numbers a bit. Still not a banner year from start to finish but Wisconsin offered the best hunting of my season in the late season. The unusual lack of snowfall allowed for hunting until the closing date.

Every year I have so many new experiences in the woods with my dogs... sometimes super bowl winning spirit stuff, sometimes life threatening, and sometimes just better than being anywhere else on a fall or winter day.

So many stories of this past season grab my attention over my 106 days in the Northwoods totaling 538 hours with having walked 1,049 miles. As always, we got after it hard all season long.

One of my most memorable longer tracks that ended with a win for the dog was back on December 23rd with Name' on the ground. The ground was covered with patchy snow in the mid 30s. Name' picked up a track in a spruce/aspen stand and she trailed this bird with many sets of great intensity. This indicated to me that this was a hot trail and if we could catch up to the bird we might have a chance in this stand.

Name' was cautious yet as quick as she could be on her track. As the minutes added up I started to wonder if we were going to find the bird. Every so often she would be tracking across snow patches and there was the king's track, fresh and on the move in a hurry. The steady feed of motivation fueled our journey. Probably about 5-7 minutes into the track she would not budge as I charged ahead of her. I looked all directions and i looked to the patches of snow surrounding us, no more tracks.

To my left was a depression with mature alders. As I turned to face the alders a large copper band drummer launched off a spruce branch just feet above my head to fly over the alders. I only had a split second but got a bead on him just before going out of sight.

Feathers flew but I could tell I winged him. Name' went to work to find him and this bird continued to do what he did best and run his tail off across the alder depression and up the far hillside about 60-70 yards away. Name' came running back with one of her more harder earned cunning Michigan ruffs of her 2023 season.

I'm always proud of my dogs' efforts but experiences like this make the heart sing. I hope all my readers have the opportunity to have experiences like this. There's no better hunting companion, there's not better pure form of fair chase and there's nothing better than the feeling you and your dog have as a team when you embrace each other at the end of the retrieve.

Pictured below are some photos of Name' pointing and setting on this particular track, the Onx map showing the track she picked up and followed. In addition, a video of retrieving this winged bird after the shot. I hope you enjoyed our story today and look forward to sharing many more!

Reporting from the Northwoods,
Kyle Warren

Namé with one of her longer tracks of the season that ended in success. This recovery was about 60-70 yards out from where I shot and winged the bird after she brought us to this birds over a 256 yard track on this hard running ruff. An amazing end to some amazing dog work.

2024 PRS GROUSE DOG HANDLER CLINICS REGISTRATION IS OPEN

The dates for the 2024 Grouse Dog Handler Clinics are:
August 16-18th and August 30th - September 1st (Labor Day weekend). Rain dates for both clinics will be the following Fri-Sun of original scheduled dates. Come join the greatest grouse dog handling experience you could have with your dog!

Over the years these clinics have been incredibly fun and educational for dozens and dozens of people. We love it being a small and intimate with everyone hands-on all the time kind of experience.

Everyone walks away with a lot more tools in your toolbox for hunting ruffed grouse and wild birds in general. We accept all pointing breeds of all ages. If you are looking for a way to become a more effective grouse hunter with your pointing dog then this is the intensive workshop for you and your hunting companion.

Learn how to best handle both yourself and your dog in the grouse woods to maximize your team's potential as an effective hunting unit.

These events take place in the western UP of Michigan. All pointing breeds welcome from as young as four months of age to senior dogs.

Our clinics consistent of 5-6 dog teams maximum and two observer slots. It's very busy on your feet in the fields and forest for 2-3/4 days so awareness of your physical fitness is important. This is a physically demanding event. The entire class stays together the entire time so everyone is always participating learning from both when their dog is being worked and when others' dogs are being worked as well.

Each day we allocate time for both field work classroom work encompassing: reading and handling your dog on the hunt, hunt strategy, use of GPS, learning habitat, bird behavior, comprehensive understanding of scent theory & behavior, med kit supplies and use and having non-stop Q&A throughout the event.

Come and make your next hunting season the best season yet whether it's your first with your pup or your fifth! There's always a tremendous knowledge to walk away with from these grouse dog clinics. Even for those that mainly hunt other species across the USA, it's an event that will have you expanding the depth of your toolbox as an upland hunter.

If you are interested in attending a grouse dog handler clinic this summer now is the time to reach out as we have limited space. I can forward you the informational flyer via email. Hope to see you there! I look forward to
your inquiry.

NEW VIMEO SERIES COMING IN 2024! GROUSE DOG HANDLING & HUNTING

This video series is in development and will
be a living library the next several years. Like our puppy Vimeo series, The Warren Way, for our Paint River Setters, this will have a one year rental on the video library.

This series will have sit down discussions, classroom discussions, field exercises and educational hunting clips. The objective is to teach everyone remotely what I cover in my August/September Grouse Dog Handler Clinics. These events are information dense and it’s a game changing experience for dog teams hunting wild birds. For those that are not able to get the hands on experience of the Paint River clinics this will be a great alternative and you’ll have the opportunity to view everything for a full year.

As part of the the series will be the recordings from past clinics and if you decide to sign up for this year’s clinic, like last year’s participants as soon as I have content organized in the video library you will have free access to that content for a full year.

Join our summer clinics and for those that do there’s a free bonus this year! Hoping to have this series off the ground and published with enough content to make it worth everyone’s investment by this summer.

This will be one of eventually many videos in the library with educational voice over explanation. Just need to leave the gun behind more in the 2024 season to film! Here’s Namé as good as a tracking dog could be!

2024 BREEDING SEASON IS HERE!!

We are at the head of our 2024 breeding season here at PRS! If all goes we will be very busy with lots of litters on the ground between March and June!

We are very excited to have these upcoming litters with both some veteran breeding girls and several new ones in the program! We also have several other excellent litters in the first half of this year from PRS proven dogs. If you are looking for your next wild bird dog companion please visit our website at: WWW. PAINTRIVERSETTERS.COM to learn more about the program, the dogs and pricing. All serious inquiries can fill out a puppy application on the purchase forms page and email it to Kyle at paintriversetters@gmail.com. Once Kyle receives a pup app we can set up a time to chat by phone.

PRS on PODCASTS

I have been a guest for several podcasts for Paint River followers to take a listen if you haven't checked these podcasts out already! A year ago I did two-part episode series on both GDIY & BIRD SHOT PODCASTS both Nicks do an awesome job as hosts of their shows! I’d recommend you list to older episodes that I’ve been a guest on their shows. Visit the Paint River website home page and scroll down to podcasts to locate those shows more easily. Enjoy!

GDIY PODCAST: Most Effective Grouse Dogs

GDIY PODCAST: Habitat, Conservation, Grouse dogs on Woodcock

BIRD SHOT PODCAST: Ruffed Grouse & Cover

BIRD SHOT PODCAST: Grouse Dogs

SETTING THE STAGE

This newsletter's set goes to Elsa, a daughter of Omiimii by Javi. Here she is setting on a bird in July training season. Elsa is a great representation of a PRS style grouse dog. We are very proud of Elsa and her owners for all the opportunities they have made for her in her first two hunting seasons. Elsa hunts grouse most days in the Northwoods living in the heart of grouse country in Wisconsin.

Here at PRS we like a dog that will show a variable pointing style from high on both ends to setting flat on the ground. We desire this display of intelligence in our dogs as an expression and communication as to what they are reading in the scent picture. This can become helpful information in the hunt with respect to proximity to the bird. In every newsletter we will have what we, here at PRS view as one of the most beautiful things about a setter— setting.

We are thrilled to have Elsa in our program for several
years to come and look forward to her first litter in 2025.

PRS VIMEO ON DEMAND TRAINING SERIES — THE WARREN WAY

The PRS Vimeo On Demand series, THE WARREN WAY— has become an integral part of our program with our puppy clients. It insures that our puppies are being given the best guidance with a proven system that's worked for our setters over the years. It provides a detailed handful of How-to videos with puppies on all the basic commands for bird dogs. There's also a handful of sit down chats discussing important topics in raising your young setters to become quality wild bird dogs. The bulk of the videos is a docuseries following 5-6 puppies through all their training in unedited videos in bird work, obedience and retrieve. This is not a climatic series, it's a grind, the daily grind.

Over the last four breeding seasons our own clients make this purchase as part of purchasing a puppy from PRS. The feedback has been terrific and the concern for our dogs being raised correctly has been largely alleviated. For both owners and trainers, this simple but specific method of raising little setters into bird dogs has been the very best thing PRS can give you besides a puppy with quality genetic potential in the fields and forests.

Check out our Vimeo page, give the trailer a listen and reach out if any questions. Whether it's your first setter or seventh setter, you will find this a valuable addition to your pup's upbringing. Remember!— your puppy only has one first year of life! Do all you can to give your pup a fair shake at being the best it can be! This puppy series is specifically for PRS pups and dogs of similar character.

PRS VIMEO LINK

SETTER TALK PODCAST

Setter Talk is a podcast hosted by Kyle Warren of PRS. This podcast was created to have guests on the show that bring all areas of experience big and small, far and wide within the setter community at large. We have had some wonderful guests up to this point and discussed great topics.

There is such a wide variety in type when discussing setters, particularly the English Setter as a breed. This podcast serves as a platform for listeners to broaden their scope of knowledge and perspective about the world of setters. It's a fascinating world within the hunting dog community and one that brings much passion and controversy among setter peers that can make for interesting conversation. Join us! Take a listen on past episodes and keep your ear to the ground for future episodes!

Setter Talk is available on all podcast platforms and on the PRS website for most recent episodes. We did a handful of episodes in winter and spring of 2023. Currently we are starting our 2024 recording season this week and look forward to bringing our audience some more exciting, interesting and insightful Setter Talk!

Click here to go to Setter Talk

CATCH UP ON PAST PRS NEWSLETTERS!

FEBRUARY 2021 NEWSLETTER

MAY 2021 NEWSLETTER

JANUARY 2022 NEWSLETTER

JUNE 2022 NEWSLETTER

JANUARY 2023 NEWSLETTER

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January 2024 PRS Newsletter
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paintriversetters@gmail.com

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