Lilly has a problem. She lives in Lake Quivira (in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area) with my friends Mike and Giovanna. That is the good news. She is a well-bred English Setter with all the heart and eager enthusiasm you would expect from a lady with her pedigree. She wants to hunt. She wants to hunt a lot more than she wants to retrieve, but that is another story. She can run like the wind, stop on a dime, and point the birds. She is absolutely beautiful when she does all of this. Her problem is access to birds. She lives 250 miles from my house where it is possible to hunt until she drops. Mike and I have discussed this situation in some detail and we have a solution.
Rohrer’s farm is up by Saint Joseph and Troy. It is an amazing place. They provide birds for retriever trials and also have the ability to set birds for your dogs to work and you can harvest birds that you might otherwise not get to see. You can choose pheasant, quail or chukars.
Chukars are native to Asia and are in the partridge family. They have been introduced in the United States as a game bird, and there are several feral populations in the Rocky Mountains and California. They are excellent table fare and are about the size of a hen pheasant. They are the perfect bird for Lilly in that they generally stay where they are placed and according to her they smell great! They fly with enthusiasm and can present a difficult shot. As I said — they are terrific birds for the table.
Pen raised birds are not adequately appreciated. I have participated in dog training enough to respect the process of working with live birds and easily understand the benefit of having a controlled environment where a dog can be worked methodically and properly on specific areas of training. My friend John Hahn raised and trained two national field trial champions. He could not have trained Czar without pigeons and pen-raised waterfowl. I can remember the hours of work that he and Jay put into the training of those dogs. These birds let Lilly stay sharp and happy when she would otherwise be relegated to a boring situation in the house and back yard.
I might also say that Mike and I had the genuine pleasure of an hour drive up and back, and a chance to recall and discuss previous adventures we have shared and the dogs we have known. Twenty years go by so fast! We still admire the Browning Sweet Sixteen and 20 gauge shotguns that we use. We are in agreement that this is the best situation possible for Lilly to stay sharp under the circumstances. She is glad that we care for her and love to watch her perform.
There is not very much happening at the Bottoms. Frozen water moves waterfowl out of the area. Snow geese are keeping a couple of strips of water open in pool one. This warm weather will open up a lot more.
Randy and I went to the river in Lawrence and took pictures of eagles and waterfowl last week. It is possible to set up right under trees where the eagles sit to watch the river. Their glide path makes for some excellent angles and shots. There are Common Mergansers and other ducks and geese there also. There are lots of diving ducks everywhere now — they love the cold water and are essentially statewide now.
The eagles at the Bottoms are getting more brave or tame — they let us get close which was a thrill. There are Snowy Owls in the area also. Cold doesn’t mean barren — get out and see these birds while they are here!
Doc

Doctor Dan Witt is a retired physician and nature enthusiast.