Bonasa Flats Kennels

Hunting Pictures & Tales

Grouse & Woodcock Hunting Highlights
With over 30 years of grouse and woodcock hunting miles under my boots, I guess I could say that it's probably the
one thing I know a little bit about. However, I haven't always hunted grouse with the aid of a well-trained dog. It's
only been since 2004 that I've started working really hard to develop what I consider to be top notch grouse dogs. I
bought Boon because that's what I wanted to ultimately have one day - a really good grouse dog. Thankfully Boon
has delivered on that promise. And since then, this whole passion for well-trained versatile hunting dogs has really
grown beyond just having a grouse hunting buddy. Our hunting adventures have taken us to many different places,
but it's still grouse and woodcock hunting that's at the core of BFK. It's why we call ourselves Bonasa Flats Kennels.

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Pheasant & Sharptail Hunting Highlights
Even though grouse and woodcock hunting has always been at the center of my wingshooting interests, once I got
deeper into training and developing top notch versatile hunting dogs, the natural evolution was to pursue different
upland species. So now going to out-of-state destinations once or twice a year has become a standard part of life for
the BFK Crew. In particular, we've come to really enjoy the hunting opportunities that the great state of North
Dakota offers. And as we've explored "No Dak" over the last few years we've had some great times and met some
absolutely fantastic people along the way. We're always looking forward to the next adventure out on the prairies.

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Waterfowl Hunting Highlights
To call myself a "duck hunter" would be a gross overstatement. But I'll tell ya what... waterfowling definitely has
gained my interest over the last couple years. Originally, training a dog for the NAVHDA Utility Test made sense to
me because water work provides great physical conditioning, it allows you to work your dog when it's too hot to do
field work, and it improves their ability to recover game on land. Becoming a duck hunter really didn't factor into
my decision to get involved with versatile hunting dog training and testing. However, shortly after Boon got his first
Utility Prize I, it dawned on me that he was a pretty darn good duck dog and he really enjoyed it. In fact, he was a
WAY better duck dog than I was a duck hunter. So all of a sudden, there I was faced with a very interesting problem
- "To duck hunt or not to duck hunt?" Pretty soon I was thumbing through the waterfowling section in the Cabela's
catalog, finding myself looking at decoys at the sporting goods store, and doing research on ducks and places to
hunt 'em. The next thing you know, I've got three times the gear I had before, and Julie and I are sitting in a prairie
pothole with our Shorthairs near Cando, North Dakota shooting loads of ducks for fun! What the hell happened??
So basically now I'm a grouse hunter with a duck hunting problem! Life with dogs can be wonderfully strange...

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Published Works
Click on a thumbnail below to see articles I've had published in magazines.

"The Call of Coulee
Country"
Turkey Call
May / June 1998

"A New Year's Promised
Fulfilled"
Versatile Hunting Dog
January 2006

"Patience Is A (Trained)
Virtue"
Versatile Hunting Dog
October 2009