After I had arrived for the tail end of summer, it was with great anticipation that I finally again would have a taste of the Scandinavian autumn. As mentioned in the previous post, Bentley was introduced to Norwegian mountain terrain soon after arriving. In Norway there’s a law that all dogs must be kept on a leash from April 1st – August 20th, so our arrival had been timed well. Before hunting season started on September 10th we managed to get him into some birds. The first couple of times he found black grouse, next also a snipe before he finally got in contact with our primary target; willow ptarmigan (lagopus lagopus, from the grouse family). In his first contact he had a very stylish point on a good sized covey of about twenty birds. (See pic further below.)
We still kept fishing, picking berries and just enjoyed being back in our familiar areas. As seen below, Aidan enjoyed a lot of blueberries.
While we were preparing ourselves for the hunting season in North Norway, we were also following the Norwegian Mountain Championship online updates from Dovre mountain in central Norway. My mate Geir had travelled to compete with his pointer Barentsvidda’s Little Wing. After having competed in the initial runs on the Friday and a semi-final on the Saturday, both in unusually high September temperatures of 24 degrees, they made it to Sunday’s final. The heat and difficult conditions for the dogs in the big terrain was a struggle for many dogs, all of them previously highly merited. As a very exciting final day wore on, there were two dogs that showed their class until the end of the day. It was Little Wing and an English setter called Røynåsens Tyron, both of them 7 years old. They became the final brace of the day (pictured above) but without work on birds a winner could not be named and no champion was crowned.
The interesting thing is that both the pointer and the setter are from Italian blood lines. Tyron’s sire Nash is by Rum (Radentis Fancio – Panda) – Ribes dei Morbidi (Bull – Carussima dei Morbidi) and his mother Diana is by Blek (Orco di Valdragon – Mede) – Agata (Raf della Geminiola – Rena). Little Wing was bred by Geir using Barentsviddas Nansen (Anter – Giga) on Barentsviddas Wind Cries Mary (Titan – Barentsviddas Mafia).
I have for a long time promoted dogs and lines from southern Europe, as having lots of valuable qualities to add to our Nordic dogs. Around 30 years ago I was involved in some heated debates with certain Norwegians who insisted that Italian dogs did not have the mental and physical toughness to handle the mountain terrain. The terrain and weather conditions can be punishing for many dogs, regardless of their origin. There was a bit of an agenda against Italian imports but there have been several examples proving that they certainly don’t lack in hunting passion and stamina. The differences would be found among individuals and some lines, in any country and should not be general, sweeping statements.
Geir’s breeding over the years is an excellent example among the pointers and so was the import Urlo del Vento, both proving himself and producing excellent offspring. Among the setters there have also been several excellent individuals, including the import Black who won the Norwegian Mountain Championship in 2006. The bottom line is that Nordic breeders have created our type of strong and well-functioning pointers and setters, often dual purposed with good looks to go with working ability. It’s a living heritage and we inject other blood lines to people’s own convictions.
Hunting season came around on September 10th but having followed the weather forecasts that day brought a lot of heavy rain. We decided to delay our start to the day after and we were rewarded with beautiful weather, perhaps even a bit too warm. In addition to just enjoying ourselves being out under a big open sky, the main thing was to get some work into Bentley and hopefully for Aidan to shoot his first ptarmigan. It could not have gone better. Bentley worked well and mid morning found his first covey. It was in tight cover below us and we didn’t get a shooting opportunity at the covey rise, however soon after we found a single bird which Aidan shot. It fell into some bushes and Bentley instantly retrieved and delivered it to us. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of him bringing his first ptarmigan as the phone was in my backpack but we got several opportunities for that later. It was quite a lovely moment though, having my son and his dog bag their first bird in Norway. They have bagged quite a few birds in New Zealand these past couple of years. Bentley pictured above left with that first bird, and middle + right bringing Aidan’s second ptarmigan shortly after. Below some other situations from that opening week of the season. In addition to ptarmigan we also had good situations on black grouse and a woodcock. This will provide for some good culinary experiences during the winter.
Outside Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Aidan was craving some Asian food and we found some of the best ramen we’ve ever had in Trondheim!