Spenceville on a wonderful January day

Spenceville, California, is a ghost town.  Now in the rolling hills east of Marysville, nature lovers and hunters have access to thousands of acres of oak-tree-filled valleys and hills that surround this old copper mining town.

 The Spenceville area is used by sporting dog field trialers. 

Today at the break of dawn, Chloe and Bailey and our training gear got loaded up in the VW and we drove the 2-1/2-hour trip to the northeast.

 For a little over 2 hours I followed Bailey and Chloe on foot carrying my 20-gauge and blank gun as they ran through the fields that are used for the trials.  The training session was good and each time we go out Bailey gets a little better.  Bailey wore his training collar but we didn't use it much.  He was running very well.  Each repetition of an act that is done in the environment where it is expected is how dogs learn. 

After the training, we drove the short drive to the washed out bridge that used to go to the town of Spenceville.  A small bridge still goes over the small river.  We walked about an hour.  They had a good time swimming and exploring the area.

A great way to spend a 65-degree unusually nice January day.

HOW TO GET THERE: To get to the Spenceville Wildlife Area from Grass Valley, drive 12.5 miles west from Highway 49 in Grass Valley on Highway 20 toward Marysville. From the Marysville Area drive East on Highway 20. Turn south from Highway 20, at the Beale AF Base sign, onto Smartville Road. After .9 mile, take the left fork and continue on Smartville Road about 3.8 miles to Waldo Road. Continue along Waldo Road for 1.8 miles to the Waldo Bridge, which was built in 1901 to serve the now extinct towns of Waldo and Spenceville. After crossing the bridge, continue to the left along Spenceville Road for 2.3 miles until you arrive at the turnout and trailhead by the old, cement bridge and abandoned mine site.

Description: Spenceville Wildlife Area is comprised of 11,942 acres of blue oak - gray pine woodland characteristic of the Sierra Foothills. The terrain of the area varies from 200' to 1200' elevation. The wildlife area is bordered on the west by Beale Air Force Base and on the north, south, and east by privately owned ranches. There are numerous ponds, creeks, trails and riparian zones in the area.

Recreational Use: Type C Wildlife Area - no permits, passes, or reservations are required except for spring turkey hunt.

Fishing - Fishing best for largemouth bass, bluegill, and catfish in the following waters: Pittman, Horseshoe, Little Dry Creek, Wood Duck #1, Spring Plot, and Upper Jones Ponds. Also Dry Creek, Little Dry Creek, and Cox Creek.

Camping - Camping from Sept. 1 through the end of spring turkey season in the designated camp Area only. Camping is limited to 7 consecutive days or 14 days total during the calendar year.

Dog Training - Allowed from July 1 through March 15 on areas designated by the Department.

Equestrian Trail Riding - Trail riding is limited to designated trails, graveled administrative roads (Pittman, Falls, Nichols, Jones), and within 25 feet of any wildlife area exterior boundary fence. No cross country riding is permitted. Equestrians may access the area at the designated camp area and the access gates on Waldo Road located by the corrals. Equestrian-drawn carriages - Only county roads open to vehicles may be used.

Bicycles - Bicycle use by individuals is restricted to graveled administrative roads (Pittman, Falls, Nichols, Jones) and county roads. The roads listed above are all gated with white pipe gates.

Archery - Target practice at the public archery and/or shooting areas only. Archery equipment may be possessed on the wildlife area during legal archery season starting September 1.

Target Shooting- Target shooting is permitted at the public target shooting area where only paper and clay targets will be allowed and must be removed prior to leaving the shooting area.

Group Use - Permits must be obtained from the department to schedule all group use events.

Hunting: Allowed September 1 - January 31 for all legal species and during spring turkey season. Reservations are required for the first nine days of the spring turkey season.

Bobwhite are considered quail and may be hunted during the local California quail season.

Bobwhite (leftover after dog field trials) - usually found in the open areas.

Ghost Towns of Northern California

Bailey goes into field trial "rehab"

What Bailey should have looked like on pheasant hunt

Bailey has just spent 10 days in "field trial" rehab with our professional trainer:

Randy Berry.

 When a rookie, like me, goes out and has a grand old time in South Dakota with his dog but forgets to "handle the dog" during the excitement of the hunt, then when you come back to the "real world" - rehab will be in order. 

Bailey went with Randy down to California City and they worked off horseback for a couple days and did some other bird work. 

Over the last four days, I have gone out and worked with Bailey and Randy at Hastings Island.  We have been honing back the skills we will need to compete in next weekend's German Wirehair Pointer field trial out at Kistler Ranch (near Jamestown, California.)

We have Bailey "tuned back up." 

He is still only "green broke" and subject to the mistakes that a young

 28-month-old dog with a rookie handler will make.

taken from horseback at Kistler Ranch

 Will he win in the two gun dog stakes we are entered in? 

On the one hand, the chances of winning are very long.

After a good run at Kistler Ranch last spring

On the other hand,  Bailey should be competitive.

  This is what makes the sport enjoyable - win or lose.

Consistency with Bailey

Consistency is where I have gone wrong lately in Bailey's training for his "field trial career."

At 28 months old, Bailey can not understand that freedom to run the prairies in search of birds and then chase them after the flush would not be acceptable a week later in a very structured field trial.  While I was trying to shoot the fast and allusive cock pheasant, Bailey was free to do what he wanted.  An unsupervised juvenile at the Disneyland for upland bird dogs.

If it so happened that we were at the same place at the same time, then maybe we would act as a hunting team.  He would hold point through the shot.  But he always broke after the shot to chase the bird.  He would pull off the chase quickly, if I yelled, but chase he did.

The "steady to wing and shot" training, that I had sent him to Randy Berry for three months to establish, was not enforced for six days with the wild birds of South Dakota.  We were having a good old time being guys with their dogs in the wide open prairie.

Upon coming back to California and then to the first field trial last weekend, it really should have been no surprise that Bailey did not do well.  He really didn't know what I wanted him to do.

Consistency in commands and expectations.  Each time a command is given by me, it must be obeyed by Bailey.  "Woop," means "do not move a muscle until released."

"Here, come here", means come right to me and do not hesitate or venture off in another direction.

For the next few weeks or months Bailey and I will work on the six to eight basic commands that are going to be given consistently without variation and with consistent reactions by Bailey.  This is how we will progress in hunting as a team and in field trials.

Without consistency, Bailey is lost.  He does not understand gray areas.  I need to remember that dogs think in black and white and never gray.  Almost all the training books told me and I didn't listen.

I'm learning by making mistakes.

  Now how long will it take to undo the damage from my inconsistency. 

 We shall see.