In The Beginning

Love Creek in the spring time

In 1978 My then wife and I were house hunting for a rural property in SW Wisconsin's driftless area a beautiful part of the state covered with wooded rolling hills and valleys interspersed with dairy farms and small towns. This particular day we were riding with a Realtor in a 70's something ford station wagon. Her name was Jeanne I remember and when we drove down the secluded 3/4 mile lane to the farmstead I will never forget her saying before we rounded the curve to the farm house "We do have another interested buyer in this property" What a salesperson I thought! Little did she know or my wife for that matter that my mind was made up already based on the seclusion of the property and the length of the driveway from the blacktop town road having lost my first bird dog to a car accident when I was 10 years old. We rounded that last curve and the woods opened to a beautiful setting over looking the valley. It was obvious why this was chosen as the place for the farmstead with the house facing east looking at the valley and the ridge surrounding it.What I didn't see was the liability and pressure an old property could exert on a new marriage and very quickly thereafter a new family with twin boy's! However my vision was always looking ahead with the wheels turning in my head of what this place could be someday. Once it was ours the fun began as many of our friends were living in the same area. I felt this is where I belonged as I soon found Love Creek a half mile walk behind our property in the next valley. In the 70's and early 80's this was an excellent trout creek full of brown trout. The adjacent hills provided very good ruffed grouse hunting for several years as well along with an ever growing deer herd followed in later years by the reintroduction of the wild turkey.
                 It took about 3 years of living in this paradise before my wife decided she had had enough of struggling with the kids pulling them up the driveway on a toboggan to make the daily commute to work and then down again at night if there was a storm coming which meant leaving the car on top so we could make it to work the next day. Then the new bird dog came when the kids were still in diapers which added even more fuel to the fire now out of control. We also heated with wood which meant coming home to an often cold house with hungry kids and there's no way to make this any clearer except to say my wife didn't share my vision! We both worked full time of course and I also admit to not changing many diapers.
                 That's not to say there weren't good times. We cut wood,made hay,hunted, fished,picked wild berries,mushrooms,asparagus, grew pumpkins,raised chicken's,pheasants,cattle and a couple pigs. We even had sled races down the driveway when it would turn to ice making it impassable to vehicles except sleds that is! Being in our twenties drinking to much on a pretty regular basis was something we had in common with most of our friends and family as well to add to the fun.

The infamous driveway!

                  Then the word's" I don't love you anymore"changed my life. My son's who were just 3 year's old that I had carried into the wood's berry picking and trout fishing in backpacks countless times would then forever be visitors to "Love Creek Valley Farm". They moved to the city with they're mother who hired a female attorney of course who scheduled our final hearing before a female judge of course. I was very active with the boys  having potty trained them for example to endless hours at the library and reading to them daily as part of our routine. But I didn't and couldn't have given birth to them and no I couldn't breast feed them either. Regardless of your value as a parent once you put your life in the hands of the State to judge your future hold on tight!

Here I am holding on for the ride of my life!

                   Ironically hold on I did to the very place that had in many ways contributed to the difficult place I had arrived at in my life at age 28. Divorced with two kids and a mortgage on a dream. I should also add broke to the list along with a promising 2 year old German Shorthair Pointer named "Gina".

Gina with her first Rooster

                   These were the dark days. The obstacles to making the "Farm" the place I knew it could be for the kids and myself seemed many days monumental but my connection to the place was so strong that I allowed my intuition to guide me forward. On bad days I would come home grab my fishing gear and walk down to "Love Creek" daring the "Creek" to show me some signal there was hope and that there was something good in the world today. It was uncanny how many times I did this and caught some really nice trout on some unsuspecting days raising my spirits and furthering my belief that this place was worth fighting for.

A Love Creek brown trout from the cottonwood hole

                  When we moved to the Love Creek Valley I had been employed in Madison and with the recession of 1980 my job had ended. A period of unemployment ensued during which I became the primary caregiver for the boys which was a time I will always remember as a very happy one. My Brother n law was in the same position and living 10 minutes away so the kids saw a lot of each other and remain very close today 30 years later. My point here is that this caused me to look for work locally which I did and was successfully hired by a local Pizza Hut restaurant franchise. Having had a background in retail sales and a passion for food I quickly perceived this as an opportunity where I could have an impact but most importantly one that would help me realize my dreams for the" Farm".

Gina and her pups. One of these pups went to Hunter Lake
my Uncle who gave me my first bird dog. Both he and Aunt
Clarice in their 80's drove to the farm to pick up the pup. It
was an interesting picture as they drove away with the dog
sitting in the back seat. I was glad to be able to return the favor.

                   So this is why when you look at your life every occurrence can be said to have a purpose in some way as to why you end up where you do. My first bird dog getting run over had a bearing on my decision to come to the Love Creek Valley. My marriage crumbled there but my sons were conceived there. One job ended while I was there but a very successful 26 year career began while I was there driven by my passion and dreams for the Farm. Having examined my life in this way I believe remaining true to your passion and beliefs will guide you to the end goal. Unfortunately there are no short cuts. I have had some very interesting discussions about this with my bird hunting partner as we've traveled the country asking what if's in our lives and what it would have meant to the future. Just for example if I would have learned to ski at an early age I may never have left Colorado in 1973 never making it to Love Creek at all but I didn't learn how until age 35 and had already been at the farm for 10 years. Then there's the what ifs in regards to women and on and on....  Examining the chain of events can be more than just fun it can provide insight to the future as well and help make decisions consistent with your goals.
                    My point by bringing you the long way around so to speak is that I learned decisions always have consequences some good and some bad but when I let my intuition guide me I always seemed to remain true to my end goal. True to my dream.
                     Now fast forward twenty years. Wow! The kids did great! Grew up to be very nice young men. Soccer players. The type of kids where everyone always ended up at their place to gather. Both graduated from U.W. Madison. My career worked out perfectly. It was a great match for my employer and myself. I was promoted and my income grew from 5.50 per hour to six figures. Amazing what happens when you know whats important to you however I lived a simple life saving every cent I could for the day my life would change again and the rest was spent raising the kids and renovating the "Farm". Most of these years I was a soccer dad spending countless hours filming and taking pictures of the boy's as they played in very competitive leagues. Our time together was mostly spent on the road from one tournament to another for years. We amassed a collection of hundreds of action photo's and hours of film including over 80 full length game films.The objective was for me to stay behind the camera and keep my mouth shut and for the kids to stay focused,tired and busy! It worked!

Gina ...what a good friend she was through good times and bad.

                        During these years I hunted Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota with GSP'S. I bought the kids guns at age 12 but their interest didn't catch on until they were much older so our time in the field was in between what kids do at this stage but the opportunity was always there. The Farm was an anchor I wanted them to have growing up as they had moved several times with their mother. It was that. They came with their friends,played with the dog's,hunted Deer, Turkey and Pheasants.

Jared with the Unicorn Buck taken in our valley

Carson with The Foggy Morning Tom

                        Everything had worked to plan. The Farm was totally renovated and a new garage with living space added complete with sauna and game room. Food plots for deer and a 75 tree orchard were planted. Life was good but for me the dream was all part time. I was working my ass off to make it all happen but could only enjoy it when I wasn't. The dog's I had during this period never reached there true potential because they were just doing it part time as well although in a very beautiful place!

Carson with the Big Toed Buck shot from the cherry tree stand.

                         Our soccer life ended when the boys graduated high school and I was suddenly free hundreds of hours a year both mentally and physically. The kids were off to college and I was left asking myself what should I be doing that's consistent with my passion and beliefs? My answer was start a new bird dog! This was a time in my life to really focus back on me and what I really wanted to do. I wanted to take the sport of upland hunting to a new level including dog's, training,guns,shooting,and hunting new species and territory. My goal was then to increase the number of days in the field doing all of those things. My job enabled me to schedule my own time and this flexibility was a great help in developing Love Creek Valley Farm as a place to raise and train dog's,keep birds-quail,pigeons and pheasants and practice shooting. Having worked with many of the same people for 20 years at this point I had from day one  kept my work life very separate from my personal life and while my colleagues would linger at the bar after meetings I had more important things to do! Why would I want to get slobbering drunk with those assholes? What's the end goal is what I always ask!

This is what was waiting for me at home!

                                        After a short period of adjustment to this new found time now that I was an empty nester so to speak I started researching dog's. I had had English pointers, Brittany's, and GSP's. I had a friend that lived in the next valley that had Ryman Setters for years and I had always admired how beautiful these dog's were. As I searched and read about these dog's the more interested I became as I learned about they're temperament and dispositions. My focus on photography and film I believe helped me with my vision of what I wanted my field experience and companions to look like. I then quickly decided English Setters were the breed to continue looking at although my years with the GSP'S were great I wanted something beyond they're intense prey drive and utility. I wanted beauty,grace and sensitivity and since I hadn't had much luck finding it in the right women I focused on the bird dog's!
                                       Finally I thought I had the time,the place and the money to do this right. I began reading everything I could,watched videos,talked with breeders,vets,trainers. Attended workshops and talked to other hunters. Here's what I learned. Everyone had a different opinion of what to do,how to do it and with whom! Surprise! Surprise!
What I did was to make a decision using my intuition and keeping the end goal in mind which was to take my passion for upland hunting to a new level. One of the main parts of my job was the selection of people so interviewing was a skill I was practiced at and was frankly quite good at as well. After talking with breeders and checking references and pedigrees I chose a line of Setter's based where my intuition and trust led me.
                                          Having been breeding my own GSP'S I was out of the loop on the process of long waiting ques. The breeder chosen had 1 dog left at this time and I wanted to make a decision so I said yes and brought home this tri-color male at 11 weeks who I looked at and immediately called Mick!
                               And that Ladies and Gentleman is how it all began!