EACH SIRE HAS HIS PEDIGREE, DESCRIPTION, AND PHOTO SLIDESHOW
PAINT RIVER’S DUNCAN LEVI
Duncan is the quintessential bird dog right out of the box in his first grouse at 10 months of age. Greatest ruffed grouse dog I have ever seen in over 550 dogs I have hunted over in my 32 years of pursuing the king of the uplands. Duncan is a superior tracking type dog that naturally points, honors, circles running birds, retrieves birds well, has tremendous stamina hunting hours everyday. Duncan’s range is up 70 yards, averaging 30 – 50 yards. Duncan checks in every two to five minutes. He’s fast pace hunter seeking scent but the moment he gets the slightest whiff of bird scent he shows amazing cautiousness and proceeds to get you as close to the bird in a cat-like manner with a beautiful point. This cold nosed grouse dog will find every bird near and far and do so just right. Duncan weighs 42#.
PAINT RIVER’S DUCA LEVI
Paint River is very excited to now have Duca here in the Northwoods! Back in 2018, we saw Duca on social media in the video above. August 2022, we finally made the trip to the Italian Alps to see him work on black grouse. It was a dream trip to see a dream dog of mine. The Cavaglia Family have become good friends and we are grateful to have this wonderful English Setter specimen with us in our program. Duca is a proven seasoned dog on rock ptarmigan, rock partridge, and black grouse in the Italian Alps. He is a very respected dog across northern Italy from a very respected breeder of forty years of experience with raising hunting English Setters. It was such an honor to spend a week in Italy and being a part of the both, the heritage of these Italian setters and the Cavaglia family. At 8,500-10,000 foot elevation Duca cruises for rock ptarmigan and rock partridge out to 400 yards. When we drop down below 8500 feet into their mature forested habitat for black grouse Duca adjusts to 100 yards and under. Here in the northwoods Duca is 30-70 yards 90% of the hunt. As with our brand of setter here at Paint River he is soft, sweet and highly intelligent. He weighs in at 51#. We look forward to seeing what his offspring will be to the program. Duca is a registered English Setter with FCI, FDSB and UKC. When submitting puppy application inquire about Duca puppy pricing. Check out the several videos of Duca working birds from around the world below!
Since March of 2018 I’ve admired Duca from afar on social media. I planned to see him in 2020 then COVID hit. Rescheduled the trip to Italy for 2022.
Duca has not only made a name for himself as a well known dog in Italy for his hunting prowess but also as a proven sire. On my visit to Italy I had the opportunity to meet Duca children and grandchildren.
In this video we are in the 2022 summer training season. Working the dogs on black grouse in the Italian Alps between 6,500’ – 8,400’ on this day.
Duca was working for about 90 minutes since his last bird contact when he hit scent on this track. Andrea, the breeder’s son, had the GPS and informed us that Duca has gone on point 90 meters up the mountain. From there the breeder and I hiked up the mountain to Duca, where he proceeded to cautiously track up the mountain with his handler (breeder) leap frogging up the aged trail of a black grouse.
This 300 – 400meters track, from start to finish, took us nearly 13 minutes. I did several fast forward scenes to condense the video to just over 8 minutes. The video illustrates the tremendous caution that Duca has on wild birds with such intensity. The last portion of this video is of the breeder seeing Duca lock up tight 60 meters from us. As we raced towards Duca, a male black grouse flushed in front of the breeder. The grouse was between Duca and us.
This whole experience gave me goosebumps and it was everything I could have asked for. I was very fortunate to have this experience. A big thank you to the Cavaglia family for their hospitality and this opportunity. Paint River is excited to welcome Duca into our breeding program. He arrived here in the USA on September 2nd, 2022. We look forward to his contribution here at PRS.
Take a listen to the Setter Talk Podcast episode below! Andrea Cavaglia & Kyle Warren talk about family roots in setters, career in filming hunting around the world and Kyle’s story about Duca from four years ago, to going to Italy to see him work black grouse to importing him to the United States.
PAINT RIVER’S HATCHET LEVI
Hatchet is a son of Missy by Duncan. He lives in Minnesota with his family. Hatchet has hunted many species in from WI, MI, MN, NE, KY, WY, & MT and more to come for this boy. Hatchet is just like his dam with a sprinkle of his sire as I say. He’s a tracking type dog from two of the best tracking style grouse dogs PRS has had the pleasure to hunt over. Hatchet has an exceptional nose, a boat load of caution and is a real solid retriever. He weighs in at 44#. Hatchet is a woodcock banding dog and assists in spruce grouse research projects for the state of Minnesota. It doesn’t matter where in the country you put him on the ground he’s going to perform to task as good as any dog can on that given day in that given environment. We could not be more proud of Hatchet and his owners. Hatchet is exactly the type of dog we strive to produce here at PRS and his offspring have proven to hold true to their pedigree.
PAINT RIVER’S RIFFLE LEVI
Riffle is the son of Omiimii by Hatchet. He lives in Minnesota with his family and his sire, Hatchet. Riffle has hunted many species in from WI, MI, MN, NE, KY, WY, & MT and more to come for this boy. Riffle is a joyful, sparky version of his parents. He’s a tracking type dog from two outstanding tracking style grouse dogs PRS has had the pleasure to hunt over. Riffle is a very close working boy that’s very comfortable to hunt with. He’s a solid retriever on both land and in water. He’s a smaller sized male at 38#. He’s a boy absolutely full of life and is very affectionate with all humans and dogs. He has a bright future as a woodcock banding dog and we look forward to his hunting over him in the Northwoods for many years to come.
PAINT RIVER’S TOBY LEVI
Toby is the son of our Widget and Chippewa. He lives in North Carolina with his wonderful family. Toby gets to hunt ruffed grouse in NC, WV, NY, and MI. He hunts very much like his mother. He’s a close working tracking type dog. Toby is a star at stalking in close and giving a beautiful set on grouse in the dense forest and when a good distance of the bird gives a stunning tall point. He hunts out to 60 yards but typically in quality grouse cover is under 30 yards at all times. Another one of our stars that defines hunting for the gun. PRShas been looking for a Widget son for several years that has the tools and style of Widget. This boy right here will sire a couple litters at PRS over the next few years. He weighs in a 42#.
PAINT RIVER’S LLEWIE LEVI
Llewie is a prime example of what we want the next PRS generation to be in performance. He is a son of Widget and Duncan. Llewie lives with his awesome family in lower Michigan. He hunts all over the entire state of Michigan for ruffed grouse and gets an annual hunt in Kansas for quail and pheasant. His owner and I refer to him as Duncan Jr. Llewie is a tracking type dog that has an incredible nose with exceptional cat-like caution and the right kind of quickness. He will range out 70 yards but in quality cover typically is 30-50 yards most of the time. He’s a sweetheart of a dog that’s for the hard core hunter that loves an easy dog. He weighs in at 45#. Llewie will sire several litters with PRS in the years ahead and we couldn’t be more thrilled and proud to have him as part of our program and family. We are lacking on photos of Llewie on the hunt but we’ll make sure to get some next season. Always caught up in the hunt with this guy and the photos elude us when we all get together each season.
PAINT RIVER’S COOPER LEVI
Cooper is a carbon copy of his dam Widget in every respect. His sire Jack mirrors Widget in type and performance with a bit more speed on the track and independence when bird numbers are thin. He’s a cold nose moderate pace tracking dog that is incredibly connected to the gun. Cooper handles running grouse wonderfully. He’s 20 to 60 yard dog with great communication. Cooper resides in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where he hunts almost every day of the ruffed grouse season and will travel occasionally to hunt open country wild species. He weighs in at 42#.
