Meet Our Team
Since the summer of 2002 Ann has been successfully growing Northwind Enterprises, LLC, located in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. From mapping grouse habitat, to conducting outdoor grouse & woodcock clinics and GPS clinics, to initially breeding Elhew bred English Pointers and training all breeds of bird dogs (with help from Skip), to guiding hunters on grouse & woodcock hunts in northern Wisconsin, to conducting workshops/seminars on the off season “on the road” on how to locate and strategically hunt grouse & woodcock and producing a DVD package of the same title, Ann’s business is all about grouse and woodcock hunting.
In the fall of 2002, Ann first designed, produced, and introduced to grouse hunters throughout North American the grouse habitat maps that were written up in the 2005 March/April edition of the Shooting Sportsman magazine. By the end of 2007 she had available to grouse hunters 102 books of maps that collectively identified over 4250 clear cuts within Wisconsin, Minnesota, Lower and Upper Michigan, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Vermont that totaled over 208,000 acres of habitat.
In 2003, at the request of many of our customers, Ann developed a 3 1/2 hour, hands-on “Grouse Clinic”, conducted in the woods, for hunters who wanted to learn more about the Ruffed Grouse, its habitat, food sources, etc. In the fall of 2005, Tom Mohrhauser, contributing editor for the Upland Almanac magazine, participated in one of Ann’s Northwind Grouse & Woodcock Clinics and wrote an article that ran in the 2006 spring edition. In the article Mr. Mohrhauser writes: “Ann Jandernoa, via her company Northwind Enterprises, LLC. offers hunters a veritable smorgasbord of information and tools that will dramatically increase anyone’s chances for success and more importantly, your enjoyment. With a product line of maps detailing clear cuts in prime grouse states across the upper Midwest and New England, habitat and grouse behavior seminars, guiding and well-bred and trained grouse dogs she has come up with the right products and services for the times.” Further on in the article Mr. Mohrhauser writes “Jandernoa is a highly trained forester that is well respected by loggers for her knowledge of the woodland’s subtle differences in habitat and has guided many a logging crew to harvesting techniques that minimize many of the negative effects of logging. Her knowledge became quite evident the moment the classroom moved to the first clear cut we studied.”
With proven success at helping others better enjoy their grouse and woodcock hunting experiences by using our maps and/or participating in one of her grouse clinics, it was inevitable that she would be asked to conduct guided hunts. To that end, for over twelve years Ann and Skip have been guiding novices as well as seasoned grouse hunters in the Northwoods.
As an integral part of the guide business, Ann concluded that she should breed and train the business’s own grouse dogs. Based on personal experiences and recommendations from numerous grouse hunters and breeders, it was decided to develop the core of our grouse dogs from the Elhew line of English Pointers. In addition, building on over twenty years of Ann’s experience with Northwind Kennels (breeding, training, racing, and selling Alaskan Husky sled dogs) she concluded that she should have at least one litter on the ground every couple of years to not only keep her guide dogs viable, but to provide to some of her grouse hunting customers the opportunity to own their own Elhew bred pup or started grouse dog.
In 2010 Ann was given her first Cinsar Setter pup named Annie. Ann has since switched completely to this line of dogs. She learned firsthand that they train up faster than the pointers, have a lower COI “Co-Efficient-of Inbreeding” and easily turn it on for the hunt and then turn it off when in the house. She has found consistency with the line and they train up into a well started Grouse Dog at an early age.
In 2006 Northwind Enterprises, LLC acquired a partial of undeveloped forest lands nestled in the heart of the Northwoods, just north of Park Falls WI, Ruffed Grouse Capital of the World. Thousands of acres of public lands, prime grouse and woodcock habitat surround the property. From late spring, through summer, and into the early fall, many days are spent training guide dog pups and started dogs, along with a handful of customer’s pups and dogs, in the same environment in which they will eventually hunt Grouse and Woodcock.
Between 2006 and 2015 Ann has expanded the products and services she provides to her customers to include Northwind Grouse Habitat Maps Sets that cover productive grouse habitat in 16 different states, pre-loaded micro-SD cards of the maps sets that can be used by Garmin GPS units that support custom maps, and a 4+ hour DVD pkg on How to Locate and Strategically Hunt Grouse and Woodcock. In a recent interview of Ann conducted by Paul Fuller, for his “Bird Dogs a Field” online TV program, Paul called Ann “The First Lady of Grouse” as she leads Paul through the Northwoods showing him examples of various habitats, some suitable for Grouse, some not.
In 2014 Ann authored a “How to Manual” geared to training your young hunting companion, Training Your Dog to be a Foot Hunting Companion Gun Dog. Ann wrote the book in answer to all the all the questions she was receiving from new owners that were buy pups from her. She has taken her extensive experience of over 25 years working with dogs both in the field, woods, and at home and consolidated it into a manual for the new pup owner.
In 2015, Ann designed and produced, for all game hunters, a unique online tool for them better prepare for their hunts and to conduct more enjoyable hunts. The tool is called the Scout-N-Hunt Digital Map Viewer and it combines all her separate state-wide habitat map data into digital files that can be viewed online using the Northwind Grouse Habitat Map Viewer. The map viewer contains extensive information about the types, sizes, and ages of identified habitat, hydrology, roads and trails, topography, and numerous call-outs and images that assist and educate the hunter as he/she prepares for and conducts his/her hunt.
Ann’s vision from the beginning has been to grow Northwind Enterprises, LLC based on her extensive knowledge of forestry, GIS, various mapping software programs, interpretation of aerial photography and satellite imagery, and experiences in being a hunter all her life, into a business that can provide the hunting enthusiast with the information, education, and services that will make his/her hunting experiences as enjoyable and productive as possible.
