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07-31-2019, 09:10 PM | #3 | ||||||
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Mr Rainey, you live within spitting distance of Steve Barnetts place and you only have 5 Parkers? Slacker!!! No, really I feel your pain. I too have been to Argentina and shot 6675 shells in 4 days. Could have bought a nice DH for the shell bill. Would I go again? Don't know as I went with Jerry and Glenda Kitto. If Jerry was still with us it would be a pleasant experience. I've only shot Continental pheasants here in SE Alabama. Have not shot a wild bird, yet. Maybe some day.
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The Following User Says Thank You to Michael Moffa For Your Post: |
08-01-2019, 06:30 AM | #4 | ||||||
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Its a sad state of affairs in general....loss of the wild birds that is. I belong to RG/woodcock, PF and support them. They are doing great things for habitat and working with land owners and government, the farm bill that just past is proof. THANK YOU ALL THAT DO THE REAL WORK. I grew up hunting wild roosters and cottontails, the bob white were gone by 1970 here in north east Ohio and the roosters slowly followed. Now even rabbits are hard to find at times! I am a bird hunter, I get my fix on the wild ones but have to travel long days and spend hard saved money from season to season. Even that plan gets messed up by weather like the drought in Kansas that lasted for 3 to 4 years, now west nile is taking the grouse. But I still go in search of wild birds. I'm happy with less, long as we see some birds, get a few shots and if lucky collect a trophy rooster, quail or grouse. They are trophy's….In 2012 we hunted good land in Kansas for 6 full days, three guys and three good dogs to get 6 wild roosters and 3 quail. I got two roosters and a quail and yes they were trophies to me! A 12 point would not make me as happy! Roosters may be down in Kansas this year. I called out there last week and the farmer tells me the hens are on their 4th nesting due to all the rain and the chicks are the size of quail. Its a late hatch and the haying has started...)-: I will go and I will be happy if I get one of them trophy roosters and a couple little gray bullets. If there are any grouse left in the U.P. one of them too! Life is GOOD! SXS Ohio
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Kenny Graft For Your Post: |
08-01-2019, 08:30 AM | #5 | ||||||
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Life is difficult for the upland bird hunter in western NY. Pheasant numbers crashed after about 1972, grouse numbers are on a multi-decade decline. Habitat has been a big factor. The reforestation of NY is ongoing and modern ag practices make life for pheasants impossible. Turkey numbers are mostly stable to increasing. Dove hunting is forbidden as the morning dove is not considered a gamebird in NY. A multi year effort to establish a dove season is slowly gaining support but the anti forces in NY are fighting it.
Duck hunting has been on a decade long decline with mallard numbers in our flyway falling by half. Finally the feds have recognized the decline and reduced the bag limit by half for mallards. So I hunt ducks locally and I am OK with the lowered limits (most days we don't shoot a limit of mallards anyway) and travel. The traveling bird hunter is the future for me. It is what it is and hunting birds and collecting vintage shotguns is important to me so I won't get discouraged or give it up. Craig |
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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Craig Larter For Your Post: |
08-01-2019, 08:54 AM | #6 | ||||||
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I’m optimistic about grouse numbers in Vermont this year. Except for turkeys and deer in Ohio, I don’t travel anywhere but Vermont. I have rarely been disappointed in VT and that’s why I never had the urge to travel to hunt.
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"I'm a Setter man. Not because I think they're better than the other breeds, but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture." George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic. |
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The Following User Says Thank You to Dean Romig For Your Post: |
08-01-2019, 10:15 AM | #7 | ||||||
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Grouse hunting in New York's Adirondack Mountains used to be good, back in the '70s and '80s. There was a lot of area available to hunt with relatively little hunting pressure. Through the '90s until now grouse have been scarce. It's hard to tell why since I've hunted private land that is forested regularly. Lots of what looks like prime cover, but few birds. It's been puzzling. I will still hunt for them and have been expanding my hunting areas to see if the situation is the same all over.
Woodcock seem to be in the same situation, but at least you can usually find a flight or two if you can be at the right place at the right time. We used to be able to find wild pheasants and the state continues to stock them, but the numbers they put out have been drastically reduced. I enjoy a hunt or two on private reserves over released birds. If I had to choose, I would select more birds over another gun, but I don't feel pressed to choose so I still am looking for the next good cover and the next good gun. |
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Ted Hicks For Your Post: |
08-01-2019, 12:18 PM | #8 | ||||||
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I live in lower New York, last grouse I have seen local was 2007, the cover is pretty much the same, what's different is the increase in hawks, owls, turkeys, and coyotes. There is also westnile virus I guess. Going to Maine and northern New York this year, hope to find some birds. As to Woodcock last year was the worst I have ever seen hope this year is better.
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" May you build a ladder to the stars climb on every rung and may you stay forever young " Bob Dylan |
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The Following User Says Thank You to James L. Martin For Your Post: |
08-01-2019, 12:22 PM | #9 | ||||||
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Good luck up north James. I won't be able to get up to Maine this fall due to work travel but I am looking into locations for October 2020.
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The Following User Says Thank You to Ted Hicks For Your Post: |
08-01-2019, 12:58 PM | #10 | ||||||
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I have followed this thread and others like it over the last few years and it mirrors my experiences. I hunt in Maine and have for 30 years, seeing the ''cycle'' for the first decade then no rebound in the last 15 years just a slow downward trend. Yes I am older but my sons and grandchildren have the legs to find them. We have also seen the woodcock go from a certain 5 a day to 3 now to maybe none. I have seen no change in logging and hunting pressure is less, the road hunters have dwindled to a very few.Going off the beaten path is very little help but we will be again this year and keep looking in different covers. The area is in western Maine in an unorganized township.
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The Following User Says Thank You to Daniel Carter For Your Post: |
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