Ugh more rain

[gman]

I can't help but think that 2017 is shaping up as a very rough year on the grouse and turkeys in NE Vermont given the repeated rain and cold we are experiencing right now. It's not looking promising. I see the single hen turkeys coming out to the fields from the thick but who knows yet how the nests behind them are faring. I'll see how we do. Let's hope I'm wrong.
On the other hand reports from the Misssquoi refuge is that they can't remember seeing so many ducks and it is thick with Black (Dusky) ducks. They have a "let nature take it's course" approach from management and a lot of us think the predictors (raccoons) hit the ducks awful hard in the reserve. This rain should help. I think the number of nests there that get raided in a dry year is staggering.