Two Good Days !

[Russ Jackson]

Took Chip and the New 410 out yesterday for a Grouse and Woodcock hunt ,was overcast and cloudy all morning but we only had a few light showers ! We got into a small flight of Birds and I finally got to use the " Little Gun " . I have to be honest ,I really enjoyed carrying it but it will take some time to get used to her ,shes a dainty little thing and I was being extra careful with it in the whippy saplings and brush ,I was using 2 1/2 " # 8 shot and was a little slow on the draw ,missed the first Bird going away ," Still pretty leafy " at least that is what I blamed it on ! But then I got a little more comfortable and managed a three bird limit with the next three shots ! Headed out again today to a new place with the DHE 28 Ga. and ,RST # 10 shot ,Chip pointed nine Birds this morning before I managed a Limit and he Pointed eight more on the way back out to the Jeep ! We had a great couple of Days ,Tomorrow Pheasant comes in and a Buddy of mine and I will be out with Chip and his GSP Sam , we plan to make a whole day of it ,and will report back tomorrow ! The last five pics. are todays hunt ! Russ

[Russ Jackson]

Last five

[Dave Suponski]

Looks to be a great couple of days Russ! Great guns,great dog what could be better.I would like to meet Chip someday. Thanks for the pictures. We are awaiting tomorrows report..

[Russ Jackson]

In Picture # seven ,we were hiking out and Chip went on point ,I grabbed my camera out of my pocket and snapped a picture and then snapped another at the flush ,you can see the Woodcock flushing directly above the Dog going through the hole in the foilage ! Russ

[William Maynard]

Looks like a beautiful place to hunt. See you have a great hunting companion as well! Good luck on your pheasant hunt.

[Dean Romig]

Fantastic shot of the quickly departing woodcock!

Is that your 28 ga. DHE in the last five?

Nice hat!!

[charlie cleveland]

good luck on hunt tommorrow....good pictures love a good dog....wish we had phez. in miss... charlie

[Russ Jackson]

Fantastic shot of the quickly departing woodcock!

Is that your 28 ga. DHE in the last five?

Nice hat!!

Thanks Dean , That was a stroke of luck to be honest capturing the Woodcock ,I had hoped to get it but I had my gun in one hand and brush sticking up my Bu.... ,well you get the idea !:eek: The gun is my, oo Frame 28 Ga. DHE in the last five pictures .w/ the After market Forend which I hope to rectify after hunting season !:) Also the HAT , Thank You ,I love that old hat and have wore it for years ,on the other side I have a Pewter Grouse in flight and a Pewter Britt pointing it ! I must have an odd size head and when I bought it ,an X large was too big and a Large too tight ,believe it or not ,I bought a large and had a local seamstress take it out a bit ! When I am out ,at times I get comments from other hunters about the HAT ! Russ

[edgarspencer]

Is that great dog a GWP or GSP ? His coat looks pretty wirey for a Short Hair.

[Russ Jackson]

Is that great dog a GWP or GSP ? His coat looks pretty wirey for a Short Hair.

The old Super Dog is a Brittany believe it or not ! I owned his Mother also ,she was out of the Belding Britts from Pa. ,Chip is a big Britt 60 Lb.,his Mother was Leggy as well and carried around 50 Lb. most of her adult life ,she was also a Tri Color ,his sister Annie is standard small Orange and white ! Chip is a hunting machine but sad to say ,at his age he wears down after about three hours and I have to put him up for the day !

[edgarspencer]

Wow, a 60 lb. Brit. My brother-in law had a litter mate of one of my dad's GWPs that went 85 lbs. When we'd all hunt together in looked like the 3 bears; His 85 pounder, my dad's 55 pounder, and my 45lb GWP dog, Ringer.
More times than I remember, Ringer and I would go out for a short 'walk' when I got home from work, and bring home 2 partridge. Those were the days before the wild turkey moved in and drove the king out.
Nothing more rewarding than hunting over a good Versatile Hunting Dog.

[John Dallas]

Not sure I understand the concept of turkeys driving out gouse

[edgarspencer]

It's a pretty sound belief that the turkeys kill partridge cchicks and eat the eggs. I know for certain that as the turkeys increased in this area, the Partridge began to disappear, to the point that now there are none. Turkeys don't seem to be bothered by urban sprawl. I live in the country, but the turkeys are even in the suburban areas. I saw a bunch digging up the median on the interstate the other day.

[William Maynard]

That is a eye opener for me. When I first started hunting (over 30 years ago) turkeys were almost non-existant. We were havesting partridge. Since turkeys were re-introduced into our state I have not seen a partridge in years. Turkeys are now very common. Thanks for that info. Do they eat grouse eggs as well?

[edgarspencer]

whether I'm right or wrong, and according to most, including my wife, I'm usually wrong, I have used 'grouse' and 'partridge' synonymously.

[Russ Jackson]

Hello Edgar ,I have a Good friend ,married to a cousin of mine and he is an avid Turkey hunter and has been for many years ! He has claimed for years of what you are saying about the Turkey ,it was the same in our area 30 years plus ago ,if someone even had seen a Turkey in our area ,the news of it almost made the Local Paper ,but the Grouse hunting was Fantastic ,and only a small amount of us locals hunted them and nearly no one cared at all about that , everyone was after the Ringneck Pheasant , and the Turkey hunters would go to the Northern Counties of the state ! Russ

[edgarspencer]

It takes legislators eons to enact or modify laws and regulations, and while there are some pretty smart Game conservation people coming out of college, the older ones are too complacent to do anything about modifying hunting seasons and bag limits according to population of species. CT has a very short fall turkey season, and a no-hen spring season (Based on old data that said turkeys only nested in the spring, but now have multiple nestings throughout the year) Too further reduce the necessary harvesting, I believe CT still has lottery permits instead of the usual "Stamp" (read TAX) like pheasant) All these archaic laws may have been appropriate when they were initially trying to reintroduce the damn bird 30 years ago, but now there are too damn many. People complain about deer populations, but don't seem to see the same thing in Turkeys. I treat them like varmints, though will breast them out.
Ever try and seed a lawn with turkey in the neighborhood? Forget it.

[E Robert Fabian]

In up state NY a local referred to them as ground vultures.... and there sure was alot them.
Bob

[ed good]

the best grouse hunting is now north of the turkey line, meaning where it is to cold in the winter for turkeys to survive.

[Forrest Grilley]

whether I'm right or wrong, and according to most, including my wife, I'm usually wrong, I have used 'grouse' and 'partridge' synonymously.

That's a good point. I didn't know what a "Ruffed Grouse" was until I was close to my teens, even though I had shot many of them up to that point. It is interesting how localized the term partridge is used to refer to grouse. I still use it to this day. I grew up hunting in northern Wisconsin as did my father and his father, and they were always called "partridge" by the locals. I have since moved less than a couple hundred miles away to Minnesota, and always get strange looks when I use the term partridge to fellow "Ruffed Grouse" hunters who have been hunting them their entire lives. And you should really see there faces when I say I'm going to hunt partridge in the "popple". :)

[edgarspencer]

Ed, You're right, but the issue is serious. The Turkey are continually adapting to the winters here, and there hasn't been any point where they seem to stop moving north. It's sort of like the Asian Long Horned Beetle, and the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid. You know it's going to reach you, no matter were you live. There is probably some population balance where the two could co-exist in the same area, but at present, no hunting regulations and bag limits are sufficiently matched to their population growth, nor are there any real organized efforts to try and change that, apart from possibly The Rough Grouse Society (sorry if I got their name wrong, I'm a member, but can't find the card)

[Richard Flanders]

Edgar is right. From what I've read, turkeys will eat anything and everything that is edible. Mice, insects, small birds, eggs, anything that will fit down their throat. I'm not at all surprised at Edgars description of the grouse disappearing. Too bad they can't get them to eat young racoons and possums in Michigan....

I'm not aware of any effort by the RGS to address turkey predation, and I've been at hunts with all the national board members and regional directors and biologists the past two years. Not a peep on the turkey issue.

[Larry Frey]

Richard,
In Connecticut the DEP controls all wildlife. Considering all the revenue generated from licenses and equipment sales by turkey hunters I do not plan on much action being taken here to control the turkey populations.
I'm not sure but I think the fisher was reintroduced and is somewhat protected in an effort to control turkeys but based on the seven chickens I just lost to a fisher I would say they would really hurt the grouse populations as well.

[edgarspencer]

That may be true Larry, but extending the season and increasing the bag limit wouldn't cut into revenues, but, in fact may increase it.

[Larry Frey]

That may be true Larry, but extending the season and increasing the bag limit wouldn't cut into revenues, but, in fact may increase it.

I'm for that Edgar, I love smoked breast of wild turkey.

[charlie cleveland]

whats the bag limit on turkey in yalls area...in miss. in my area its 3 gobblers per year..in some areas of my state you can kill 2 more in the fall..also belieave they can be hens in this fall season.... charlie

[Richard Flanders]

It seems to me that just about all state Fish & Game departments are slow in picking up on how some animals that are reintroduced or are in the process of "being brought back" through management can cause problems. Deer in many states are a classic example. When deer weren't so common you didn't want to tell any locals that you were there to hunt deer; now they all beg you to "killem all, I'm tire of smacking them with my car". Seems that the F&G folks can only see the side of how successful their comeback is. I'm sure that the statistics they put into their reports on turkeys being "up 400%" look good to their bosses and get them a gold star on the forehead(remember that one?!). It's the same thing up here with moose lately. The best area for population in the state is right here south of Fairbanks. The last few years hunters are screaming "there are no moose left". This year was terrible for most, yet the biologists who do the surveys just announced that they want to kill 1100 more cows in this area. All the hunters I know are stunned and wondering what planet they did their surveys on. Seems everywhere I go to hunt outside of Alaska there are turkeys and deer populations like I've never seen yet the states still have restricted seasons and high tag prices when they should just have vending machines for tags for $1 or just hand out a tag when you buy a pound of bacon..... what's with this? Why do they react so slowly to these issues?? Is it case of "ohh, you can't kill my deer!" thing?? Most F&G folks I know are very serious hunters so it's not like they don't get out and see what the rest of us hunters see. I just don't get it.

[edgarspencer]

I'm not sure what the fall season bag limit is, but spring is 2 "Bearded" birds. No hens. Turkey now breed year round, so I don't know why we still have the spring restriction. The state currently 'believes' the population is about 35,000 birds, but I think that's very low. I sometimes think I have 35,001 in my front field alone.
I still feel part of the turkey hunting regs. boils down to $, which is simply another tax, so to speak.