Grouse Camp 2009

[Dave Suponski]

These pictures say it all....

[Dave Suponski]

Two More

[Dean Romig]

Gee, what a swell gun rack! Where can I get one of those?

[Dean Romig]

Actually Dave, the pictures don't quite "say it all".

You found a book at grouse camp with a story by Col. H. P. Sheldon entitled "The Last Day" and in it was a short paragraph that pretty much "says it all". It was about his own son, I'm sure, who was about the same age as Danny is now and it was at the beginning of WWII when all parents thoughts were of the immediate future.This was Danny's first grouse hunt and I kinda get the feeling it won't be his last. He exemplifies what we remember of ourselves in our first years hunting and what we hope for in the youth of today and our traditions being carried on to future generations.

Dave, will you please tell us all what that Sheldon paragraph says?

[Dave Suponski]

Nice gun rack huh!!!??? The Parker goes to the smith today :crying: I will post the passage later today.

[Larry Frey]

Sounds to me like either someone dose not know how to properly place their gun in a rack or someone dose not know how to attach a gun rack to a wall.:duck:

[Dean Romig]

The gun rack story is that I made it of pine in wood shop in 7th grade. It has served me well lo these many decades but the old pine decided to split right where the wrist of Dave's beautiful PH 16 with the 'Lettered' D grade stock rested in it. We watched helplessly as Dave's Parker crashed to the concrete floor. Thanks to all the Parker employees in Heaven for giving it a soft landing as the only damage was minor dings to the very edge of the muzzles. :bowdown:

[Rich Anderson]

Dean the look on your face in the first picture "Now I remember what I did with that book":)

Grouse camp EVERY weekend for the rest of the month for me:rotf: This is definately my favorite time of the year.

[Dean Romig]

I think I was saying "Oowww! My knees, my hips, ouch!"

[Dave Suponski]

Rich,How did ya make out in Wyoming?

[Destry L. Hoffard]

I don't think the Sheldon story is about his own son actually. You get the impression that the person in the story didn't come back from the war and his only son did. He was a forester for the State of Vermont and lived to be an old man, passed on just a few years ago.


Destry

[Dave Suponski]

An exerp from"The Last Day" by Col.Harold B Sheldon. "They connived to maneuver Young Feller into the most favorable positions for a shot while or another of them went into the thick stuff to flush the bird. It worked for a time,until the lad saw through the conspiricy".

And that is exactly the way it happened...To read this a couple of hours after we got back to camp really touched me...It was a weekend I will never forget...good stuff

Destry my take on the story is that it was his son.

[Dean Romig]

Yup Dave, that's the way it went and then Danny plowed right into the thick of it just like a veteran grouse and woodcock hunter. All good Dave, all good.

I only hope I'm with you guys when he kills his first pa'tridge :)

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Why is it all these grouse camp stories never seem to have any pictures of actual grouse? *wink*

Destry

[John Dallas]

Many grouse hunts end up as Snipe Hunts of our youth, that's why no pix.

[Dean Romig]

Okay Destry, I'll take the challenge. I'll post a picture tonight. Danny was witness to the first one - a young of year bird that presented a hard right to left crossing shot. I went out for one last hunt after he and Dave had left for home and found a big mature brown phase bird under a thornapple tree. A hard right to left crosser again which I'm obviously getting better at.

[Dave Suponski]

I won,t lie about it. My first shot came just as I was having an argument with a blown down pine tree. He flushed and I took a one handed shot as I was bent over to my left..nope missed.Second two shots were after a bird that Danny almost stepped on, by the time I realized he wasn,t gonna shoot because his heart had momentarily stopped "ol"mister ruff was well on his way to a clean getaway. And the third and best of all was the one that blew out from under a old apple tree during a sleet squall just as I put the gun in my other hand. I just waved to him....

And I will do it again...and again....and again...

[Dean Romig]

Here's the picture I promised . . . actually two pictures, in both pictures you can see the broken band of the black stripe of the tailfeathers on the gray phase bird indicating it is a female while the big brown phase bird has the solid black stripe of the male ruffed grouse. The second picture shows half the contents of his crop - thornapples! It was about all thornapples but I only removed about half. There are some remnants of mushrooms and apple peckings but, surprise - no green leafy stuff at all! There's a story that goes with this big brown phase male grouse but I'll save it for a Parker Pages story. So, once in a while we really do connect with "the trickiest thing in feathers."

[Robin Lewis]

Hi Dean,

Nice picture. Who shot the grouse, Dave or Danny?

[Dean Romig]

:rolleyes:. . . no, wait . . . :p

The truth of the matter is, Robin, that Dave has to stop spending so much time wrestling with tangles and deadfalls so he can shoot with both hands and Danny needs one of those 'live bird guns' . . . you know, the ones that have no safety? :duck:












.

[Dean Romig]

I won,t lie about it. I just waved to him....

...


Now there you go lyin' . . . and you just said you wouldn't! I was seventy yards downslope from you and I could hear you cussin' that pa'tridge straight to hell! :nono:

[Fred Preston]

Getting ready for grouse breasts with bacon and peppers, sided with plenty of taters. The only Parker gunner was the pic taker; sad, but I like hanging out in low places. Hard frost that night and no one wanted to get out of the bag to take a leak, but all had to at least once.

One more try to get the pic posted.

Maybe I'll respond to this one.

[Fred Preston]

Here's another try for the pic.

[Dean Romig]

Fred, it doesn't matter how you do it or even if the other guys don't shoot a Parker (they don't know what they're missing) just as long as you're out there doing it.

[John Dunkle]

I just wanted to pop in and tell Dean & Dave now this thread is what it is all about.... Dave - you have got to be so danged proud of Danny.... I've seen him shoot - and wish there were other kids out there like him.. Just an appreciation of the guns, a love of the sport - and a damned good shot.. I was chuckling at your recounting of when he sprung his first grouse in this thread.....

Yea - it's sort'a like that.....

What a great thread..... Thanks for sharing it, guys...

John

[Russ Jackson]

Dean; Nice pictures, Very Very Nice ,a beautiful gun and a nice brace of birds ! By the way the LOM, is that the case Angel had on our site a few weeks ago for sale, it looks to be in very nice shape ,if it is the same case ,it looks like a dandy !! Good Hunting to You ! Russ

[Dave Suponski]

John,Thank you for the compliment. As a dad I could only hope that my son would show an interest in what I love to do. But when it started blossoming about a year ago I was pretty amazed. And after a day in the grouse coverts I figured he would be pretty wore out. But he was the one pushing Dean and I the next mornin to "Lets get goin". :shock:

Only problem he has some how decided that the 28ga. is his...:crying:

Oh well.... I will just have to but another gun...:rolleyes:

[Dean Romig]

Thanks Russ! Yes, the LOM is the one I bought from Angel. It fits my 28 perfectly. Angel sold it to me as a ".410 LOM" but, in fact, the strap tab is stamped 28 26 which just has to indicate 28 ga. 26" barrels as that is exactly the gun that fits so perfectly.

I am very pleased to have been in Dave and Danny's company as sort of a bystander in what is a wonderful Father/Son association that just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Thanks for the front row seat you two :)

[Dave Suponski]

Dean,Danny's first trip to the New England grouse covers could not have happened without you being the catalyst.And for that I will be eternally grateful.This may sound corny(sic.) but without this thing we call the PGCA alot of friendships would never have been made.

Only problem is I think WE created a monster....:rolleyes:

[Rich Anderson]

Dean, Nice brace of birdes....you can't even see the bumper marks from the Trailblazer:rotf:

I hope to do as well this weekend with the VHE 28 and RST #8's:bigbye:

[Dean Romig]

I hope you do Rich. I was going to wish you luck but I know you don't need it. You're one of the luckiest guys I know . . . . so instead, I'll wish you skill :rotf:

[Dean Romig]

Hey Dave, I got it all fixed up just for you!

:)

[Dean Romig]

I even tested it for you . . .

. . . please excuse the company of ground-swatters :shock:

[Dave Suponski]

Number one Mr. Romig ya didn,t even pre-drill the holes for the screws so now its split the other way :eek:

Number two Mr. Romig I already told ya that thing is wood stove fodder THIS weekend :crying:

Number three Maybe we should just CAREFULLY remove your 28ga. from said rack and just burn it.... ground swatters and all :duck:

[Dean Romig]

There ya' go - looking a gift horse in the mouth. Honestly, I don't know why I even try...

[Dave Suponski]

:shock: I don,t know why ya try either.Have they cleared the skies over VT yet for air traffic?

[Rich Anderson]

Birds are scarce in my Grouse camp....we need to talk to Jay Gardner and his 100 bird weekend:eek:

The VHE 28 saw distinguished service. I shot twice and got one Woodcock, probably the last of the Woodcock this season.

I will try again this weekend but this afternoon its the GHE 20 skeet gun and Pheasants.

[Dean Romig]

Grouse are much harder to find in my hunting area too. I think it's time to sit the Goshawks and Barred Owls down and have a serious discussion with them about focusing their dietary needs on rodents and songbirds until further notice - after all, we can't all eat grouse now can we?
The woodcock flights haven't come down yet, that I've been aware of, of course they may pass through my area during the workweek without me ever knowing it . . .

[Dave Miles]

Birds are scarce in my Grouse camp....we need to talk to Jay Gardner and his 100 bird weekend:eek:

The VHE 28 saw distinguished service. I shot twice and got one Woodcock, probably the last of the Woodcock this season.

I will try again this weekend but this afternoon its the GHE 20 skeet gun and Pheasants.


Pheasants this afternoon? :cuss: What about your busy work load?
As for this weekend, they're calling for rain Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun.
However, the good Grouse Camp is only 9 days away. :)

[Jim Pasman]

Dean -walked the woods with my wife this weekend just south of the Kingdom in Lisbon. Didn't kick up a single bird during a 50+ acre ramble until, when leaving closing the gate with the 16 0 frame locked safe in the truck, the nicest Mr.Ruff I've seen all season flushed twenty feet away. I should sit by the gate more often...seriously, the owl (and skunk) activity was at a ten year peak this past summer and early fall.

[Robin Lewis]

Grouse at the truck when leaving..... I can't remember how many times that has happened to me. I think I have had the same experience at least 1 or 2 times EVERY season.

[Dean Romig]

Funny how that happens... Dave and Danny and I hunted a sidehill and walked closely on either side of a lone apple at the edge of a grove of twenty-five year old pines. Really expected a grouse to be on the ground there, but there were none to be found so we moved on to sweep the rest of the hillside. Returning an hour and a half later with guns over our shoulders grasping the barrels we walked within twenty feet of that apple and this big brown grouse busts into the wide open leaving us standing there slack-jawed . . . well, maybe Dave uttered a nasty word or two :nono:

[Dave Suponski]

Yup..Thats exactly how it happened. I can still see that beautiful bird in my mind and I have relived the shot that never happened a thousand times..:banghead:

[Russ Jackson]

Our Grouse and woodcock season came in this past Sat., with the weather being so crappy didn't go for birds but took the 28 out Monday evening for a stroll after work,with My Brit. Chip, found a brace .

[Dave Suponski]

Good work Russ...God I love Britts. :bowdown:

[Russ Jackson]

Thanks Dave ;I really like my Britts also ,I have the mother of this dog ,she is 14 yrs.old and retired from the field about two seasons ago .She is a wonderful friend and one of the best bird finders I have ever hunted with , this Male is pretty good but not like mom ,He is well mannered and find birds but our Grouse have been down since I Whelped him and he just hasn't had the experience with them and when we do get into Grouse he has a tendency to move in too close and will bump the majority of them ,He is fantastic on Woodcock and very good on Pheasant ,I am confident he just hasn't had the opportunity to handle enough Grouse ,if he had I believe he would be good on them ,he has a super nose ,we just don't have enough Grouse !!

[Dave Suponski]

Russ,From talking to quite a few guys the grouse populations have been down everywhere.That makes it real hard to train a young dog as you know the only way to make em better is to show them more birds. I haven,t flushed or even seen a wookcock in two seasons. No splash no nothin. Well maybe this weekend...

[Russ Jackson]

Dave; I wish you luck on the Woodcock sightings ,I have hunted them since I was 12 years old , Other than Grouse ,my favorite but the last few years the Grouse are really hard to come by ! My buddies always thought I was nuts ,they wouldn't waste there time ,Maybe thats why I enjoy the company of my Britts , they seem to enjoy hunting the same things I do !!

[Dean Romig]

Some would think this meager returns for many hours of slogging and bulldozing through the blackberry tangles, thornapple thickets, hillside scrub apples that tear at your clothing and any exposed flesh and they would be correct if we didn't have the memories that go along with a day like the one Jamie and I just spent in the Northeast Kingdom of Vt. The grouse were sparse this time. Last weekend was better but since then a team of ground-swatting meat hunters spent the week terrorizing the wild critters.
But Jamie and I had a great time. We blew some holes in the sky and chopped up some vegetation in a poor effort to bring down a few grouse but it was all to no avail - but what fun we had! A pa'tridge launched into a thunderous flush mere feet from my position in a grown up orchard and I let fly with my right barrel then, noticing the nonchalance with which he dodged my perfectly directed shot charge, I sent another load in his direction just to speed him up in order to present a challenging target for Jamie. Well, Jamie took the bait and sent two "hail Marys" of his own at that speedster. We laughed and laughed at ourselves over that despicable display of shooting prowess. Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself you don't have any right to laugh at anybody else's mistakes, right?

What I'm saying is that one little woodcock doesn't represent a poor day's hunt - in this case it represents the culmination of hours of good times, great memories and a sore and stiff body (which is my measure of a good time in the grouse woods).

This woodcock flushed in the last twenty feet of the last covert of the last hunt of the last day of a wonderfully successful weekend at grouse camp! :bigbye:

[Dean Romig]

As an afterthought, this must have been a flight bird - easily identified by the protruding breastbone and rather scrawny amount of breast meat. A native bird, prior to migration, has much plumper breasts with the point of the breastbone deep between them . . . kinda reminds me of a girl I used to date :rolleyes:

[Greg Baehman]

"What I'm saying is that one little woodcock doesn't represent a poor day's hunt - in this case it represents the culmination of hours of good times, great memories and a sore and stiff body (which is my measure of a good time in the grouse woods." Dean Romig 10/25/09.

Words of a true bird hunter, you could not have said it any better.

[Dave Suponski]

Why..Did she have a long protruding beek..:duck:

[Ben Yarian]

Dave, glade to hear you and your son are having a great time in the woods. Special times for sure. cherish every minuet, to soon they grow up and move on. This is the first year I haven't been able to hunt with my son. The Marines have him in school in Georgia. I have had 2 great saturdays in the grouse woods, had a great time (including a report double on woodcock), but that special somthing is missing. He is coming home for Thanksgiving, Maybee I can steel him away from his girl friend for a little grouse hunting. Absolutly nothing better than watching your son grow and mature into a seasoned hunter and a favorite hunting partner.

Ben

[Harry Collins]

Ben,

I spent nearly 20 years at sea in the Navy and Merchant Marine. When I came home there was no better friend than my father. We rode horses, fished, hunted, shot silouettes and now don't tell anyone, but we walked 18 t0 36 holes of golf four times a week. Be prepared for him to be just a little more interested in the girl this time home, but I would bet he will jump at the chance to hunt with you.

Kindest, Harry

[Dave Suponski]

Well guys...It was the last weekend in Vermont grouse camp.Dean,Deans brother-in-law Jamie,my son Danny and I had a great time. I finally connected with the first shot from my newly bought 20ga. Trojan on Saturday morning,Jamie got a nice Woodcock this morning and Dean(so I am told:rolleyes:) got a grouse after Danny and I left for home.

[Dave Suponski]

Heres a few more...Tampico..A magical place were lifetime memories are made...

[Dave Suponski]

couple more...

[Dave Suponski]

I know its hard to believe but Dean CAN COOK! Lower picture.. 20 gauge and 16 gauge Trojans. These low grade guns do great work too!

[Christopher Lien]

Great photos Dave, looks like you fellas had a good time... What are the dates on those headstones?

Best, Chris
_______________________________________
.

[Larry Frey]

Dave,
Congratulations on the grouse and on breaking in that new gun the right way.:cheers: I couldn't help but notice the absence of a certain gun rack in the recent photos.:knowbetter:

[Dave Suponski]

Chris thanks..The stones were pretty much all from one family 1820,s to 1870,s mostly. Dean knows the family story better than I.

Larry... We came in from hunting and I turned my back for a minute and that Dean guy had put our guns in that rack again....Well you can just imagine the vocabulary that was uttered after that move....:eek:

[Dean Romig]

Chris thanks..The stones were pretty much all from one family 1820,s to 1870,s mostly. Dean knows the family story better than I.


Some of the 'born' dates go well back into the 1700's. The real heartbreaker is the headstones of so many children. It was an extremely hard life back in those hills on a hardscrabble farm - no doctor except by horseback at least a half day's ride from the farm into town to fetch the doctor back again . . . if he was even in town at the time. No medicines, no vaccines - nothing but a mother's love and a family's prayers . . . headstones that make your eyes well up . . . "AE 13 mos.", "AE 14 yrs.", "AE 2 yrs. 7 mos." "Mary Shattuck Second wife of Josiah Shattuck, AE 22 yrs.", "Polly Shattuck, third wife of Josiah Shattuck, AE 26 yrs.", "Josiah Shattuck, AE 79 yrs."
This is the Shattuck Family Cemetery. It was an enormous (for the day) family farm but was long since abandoned and the forest just took over. Years ago I knew where the fieldstone cellar-hole was and the ancient sugar maple "roof tree" was still standing then but the whole area was logged off at least twenty years ago and the skidder's huge cleated and chained tires ground all evidence of a farm and cellar holes into oblivion.

Larry... We came in from hunting and I turned my back for a minute and that Dean guy had put our guns in that rack again....Well you can just imagine the vocabulary that was uttered after that move....:eek:

That rack is stronger than it ever was. I call it the "Barn Door Rack". You know, the one they closed after the horse got out?

[C Roger Giles]

Destry;

A Canadian quack-quack camp report is over due

Roger

[Dave Suponski]

Ben,Thank you for your comments.I hope you and your son can steal away for a few hours afield when he returns home for Thanksgiving.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Roger,

See my good news thread over in the hunting section.

DLH

[Dean Romig]

The last day of my pa'tridge hunting forays for the season ended as memorably, yet not with the excited anticipation, as the first day. It was among the best upland seasons I can ever remember - not for the number of birds bagged and not so much for the numbers flushed for certainly the numbers are down. It was, instead for the memories made; the times we had - the countryside we tramped and admired, the covers we hunted, the shots we took at birds as well as the shots we took at each other - all in good fun... all in good cheer. The indoctrination of a fine young man, Danny Suponski, into a man's world playing a man's game with all the seriousness, determination, self sacrifice and self-abuse of knowing the job was done and done well - the job of grouse hunting and all that goes with it. Welcome to it Danny, Welcome!
Remember, a pa'tridge huntin' gentleman can rise a little later . . . but not THAT late :nono:

Here's to next year :bigbye:

[Dean Romig]

Last picture taken on Sunday. I tried a dozen times last night to include this picture in the above past but just couldn't make it happen.

[C Roger Giles]

What kind of chickens are those?

Ole Clunker n Rog

[Fred Preston]

Them wood chickens are sure gettin' scarce down this way.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

The boys I know over in Canada that go to moose camp every year call them Road Chickens. You get away from civilization a bit and apparently they actually still exist in some numbers. They all carry a shotgun on their 4 wheelers and shoot them off the sides of the trails for camp meat.

Destry

P.S. to Fred: Where did you get that family photo of mine? I want it back!

[Dave Suponski]

I think I detect some good natured scarcasm here..And thats fine. If this thread seemed a little over powering I apologize to those offended.No matter what type of hunting we engage in its all good. I was just trying to share some wonderful times that my son and I spent with good friends. Again if this thread was perceived as a boast...it was not mean't to.:)

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Dave,

You all give me hard time about my hat, and I in return, give you a hard time about this phantom grouse obsession. It's all different strokes for different folks, you chase after your passions and I'll chase after mine.

Apparently I'm A$$hole of the Week here on the BBS so everything I say is being taken the wrong way. Maybe I'll delete all my posts saying I'm gone forever them come back in three days and act like nothing happened. That seems to work for some......


Best Regards,
Destry aka The Alienator

[Fred Preston]

Dave, No ap. called for . I really liked your entries; I have kids and grandkids too. Just a little fun for the thread. MH there's a fee for the pic(s).

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Fred,

A fee???!!!! For a picture of my own family???!!!! That's my great great great grandpappy Cletus Q. Hoffard and his brothers Sirus and Obediah. They were all preachers of course, pillars of the community just like my whole family always has been.


Destry

[C Roger Giles]

Fred;
Too bad Robert Service is long gone as I think if he were alive there's a poem in that picture of your chicken camp.

Roger

[Dean Romig]

In case anybody's interested, I came across this yesterday evening while doing a little light reading just before we departed "deer camp'.
I didn't actively search for this but sort of stumbled onto it in the same book where Dave read the "Last Day" by H. P. Sheldon of his son's last day bird hunting with his dad just before WW II broke out.
This is taken from a story by Nash Buckingham called Red Letter Days With Quail written by request of Noel Sheldon, H. P.'s son and was included in the 1947 book Great Hunting and Fishing Stories.

He begins -

Dear Noelly:*
My red-letter day on quail? The one incident high-lighting more than fifty years staring down shotgun ribs at exploding bevies? The one such day I'd prefer re-living? Lad, you almost sent me scurrying to Kodak-books and diaries out-dating the turn of the century. . .

*Noel Sheldon is Hal (Col. H. P.) Sheldon's son. In Nash Buckingham's Derrydale book "Ole Miss", a collection of unpublished stories, is one titled "Surrender to Youth". The Christmas before Mr. Buckingham had given young Noel his old ruck sack, skinning knife and several other "possibles" including a mess kit that had gone through two hot corners in WW I. "Surrender to Youth" tells the story of the ruck sack and Mr Buckingham's reasons for giving it to young Noel Sheldon.

"Noelly" is now full-grown, six feet two, 195 pounds and served in the Army Air Corps.-ed

[Harry Collins]

Dean,

I am away from home today and am running on a shoddy memory. A story I like to reread by Nash Buckingham is "The Playhouse". A poigant tale of post Civil War quail hunting a posted farm with the owner and his grandson. Nash returns to the area post WW I. It is tough for me to read, but I love the story to much not to.

Roger,

Robert Service's "The Men That Don't Fit In" must have had me in mind.....

Harry

[Dean Romig]

Thanks Harry, that is a wonderful story. I have read it a couple of times but not for several years now . . . in fact, I hadn't even remembered the title but definitely remember the story. Now I'm going to find it - I know I have it in my library somewhere - and bring it to deer camp to read in the evening.
Regards, Dean

[Harry Collins]

Dean,

If you have a copy of "The Best of Nash Buckingham" you'll find it there...

Harry

[Dean Romig]

Yes Harry, I have that book. I have been thinking that's where I read it so I'll bring that book with me.
Thanks, Dean

[Dean Romig]

Harry, I just dug out my copy of "The Best of Nash Buckingham" and in Evans' introduction to Buckingham's story "Play House" he tells us that it was included in Buckingham's 1934 Derrydale, "De Shootinest Gent'man", which I have and will, instead of "The Best of Nash Buckingham", bring to deer camp. It's kind of nice to have an old classic along whispering to me all day from the duffel bag back at camp as I sneak through the shadows of the hemlock and cedar tangles.

[Dean Romig]

Harry, I want to thank you for reminding me of "Play House" possibly one of Buckingham's most nostalgic and emotion-evoking stories. I really can't think of a better writer of the stories of our grandfathers' and great-grandfathers' sport. I read it at deer camp last weekend in the evening by the fire with a little sip and when I finished it I went back to the beginning and read it all over again. What days those must have been. Thanks again Harry. Dean

[Harry Collins]

Thanks Dean, as I mentioned that is a tough story for me to read. I nearly just wrote why, but as I get older I learn to just keep these things to myself. I do love to read Nash and how they would take the train here and there and I think that is one of the reasons I shoot these old Parkers. This last summer my horrid attorney friend would not shoot with me unless I shot my fathers Browning 425. So I beat the snot out of him every time we shot hopeing he would invite me to shoot my Parkers again. It never happened so I just went back to shooting the Parkers anyway. I do shoot the over and under better, however the Parkers are just me. I know this makes no sence, so take into consideraion that I have only been up for three hours.

Kindest, Harry

[Dave Suponski]

Harry,You are not alone my friend.I shoot my Beretta 682 better than my Parkers but 9 times out of 10 it stays home and the Parkers come out to play.Happy Thanksgiving to ya Harry.