Our dear friend and host, Hubert Simons, http://www.stjohnsburyfire.com/histo...hiefs%2008.htm was the fire chief in St. Johnsbury and the town offices were in the same building as the central fire station. He would pick up Dad and my licenses and have them just waiting to be signed when we arrived just before midnight on Friday nights. There were no super highways in those days, just primary, secondary, and dirt roads.
Times have changed drastically - Hubert as well as all those old traditions are long gone now. These days we buy our licenses at St. J Hardware.... we've been doing that for twenty-five years now.
Yup, Woolworth's was on Railroad Ave in St. J. Do you remember the checkerboard-painted Purina Feeds elevator in the freightyard just down the street from Woolworth?

Oh my gosh.. You mean the large building down at the end of the yard? It was three "tiers" - and there were always RR cars parked there at the St. J Yard. There was also a big lumber warehouse loading facility on a sidetrack, as I recall - Allen or Allan or sumthin'??

Thanks for the walk down memory lane Dean..! Yep - last time I went up there, it had all changed..?? Even the rustic village/town of Barton looked a whole lot different..

I dun'no - it all just seemed so much simpler then.. My first pair of leather-lace-up hunting boots I bought at the Glover General Store for the whopping price of probably $15..

JD

Dean, Thats a really neat spot is the central fireplace still so u could build a fire and cook something, that would b neet 2 cook in a 200+ year old fireplace. good day ch

Calvin, I'll get a better picture of the remains of the Hall Place this weekend and post it so you can see just how far gone back to the earth it is.

Somebody needs to invest in a good pointer, Dean looked a little haggard and I bet he chases Deer.:whistle:

Rich, I was a little haggard for sure - it wasn't easy walking.

I can only imagine how many woodcock we could have put up if we had a good dog.

We ended our grouse season this weekend.We hunted hard in on/off snow squalls Saturday and Sunday. Moved a few grouse who flushed far out and received a few "Hail Mary's" Dean and Danny managed to scratch down one woodcock each.A great weekend and a privilege to hunt our New England cover's. Only problem is that next October is so very very far off...
First picture...Dean's 16 gauge hammergun and woodcock
Second picture..."Cranky ol Pa'tridge Hunter"
Third....Romig having a heated discussion with a red squirrel
Four....Saturday night
Five....Me working my butt off fixin dinner.

The end of Grouse season:shock: Say it isn't so. Ok so is it the snow thats bothering you or is Dean chaseing Deer again?

We have two weeks of regular season then it closes for the 14 day firearm Deer season and opens back up in December.

It looks like Dean was after a little mixed bag of Squirrel and bird. I'm surprised there are still Woodcock up there. Gives one hope for the next two weeks:)

those are some good lookin photos...that sure was a large tre that squirl went up...and i know how to fix supper now...over all looks like yall had a good hunt... charlie

The down cycle of the grouse, the windy weather causing the few available grouse to flush at 30+ yards, the fact that I have to haul my boat to storage next weekend, and the firearms deer season that begins at 0'dark-thirty on Saturday, Nov. 13th are the various reasons that our 2010 grouse season has come to an end. Of course, if I happen to kill my buck on the first weekend of the season I'll be totin' a Parker for the rest of the season.

A sizable filght of woodcock came into our hills with the October full moon and have apparently stayed the week. I think the snow squalls this weekend will give them the incentive to join the highballing flocks of Canadas we see winging their way southward. The unusual arrival of woodcock to our upland Vermont hills surely saved our bird season up there, the grouse being as scarce as they were.

But we have plenty of fodder for memories and a few good stories from this great season and Danny has promised to grace an upcoming issue of Parker Pages with his own story of a traditional "Grouse Camp" and his own memories.... right Danny?
It was sure hard to leave that place this afternoon but the knowledge that we have many more seasons ahead of us makes it just a tad easier.... but the wait is a killer.




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