Thanks for the replies!

Today is our last day. Sunday we were snowed out, although there was little accumulation. Yesterday dawned with majestic clouds and sun. I had saved a good spot for end of day and as we pulled up, the skies let loose. Heavy snow squalls made seeing the road back to the Cabin difficult. Just at sunset, the snow stopped -- of course. Not sure what today will hold, but this has been a great trip. Aspen made lots of progress, I blooded a new-to-me Parker, and even if my chances were few, I shot fair (for me, at least) and enjoyed the scenery and weather -- in all its iterations.

Photos:

1. A nice shot by Elaine that shows how our coverts evolve. To the right was last year a mature aspen forest. Those whips will be great cover in a few years. It's too bad that urban folks can't get the fact that a forest is a living thing, that human hands have shaped most of our forests, that tree loss is at times healthy for the ecosystem, and that beauty is not just what shows up on calendars and Disney.

2. We hunted from off this road earlier in our trip, and saved a second visit for yesterday. When we pulled up, this is what we found. Those are pine logs, not aspen, but this covert will need a few years to get back its potential. Thankfully, aspen grow fast. We "older folks" don't have time to wait on oaks to regenerate.

3. You'd think that in this cover, there would be a happy ending for the hunter...but, like so many times this trip, I had no shot from this sparse cover. I think the birds know how to foil me.:banghead:

4. After negotiating the road back to the Cabin in a driving snow squall, the skies cleared about 5 minutes before sunset. From the Cabin window the clouds to the south looked like mountains. Hopefully today will bring better hunting conditions.

Good luck Garry! Have a safe trip home. Great to see you the end of September.

Thanks, Jeff! Elaine and I passed by the Hoot-N-Holler several times, but didn't see your vehicle. Maybe next year??

(PS Am enjoying the books -- thanks again! Interesting reading about places we hunt in Southern Iowa.)

Gary: Is that stack of wood "short wood" other wise known as pulp cut ?

What we saw was cut longer than I generally see for pulp, and the diameter of the logs would definitely produce good boards. They were being stacked "long ways" on the hauling truck, whereas pulpwood is stacked crossways. I believe they were in the 10-12 foot range -- pretty sure they were for lumber, not pulp. There was some beautiful wood coming from this area. This stack was one of 5 we saw (similar size), and they were still cutting. We don't see much pine cutting, except for thinning. I love watching the cutting. Those big machines are awesome.

On a related topic, there's a pressure treating facility (wood preservative) not too far away from here. There are some very impressive stacks of treated wood of all kinds in their yard.

That is odd. There is a newsprint mill across the river from our county that has been producing newsprint for about 50 years I think. I think they may have expanded their products to other paper products due to the decline in newsprint.

But all my life I have seen logging trucks hauling "pulp wood" to the mill and they were always full length logs. The butt ends are always near the cab of the truck with the long slender tops trailing off the end of the trailer.

I've seen that method, too, Reggie. Here they have these really impressive machines that cut the logs to length in the woods. The skidder brings them in and this machine aligns them, cuts them, and then stacks them. Amazing to watch the skilled workers.

We are headed home today, a two day drive. Yesterday was, for me, a perfect ending to a wonderful trip. Because of the snow on the ground and the blustery conditions that greeted us in the morning, I decided to wait until noon to begin our hunt, thinking the birds would have time to move out of the cover of conifers to feed after the snow squalls of the day before. Things started the way they'd gone for us much of the preceding week -- flushes, but no chances. We had hunted through a cut and found ourselves on a trail that we had hunted years before. The cover was older now and it did not look good to me. Elaine insisted we hunt it, telling me there were birds ahead. I half-heartedly gave in...and within 50 yards Aspen locked up in a small opening of ferns. The bird tried to sneak out around the only spruce in the area, but the CHE 20, my third Parker used on the trip, took it just in time. Farther down the trail Aspen again pointed, this time on a hillside of frost-singed ferns. For one brief second, I thought I was back in Missouri hunting Bobs, when a covey of 5 grouse got up in unison. It's rare that grouse get up at the same time, at least in numbers like that. There's usually a straggler or two. I managed to keep some composure and hit a bird that fluttered off. I took a line on the bird, brought in Aspen to "hunt dead," and watched with pride as my "young man" brought the bird to hand. Moral of the story: listen to your wife.

It started to snow just then, so we worked out way back to the truck and then to the warmth of the Cabin. Although we did not kill lots of birds (not a goal of mine), we had good flush rates, great dog work for a pup working towards his PhD., and had the privilege to use 3 wonderful Parker small bores.

Our flush rate for the 16 days was just over 3.5 birds/hour, and my shooting was just a smidgen over 50% (pretty good for me on grouse). We had some incredibly beautiful weather, and managed to walk quite a few miles in some stunning cover.

We've already made our reservations for next October for Cabin #6.

Photos:

1. Elaine and I smiled a good deal watching Aspen on this trip. He matured right before our eyes, and was not the same dog at the end of the trip that we saw at the beginning. And he had fun -- you could see it in his every move. It's hard not to take on some of the joy of your pup.

2. I've never had a brood/covey of grouse get up all at the same time like quail, but on this hillside of dead ferns, I experienced something for the first time. I'm not sure just how I was able to hit one bird when they rocketed out of the ferns. I'd say good shooting, but good luck would be more accurate. The icing on the cake was Aspen's find and delivery. He hates to stop and pose (as do I), always wanting to get going after more birds.

3. This little 1918 CHE 20 is a delight to shoot and carry, and probably fits me -- and my idea of a bird gun -- as well as any gun I have. I'm grateful to its previous caretaker for letting it go. (wink-wink)

4. Aspen's birds, as he clearly lets us know. The coloration on these birds was incredible. The (what I call) mid-phase color, and red-orange are not often encountered. I would like to have seen the color on the other birds in that brood.

Just outstanding! Thanks for once again sharing your upland adventures.

Garry, 3 1/2 flushes per hour is great, and you have to do some legwork for that. I averaged 4/hr--not including woodcock. My shooting percentage was not as good as yours, but I shoot alot. I like/do well in older clearcuts, and the shooting is generally a little easier. Found an old cut last Saturday with the logging road grown up waist high in grass and berry cane. Shot 3 birds over Doodle in less than an hour. I am still exhausted from 16 straight long days in the woods, but if the weather holds out will try to go back after their deer season.