Maine Grouse Hunting
 

Just a quick note that today was fantastic..! Jen, the dogs and I are in Moosehead Lake Region of Maine doing a bit of Grouse hunting. The weather was perfect this AM and the dogs were better.

Attached are a few pictures from today. The first is the "A Team" - Jen with my little 20 VHE and our dogs. She limited out by 10AM..

Next pictures is some of the cover we hunted - about 100 yards from this picture the dogs pointed up 5 grouse, but I took fewer with a 16 GA DAM Parker.....

Last picture is one of the old logging roads we walked for miles.

It is beautiful up here - and as I sit next to my dogs, my wife in front of a fire in a log cabin, posting this......

Life couldn't be sweeter, as we are doing it all again tomorrow...

:bigbye:

John

Wonderful pictures John! I hope you guys are having a great time(and I know you are). But I gotta ask ya.....Where did ya borrow the 20 gauge?.....:rolleyes:

Ahah!! I know exactly where you are hunting! I recognize that leaning cedar in your second picture! And I know that cut-over in the third picture... there aren't very many areas that were cut over by the paper companies twenty years ago or so and I know just where that one is. In the Kokadjo area, right?

By the way, Kathy has the exact same shoes that Jen has and she likes them a lot. Very light and waterproof and still supportive - Good choice Jen, did you get them at KTP?

John,

Pretty women with guns. I love it but how about some details such as barrel length, gauge, reproduction... All that knowing that your wife must be hunting with a Parker!

Have a great hunt! :)
Mark

Today was difficult hunting.. Hard rain in the AM and then the wind picked up a blew hard. The dogs had a hard time picking up a scent - and while we were skunked, several grouse went up - and had a wonderful day... I can't really describe some of the areas up here, except to try to tell you how absolutely beautiful and pristine they are. For example, this afternoon, we hunted in a stand pf packed spruce - and the ground was a velvet cover of moss. We put up a few grouse in that area - but if they were more than a few yards away - they remained unseen...

Anyway - a couple of replies.... ;)

Dean - yep - Jen's boots are from KTP, as are mine.. Like - I would shop for outdoor gear anywhere else??? ;)

Mark - about that Parker Jen is holding... It's a 20 GA VHE, original beavertail, original 26" barrels, PG and is a DelGrego restoration from way before I owned it? It's my primary hunting gun and it's taken more woodcock and grouse than I deserve - and pheasant (which are stcked back here - still fun, but - well, you know...??). It just feels "right" and has for years.

About the pics from today....

One of the rivers we crossed....

The next pictures are from the B-52 crash site.. I wasn't really aware of it before we set out today - but, when we stumbled upon it - I unloaded the gun and brought the dogs in. The dogs seemed to sense what Jen and I did - an eerie silence out of respect for the lost airmen from that fateful flight and night. I can't explain it...

John

John,Thanks for the update and pictures. That crash site sent a chill down my back. You did the right thing.....:usa:

Sounds like great country to hunt John.... and that it's a good thing you took Jen along if you wanted birds to take home! I've been on a lot of crash sights like that up here: B-24's, B-29's, B-17's, P-39's, F-105, L-4, and more. They all make you sit down and quietly wonder about the guys who went in with them.

John, I can't read the monument... when did that B-52 go in?

Hi guys!

Many thanks - and Richard, you are right about bringing Jen along ;) As well, this really is stunning country. On most of the logging roads we take to reach where we want to hunt, we have yet to see another vehicle. In the woods, we've yet to see another hunter - or see a parked vehicle?. It's magical in many ways...

As well, Dean - I took the picture with my iPhone and don't have a computer to upload the picture to in its largest size (I'm writing this from my tablet). I'll upload it when I get home next week, OK?

In the meantime, I found this link which shows a bit of history from the crash site:

http://www.moosehead.net/history/B-52.html

My best to all!

John

Dave wants to know where John borrowed the gun from..... I'd like to know where he borrowed the wife that can shoot like that from! :eek:

;) Jen really is one of a kind, for sure... Why she ever puts up with the likes of me - I have no idea??

To answer your and Dave's questions tho..... I borrow all my Parker's from my wife, as everything I own is hers and everything she owns is hers.... Well, you know :-)

As well, I borrowed Jen from her folks? There is a "no return" policy on that, however - which works for me ;)

Anyway, I'll try to post a wonderful story from today... I has to do with hunting, Jen, dogs and a Parker. Its the stuff stories are told about and mental pictures are painted...

It was an incredible day...

Beautiful!

Another amazing day. It's snowing outside now - and just back to the cabin... And - yes - it is beautiful..!!

Here are a few shots from today... The grouse come up when you least expect them - and they are wonderful!!! I used my well-worn GH 16 GA DAM 28" today, and it didn't disappoint.

Here are some pics....

First - one of my dogs just after a point - on whoa - just before I told him to "fetch it up"...(guess which direction the grouse flew??? ;) )

Second - a bridge before a great grouse hunting place... We walked for miles today...

3rd and 4th - just a wonderful place to hunt with incredible local scenery... Jen and I are beat. The dogs are beat...

What a wonderful day.....

John

John, those mossy woods are magic aren't they? Like an enchanted forest in places.

Look at what the pileated woodpeckers have done to that cedar at the left.

A little 7' fly rod would be perfect on those streams. Any river or stream that flows into Moosehead is bound to hold brookies and maybe even landlocked salmon, the quananiche of northern rivers and lakes.

John, I can relate to your experience as though I were there. My wife was born in Greenville. Her parents moved the family to CT when she was in her teens, but when her dad retired from CG, He and his wife went back to the woods. He passed away a few years ago, but my wife and I decided to keep the place, and have been slowly rebuilding. We're just out of town on the Lilly Bay Rd.
My father in law was one of the early members of the snowmobile club and told me about their trek into the crash site. I shiver each time I think about how cold it was, where men just keep going because they know they have to.

I managed 4 of those frisbee birds earlier this year, up near the airport. (Sortakinda. Promised my wife's uncle I wouldn't tell. Yeah, right) I was using my then-new-to-me 16ga. lifter. Everytime I mention a different spot to her uncle or cousins, and say " 'Spose there are birds in there?" the standard response is "I spect there are"

Edgar, did you know Pete Grass? He lived in Lily Bay for years and worked at Porter's in Greenville as a wrecker driver... among other things.

Nice country! Those woodpecker holes make good chickadee night roosts.

Hi Dean and Edgar - and all...

Yep, Dean - the mossy woods are incredible. It's almost like you don't dare step on the forest floor given that you'll disturb the moss and leave a footprint. It's as pristine a place as you will ever see...

Edgar - where I'm staying and where I'm hunting are two different places - so, I'm guessing Jen and I have driven past your place on Lily Bay Road at least a dozen times - maybe more... I did go to the local spot down by Big Wilson Stream and Wilson Pond - but, it was too crowded with two trucks parked along Outer Pleasant after the power line cut..? So , Jen and I and the dogs hunted up more by Burnham Pond and Little Indian Pond (Little Indian you can get lost getting to - unless a local shows you the secret ;) )

Anyway - today was an outstanding finale to the week. I snowed last evening - just enough to let you know winter is about to arrive hard. We left the cabin as the sun rose and headed out with the mercury hovering at a mild 21F. We just arrived home a few minutes ago (just after 3PM) as the sun is headed down behind the mountains...

But today? Was a day which paints memories in the mind as to why we do all this - the Parker thing. The hunting thing. The dog thing. Crisp mornings, the quiet of the forest, new snow - all set the stage. A fine old double just "feels right" as well - or moreso - is "just right"...

Can't wait until next year - and was reminded of that on the way out of one of the timber areas as we left the final hunting spot today.... Why do I say that???

We were the only people in that area today - as out tire tracks and footprints were the only ones in the snow from our entry early in the AM. On the way out - a Grouse strutted across the road not 20 feet in front of the jeep. It didn't run. It didn't take flight. It "strutted" right across the road.

I stopped the jeep and just watched as it meandered into the tickets on the other side of the road - and I muttered to mostly myself - "I'll see you next year".

Being up here is just sort'a like that....

Magical.

John

Here are a few pictures from today - where we hunted without another living sole around for miles....

Gotta be hard to leave country like that, but at least you leave with new experiences. Great pictures, I am green with envy.....:envy:

Well guys, I am not as familiar with the area as you all probably are. My wife Julie, and I have been married only 9 years. (My 2nd marriage) but we dated for 6 years before we decided to stop living in sin. I started going up there in '96, when both her dad and brother were still alive. Warren was a real sport, and it's easy to understand why he moved back there when he retired. A real four season guy. I have done my share of exploring the lower Moosehead area, as well as lots of time off-roading in the Allegash. We pulled off the Lilly Bay Road somewhere around First Roach Pond, and told my son to take the wheel. He was 13 then, and we spent the next 3 hrs hanging on while he got the feel of driving. We've dangled a line in just about every spot bigger than a puddle, cooked on the beach what we caught and generally soaked as much in as we could. I set my parking brake years ago, but my son flies every day, and has since high school. He is as comfortable is a 185 as he is in the right seat of an HC-130. He loves floats. We discovered a birdie spot off the Scammon Road one day while picking blueberries. I see them in the road pretty much all the time, but unlike the locals, I still won't take a shot unless they're on the wing.
Dean, I called Julie's uncle a few minutes ago to ask if he knew Pete Grass, though I don't. He said "sounds familiar" but says Russell Ryder, over in the Junction, now does the towing.

Pete was a tough old buzzard but had a heart of gold. I met Pete while me and my crew were on a salmon fishing trip up to the West Branch of the Penobscott back in the nineties. The transmission in my GMC blew about ten miles north of Greenville at about midnight. The sherrif came by and saw the trouble we were in and called Pete. The rest is a wonderful story of country folk and the trust they show to all people.

It was just after his 75th birthday... Thanksgiving morning and family were at his home at Lily Bay. It was a cold and windy morning and there was a big chop on the lake. Pete decided to take his son's PWC for a spin on the lake... You shoulda heard Pete tell that story!!

John, that river looks a lot like the Kennebec between Greenville and Rockland.

The grouse around there in the "Big Woods" seem to have no fear.
In a similar experience I stopped the truck and stepped out when a grouse walked fearlessly out of the woods. I proceeded to throw seven or eight golf ball size rocks at that bird and he just chased them and pecked each one when it stopped bouncing. I got tired of missing him and gave up. (I don't do a whole lot better with a Parker).

Hi Dean!

I know the feeling about throwing rocks by hand or pellets from a Parker ;)

OK - since I'm on a tablet, not sure how to post a screen capture? Anyway, it's the Kennebec .. Look up on Google Maps Indian Pond in Maine. Scroll North to the head of the pond. You'll see the Kennebec East Outlet which runs down from Moosehead. About 2/3 of the way down, north side of the river before it enters into Indian Pond, you'll see a small wooded island. No roads there, but wonderful country...

John

East Branch, West Branch, it's all God's Country. I run up to Rockwood about once a summer for mediocre pizza from a great little shop.
All the people I have run into up there have the same quality you describe Pete having; Heart as big as the lake. Unfortunately, there is an obnoxious undercurrent amongst some of the young towards 'Flats'. They really couldn't get by without them but resent them at the same time.
My wife seems to have more relatives than Zip's ass in that town. Some are quirky,but all-in-all, a great bunch. Her two cousins, brothers about a year or two apart, could go on the road, they're so funny.
My wife's dad had one of the little mill houses going out of town. Like a lot of the places up there, they just plunked down a few big rocks, laid the sill on them and went from there. We just jacked the house up, and put it back down on 24 precast pylons. Now, you can set a bowling ball in the middle of the house and it won't roll. Before, LOOK OUT.
We're a 2 minute walk to the dock where I keep my launch.

Thanks John for the great pics and account of the hunt with your wonderful wife and the pups.
I remember shortly after the War, '47 I think, my Dad took my Mother and me on vacation at Wilson's camp at the Kennebec outlet northwest of Greenville. There was a big timbered dam there to control the flow for running logs down the river. There were a couple of steam powered tugs towing log rafts on the lake. Dad had a guide named Charlie who paddled a canoe, not liking the newfangled outboards. Dad caught a number of lake trout and square tails, one exceeding four pounds. Have to go back some day, time's running short.

Fred, you really shoul go back but don't expect to find what you experienced there before. Everything has changed. Nothing is the same except the woods and the water and the land. Log drives ended in Maine in 1974 and the huge log dams are gone... replaced with concrete and steel and aluminum.
I was snorkeling in the West Branch of the Penobscott in the pool below Ambejackmocomus Falls about fifteen years ago and littering the bottom in ten or fifteen feet of water were dozens of pulp logs from the earlier days of log drives on the river.