[mobirdhunter]

UNCLE! The Grouse Gods have conspired, and I surrender...but I'm content. After a rainy Wednesday, we got out for a short hunt and flushed some birds that offered no shots. Two were pointed by Aspen. Yesterday dawned sunny and cold, with the snow was crusted hard. I wish I'd read your post, Brett, before we headed out because Alder ripped an opening in her pad below a nail, and it looks like she's out, maybe for the trip. We went back to places where we'd had some flushes, we hunted tried-and-proven spots that we generally save to the hunt's end, and we tried a new spot on a whim that chance might smile on us. Yesterday was my first day hunting Northern Minnesota when I flushed nary a bird. Someone should write a thesis on why you're so much more tired after hunting on a day like this.

But...we have several more days, and I'm here in Cabin #6 with two fine canine companions, three nice Parker small bores with a history...and the best wife a guy could hope for. We are already scheming about when to come next year.

Photos:
1. Thinking about Ed's open field success reminds me of a year when we flushed "coveys" (broods) of grouse from secluded open fields late in the day. I'm convinced that grouse know they are more vulnerable on a white, snowy backdrop and avoid places like this where they have no overhead cover. Oh, to be here on a warmish sunny day about a half hour before sunset.
2. The last hour of a day taken mostly by rain. We found some birds, but they all went out either far ahead, or screened by cover. This was not the best year to have a puppy in the woods trying to get him experience on wild birds.
3. It's funny how much more optimistic I get when the sun comes out. I know there are no "Dull, Dark Days," but on a birdies hunt, at least let me be in the sun in a beautiful place.
4. The waxing Blue Moon guided us back to the Cabin. Wine, two dogs on the couch, and some warm food helped to soothe the soul after a bridles day.
5. Now here's a sign of optimism if ever there was one. At lunch time we stopped and watched a large pulpwood harvest. This machine strips the limbs from pole-sized aspen and then cuts them to size to be later cut again and loaded on a truck. We have all these spots marked on the GPS, and I only hope I'm alive and still able to walk them in about 5-7 years.