Girl with a blue tattoo

Rick Riddell · 10-12-2019, 10:29 PM

This is our newest addition Confetti, she is a PointerPRO rescue we fostered and fell absolutely in love with. She has a blue “PL” tattoo on her left ear and she is on hell of a grouse finder!

Dean Romig · 10-13-2019, 07:21 AM

Good looking girl Rick!

How are you finding grouse numbers in Maine this season and where in Maine do you do most of your grouse hunting?

Here in my little corner of Vt grouse numbers seem to have plummeted this year, but they have been suffering a little bit each year for the last 5 or 6.

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Rick Riddell · 10-13-2019, 08:36 AM

We’ve had the same issue, cold wet springs and higher number of accipiters the past two years. We hunt Downeast (north east of Ellsworth, mainly Washington County and a few spots in Hancock county). I got some reports from the moose hunt up north, some places had few birds while others were loaded, like 60 to 80 bird counts for the week. We are starting to see that here, with small pockets that have a good number of birds and other areas that are ghost towns. It definitely is an improvement from the previous years, still a good 3 or 4 years before we are back to where we were 6 yrs ago!

Dean Romig · 10-13-2019, 08:43 AM

I hope Grace and I are still spry enough to enjoy the next resurgence of grouse numbers, I really do.

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Rick Riddell · 10-13-2019, 09:18 AM

I do miss them, but being younger at the height I probably over did it, it wasn’t unusual to bag four birds every other day. If we see numbers like that again, I’ll be a little wiser in my take!

Dean Romig · 10-13-2019, 09:43 AM

The game managers, even in NJ where they have closed down the grouse season, continue to tell us that the number of grouse taken by hunters has no effect at all on the overall health/numbers of grouse in a given area.

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Rick Riddell · 10-13-2019, 10:57 AM

Interesting, IF&W state the same thing based on research from the 70’s. I think when numbers get as low as they are, that part of the equation becomes a significant variable. I know around here, road hunting and roost shooting is the modus operandi. For every two birds on the road there are at least four more in the covers. That seems to be the mentality our game managers have. Maine is a mosaic of habitats which I believe is not a major factor around here.