Northwoods Grouse Hunt: Chapter 35

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Keith Doty

Great pics. As the owner of generations of labs I know the pups gotta go along and particularly the first season or two will provide pride, frustration, hilarity and probably some scary moments along with memories that last a lifetime. My avatar is "Smoker"s first real solo hunt, just me and the dog. Got all the above in a single morning!

Keith, you are so right about the "pleasures" of having a puppy along. It certainly cuts into your hunting time, not to mention your sleeping time but it also adds to your great memories of what I'm sure will be a special dog -- as all of them are in their own way.

You get to cherish the little things, like teaching the pup to drink from a bottle...which will come in handy on hunts in the future.

So much to do!

[mobirdhunter]

Well, we have completed week 1 of our hunt, and although not much to show in the way of game for the larder, we have had lots of bird contact and good, hard miles for our hearts.

This has been a remarkable year for the number of times we've gotten birds up without a chance for a shot...or at least a good one. As I noted, we have started coming up later in the season to avoid more hunters. That has certainly been the case, but I see a marked skittishness in the birds. Often, the dog will point, and before I can get up with the dog, the bird will flush far out ahead. We've also had lots of "brood points" where there are multiple birds at a point (6 birds from a point yesterday!). As grouse do, they flush when the want, and when you don't want. Frustrating, but all part of the hunt.

So, this past week our flush rate was 3.8 birds/hour. When you think that most of our hunting comes on trails that we must walk out and back (essentially hunting over ground just traveled), one could really double that flush rate. The birds are here this year, they're just not playing nice. Actually, except for not shooting well (44% on grouse, 25% on woodcock), this has been a great hunt.

Today will be an off day as dangerous winds and rain are in the forecast. A trip to town is in order.

Here are some photos from late in the week, including some that I hope reveal the nature of the Northwoods hunt, from its beauty to the exhilaration of walking in on a dog on point (assuming you can get to the dog!).