Most of the grouse cover I hunt is very, very thick. Sight range is usually not more than 20 yards, often less. Heck, I've been within 10 yards of the dogs before I see them on many occasions. Not trying to stir up an argument here but I like to use the dogs to do their job and that is to find birds that I would otherwise walk by. Dog range is like light guns vs. heavier guns - to each his own.
If I may, I'll cite this one example, primarily because it was my grandson's first grouse hunt and I'm still excited about it.
Our bird numbers have been way down for several years now. Not the best time to break a youngster into the game. Nevertheless, we were pounding the brush as much as you can with a 12 year old. The dogs were hunting hard and I took my GPS out to show grandson what it tells us when I discovered the batteries were dead. Now what are we gonna do, he says. I tell him we will hunt the way we did before GPS, listen to the bell. We are in to some pretty heavy cover and the dogs are out 100 yds plus, working hard when simultaneously both bells go quiet. Grandson is anxious to get there as quickly as possible and he asks how are we gonna find them. We search and search but no dogs but still no bells either. I tell grandson not to worry, we'll find them and after 20 minutes of looking, there they are about 150 yards from our original position, locked up tight on what turned out to be the only bird in this cover. I was not carrying a gun so I walked with grandson into the point and up goes the bird in good range. Bang, bang - miss, miss. However, he turned around with a big grin on his face. I asked what happened and he commented that they were a lot faster than he thought they would be - still smiling. I asked did you have fun and he replies yeaaa. I smile as well - good dog work and the making of a grouse hunting buddy.
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