Grayson Assists!

[Hixie]

Grayson and I have expanded our Adirondack grouse hunting territory to include the western areas around Old Forge, NY. Yesterday near Thendara we found a lone bird near the top of the ridge. He was off to my left and I flushed the bird off to my right. It flew low toward the other side of the ridge and I snapped a shot at it. Not sure about whether I hit it or not, I gave Grayson the "Dead Bird!" command and he started toward me but then veered off to his left and circled out in front. I was not sure what he was doing but he ended up downwind of the top of the ridge and I could hear his bell heading toward the top where I'd shot at the bird. I followed as quickly as I could and when I got up there he was standing over the dead bird. For me, it was amazing that he circled downwind to catch the scent of the bird and move into find it.

The next day we were in the Moose River Plains and high on the side of a beechwood ridge. He was below me and moving up to my right while I was confirming our position relative to where my truck was parked (GPS.) I figured out where we were and as he approached I took one step and a grouse flushed out in front of us. I saw it moving left and as it came out into the open I fired and saw a good hit. The bird fell into the tree tops above our position but all I had was a line of direction. Grayson was looking at me on full alert, I again commanded "Dead Bird!" and he took off. When I caught up with him he was frantically moving back and fourth below a 10 foot ledge. It was obvious that he thought the bird was up there so I inloaded my gun (Parker GH 1 frame 20 ga made in 1900) and made my way up there by climbing a tree that was close to the rock face. Sure enough, the bird was there! I never would have found it without him.

Yesterday and today we've had four flushes and got two grouse. I did find a large area of low lying alder thicket surrounded by mixed conifer and hardwoods. It looked like fantastic grouse and woodcock cover, but by then it was raining heavily so we didn't hunt it. I marked it in my DeLorme Atlas for future exploration. Tomorrow we are off to Fort Drum to check the area out for the first time. I hear the bird hunting is good there so we'll see.