A Tale of Two Days
How can two days of ruffed grouse hunting be so different? Great question, and it's one that I frequently ask myself when we have a great day of hunting, followed up by a slower day, or vice-a versa. That was the case yesterday, where we could seemingly do no wrong, to today, where the grouse were especially hard to find, even when we were hunting quintessential "grouse cover". As a now retired fishing guide friend of mine frequently mused, "Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug".
Both days have been very similar in terms of the weather - each morning with a cold start in the 20's, eventually warming up to the 50's in brilliant afternoon sunshine. A slight breeze helped swirl the bird scent, and when we did find them, they were often pointed beautifully by Rosie. The only difference in conditions may have been the rapidly drying grouse woods, as we haven't had rain for a few days. The birds must be well aware of our approach, as the dried crackling leaves give us away every time.
Both days have been very similar in terms of the weather - each morning with a cold start in the 20's, eventually warming up to the 50's in brilliant afternoon sunshine. A slight breeze helped swirl the bird scent, and when we did find them, they were often pointed beautifully by Rosie. The only difference in conditions may have been the rapidly drying grouse woods, as we haven't had rain for a few days. The birds must be well aware of our approach, as the dried crackling leaves give us away every time.
Our morning yesterday took a bit of time to crank up, but eventually Rosie started pointing ... bird after bird. She started with a woodcock (yes, there's still a few around), but quickly transitioned to grouse, and she gave my client Brian a good chance that he missed. She continued her string of points on a pair of grouse uphill from us, then pointed a group of four grouse a little later. One stuck around a little too long and Brian cut off his escape. She then pointed another pair of birds that managed to flush the wrong way (for us). As we made our back toward the truck, she had a nice point on a woodcock that Brian connected on.
She finished her session by pointing and then tracking an incredibly crafty bird that pulled the switchback routine on us to get away. Though that one made it to safety, Rosie was responsible for moving ten grouse and three woodcock yesterday morning, and Brian was able to reward her for her efforts. I then was able to hunt with Millie, Rosie's sister from the same litter for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon. She hunted hard and in control and we moved nine grouse total. More importantly, she pointed two of her birds (which is a step in the right direction), but your faithful author wasn't able to reward Millie for her efforts ...
She finished her session by pointing and then tracking an incredibly crafty bird that pulled the switchback routine on us to get away. Though that one made it to safety, Rosie was responsible for moving ten grouse and three woodcock yesterday morning, and Brian was able to reward her for her efforts. I then was able to hunt with Millie, Rosie's sister from the same litter for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon. She hunted hard and in control and we moved nine grouse total. More importantly, she pointed two of her birds (which is a step in the right direction), but your faithful author wasn't able to reward Millie for her efforts ...
Rosie's been on fire lately, and a real pleasure to hunt with.
Chris with Teddy, as he admires two hard-earned grouse.
Today was much different, at least in finding birds to play the game with us. My client today and for the next couple of days is Chris, proud owner of two Weimaraners that have been getting plenty of wild bird education the last couple of months.
Even though we had Monty and Teddy in particularly beautiful looking grouse cover, we moved precious few of them today. Perhaps it was the noise factor that worked against us, but there was also recent evidence (grouse and woodcock feathers) that some of our afternoon coverts had been successfully hunted perhaps as early as this morning by other hunters. You can't be everywhere at once!
Chris was able to make two of the seven birds that we moved today pay the price. The first had been rousted out by his dog Teddy, and Chris took it as it flew high and across the trail in front of us. His second bird came on a nice shot on a bird that came out of a tree high above Chris in an area where Rosie had pointed a pair on the ground. His 28 gauge proved that it was more than a match for swinging and taking a high flying grouse.
We have trips planned all this week, so hopefully the grouse play nicer with us than they did today ...
Even though we had Monty and Teddy in particularly beautiful looking grouse cover, we moved precious few of them today. Perhaps it was the noise factor that worked against us, but there was also recent evidence (grouse and woodcock feathers) that some of our afternoon coverts had been successfully hunted perhaps as early as this morning by other hunters. You can't be everywhere at once!
Chris was able to make two of the seven birds that we moved today pay the price. The first had been rousted out by his dog Teddy, and Chris took it as it flew high and across the trail in front of us. His second bird came on a nice shot on a bird that came out of a tree high above Chris in an area where Rosie had pointed a pair on the ground. His 28 gauge proved that it was more than a match for swinging and taking a high flying grouse.
We have trips planned all this week, so hopefully the grouse play nicer with us than they did today ...
