It's Spring! Somewhere ...
The unmistakeable "peent" of the American Woodcock that is a harbinger of spring ...
Yes, somewhere (generally anywhere south of Franconia, NH) it is actually spring. Birds are chirping, geese are returning, and the usual assortment of dead roadside critters (raccoons and skunks mostly) are in abundance at the moment. Other migrants are coming back as well - woodcock are surely back in southern New England, probably in good numbers too.
We might not see them in numbers for a week or so, as there's still a lot of snow here in the north country (anywhere from 2' - 4' in most places). This will delay our "spring training" as I like to call it, and unfortunately, the dogs need it badly. With the exception of some good snowshoe treks through the wilderness the last few months, they have had a slovenly existence since last November. They badly need work, so hopefully we can get out there soon before May comes.
A few random thoughts on last year's hunting season, winter survival of our grouse, and prospects for this year.
1. In speaking at length with other hunters and guides that hunted in northern New Hampshire and Vermont last year, it seems that the general consensus was that we had a better-than-average grouse hunting season in 2018. Best in probably 5-6 years I would say, especially with the grouse. While not every day was a bonanza of birds, we had quite a few good sessions last year, despite the lousy weather we endured. Lots of rain, generally cool/cold, and the snow even came early last fall (I believe October 18 was our first snowfall, and it was a sticking one at that). In fact, we received so much snow, with two feet on the ground by Thanksgiving, that we never made it out in the woods for late season grouse hunts. Snowshoes would have been required, and many of you already know my thoughts on that ...
2. The consensus seems to also be that the woodcock passed through our area very quickly to points south of us as the weather dictated that they keep the train moving. We had good woodcock shooting for the first two weeks of October, generally on resident timberdoodles and perhaps a few early migrants, but the clouds of woodcock in flights never seemed to materialize in the latter half of the month for most hunters that I spoke with. I must confess that I was guiding clients that prefer to hunt grouse at the time the flights would have been coming through, so I was not in typical flight covers, but we saw only a smattering of birds during our late October and early November hunts. Hopefully we have more moderate weather this fall.
3. It seems as though the grouse in our area had a good winter, with plenty of snow for roosting and mostly moderate temperatures as far as winter goes in northern New England. While we had over 200" of snow this year, we didn't have too many ice storms that wreak havoc with buds that the grouse need in the winter. Ice storms can be devastating to birds that need those buds to survive, and the lack of that type of weather is a good sign for our grouse.
The "pet" grouse that comes to my crabapple tree was there nearly every day this winter, fortifying itself for the long winter nights ahead, and it seemed that the grouse were out and about on the roadsides gathering gravel whenever we had a nice day this winter. I saw several of them graveling this way, so that must be a good sign. There was also a dead bird in the middle of VT Route 102 a couple of days ago - it's always a shame to lose one that close to the start of the breeding season. Of course, the turkey hunting season is less than a month away, and we'll get an idea of how many birds truly made it through winter when the drumming starts. Plenty of breeding birds + good May / June weather = happy hunters in the fall.
