NH Grouse Hunting Report: 10/6
A slightly abbreviated session today with Brian Fradette and his hard working Brittany Spaniels. They are young at three years old, but these siblings cover the grouse woods well and point their birds staunchly. It gave my dogs a well earned day off, and I'm sure they took advantage of it, lounging around my house and making sure the couch doesn't get stolen while I'm in the woods.
Conditions were frosty for the start today, and mostly cloudy, but it warmed slightly (upper 40's) while we were out there. The breeze created by an approaching front (rain expected tonight and Monday) made things challenging, and there were probably several grouse that were "there" according to the dogs and suddenly not there at all. The gray ghost for sure ...
Conditions were frosty for the start today, and mostly cloudy, but it warmed slightly (upper 40's) while we were out there. The breeze created by an approaching front (rain expected tonight and Monday) made things challenging, and there were probably several grouse that were "there" according to the dogs and suddenly not there at all. The gray ghost for sure ...
Floyd got the first run of the morning, and Brian explained to me that Floyd had been snake bit on the bird front lately. Lots of good work from him, with little reward in the form of birds contacted. We went to a favorite cover of mine, with more prevalent numbers of woodcock than grouse, and it would turn out to be the case today. Floyd started out with the normal exuberance of a young bird dog, but his range began to tighten as he contacted birds, and once he started pointing birds consistently (mostly woodcock), he really found his groove. He hunted close and thoroughly, with the highlight being a run of five points in a row (three separate woodcock, a grouse, and finally one more timberdoodle). Brian took a woodcock over one of those points, and he was understandably proud of Floyd's progress. He contacted 3 grouse and 11 woodcock in his 2.5 hour session, and the bird hunting lightbulb in Floyd's head is surely on now.
Pink then got the next run in a different cover, and I have been fortunate to watch her work the grouse woods the last couple of years. She's a good one, and it seems that she was a natural right out of the gate. She truly scours the woods and once she establishes point, she stays steady - it's impressive. She turned in a nice two hour session herself, as she contacted 3 grouse and 6 woodcock, with Brian taking one of the woodcock. A couple tough shots were missed, but the grouse generally weren't giving Brian a good look anyway. We had a total of 6 grouse and 17 woodcock contacted over the course of 4.5 hours in the woods - a good number, though a little light on the grouse ...
Observations So Far
Grouse numbers? I get asked this a lot, and even I am still withholding judgment. Our best day so far has been 13 grouse moved, which is a slow day at any other time. Perhaps the woodcock numbers (yup, we've seen a lot of them) are softening the disappointment of the grouse sightings, but it has been a little skimpy for me and my clients. Most have been singles, and we have also put up several pairs of grouse, but we have not encountered broods that haven't broken up. I have heard good reports from other hunters however, so perhaps we're just not in the best grouse areas. I am hoping it gets better however.
Woodcock? We're seeing quite a few of them and they appear to be native birds, as the migration doesn't usually occur for another week or two. The weather has been colder than normal this first week of the season however, so maybe a few are coming down from Quebec. I have not seen the usual amount of sternum fat that is present on migrating woodcock while cleaning them at the end of the day, further reinforcing that they might be native birds.
In regards to the weather, it has been pretty much perfect for pursuing birds early in the season. Cool days with some moisture and a bit of wind has created good scenting conditions for the dogs, and they have really taken advantage of it. They have all had good moments out there. Leaf cover is still thick, but more of it is dropping every day and it should all be gone in a couple of weeks. No excuses for missed birds then ...
