"It's been hot"
"The bird hunting?"
"No, the weather ..."

That's been a common conversation among bird hunters here in northern NH and Vermont so far this season. In fact, it's been hot and dry - three bad words if you hunt grouse and woodcock with dogs. We were out a few days this week where it felt like it was up to 65 degrees, and Thursday there was no help from the clouds and we must have pushed 70 degrees. That makes things mighty tough for our four legged friends, so the best hunting opportunities of the day can be found early and late in the day.

There have been some birds out there - we moved 12 grouse and woodcock in about five hours of hunting on Wednesday, and 11 more in about four hours on Thursday. We had a little rain last night, which helped some, and we put up 9 grouse and 2 woodcock in around two and a half hours this morning in Vermont. On a positive note, there was also some very good dog work from Rudy as he pointed the woodcock and several of the grouse. The other grouse were off like a shot, as they could definitely hear us coming through the crunching of the leaves under foot.

Better days are on the way - we're only one week in to a three month long season!

More updates to come ...