Peak of the Season (so far)
We're a week in to the season now, and while the trees have not been cooperating for us grouse hunters in dropping their leaves, even we can appreciate the beauty surrounding us out there right now. The last two days, Monday in New Hampshire and yesterday in Vermont, were absolutely brilliant with a kaleidoscope of colors, and we have reveled in the fantastic scenery we've been walking in.
It looks like this might be the norm for a while too, as we expect warmer temperatures through the end of next week - no frosty nights in sight for the foreseeable future. However, this doesn't mean that we've had too much trouble finding grouse and woodcock these last two days. As you would expect, the morning sessions with the cooler temperatures (50's) have been better working conditions for the dogs, but we have still been finding birds in the afternoons as well.
Monday yielded our best day of finding woodcock, and Rosie in particular found a good number of them that morning. She had some great points, culminated by a succession of three points in about a minute as we worked down a thick hillside. Art made a nice shot on one of them, but they weren't giving us great looks with all of the heavy cover. She worked hard that morning, but Bode had a better session on grouse in the afternoon. Probably escaping the rapidly rising temperatures, many of the grouse were located in cooler spruce cover, and one paid the price that lingered too long. It flew out, along the trail Art was on, and he connected with his effort.
It looks like this might be the norm for a while too, as we expect warmer temperatures through the end of next week - no frosty nights in sight for the foreseeable future. However, this doesn't mean that we've had too much trouble finding grouse and woodcock these last two days. As you would expect, the morning sessions with the cooler temperatures (50's) have been better working conditions for the dogs, but we have still been finding birds in the afternoons as well.
Monday yielded our best day of finding woodcock, and Rosie in particular found a good number of them that morning. She had some great points, culminated by a succession of three points in about a minute as we worked down a thick hillside. Art made a nice shot on one of them, but they weren't giving us great looks with all of the heavy cover. She worked hard that morning, but Bode had a better session on grouse in the afternoon. Probably escaping the rapidly rising temperatures, many of the grouse were located in cooler spruce cover, and one paid the price that lingered too long. It flew out, along the trail Art was on, and he connected with his effort.
Tuesday was spent in Vermont and we had our best day yet of the young season. We ended up disturbing the daily routines of twenty-nine grouse and five woodcock in our travels, and both Rosie and Bode had many great moments. It was also an even split between the morning session (15 grouse, 2 woodcock for Rosie) and the afternoon (14 grouse, 3 woodcock for Bode) - better scenting conditions in the morning however. They worked hard for my client Gil, and he harvested a woodcock and a grouse in his first upland bird hunt - we had a great time watching the dogs work and observing the escape techniques of a few grouse that literally walked away from points by Rosie and Bode.
We also heard several different male grouse drumming out there yesterday afternoon. Supposedly the young male grouse at this time of year are setting up their mating territories for next spring and are telling prospective interlopers to "STAY OUT!" with this behavior. It was great hearing the woods come alive like this, needless to say.
Today is a day off and then we're back at it tomorrow for ten days or so. The schedule has changed a bit though, as we will be doing half days only for the next ten days or so with the coming hot afternoon weather. We'll hunt in the mornings, when it's safest for the dogs and most comfortable for us hunters. Hopefully our weather becomes more seasonable soon ...
Today is a day off and then we're back at it tomorrow for ten days or so. The schedule has changed a bit though, as we will be doing half days only for the next ten days or so with the coming hot afternoon weather. We'll hunt in the mornings, when it's safest for the dogs and most comfortable for us hunters. Hopefully our weather becomes more seasonable soon ...
