Snow Days
Old Man Winter has reared his ugly head again during our grouse season. It all started yesterday morning, as my client and I had to endure moderately falling and blowing snow as we first followed Bode, and then Chris's Weimaraner Monty, up and down a hillside in Vermont.
While we didn't encounter a plethora of birds in this cover, we did manage to move six grouse yesterday morning, three of which were pointed terrifically by Bode. They exploded in a flush of feathers from a spruce thicket, and Chris made a nice shot on one of the fleeing birds to get on the board. The other two escaped to hopefully be pursued another day, but Bode was busy retrieving, and playing a bit of keep away, with me. He was justifiably proud of his quarry, and I can't get between a bird dog and his prize ...
The day before, Chris and I saw firsthand how fickle our bird season can be up here. I took him and his dog Monty in to some of my favorite woodcock haunts, and we indeed found some evidence of them, exemplified by the numerous spots of "chalk" in the cover. We soon realized that it was dry chalk however, probably from a day or two before. Needless to say, we moved no woodcock in these areas and they surely would have been there if the conditions were right. Unfortunately, we had just had two very cold, clear nights - perfect for migrating woodcock to travel south on, and it appeared that they might have all vacated the area ahead of us.
Thankfully, Rosie got to run that afternoon, and she proceeded to save the day for Chris and I. We figured we encountered 18 - 19 grouse that afternoon, as we worked back and forth, in and out, of a massive cut of perfect age. She pointed a lot of these birds, and while most of them were doing all of the things that wily grouse are known for, a couple of them gave Chris a good chance to become dinner guests of his ... Yes, they still fly today, and I'm sure those shots are being replayed in Chris's dreams.
Grouse hunting under wintry conditions can be some of the toughest hunting you'll do.
Today was the toughest day of the season yet, as the snow storm that began making its appearance while we were in the woods yesterday morning continued to dump 4" of snow in northern New Hampshire overnight. It made for true winter grouse hunting conditions, as we trudged through the thickest covers we could, dominated by spruce, of course.
Ah, the smell of the evergreens, the beauty and stillness of the woods blanketed in white, the prodigious amount of snow that just went down your back from the branches above, and of course the treacherous footing as you navigate the snowy woods ... gotta love winter grouse hunting.
My client Dan, a neophyte grouse hunter, slogged it out with me through a collection of coverts, all with the common denominator of thick spruce cover. Some of the spruce was small, but most was of the mature variety, just the kind that grouse like to get in when the weather is cold and snowy.
Ah, the smell of the evergreens, the beauty and stillness of the woods blanketed in white, the prodigious amount of snow that just went down your back from the branches above, and of course the treacherous footing as you navigate the snowy woods ... gotta love winter grouse hunting.
My client Dan, a neophyte grouse hunter, slogged it out with me through a collection of coverts, all with the common denominator of thick spruce cover. Some of the spruce was small, but most was of the mature variety, just the kind that grouse like to get in when the weather is cold and snowy.
Rosie and Bode did their best to get us in to birds, but Mother Nature stacked the odds against us. The most frustrating thing, besides only contacting five grouse today, was the fact that even when the dogs established point (there were several of them), the birds always flushed from the security of the trees themselves, and usually quite high up. We noticed on a few of these flushes that the spruce trees that the birds flushed from were also in close proximity to hardwoods as well, providing a ready supply of buds for the grouse to feed on through the chilly conditions.
That was just plain unfair for Dan and hopefully we can do better for him tomorrow. The weather will be changing once again, as much warmer weather is coming later this week and through the weekend. Perhaps I'll keep my t-shirts handy after all.
That was just plain unfair for Dan and hopefully we can do better for him tomorrow. The weather will be changing once again, as much warmer weather is coming later this week and through the weekend. Perhaps I'll keep my t-shirts handy after all.
