Stormy Weather ...
What a difference a week makes. Last Tuesday, it was nearly 75 degrees and we hunters and the dogs that we follow through the grouse woods were gassed by noon. Today, it was a balmy 45 degrees with a heavy mist coming down and a cool breeze blowing from the north. Our weather, and grouse hunting conditions, have literally changed in the matter of a few days, dramatically.
The change in weather happened on Saturday afternoon and evening, as a cold front blew in with heavy rain and wind, eliminating yet another excuse for the errant shots of hunters: foliage. Quite a bit of it lies on the forest floor now, and we are now solidly in the second phase of the grouse hunting season, when the visibility on the grouse and woodcock becomes better. That doesn't mean that our task is any easier however - the birds get a little jumpy when the foliage goes, and windy weather exacerbates this condition.
As a guide friend of mine once told me, "How would you like it if the roof of your house came tumbling down around you?". Not very good I imagine, and that's why grouse can be pretty skittish at this time of the season as they lose a good chunk of the overhead cover that kept them safe from avian predators. Thankfully, they still have plenty of "horizontal cover" - thickets, heavy spruces, and blowdowns make up the bulk of this cover and anyone that has hunted grouse up here knows that we have plenty of that. There's lots of possible escape routes for our birds, even without the foliage.
As for the hunting, we have had some very good outings in the last week, in our abbreviated time in the woods. Though we moved a lot of woodcock, we did have some better than average sessions on grouse, and I expect more of the same over the coming two weeks. The scenting conditions for my client Randy's pointer and my Rosie were nearly perfect this morning. We contacted 2 grouse and around a dozen woodcock and one of the grouse and the vast majority of the woodcock were pointed by the dogs. Conrad (above) scratched one down over one of Rosie's staunch points this morning.
We have a very busy week ahead and while the temperatures look good for hunting, we may have to deal with a bit of rain (perhaps even snow!!) tomorrow morning. The cold temps should help the dogs do their job and hopefully the lack of foliage helps out my hunters too. More updates to come ...
The change in weather happened on Saturday afternoon and evening, as a cold front blew in with heavy rain and wind, eliminating yet another excuse for the errant shots of hunters: foliage. Quite a bit of it lies on the forest floor now, and we are now solidly in the second phase of the grouse hunting season, when the visibility on the grouse and woodcock becomes better. That doesn't mean that our task is any easier however - the birds get a little jumpy when the foliage goes, and windy weather exacerbates this condition.
As a guide friend of mine once told me, "How would you like it if the roof of your house came tumbling down around you?". Not very good I imagine, and that's why grouse can be pretty skittish at this time of the season as they lose a good chunk of the overhead cover that kept them safe from avian predators. Thankfully, they still have plenty of "horizontal cover" - thickets, heavy spruces, and blowdowns make up the bulk of this cover and anyone that has hunted grouse up here knows that we have plenty of that. There's lots of possible escape routes for our birds, even without the foliage.
As for the hunting, we have had some very good outings in the last week, in our abbreviated time in the woods. Though we moved a lot of woodcock, we did have some better than average sessions on grouse, and I expect more of the same over the coming two weeks. The scenting conditions for my client Randy's pointer and my Rosie were nearly perfect this morning. We contacted 2 grouse and around a dozen woodcock and one of the grouse and the vast majority of the woodcock were pointed by the dogs. Conrad (above) scratched one down over one of Rosie's staunch points this morning.
We have a very busy week ahead and while the temperatures look good for hunting, we may have to deal with a bit of rain (perhaps even snow!!) tomorrow morning. The cold temps should help the dogs do their job and hopefully the lack of foliage helps out my hunters too. More updates to come ...
