Vermont Grouse Hunting Update: 10/31
That's Bode, with a hard earned Vermont ruffed grouse that we took today. Lots of miles, quite a few birds flushed, a couple of errant shots, and finally this one fell on the second shot from my 28 gauge. We've spent the last couple of days checking out spots that we currently hunt and even some areas that we used to hunt long ago in the Green Mountain State.
So, how has the hunting been in our limited explorations of some of our Vermont coverts? It's been good for the most part, as the areas that generally have produced grouse the last few years still seem to be pretty good. In these areas we typically move 7 - 10 grouse in a few hours, so while it is not a bonanza of birds, the numbers are still average, compared to what we've been seeing in New Hampshire. One difference is that we simply do not see many woodcock in these coverts, so that probably takes the birds flushed per hour average down a bit. The temperature was a frosty 12 degrees this morning, but thankfully it was about 24 degrees when we started hunting. That, along with the clear skies that we had last night might have gotten those Vermont woodcock moving south.
Unfortunately, the areas that we used to hunt long ago did not produce the way we wanted - the cover has probably grown too mature for grouse to thrive. We even checked out some stream side alder cover that used to produce woodcock on occasion - not to be this time. In our 8 hours of hunting the last couple of days, we have moved 22 grouse and taken 2 of them. Under our average, but we still have some more good coverts that we will be hitting next week, and updates will be forthcoming.
It looks like we have a couple days of unsettled weather before we have a warming trend later on this week in to next weekend - perhaps some of the woodcock will stick around after all.
So, how has the hunting been in our limited explorations of some of our Vermont coverts? It's been good for the most part, as the areas that generally have produced grouse the last few years still seem to be pretty good. In these areas we typically move 7 - 10 grouse in a few hours, so while it is not a bonanza of birds, the numbers are still average, compared to what we've been seeing in New Hampshire. One difference is that we simply do not see many woodcock in these coverts, so that probably takes the birds flushed per hour average down a bit. The temperature was a frosty 12 degrees this morning, but thankfully it was about 24 degrees when we started hunting. That, along with the clear skies that we had last night might have gotten those Vermont woodcock moving south.
Unfortunately, the areas that we used to hunt long ago did not produce the way we wanted - the cover has probably grown too mature for grouse to thrive. We even checked out some stream side alder cover that used to produce woodcock on occasion - not to be this time. In our 8 hours of hunting the last couple of days, we have moved 22 grouse and taken 2 of them. Under our average, but we still have some more good coverts that we will be hitting next week, and updates will be forthcoming.
It looks like we have a couple days of unsettled weather before we have a warming trend later on this week in to next weekend - perhaps some of the woodcock will stick around after all.
