Weather Rears Its Ugly Head
Good old unpredictable north country weather finally caught up with us over the last two days. Our first major weather system of the season rolled in over night on Thursday / Friday, resulting in a sizable deluge of rain yesterday. To make matters worse, the temperature dropped a few degrees last night, and we were greeted with a blanket of heavy, wet snow this morning. Probably about 4" at my house, but I have heard of others having 5 - 6" in other parts of our neighborhood.
Certainly not what we wanted to see at this time of the fall, but our first snowfall of the season is usually in this timeframe - remarkably consistent timing in other words. I am not a big fan of grouse hunting in the snow. If there's only an inch or two, getting around isn't too difficult and the scenting conditions for the dogs are still generally good. More snow than that can make it difficult for man and dog alike, and sliding around in the snow today was not in the cards for my clients and I. Discretion being the better part of valor, we called off today's hunt and will try to get after the birds later this season.
Certainly not what we wanted to see at this time of the fall, but our first snowfall of the season is usually in this timeframe - remarkably consistent timing in other words. I am not a big fan of grouse hunting in the snow. If there's only an inch or two, getting around isn't too difficult and the scenting conditions for the dogs are still generally good. More snow than that can make it difficult for man and dog alike, and sliding around in the snow today was not in the cards for my clients and I. Discretion being the better part of valor, we called off today's hunt and will try to get after the birds later this season.
Bode points a grouse that eventually escaped, going out the wrong way for my client to take a shot.
Yesterday morning my client and I tried to make the most of the day before the heavy rain moved in, and we were able to hunt until 1 PM. Bode got to run yesterday, with the help of my client's Pointing Griffon Maggie.
We hunted road edges with a lot of spruce, in the hopes of finding grouse that were seeking some refuge prior to the coming rain. While this has worked for me in the past and sounds like a good strategy, you never know how it will turn out.
We contacted two grouse in both areas, and Bode had two nice points on the birds, with honoring points from Maggie. It was great to see the teamwork of the two dogs, and they tried their hardest to provide a shot for Andy. Unfortunately, as they are sometimes known to be difficult, the grouse did not do their part in helping us out.
We hunted road edges with a lot of spruce, in the hopes of finding grouse that were seeking some refuge prior to the coming rain. While this has worked for me in the past and sounds like a good strategy, you never know how it will turn out.
We contacted two grouse in both areas, and Bode had two nice points on the birds, with honoring points from Maggie. It was great to see the teamwork of the two dogs, and they tried their hardest to provide a shot for Andy. Unfortunately, as they are sometimes known to be difficult, the grouse did not do their part in helping us out.
The second pointed grouse was particularly frustrating. With my client on a trail to the right, and Bode staunchly pointing on the left side of a thick stand of spruce and vegetation, seemingly trapping the bird between he and the hunter, I circled behind the honoring Maggie to Bode's left. I planned to move in from the left, to force the bird to fly right in to my client's shooting range.
It sounded like a good plan at the time, but the grouse simply continued to move away from us, up through the thicket, finally flushing 30 yards later, to the left of course. No shot for Andy, and yet another example of why some birds are simply not meant to be taken.
We'll be back at it tomorrow and we'll have some gradual warming this week, which should help get rid of this white stuff ...
It sounded like a good plan at the time, but the grouse simply continued to move away from us, up through the thicket, finally flushing 30 yards later, to the left of course. No shot for Andy, and yet another example of why some birds are simply not meant to be taken.
We'll be back at it tomorrow and we'll have some gradual warming this week, which should help get rid of this white stuff ...
Maggie honors Bode's point on a grouse
