Get Fired Up!
Here's a little primer to get us all motivated for the upcoming grouse and woodcock hunting seasons - only five weeks away now!
GROUSE HUNTING TRIPS SINCE 2008
Frost Fire's Grouse Hunting
"Partridge Blog"
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ...
an account of grouse and woodcock hunting
in northern NH and the NEK of Vermont ...
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The Ever Elusive Poplar
A stand of poplars - a pretty special thing when you come upon them out there deep in the grouse woods. This is the kind of cover we all look for when we're pursuing grouse and woodcock, as it is known to be particularly desirable by those species. Poplar, as it is properly known, goes by a couple of other names too - aspen (in the west and midwestern U.S.), or popple (this is a slang term that we often use here in the north country).
The Upcoming Season
Preparations for the upcoming grouse and woodcock hunting seasons are underway. While running the dogs through a green hell of foliage in summer temperatures may not sound especially appealing, it's good to be in the woods again and builds anticipation for what is to come.
A Cornucopia of Topics
"How was the bird hunting last season?"
This has been a common question for me from Tall Timber guests and bird hunters alike. My response has been that we seemed to have two different seasons last fall. The first one wasn't great - it was warm, with lots of foliage on the trees for the first couple weeks of October.
This has been a common question for me from Tall Timber guests and bird hunters alike. My response has been that we seemed to have two different seasons last fall. The first one wasn't great - it was warm, with lots of foliage on the trees for the first couple weeks of October.
NH & VT Grouse Hunting Update: 11/5/2016
The grouse woods of northern New Hampshire are simply beautiful at this time of the season - their starkness has laid bare the secrets of many of the coverts where we look for birds. Early on in the hunting season, these places are thick and at times impenetrable, making it much easier for the birds to elude our efforts at finding them. Now, it's the opposite, as we can see some of their escape routes, but it still doesn't make it that much easier.
My List of Excuses
Over my years of grouse hunting, I have garnered an appreciation for all of the many ways that grouse have eluded me, sometimes as a result of their cunning, but mostly because of my ineptitude. The list of reasons is long, and undoubtedly there are some that I am forgetting, but the last one is probably the real reason.
NH & VT Grouse Hunting Update: 10/30/2016
Yesterday was spent in New Hampshire, as we hunted some low elevation coverts, in the hopes of catching some of our late departing woodcock as they migrate south. We had a good morning behind Bode, even in the (at times) pouring rain. He pointed several woodcock and had a nice point on an escaping grouse, and my clients managed to scratch down a grouse and a woodcock.
Finally ... A Recipe for Woodcock!
Many clients that have hunted with me over the years have heard (probably more than once) the time a few years back how I cooked a woodcock recipe for my soon-to-be-wife and how it took a turn for the worse. Conversely, my hard working German Shorthaired Pointers, unlike my betrothed, appreciated my efforts at preparing a dinner focusing on timberdoodles - yes, they ate well that night.
Grouse Hunting Season Stats
|
2024: 190.5 Hours |
2023: 222.5 Hours |
2022: 123.0 Hours |
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2021: 193.5 Hours |
2020: 199.5 Hours |
2019: 184.5 Hours |
|
2018: 144.0 Hours |
2017: 180.5 Hours |
2016: 178 Hours |
|
2015: 202.0 Hours |
2014: 138.0 hours |
2013: 152 Hours |
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2012: 114 Hours |
2011: 161 Hours |
2010: 139.5 Hours |
|
2009: 93.5 Hours |
2008: 82.5 Hours |
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