Heatwave
A rare image over the last few days of bird hunting: one of my clients with their hard-earned quarry, a beautiful male grouse. If my last post sounded dire in its description of how the hunting has been in the abnormally warm temperatures over the last week, it really took a turn for the worse over the weekend, as we had two of the warmest hunting days that we've experienced.
Had this been one of our summertime training sessions, we would have been wrapping it up and leaving the woods by late morning, but we had trips scheduled and the dogs were still itching to roam the woods again. Along for the ride over the past two days was Art, one of my veteran clients that is always up for all of my ideas and theories on where the grouse should be. He willingly complies with my strategies for finding birds, and I'm grateful for that.
Had this been one of our summertime training sessions, we would have been wrapping it up and leaving the woods by late morning, but we had trips scheduled and the dogs were still itching to roam the woods again. Along for the ride over the past two days was Art, one of my veteran clients that is always up for all of my ideas and theories on where the grouse should be. He willingly complies with my strategies for finding birds, and I'm grateful for that.
At the height of each day, the temperature reached nearly 70 degrees, making for very difficult scenting conditions for the dogs, as well as a challenge for us hunters. The grouse seem to go in to "loafing" mode much more in the warm temperatures - no need to move around all day and feed if they don't have to, resulting in a lack of bird scent for the dogs to encounter. Whatever bird scent that is there doesn't "hang around" either, dissipating quickly as the day warms.
What's warm and uncomfortable for us becomes a real challenge for the dogs. Not only is the heat physically exhausting, but they simply have a tough time acquiring scent while simultaneously panting. Frequent water breaks were taken, and we made sure to allow the dogs to submerge in areas of water (streams, bogs, etc.) periodically throughout our hunts to help cool them off. That relief was temporary, however. Within a short amount of time each of the dogs (Bode, Rosie and Millie) were working hard again, usually exhausted at the two hour point of our hunts.
While Saturday was no picnic (at least the temperature started in the 30's, giving us a period of cooler temps early on), Sunday was simply awful. The temp started in the mid-50's, and warmed up in to the upper 60's in a short amount of time. Needless to say, our best chance at getting good work from the dogs (points) was usually prior to 10 AM, so we started our hunts an hour earlier than normal in an effort to maximize the positive.
Ugly Numbers
Thursday morning: 9 grouse, 1 woodcock
Friday morning: 6 grouse, 1 woodcock
Saturday: 11 grouse, 2 woodcock
Sunday: 3 grouse, 1 woodcock
What's warm and uncomfortable for us becomes a real challenge for the dogs. Not only is the heat physically exhausting, but they simply have a tough time acquiring scent while simultaneously panting. Frequent water breaks were taken, and we made sure to allow the dogs to submerge in areas of water (streams, bogs, etc.) periodically throughout our hunts to help cool them off. That relief was temporary, however. Within a short amount of time each of the dogs (Bode, Rosie and Millie) were working hard again, usually exhausted at the two hour point of our hunts.
While Saturday was no picnic (at least the temperature started in the 30's, giving us a period of cooler temps early on), Sunday was simply awful. The temp started in the mid-50's, and warmed up in to the upper 60's in a short amount of time. Needless to say, our best chance at getting good work from the dogs (points) was usually prior to 10 AM, so we started our hunts an hour earlier than normal in an effort to maximize the positive.
Ugly Numbers
Thursday morning: 9 grouse, 1 woodcock
Friday morning: 6 grouse, 1 woodcock
Saturday: 11 grouse, 2 woodcock
Sunday: 3 grouse, 1 woodcock
A shady area of mature spruce and fir. We found a couple of grouse in areas like this bordering an alder choked swamp. Not sure if it was worth the effort to get through it, but it was noticeably cooler in these areas.
A grouse had just departed this mossy log before we flushed it.
Seems like these days this is as close as we're getting to the birds.
Modest daily totals, to say the least. We hunted not only the edges of cover transitions and logging cuts, but we also put a lot of time in to loafing covers, where the birds might be staying cool in the heat. Areas predominated by spruce, fir, and groundwater, usually at lower elevations was the goal. Were we successful? Sometimes, but not nearly as much as we had hoped for.
A major factor in this was undoubtedly the lack of bird scent for the dogs to find and work with. We had several occasions where we literally almost stepped on grouse that we strayed too close to - most of the time this worked out well for the birds, as our surprise provided their escape, but Art's bird above was taken when his quick reflexes took over.
Of course, when we moved birds in these thicker areas of spruce and fir, it was often too congested for my client to take a good shot. Good grouse cover is thick enough anyway, but these areas are exceptionally impassable! We put in plenty of steps and floors too, according to my iPhone, and walked / slogged through nearly 15 miles of grouse cover this weekend. If we did that, can you imagine what the dogs did?
The good news to take out of all of this is that it can't last forever, and it looks like we have a serious cool down coming tonight. We should be in much better shape for hunting, for canine and human alike, for the remainder of the week.
A major factor in this was undoubtedly the lack of bird scent for the dogs to find and work with. We had several occasions where we literally almost stepped on grouse that we strayed too close to - most of the time this worked out well for the birds, as our surprise provided their escape, but Art's bird above was taken when his quick reflexes took over.
Of course, when we moved birds in these thicker areas of spruce and fir, it was often too congested for my client to take a good shot. Good grouse cover is thick enough anyway, but these areas are exceptionally impassable! We put in plenty of steps and floors too, according to my iPhone, and walked / slogged through nearly 15 miles of grouse cover this weekend. If we did that, can you imagine what the dogs did?
The good news to take out of all of this is that it can't last forever, and it looks like we have a serious cool down coming tonight. We should be in much better shape for hunting, for canine and human alike, for the remainder of the week.
Tidbits
You've likely noticed that we're still encountering a timberdoodle or two each day that we're out there. The warm weather has certainly kept them around a little longer, but for sure the vast majority of our woodcock have already departed, headed south on their long migration. There was a good amount of chalk out in the places we were hunting, but much of it was a few days old, evidence that they used to be there. I never count on seeing woodcock this late in the season, so it's been a bonus to see a couple here and there in our travels.
The dogs are all doing well in their efforts to provide birds for my clients. Rosie continues to be the work horse of the stable, hunting nearly every day and pointing many of her birds. Bode has also gotten lots of work and is getting in to good hunting shape - he pointed both of his grouse yesterday afternoon, which is an accomplishment in itself, given the conditions.
Millie is scratching the surface of her ability - still bumping birds now and then, but handling beautifully for me and also pointing a bird occasionally. She'll continue to get work for the remainder of my guiding schedule. Monty finally got a chance to hunt with me last Friday morning, and the old boy (12.5 years old) still has it. He pointed two grouse that morning, and his master, as usual, missed the one bird that he really should have taken. Some things never change ...
You've likely noticed that we're still encountering a timberdoodle or two each day that we're out there. The warm weather has certainly kept them around a little longer, but for sure the vast majority of our woodcock have already departed, headed south on their long migration. There was a good amount of chalk out in the places we were hunting, but much of it was a few days old, evidence that they used to be there. I never count on seeing woodcock this late in the season, so it's been a bonus to see a couple here and there in our travels.
The dogs are all doing well in their efforts to provide birds for my clients. Rosie continues to be the work horse of the stable, hunting nearly every day and pointing many of her birds. Bode has also gotten lots of work and is getting in to good hunting shape - he pointed both of his grouse yesterday afternoon, which is an accomplishment in itself, given the conditions.
Millie is scratching the surface of her ability - still bumping birds now and then, but handling beautifully for me and also pointing a bird occasionally. She'll continue to get work for the remainder of my guiding schedule. Monty finally got a chance to hunt with me last Friday morning, and the old boy (12.5 years old) still has it. He pointed two grouse that morning, and his master, as usual, missed the one bird that he really should have taken. Some things never change ...
