NH Grouse Hunting Update: 10/15
A pretty good week of bird hunting this week, especially after the temps became more “seasonal”. It was still a bit on the “too warm for grouse hunting side”, but when you see those sad, plaintive eyes of man’s best friend and realize just how short the season is, you end up grabbing your gun and strapping on your boots anyway.
Earlier this week, I was fortunate to hunt with Mike Scarks and Lou Wood, and also, and most importantly, with Lou’s three year old setter Tessa. Tessa did a great job overall on both grouse and woodcock in our hunts together, as we moved somewhere around 12 - 15 birds in our first morning together. She has a great tempo in moving through the grouse woods, and definitely knows what she is doing, and should have many great seasons of grouse hunting ahead of her.
While Lou bagged three grouse and two woodcock and Mike took one woodcock in our time together, Tessa gave them plenty of good chances at other birds. There was plenty of lead in the air in our first day together - so much that Lou ran low on 16 gauge ammo, and had to switch over to his 12 gauge for the afternoon hunt. Mike let it fly quite a few times as well, so I can’t let him off the hook either ... Sorry Mike!
Even cooler weather is on the way for us over the week coming up, but the rain is supposed to continue. There seems to be lots of woodcock around right now, so we’ll see how this weather pattern affects them.
Earlier this week, I was fortunate to hunt with Mike Scarks and Lou Wood, and also, and most importantly, with Lou’s three year old setter Tessa. Tessa did a great job overall on both grouse and woodcock in our hunts together, as we moved somewhere around 12 - 15 birds in our first morning together. She has a great tempo in moving through the grouse woods, and definitely knows what she is doing, and should have many great seasons of grouse hunting ahead of her.
While Lou bagged three grouse and two woodcock and Mike took one woodcock in our time together, Tessa gave them plenty of good chances at other birds. There was plenty of lead in the air in our first day together - so much that Lou ran low on 16 gauge ammo, and had to switch over to his 12 gauge for the afternoon hunt. Mike let it fly quite a few times as well, so I can’t let him off the hook either ... Sorry Mike!
Even cooler weather is on the way for us over the week coming up, but the rain is supposed to continue. There seems to be lots of woodcock around right now, so we’ll see how this weather pattern affects them.
