FROST FIRE GUIDE SERVICE, LLC

December Birds

12/12/2022 Filed in: 2022 Upland Bird Hunting | Bode | Millie written by: bs

Late season grouse hunting. It can be feast or, far more often, famine, for us late season grouse hunters. There are fewer birds at this time of the season, and those that we find seem to be well versed in the art of concealment and escape, but every now and then one goes up a little too close and becomes a much desired dinner guest. Bode admired this bird after first tracking it, and then retrieving it after it flushed beside me. A "reflex shot" later, it became another victim of the 28 gauge.

Tags: ruffed grouse, New Hampshire

Wiped Out

11/16/2022 Filed in: 2022 Upland Bird Hunting written by: bs

Our final grouse hunting trips of the season concluded yesterday, barring a sudden warmup in December, and we're glad to be out of the woods for the time being. Myself and the dogs are physically spent, and the grouse hunting itself has been difficult lately. We just haven't been moving as many birds as we usually do, even though we were hunting prototypical "grouse cover" for the weather conditions that we had to deal with.

Tags: ruffed grouse, New Hampshire

Heatwave

11/07/2022 Filed in: 2022 Upland Bird Hunting | Rosie | Bode | Monty | Millie written by: bs

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.

Tough Days

11/02/2022 Filed in: 2022 Upland Bird Hunting written by: bs

It's been a tough go of it lately for my clients and I in the grouse woods of New Hampshire and Vermont. After a great day of finding birds last Friday, we have had several tough days in a row, as we have struggled to move grouse and woodcock consistently. Yes, I said woodcock because there's still some of them around here in our northern coverts, due to the unusually warm weather we have experienced recently. How long they stay around, who knows, but there's still a few of them around at the moment.

A Tale of Two Days

10/29/2022 Filed in: 2022 Upland Bird Hunting | Rosie written by: bs

How can two days of ruffed grouse hunting be so different? Great question, and it's one that I frequently ask myself when we have a great day of hunting, followed up by a slower day, or vice-a versa. That was the case yesterday, where we could seemingly do no wrong, to today, where the grouse were especially hard to find, even when we were hunting quintessential "grouse cover". As a now retired fishing guide friend of mine frequently mused, "Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug".

Transitions

10/27/2022 Filed in: 2022 Upland Bird Hunting written by: bs

The grouse and woodcock seasons are progressing through the month of October here in northern New Hampshire and Vermont, and this is the time of the season when we are noticing changes, almost daily. Not only have most of the leaves dropped, changing the cover habits of the grouse, but we are rapidly nearing the end of encountering woodcock on a consistent basis.

First Impressions

10/21/2022 Filed in: 2022 Upland Bird Hunting | Rosie written by: bs

Three days in the books, and everything is going as it should in the grouse woods. The dogs were a little ragged to start, but both Bode and Rosie have been pointing the majority of their birds the last few days, and Monty performed well in his limited time out there on Tuesday.

Back In The Saddle

10/17/2022 Filed in: 2022 Bird Dog Training | Rosie

The image above was unthinkable for me, just five days ago. I couldn't do much of anything physical, except fly fish, and even that had its moments. Some of you know that I was diagnosed with a blockage to one of the arteries feeding blood to my heart (the L.A.D., as it turns out - Left Anterior Descending) after a stress test a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to the miracle of modern medical science and a great team of doctors and nurses at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, I was back in the saddle with my dogs this morning, roaming the grouse woods again.

2024: 190.5 Hours VT Hours: 70.0 NH Hours: 120.5 VT Birds Moved: 172 NH Birds Moved: 389 Birds Taken: 24 Grouse (VT - 7, NH - 17) 41 Woodcock (VT - 12, NH - 29)	2023: 222.5 Hours VT Hours: 65.5 NH Hours: 157.0 VT Birds Moved: 143 NH Birds Moved: 430 Birds Taken: 14 Grouse (VT - 4, NH - 10) 43 Woodcock (VT - 7, NH - 36)	2022: 123.0 Hours VT Hours: 49.5 NH Hours: 73.5 VT Birds Moved: 96 NH Birds Moved: 178 Birds Taken: 11 Grouse (VT - 5, NH - 6) 6 Woodcock (VT - 2, NH - 4)
2021: 193.5 Hours VT Hours: 66.0 NH Hours: 127.5 VT Birds Moved: 226 NH Birds Moved: 427 Birds Taken: 36 Grouse 21 Woodcock	2020: 199.5 Hours VT Hours: 36.0 NH Hours: 163.5 VT Birds Moved: 77 NH Birds Moved: 552 Birds Taken: 24 Grouse 21 Woodcock	2019: 184.5 Hours VT Hours: 28.0 NH Hours: 156.5 VT Birds Moved: 65 NH Birds Moved: 509 Birds Taken: 14 Grouse 29 Woodcock
2018: 144.0 Hours VT Hours: 32.0 NH Hours: 112.0 VT Birds Moved: 114 NH Birds Moved: 417 Birds Taken: 18 Grouse 12 Woodcock	2017: 180.5 Hours VT Hours: 44 NH Hours: 136.5 VT Birds moved: 110 NH Birds moved: 407 Birds Taken: 23 Grouse 24 Woodcock	2016: 178 Hours Birds moved: 563 Birds/Hr Avg.: 3.16 Birds Taken: 23 Grouse 30 Woodcock
2015: 202.0 Hours Birds moved: 607 Birds/Hr Avg.: 3.0 Birds Taken: 18 grouse 26 woodcock	2014: 138.0 hours Birds moved: 350 Birds/hr. Avg.: 2.53 Birds Taken: 17 grouse 17 woodcock	2013: 152 Hours Birds moved: 480 Birds/hr. Avg.: 3.15 Birds Taken: 20 grouse 27 woodcock
2012: 114 Hours Birds moved: 526 Birds /Hr Avg.: 4.61 Birds Taken: 22 grouse 4 woodcock	2011: 161 Hours Birds moved: 522 Birds / Hr Avg.: 3.24 Birds Taken: 34 grouse 21 woodcock	2010: 139.5 Hours Birds moved: 430 Birds / Hr Avg.: 3.08 Birds Taken: 26 grouse 21 woodcock
2009: 93.5 Hours Birds moved: 307 Birds / Hr Avg.: 3.28 Birds Taken: 16 grouse 14 woodcock	2008: 82.5 Hours Birds moved: 188 Birds / Hr Avg.: 2.27 Birds Taken: 10 grouse 5 woodcock

FROST FIRE GUIDE SERVICE

FROST FIRE GUIDE SERVICE

Frost Fire's Grouse Hunting
"Partridge Blog"

December Birds

Wiped Out

Heatwave

Tough Days

A Tale of Two Days

Transitions

First Impressions

Back In The Saddle

Grouse Hunting Season Stats

Frost Fire's Grouse Hunting"Partridge Blog"

Grouse Hunting Season Stats

Frost Fire's Grouse Hunting
"Partridge Blog"