Final Bird
That's my client Scott, and the final grouse taken of our season, with the aid of Rosie on Saturday. She had a particularly staunch point on this bird, and when it flushed close by from underneath a blowdown, it offered a great chance at a shot for Scott. He made it, and we had our final bird on the tote board for the year, and a nice reward for Rosie's efforts.
It rained a good portion of last week, but on Friday night the temperature dropped just enough to receive an inch or two of new snow in time for our hunt on Saturday. That meant the woods were the perfect combination of incredibly wet and soft after all the rain, but covered with the new snow from the night before, also extremely slippery. Early on, we knew that we would be working hard for every bird that we would see.
Grouse hunting under such conditions doesn't sound that much different compared with our October and November trips, but it is. Not seeing where you're stepping, and then slipping and sliding over the endless inclines and declines of a day of grouse hunting, is particularly exhausting, not to mention the cold temperatures. Our trips this weekend were done in mid-twenty degree temperatures, with a healthy breeze at times - just cold enough for us to get chilled whenever we stopped or were headed downhill. As is usually the case, this problem was always solved by going, you guessed it, UPHILL.
It rained a good portion of last week, but on Friday night the temperature dropped just enough to receive an inch or two of new snow in time for our hunt on Saturday. That meant the woods were the perfect combination of incredibly wet and soft after all the rain, but covered with the new snow from the night before, also extremely slippery. Early on, we knew that we would be working hard for every bird that we would see.
Grouse hunting under such conditions doesn't sound that much different compared with our October and November trips, but it is. Not seeing where you're stepping, and then slipping and sliding over the endless inclines and declines of a day of grouse hunting, is particularly exhausting, not to mention the cold temperatures. Our trips this weekend were done in mid-twenty degree temperatures, with a healthy breeze at times - just cold enough for us to get chilled whenever we stopped or were headed downhill. As is usually the case, this problem was always solved by going, you guessed it, UPHILL.
Such conditions can be a challenge for the dogs too. They are hunting the thickest of the grouse cover, where the birds are typically found at this point in the season, so they're really going through some difficult stuff. Spruce thickets and a lattice work of blowdowns is not for the faint of heart, but the dogs go willingly in to those places anyway.
The final ingredient for the winter grouse hunting cocktail is the birds themselves. By this point in the season, we are hunting the true "survivors" of a three month season. Unless you're out in the true backcountry (unlikely, given the limited road access), you're encountering birds that have already gotten used to the game we play. They know their cover and all of the escape routes to easily elude us.
We saw some really nice work from the dogs on Saturday. Scott's setter Dixie beautifully tracked and pointed a bird in a heavy spruce thicket. As it moved down the thicket away from us, Dixie's barely audible bell let us know that she was moving with it. When it finally flushed, the bird did what birds often do - flushing from the other side, away from Scott, offering no shot.
The final ingredient for the winter grouse hunting cocktail is the birds themselves. By this point in the season, we are hunting the true "survivors" of a three month season. Unless you're out in the true backcountry (unlikely, given the limited road access), you're encountering birds that have already gotten used to the game we play. They know their cover and all of the escape routes to easily elude us.
We saw some really nice work from the dogs on Saturday. Scott's setter Dixie beautifully tracked and pointed a bird in a heavy spruce thicket. As it moved down the thicket away from us, Dixie's barely audible bell let us know that she was moving with it. When it finally flushed, the bird did what birds often do - flushing from the other side, away from Scott, offering no shot.
Hunting grouse in the winter offers its own unique set of challenges, but when the dogs are working well and the birds are occasionally cooperating, it can be tremendously rewarding.
This is an example of some "cover" that grouse were found in on Saturday. A lattice work of blowdowns and tangled saplings, with the occasional spruce mixed in, and nearly impossible for us to get through ...
Rosie was up next and was exceptional in her time out there. She pointed all three grouse she encountered, two of which offered realistic shooting opportunities for Scott. One paid the price, and we were pretty ecstatic to have scored a bird before the season ended. She hunted hard, going in to the thickest cover and holding her birds well until we could get there.
Millie finished up our day with two more grouse finds. She pointed both times, but the first bird kept moving ahead of us, and Millie finally flushed it uphill from our position. Shortly afterwards, Millie went on point again and I guess we should have turned right when we got to her instead of left. The bird flushed from behind a small knob with some spruces, offering no shot for Scott.
In total, we hiked nine miles in a very full Saturday of hunting, moving six grouse. That's a lot of effort for not a lot of birds - we were all exhausted, needless to say.
Millie finished up our day with two more grouse finds. She pointed both times, but the first bird kept moving ahead of us, and Millie finally flushed it uphill from our position. Shortly afterwards, Millie went on point again and I guess we should have turned right when we got to her instead of left. The bird flushed from behind a small knob with some spruces, offering no shot for Scott.
In total, we hiked nine miles in a very full Saturday of hunting, moving six grouse. That's a lot of effort for not a lot of birds - we were all exhausted, needless to say.
Sunday brought slightly colder temps compared to Saturday, and we decided that a half day would be a more prudent course of action. Hitting the same kind of spruce / blowdown cover type, the dogs all worked hard, but unfortunately it was a much tougher day of bird finding for them. Dixie and the two pups, Rocky and Bella, took their turns hitting the cover in search of birds, and other than a few day old tracks, we only had one wild flushing grouse that escaped from heavy cover along the road we were walking with Bella. It was confirmation that we were in the right spot at least ...
