Hard Earned
Evergreens may be the key to finding grouse as the weather gets colder and the "vertical cover" disappears.
An example of horizontal structure. Small evergreens, interspersed with blowdowns and small hardwood stems - a grouse's, and grouse hunter's, dream!
That's my client Scott and his setter Dixie with a hard earned grouse from this morning's hunt in the New Hampshire uplands. Dixie had two very good hunts this weekend, locating and pointing two grouse on Saturday and three more today. This one paid the price, thanks to Scott's accurate shooting.
Spruce evergreen cover has been the key to our limited success lately it seems. Not only does it provide cover for grouse when the leaf drop has happened in the hardwoods, or on rainy days, but it is also used by them to cool themselves on warmer days. We had several warmer days (mid-60's) near the tail end of last week, and we found birds in cover such as this. Today was the coldest day (mid-30's, with some wind) that we've had so far this season, and it provided some nice cover for the birds we contacted.
As the leaves drop entirely, eliminating the "vertical cover" that grouse enjoy in the early part of the hunting season, "horizontal structure" becomes much more important as colder weather approaches. Small stands of spruce and tangles of blowdowns provide plenty of cover for grouse as the weather gets cold and nasty at winter's onset.
Grouse are in these areas now, as the vast majority of our leaves have dropped. If you have a good hunting dog, it is probably checking all of these areas already, but if your dog is not as thorough in its search, sending it in to the thick stuff like this might pay off.
Of course, when you're walking through a grouse covert, there's lots of spots that fit the bill. There's a good amount of evergreens throughout the north country, so searching them can be exhausting, but that is likely where the birds will be found, if they're there at all. Knowing your coverts intimately will help you zero in on the most likely hiding spots, and pass through the areas that might not be as productive.
Unfortunately, just because we suspect that grouse are in the spruces (large and small, by the way, depending on the covert), that doesn't make them any easier to shoot. We had an example of that today as Rosie got in to a group of grouse (five or so?) in a section of large spruces, pointing a couple, bumping a couple, and for a minute or so there was general pandemonium going on. Birds were flushing everywhere it seemed, but they really didn't offer up shooting chances for Scott. The glimpses were very brief, and the grouse escaped unscathed ...
We managed to find a few woodcock in the uplands today, so they're not all gone, but it was a cold, crystal clear night last night (and a full moon), so undoubtedly some of them left the area for points to the south. More cold nights are coming and this should be the last week that we'll see timberdoodles in the north country.
Spruce evergreen cover has been the key to our limited success lately it seems. Not only does it provide cover for grouse when the leaf drop has happened in the hardwoods, or on rainy days, but it is also used by them to cool themselves on warmer days. We had several warmer days (mid-60's) near the tail end of last week, and we found birds in cover such as this. Today was the coldest day (mid-30's, with some wind) that we've had so far this season, and it provided some nice cover for the birds we contacted.
As the leaves drop entirely, eliminating the "vertical cover" that grouse enjoy in the early part of the hunting season, "horizontal structure" becomes much more important as colder weather approaches. Small stands of spruce and tangles of blowdowns provide plenty of cover for grouse as the weather gets cold and nasty at winter's onset.
Grouse are in these areas now, as the vast majority of our leaves have dropped. If you have a good hunting dog, it is probably checking all of these areas already, but if your dog is not as thorough in its search, sending it in to the thick stuff like this might pay off.
Of course, when you're walking through a grouse covert, there's lots of spots that fit the bill. There's a good amount of evergreens throughout the north country, so searching them can be exhausting, but that is likely where the birds will be found, if they're there at all. Knowing your coverts intimately will help you zero in on the most likely hiding spots, and pass through the areas that might not be as productive.
Unfortunately, just because we suspect that grouse are in the spruces (large and small, by the way, depending on the covert), that doesn't make them any easier to shoot. We had an example of that today as Rosie got in to a group of grouse (five or so?) in a section of large spruces, pointing a couple, bumping a couple, and for a minute or so there was general pandemonium going on. Birds were flushing everywhere it seemed, but they really didn't offer up shooting chances for Scott. The glimpses were very brief, and the grouse escaped unscathed ...
We managed to find a few woodcock in the uplands today, so they're not all gone, but it was a cold, crystal clear night last night (and a full moon), so undoubtedly some of them left the area for points to the south. More cold nights are coming and this should be the last week that we'll see timberdoodles in the north country.
