September 17 Grouse Scouting
Exactly two weeks until the grouse and woodcock hunting season opener in New Hampshire, and just eleven days until the grouse hunting season opens in the Green Mountain state. The season is nearly upon us, so we're in crunch time for our preparations.
We were out yesterday morning in northern New Hampshire and this morning in Vermont, getting some woods time in with the dogs and scouting some potential hunting areas. While yesterday morning was pretty good in New Hampshire, this morning was exceptional in Vermont. Yes, that's right. My bird counter reads "2-0", as in twenty grouse contacted in three hours this morning. The only drawback was the other counter reading "0-0" - no timberdoodles were found in our travels today, but the number of partridge more than made up for that.
We were out yesterday morning in northern New Hampshire and this morning in Vermont, getting some woods time in with the dogs and scouting some potential hunting areas. While yesterday morning was pretty good in New Hampshire, this morning was exceptional in Vermont. Yes, that's right. My bird counter reads "2-0", as in twenty grouse contacted in three hours this morning. The only drawback was the other counter reading "0-0" - no timberdoodles were found in our travels today, but the number of partridge more than made up for that.
Bode got the run today, as he didn't see much action yesterday. It took us a while to find birds, and when we did, nearly all of them were still in their brood groups. First came a group of 3 - 4 grouse, then a short time later another group of at least four grouse. Bode held well throughout the flushing of these birds, and then had a nice point on a single grouse. The cover that we were in was what I would call "perfect" for grouse - a mix of hardwoods and softwoods, in a variety of age classes with a healthy supply of poplar around. While the cover was pretty thick, it still provided good escape routes for grouse to fly away for another day.
There was also a sizable amount of Mountain Ash around. Another early successional species, the bright red berry clusters are very noticeable, especially once the foliage drops. The berries are a favorite of grouse, particularly in the late fall and winter months when other food sources have gotten scarce. We've seen a lot of them out there so far this early fall, as it seems to have been a bumper year for all of our mast crops in the north country. The choke cherries, wild apples, and high bush cranberries have been prolific as well, perhaps a result of the wet spring and early summer that we had.
The last group of grouse that we encountered was something special. Bode went on point in a stand of mature spruce that bordered an area of regenerating growth. I moved in as his beeper started going off, and then tried to count, over the next 30 seconds or so, the number of flushing grouse that we had. There were at least a dozen of them, and there may have been a few more than that, undoubtedly two or three family broods that had gotten together to share some cover and a food source. There were a lot of them, probably the largest group of grouse that I've encountered. Bode pointed another single that was nearby for good measure.
Yesterday's outing in New Hampshire was nothing to sneeze at either. Monty ran for about an hour and a half, pointing two single woodcock beautifully first off, then getting in to some grouse. First, he encountered a grouping of two or three - he pointed them for about a millisecond before the birds decided they had enough. On our way back to the truck he pointed a single grouse in heavy cover that waited until I was about ten feet away to flush. That one won't make it too long in the season if he does that again ...
Rosie's time out there was eventful too. Her first run was for an hour in cover that might be just a bit past its prime but still good looking for upland birds. She only encountered one woodcock in this spot, which she bumped - yes, she's still too exuberant at times in the first twenty minutes or so out of the truck. She then bumped a grouse but saved her best for last in that cover, pointing a grouse beautifully before it received a salute from my starter's pistol. The next area that I ran her in had another sizable brood of grouse - probably around six of them that she pointed and held steady to flush and shot. Hopefully she can replicate her good points in the woods this fall.
Our total for three hours yesterday morning was 15 grouse and 3 woodcock contacted in New Hampshire, with the majority pointed. Certainly better numbers than I thought we might have this fall due to our wet spring, but I'd like to see numbers like that a few more times before the season begins.
The season is nearly upon us and I hope that you're getting as excited for it as we are.
