Ups and Downs
We've had spectacular conditions for grouse and woodcock hunting the last couple of days. Cool temps, with a bit of a breeze, have helped the dogs locate and hold point on quite a few of the birds that we've encountered lately. However, the quandary has been how one day of hunting can be so good and the next can be much tougher than we expected.
Andy and Maggie enjoy a well earned ruffed grouse to start their bird hunting trip.
Rosie picked up where she left off before her toenail injury. This was a staunch point on a woodcock, as she saw her first action in nine days.
Yesterday felt like a day where we could do no wrong. We ran Millie along with my client's griffon, and their teamwork helped Andy harvest a grouse soon after starting our hunt. Millie pointed it, Maggie honored, and then the two dogs started scouring the cover in front of them. The grouse launched skyward, heading toward the road that Andy was stationed on. One shot and a beautiful retrieve by Maggie later, and we had a bird quickly in the vest.
Great action continued after that - many points on grouse and woodcock by Millie, and numerous honors by Maggie. With Millie doing her usual big ranging runs and Maggie covering the closer cover, it seemed as though all of our bases were being covered by the two dogs. Unfortunately, no other birds fell to Andy's gun, but it was an exciting and successful hunt prior to the heavy showers that came through the area late yesterday afternoon. We would move a total of nine grouse and six woodcock in a little over three hours yesterday.
Today turned out to be an entirely different story, as we worked hard to contact birds. The conditions were perfect, and the cover looked like there should be grouse and woodcock there, but much of the day was simply a struggle.
Rosie got us started off on the right foot, pointing a woodcock within a few minutes of leaving the truck. Guy made a nice shot and we were on the board immediately. She worked hard during her run and pointed another timberdoodle that flew to safety, but I started to get the feeling, walking through a logging cut of a good age, not encountering more birds, that it might not be our day.
Rocky got the next run and did well in pointing a grouse that we just couldn't get to in time. It flew away, through gorgeous looking cover, and we would only encounter one other bird in this covert. Very strange, and another bad omen may have been Rocky's insistence on pointing chipmunks and red squirrels - that happened a few times. I've seen that before with the other dogs when they're not encountering enough birds, and I guess it was Rocky's turn to look for fur instead of feather ...
The afternoon run belonged to Bella, and it started out ominously as she bumped two single grouse. Not a good start for her, but she redeemed herself a short time later with a staunch point on a pair of ruffs. The first escaped unseen as we arrived in the area, but the second was saluted by Guy with a couple of errant shots as it flushed. It got away, and those would be our only opportunities on grouse for the day.
It was an exercise in frustration, especially as we were in good looking cover all day, but sometimes we're just not in the right part of the covert. Some of these areas are really big, and though my dogs cover a lot of ground in their search, sometimes it still isn't enough. We would only contact six grouse and two woodcock for the day.
We have five more days in a row of hunting coming up and hopefully we can redeem ourselves tomorrow in Guy's second hunt. The approach will be the same: hit the best looking cover, hunt in to the wind to get the best work from the dogs, and hope the birds are there. As for the leaves, they are dropping fast, and we may be in "stick season" much earlier this year.
Wish us luck and more updates to come ...
Great action continued after that - many points on grouse and woodcock by Millie, and numerous honors by Maggie. With Millie doing her usual big ranging runs and Maggie covering the closer cover, it seemed as though all of our bases were being covered by the two dogs. Unfortunately, no other birds fell to Andy's gun, but it was an exciting and successful hunt prior to the heavy showers that came through the area late yesterday afternoon. We would move a total of nine grouse and six woodcock in a little over three hours yesterday.
Today turned out to be an entirely different story, as we worked hard to contact birds. The conditions were perfect, and the cover looked like there should be grouse and woodcock there, but much of the day was simply a struggle.
Rosie got us started off on the right foot, pointing a woodcock within a few minutes of leaving the truck. Guy made a nice shot and we were on the board immediately. She worked hard during her run and pointed another timberdoodle that flew to safety, but I started to get the feeling, walking through a logging cut of a good age, not encountering more birds, that it might not be our day.
Rocky got the next run and did well in pointing a grouse that we just couldn't get to in time. It flew away, through gorgeous looking cover, and we would only encounter one other bird in this covert. Very strange, and another bad omen may have been Rocky's insistence on pointing chipmunks and red squirrels - that happened a few times. I've seen that before with the other dogs when they're not encountering enough birds, and I guess it was Rocky's turn to look for fur instead of feather ...
The afternoon run belonged to Bella, and it started out ominously as she bumped two single grouse. Not a good start for her, but she redeemed herself a short time later with a staunch point on a pair of ruffs. The first escaped unseen as we arrived in the area, but the second was saluted by Guy with a couple of errant shots as it flushed. It got away, and those would be our only opportunities on grouse for the day.
It was an exercise in frustration, especially as we were in good looking cover all day, but sometimes we're just not in the right part of the covert. Some of these areas are really big, and though my dogs cover a lot of ground in their search, sometimes it still isn't enough. We would only contact six grouse and two woodcock for the day.
We have five more days in a row of hunting coming up and hopefully we can redeem ourselves tomorrow in Guy's second hunt. The approach will be the same: hit the best looking cover, hunt in to the wind to get the best work from the dogs, and hope the birds are there. As for the leaves, they are dropping fast, and we may be in "stick season" much earlier this year.
Wish us luck and more updates to come ...
