Category: SBH
Grouse man of letters Burton Spiller said in one of his books that a good grouse dog must run with its head held high. We remembered that passage recently when looking at a recent article in a Wisconsin newspaper, which read in part: > Some bird dogs can detect the very subtle scent of [birds] […]
When I (Jay) make my annual pilgrimage to the mall to buy “clothes not needed for hunting,” I have a tough time. I’m not a single size. I’m between a large and a medium up top, my waist is too small and legs too long for many off the rack pants, even my feet are […]
The forecast called for rain on Thursday, the third and final day of our Tennessee hunt. But as of 11:00 Wednesday night there hadn’t been much wind let alone rain. Yet unfortunately, the forecast was enough to discourage the hunter and dog supposed to fund with us day 3. Didn’t matter, we were going hunting.
We were in Tennessee last week because we couldn’t just let the ruffed grouse season peter out with a whimper. We’re Serious man! Honestly that’s true, though the decision was easier because:
Next week we’ll be in that well-known grouse capital…Tennessee. Yep, the Tennessee season is open through the last week in February, and since we’re unwilling to wait until October to beat ourselves silly again, we’re going to hoof it around the spring-like temps of the Smokies and try to get lucky. With the birds.
Day 3 dawned gray and cold. No big deal, about the same as day 2. Our clothes were surprisingly dry (not an ounce of moisture in that hotel room), and as we left it started to snow. We were happy about that because a fresh snow meant the ability to track grouse.
Brendan’s brother Sean, a regular hunting compadre of ours in Maine, joined us for the remainder of the trip. We were psyched to have Sean there. He’s a good shot, sees birds with some kind of Superman X-ray vision, and with three guys we can cover more ground WAY more efficiently – and the covers […]
Brendan flew into Newark from North Carolina last Monday morning with a stomach bug and three hours of sleep, but he was up for hunting – of course. He swung by Jay’s house in Jersey, and we high-tailed it out of town to our old stomping grounds in eastern Pennsylvania. Yeah! Though our hunting area […]
Next week we’ll be hitting a patch of eastern PA forest we haven’t hunted for a couple years. In many ways it’s where we (or at least Jay, since he started late) cut our grouse-hunting teeth. Lots of grouse, even though we were assured by many knowledgeable folks (including DNR folks) that almost no grouse […]
DNH. Did Not Hunt. Never thought it would happen, never had happened before no matter what the conditions. But on day 6 in Minnesota we were SOL. A record low-pressure storm – basically a land hurricane – sat on top of a huge chunk of the United States, including Minnesota. Wind, rain, snow, more wind […]
We knew some bad weather was heading our way later in the week, so our plan for day 4 was to get the most out of it – meaning hunt the areas where we’d found the most birds. That area was about an hour away, but after a disappointing day 3, we were all for […]
Even though the weather forecast was a little inhospitable, we had our hopes up for day 3. We’d found some birds, decent numbers, and thought we’d patterned them: We were looking for aspens or alders near aspens – all the right size, of course – with enough moisture in the ground to provide greenery for […]
Morning came late on day two, which gave us ample time to get our gear together and head on over to Reeds Outfitters just to see what kind of interesting stuff they had – like musky-sized in-line spinners that cost $20-30 apiece! We were amazed
After a somewhat disappointing launch of our ruffed grouse season in Maine, we were really looking forward to hitting Minnesota just right: the leaves down, the locals focused more on deer than birds and, not least, being in aspen central.
Off to MN! Here’s a partial list of what we learned hunting the opening week of the Maine grouse season – partial because we’re sure we’re forgetting something.
Our last day hunting Maine this year, and the weather forecast was for a sunny, cool day. Great…except for the 16 mph winds. And for once, the weatherman was right.
This is embarrassing to admit, but hey, we were frustrated and wanted to SEE SOME GROUSE ALREADY:
We knew rain was in the forecast for day 4. Rain and wind. We were going hunting anyway, but figured it was a good day to jump in the truck and look at new areas – in this case meaning entirely new.
On the night of day 2, we spent a bunch of time on Google Earth looking for grousy covers. We’d already done that pre-trip, but the areas we were finding weren’t right – for how we were hunting, the amount of vegetation and the species mix: The areas we found were holding only woodcock rather […]
Day 2 was hot. We’re talking temperature, not birds. In the middle of the day it felt like temps were in the 80s, but were in the low 60s. Hardly any wind, strong sun all day. We spent this day prospecting around Jackman, looking for new covers. We succeeded, in a way. After some unproductive […]
Just read this article on hunting ruffies in MN this year. So much of it, while well-intentioned, is wrong. Here goes: > The good news is, counts were up 34 percent this spring in parts of northern Minnesota. Counts remained stable in southern Minnesota. This COULD mean that there’s more easy birds (young ones) early […]
Lessons from 2012 Maine-NH Hunt
Don’t know if we’ve fully recovered yet from our not-quite-a-week of hunting Maine and New Hampshire for ruffies and woodies. We all actually bailed 2 days early, having put in 5 consecutive days instead of our usual 7. Felt like wimps about it, but hey, we were BEAT…from 5 days of the most brutal hunting […]
No Grouse Comeback in SW Penn?
Sounds like ruffed grouse will never be as much a part of the landscape of southern Pennsylvania as they once will. “Never” sounds ominous. Permanent. But that’s the conclusion of an article by Bob Frye in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Why should you care if you don’t live or hunt in PA? Reasons: > Pennsylvania is […]
Hey: All Ruffies Drum Differently!
Did you know that? Not until now…. This info won’t help us hunting, but it’s interesting – and makes sense. Here’s more, from newscientist.com: Male ruffed grouse are the first animals known to make unique non-vocal sounds. Humans and many other animals, particularly birds, can be identified by their voices. But no one had looked […]
Ran across this quote from an article about Iowa’s pheasant count: > “I haven’t even gone pheasant hunting the last couple of years because the birds just weren’t there,†said Tim Wolf, a 61-year-old bank president who lives in Waukee. YES THEY WERE! They most definitely were there. Maybe not like this… > “But I’ve […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Across the Pond Bird Follies, Vids
Ah the UK, the land that gave the world 17 pieces of silverware on the table, animal rights and other questionable stuff. Okay, it wasn’t all bad – that’s where our bird hunting came from too. But it’s different here…or there, depending on your perspective. Here’s some recent bird news plus some interesting vids. Katie […]
Do Congress, Tea Party Hate Pheasants?
We make it a point to try not to get suckered by political hoo-ha, so that’s not what this is about. We ran across a blog post on the Discovery-owned treehugger.com titled “Why Does Congress Hate Pheasants?” and a related one, “Do Tea Party, Heritage Foundation Oppose Hunting?” Interesting stuff, written by the same gent, […]
Quail, the most beleaguered of our beloved gamebirds, is getting a helping hand in Kansas. Or rather, a bigger helping hand. The state just announced that it’s “launching a new quail restoration initiative aimed at making a difference in declining bobwhite quail populations at a landscape level.” Here’s more: > Includes the designation of two […]
Worms and Birds: What Else Don’t We Know?
Believe we’ve talked about this at least once, but a recent Wall Street Journal article on the plight of Texas quail got us thinking about it again. Here’s the applicable stuff: …Rolling Hills Quail Research Ranch, a 4,700-acre spread an hour west of Abilene. Last month, researchers there found that the levels of parasitic worms […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Lone Star Outdoor news recently carried an article on a speech given by Dr. Dale Rollins of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch near Rotan, Texas. Seems that a major threat to quail, at least in the Lone Star state, may be an eyeball worm. News to us! Highlights: > Especially mysterious were the continued […]
