There is nothing more exhilarating to a bird dog or a bird hunter than the flush of birds.
It begins with the intense demeanor of the dog as it stands on point. Anticipation follows when the hunter moves in front of the dog. The explosion of wings is the thrilling culmination.
Ah, I never tire of watching or hearing birds flush.
In addition to pigeons, we use bobwhite quail to train dogs. Four recall pens called Johnny houses are placed strategically around the pastures—near wood edges and clearings. In early July, I buy 12-week-old bobwhites and put about 35 in each Johnny house. They come to know their terrain and learn how to covey up just like wild birds. And by the end of the season, the birds are incredibly strong flyers.
Recently I visited all four Johnny houses to feed, water and check on the quail. I also opened wide the release door to let the birds out.
This video shows bobwhites flushing from each house. Enjoy!
Even though the ruffed grouse drumming counts last spring showed an average decline of 24 to 60% across Minnesota, I had a pleasant surprise this fall. Based on the number of grouse we flushed during our guided hunts, the broods had good survival rates. This was confirmed by the higher than expected ratio of young-to-old grouse we bagged.
Overall, we averaged 3.8 grouse flushes per hour during our hunts, which was slightly higher than last year. Most of the reports from our clients and fellow hunters also extolled markedly higher flush counts.
The bigger surprise, however, was the number of woodcock. We flushed almost three times as many woodcock as in 2011 and maybe the most we’ve seen in more than five years.
Clients of ours who hunted Michigan and Wisconsin also reported excellent numbers of woodcock.
Minnesota frequently is the nation’s top ruffed grouse producer. On average, 115,000 hunters harvest 545,000 ruffed grouse in Minnesota each year, also making it the state’s most popular game bird. During the peak years of 1971 and 1989, hunters harvested more than 1 million ruffed grouse. Michigan and Wisconsin—states that frequently field more hunters than Minnesota—round out the top three states in ruffed grouse harvest.
