There are grouse hunting days and then there are those special days when everything just goes right. November 2 was one to remember.
Ben McKean is a friend from Minnetonka who was able to slip away from a day in the studio of his commercial photography business. We met at our kennel around mid morning, loaded dogs and packed a lunch of bread, cheese and apples in my truck and were soon off.
The weather was perfect—clear skies with slight westerly breeze and
temperature in the 40s. The forest was damp from previous rains which
also meant plenty of water in the woods.
Ben and his English setter, Merrimac’s Adda Girl, were the first to put
on a show. Addie literally tore up the cover searching for grouse. Five
times she pointed grouse in an hour and a half. Two times she relocated
perfectly to pin running birds. Several times we fired and finally
managed to connect on the last bird as reward for her outstanding
efforts.
Next on the line was our veteran, Blue Silk, also an English setter,
braced with her 10-month-old granddaughter, Northwoods Chablis. We ran
this pair for two, action-packed hours. Several times Silk pointed
grouse and was backed beautifully by Chablis. Twice Chablis was found
on point and stood until we flushed the grouse in front of her.
Together, Chablis and Silk worked running grouse, following the scent
cone in lofty walking points until pinning the bird.
Because I winged Silk’s final point, the bird ran for about 100 yards
and then buried itself in swamp grass. Both dogs searched hard for the
hiding grouse until, finally, young Chablis dug out the bird and
retrieved it to hand.
It was a day full of smiles and one that, for both Ben and me, won’t soon be forgotten.
So far this season, my days in the woods have produced more flushes than last year by not as big a bump as predicted but an obvious increase. This is corroborated by many of our clients, guiding customers and other serious grouse hunters.
And I do mean “flushes.” A majority of the grouse encountered were heard but not seen due to the latest leaf fall I have ever experienced. Leaves of most trees and shrubs hadn’t even begun to fall until well in mid October—and then many were still green. Later, the culprit was the foliage of hazel, the brushy shrub with foliage at just about eye level, which didn’t drop leaves until late October.
The season has been unusual in another way. Though the prediction was for higher grouse populations, during September I found fewer birds and broods than last year. Or at best, hunting was spotty. By the second week of October, though, I found substantially more birds. Where did they come from? Why couldn’t I find them earlier?
Despite years of research, no one really seems to completely understand ruffed grouse. They are still somewhat of a mystery. But that is okay with me and one of the reasons the ruffed grouse is called king of upland game birds.
Betsy and I traveled to southeastern Arizona in early January as both a vacation and an opportunity to hunt Mearns quail with our dogs.
That corner of Arizona is distinct with converging areas of desert, grasslands, rolling hills and several mountain ranges. We explored an area southeast of Tucson near the towns of Patagonia and Sonoita.
The country inhabited by the Mearns quail is beautiful, but rugged. The birds are found in plant communities such as Madrean Evergreen Woodlands, which are characterized by canyon after canyon dotted with evergreen black oaks and oneseed junipers. The ground is rocky and the hillsides are steep. Footing can be treacherous and it seemed we rarely walked on level ground.
Mearns quail
The male Mearns are truly distinctive with colorful, black-and-white heads and brightly speckled, black-and-white breasts. The females look similar to a hen bobwhite but have a thicker beak. Mearns eat tubers which they find by scratching the ground with their exceptionally long toenails.
Oscar backs Tom’s pointer.
In general, the coveys we saw held well for the dogs’ points. In fact, sometimes they were reluctant to flush and almost had to be stepped on to get them to move. When a covey did flush it usually did so in several waves instead of one big flush. We found some coveys that ran quite a bit and then flushed wild and others that the dogs worked diligently only to see one or two birds flush out of range. Experienced Mearns hunters we talked to thought these runners and small coveys had been hunted hard and were just wary.
Maggie backs Silk.
We were pleased with how our dogs handled the country and the birds. Silk, Moxie, Maggie and Oscar pointed the first coveys they smelled and handled them like they’d done it all their lives. Our black Labrador, May, was very effective in getting those tight-sitters to flush once they were found by the pointing dogs. After the first day, all dogs seemed a bit foot sore from the rocks but warmed up quickly. The weather was perfect—we usually hunted in temperatures between 50 and 70 with bright sunshine.
We rarely saw javelinas, but noticed quite a bit of sign indicating their presence. One day, Oscar went into a juniper clump and after a burst of squealing and snorting came out—proudly carrying a young piglet in his mouth.
Our good friend, Jeff Hintz, who lives in Minnesota and winters in Tucson, and Tom Gardiner of Vail, Arizona, hunted with us. We appreciated their
time and truly enjoyed their company and seeing good dog work by their pointers.
We had a wonderful time and hope to make another trip!
I recently spent the afternoon hunting ruffed grouse with three young dogs. It was a beautiful day—damp with temperature in the mid 30s and a light breeze from the east. The cover is down now and, since the birds seem to prefer older timber, they are much easier to see. It’s a great time of the year to be out in the woods. Even I can hit one now.
I first hunted our 19-month-old pointer, Maggie, whose application is a 10. She is so focused that it seems her body is being pulled through
the woods by her nose. We hunted in mature aspen woods bordering a young aspen cut mixed with hazel and swamp grass. Maggie’s first bird
began with an unproductive but ended with a stylish point in grass. I walked in, flushed the grouse and missed with both barrels. Sorry,
Maggie! Her next point was off to my right, again in sparse grass. As I walked in, two grouse lifted some distance from her. I passed those
up and walked on. Another bird flushed from in front of Maggie, but stayed too low to get a clear shot. When I released her, she hunted for
50 feet and froze again. Thinking another grouse, I rushed to flush the bird, only to watch a late migrating woodcock fly away. Finally,
Maggie pointed into an area thick with hazel and fallen logs. This red-phase bird gave me a clear shot and Maggie retrieved it to hand. Good girl, Maggie.
Next out of the truck was Moxie, our 2½-year-old setter. Moxie is exciting to watch, both in motion and on point. Everything she does is at Mach One and she always gives 100 percent. She had been performing well this fall and several grouse has been shot over her points. Lately, however, Moxie started crowding the birds and the birds flushed before she could get them pointed. This behavior is not uncommon in a dog her age and, in time, will pass. However, in these situations, I insist on her stopping to flush and correct her by standing her back where she should have pointed. Moxie worked two separate running birds, and intentionally flushed them –which gave me excellent training opportunities. Towards the end, the
bell stopped abruptly about 80 yards out, below a large enclosed deer stand. As I approached, Moxie showed her characteristic, lofty pointing
style with poker straight tail and head tilted up at a 45-degree angle. I thought, “This is it, I’ll shoot this bird for her and we’ll be on our way.” As I got closer I could see she was backing a life-size deer decoy. At least she is an honest backer.
Last out was Oscar, our handsome 23-month-old setter. Big, strong and powerful, Oscar started out a little wide and rough, but came across enough so I could tell he was hunting for birds. It paid off at about 20 minutes when his bell stopped a short distance into a thick young aspen cut, about 60 yards out. As soon as I got near, but not in shooting range, two grouse blew out wild. Oscar stood his ground and when I released him, he relocated further into the cut and pointed again. I flushed and flushed but couldn’t produce a bird, though I’m sure one ran out that way. On the return loop to the truck, we hunted mature aspens, thick with hazel and with a slight roll to the ground. Shortly, Oscar’s bell slowed, stopped, started up quickly and then went silent again. I hustled through the downed timber and hazel. I found him pointed on the top of a slight rise, looking down into a mess of tangled aspen. He held staunchly while I worked my way around the fallen timber. When I was about 10 yards in front of him, I spotted motion on the ground. The grouse flushed right to left and I shot. Oscar broke but went right to the bird and retrieved it to hand. It was a gorgeous bronze male. Good boy, Oscar.
Based on greatly improved statewide drumming counts last spring, we were excited about the prospects for fall grouse hunting. Our expectations were quickly dashed, though, after our first few days afield in September. We didn’t flush the number of birds we expected and saw few legitimate broods. The grouse we did find were wily, ran a lot and were difficult to get pointed well enough for good shooting, even with veteran grouse dogs. This became the theme for the rest of the season.
The good news was that we found more woodcock than normal. These little birds sure helped us keep our interest up when the grouse were hard to come by.
Lately, we’re still finding a fair number of grouse when working the dogs. The birds are mostly in more mature cover where they will likely spend the winter. This cover lends itself to better dog work—the birds have more places to hide and tend to sit while you walk by instead of running for the next county.
As recently as November 16, we’ve even found a few woodcock.
