2010 Grouse and Woodcock hunt
Will it’s April 2011 and I haven’t written you about last year’s bird hunt yet so here goes. I had read all the propagandized grouse drumming reports which indicated 2010 grouse count was down about 20%.
On the Friday before grouse opening I packed the camper with a months’ worth of everything I would need for the two dogs and myself and headed north. The plan was for a month long camping hunting trip in the Chippewa National Forest. The camper groaned under the weight of all food, water, hunting and fishing equipment but the big Ford V10 put its shoulders into the task including pulling a single trailer loaded with my 2007 Honda rancher 400 plus my light 14’ Radisson canoe. I arrived at my camping spot by the bridge on Nature Lake road, my new cellphone found service so I called my wife telling her I had made the trip ok. I hunt by myself and I am in the habit of calling her every evening just to let her know I am ok.
Saturday morning opener, hard frost last night with icy frost covering everything outside and a brisk 40 degrees inside the camper. Aired the dogs a couple of times, walked to the bridge, sun up, good tree colors on hillside next to the river, cool breeze, nice to be back at the bridge. Setup camp by moving and leveling the camper in its spot, hid the canoe, got the ATV off the trailer and fastened the large wire dog kennel on back. Put the E collars on both dogs, kenneled them on the back of the ATV, road mile to our 1st hunting spot. Parked ATV, This is an overgrown trail that goes back to a bear bait area, crosses a small swamp on corduroy logs up a hill side into an old ten acre farmstead overlooking Squaw Lake. My plan was to hunt around the clearing and down a dead-end trail next to the lake. The grouse here usually flush from the edge cover and fly across the opening to the other side and safety. I had hunted the lake side of clearing and the dead end trail and was covering the un-hunted side of the clearing when the dogs flushed a grouse out of a small thistle patch on the edge of the field. It didn’t make the other side I seen the left wing tip go up in the air as the bird plumped to earth, Willie my chocolate lab found the wing clipped runner in thick green grass and made a nice retrieve. Boy I was one for one, 100 percent maybe I should stop?
Back at ATV and a ride to a 20 acre finger poplar area with mature pines around the edge. Hunted the poplar edge next to the pine trees heard one grouse flush and missed 3 times on an antagonizing woodcock that screwed me into the ground twice on 3 or 4 flushes.
Hunted road-trail that goes back to and runs next to the Bowstring River dead ending at a couple of duck hunter’s access to the river. Seen 3 grouse shot one on ground, missed one that flushed, after my springer Max made the retrieve he was hunting the hill side and I just caught a glimce of a flushed grouse going into the top of a 30’ poplar, shot the bird out of the tree. Hunted a mile long dead end trial, it was warm and both the dogs and I were getting tire on the way out. Seen a grouse in the middle of the trail about 35 yards ahead it flushed when the dogs ran down the trail toward it, a couple of fast shots and on the second shot the bird went sideways into the woods. Dogs hunted along the woody edge of the trail and came up with grouse number four. I stopped 1bird short of my 5 bird limit with a total of 10 shots at 8 grouse and 1 woodcock with 4 grouse taken.
Another mystery solved, met hunter Pete Bowman 61 whose dad Bob Bowman is the one buried on small island-point a mile down the Poplar River from camp at the end of a good grouse trail that stops at island-point grave site. Many limits of ducks are taken in this area. For 35 years I’ve hunted that area many times and always wondered and asked other hunters if they knew anything about the grave. Pete had a couple grouse and was seeing more. Everyone is seeing grouse 1 hunter seen 5 on morning hunt, another hunter seen 3, another hunter seen 9 on one trail and 9 on another 18 grouse no birds in the bag? Not a lot of shooting for an opener but enough though.
Sunday up 7:30 AM cool, aired dogs at bridge and a very upset beaver was swimming around the south bay slapping tail and making a lot of noise. Hunted trail from Squaw lake Hilton cabin-hunting shack to river 5 flushes 4 heard 1 seen 2 shots missed I should have gotten one. Made a mental note to not hunt area again and let my wife hunt it when she comes. Relaxed watched football and did not hunt or fish in afternoon.
Monday walked from camp and hunted the north and south sides of Nature Lake road. Deer stand 16’ was still up and good with lots of deer sign. Cloudy and I got turned around on my hunt south of the road. Kept checking compass and it was telling me N was in a different direction on six different checks? I ended up turning on my new cellphone with compass apps on it and verifying that my compass was indeed pointing N. I ended up after a long hunt right where I entered the wood from the road. Note be very careful when hunting cloudy days and by yourself in this country. Two grouse flushed on evening hunt behind the cabin (Squaw Lake Hilton) no shots.
Met Bob Marketer (71 year old trapper) and his wife they had just put down their little 10 year old white dog Rufus because of a tick illness where they bleed under the skin. Bob, wife and Rufus would ride on ATV down to the bridge so they could check on the river level and bog stuck by bridge. I call them bog-logiest. Really nice meeting the same people every year when I come up hunting. Three hour evening hunt on trail by Bowstring 15 flushes shot at 4 hit 2 got 1. Lost shot bird in a wet tag alder and spruce swamp-bog, Max and I covered that area like a blanket and still didn’t come up with the grouse. I don’t lose a grouse very often but when I do I don’t like it. All I got was wet! With all the leaves still up it is tough to see flushed grouse just catching a glimce, I tried a couple shots where they were going with the idea if you don’t shoot nothing is going to fall down. Willie flushed 3 grouse I didn’t see any.
Wednesday Aired Max and Willie, hunted dirt clump in road that I thought was a grouse. Fished at bridge a little bit, gnats and mosquitos are out. I kept one nice Northern pike for supper.
Thursday Thought about 4 wheeling the 10 miles to Squaw Lake town, Nah it was rainy misty weather not good for ATV riding or grouse hunting either, I am going hunting! Hunted in rain and mist knowing we probably would not see anything. I was having very good time hunting. The NEMOUS area where I always see grouse but they have a habit of out smarting me and I never seem to get them produced a grouse that couldn’t believe I was hunting in the rain. Willie made a very nice flush and retrieve. Grouse # 6
Checked out the Shorgren trail east side of the Bowstring some big Norway trees have been cut out in two different areas (looks like future spots for cabins) not good for grouse, note try area again when the sun is shine. Lots of wolf sign.
You are getting the idea there were lots of birds 112 flushes in three weeks of not very hard hunting. Fishing at the bridge was good and I caught and ate my limit of northern whenever I wanted, ate grouse legs for supper. Noticed high water and little wild rice as I canoed river checking for ducks and fishing. Seen two wood ducks where 40 -50 ducks had been the year before.
Wife came up the third week for camping and hunting. She shot two grouse on the wing that Max her new best buddy flushed and retrieved. Thankfully I got one the same day over Willie or I would still be hearing it. We just last night had a couple of grouse for supper and wife said she was eating her’s and she knew it because she marked them when she put them in freezer bag. We took pictures; I was camped at the bridge from green through all the color change, to no leaves. Wife and I found two geo-cash went to town once for supper at the Hill and once for breakfast at the Crow bar. I recommend both as friendly good places to eat. When I wasn’t hunting grouse I read Burton L. Spiller Grouse Feather. I visited with many other hunters and nice locals that stopped by as they enjoyed the area.
One morning at the bridge I hear what sounded like ducks quacking very softly. Here come three small otters swimming up river. When they got close they dove and I could follow the air bubbles as they went under the bridge and into the cat tails on the other side.
One afternoon I walked to the bridge to see what all the hollering was about. Two other hunters and I watched 6 to 8 very large pieces of bog break loose and move down river under the bridge all the while the two hunters were yelling “the earth is moving”” the earth is moving”.
We saw other successful hunters shoot grouse off Nature Lake road 50 yards west of camp and 75 yards east of camp.
Very humbling shooting experience, both times. Wife and I hunted woodcock twice about an hour each time with about 20-30 flushes each hunt, warmed up my little Ruger 28 ga just fine. Humility prevents me from telling you how many shots were fired and how many woodcock were bagged.
One night as I was driving ATV back to camp a grouse stood in the middle of the road and wouldn’t let me pass. When I finally got ready to shoot it ran for the edge of the road and I pulled the trigger, shooting where I knew the bird was going. I let the dogs out for the retrieve but right where I had shot was a small pile of logs that the grouse had hidden behind. Max and Willie are going nuts taking out the running bird and flush it 20 yards back in the woods it flies toward the road and proceeds down the same, on my first shot the grouse switched instantly from the right lane to the left lane my second shot wing clipped the left wing and I could see the very end of the left wing go up and it landed in a thick bunch of hazel brush. Both dogs were in hot pursuit. Willie got there first and looked like a chocolate lab bulldozer with after burners on going through the brush and jumping into the air twice as the grouse tries to flush only to fall to the ground and run some more. Willie caught the wing clipped bird and retrieved it to me and I told him right then and there that if he wasn’t a birdy grouse dog before that he surly was one now. I took the bird from Willie and put on the floor board of the ATV and kenneled Willie into the wire kennel on the back of the ATV. When I turned around here is Max sitting with the grouse in his mouth waiting to deliverer it to me with the look on his face as if to say “ME TOO BOSS, ME TOO”.
In a well spent hunting life this grouse hunt was frosting on the cake. Grouse numbers were up probably to a ten year high. Both Willie and Max had a super good grouse and woodcock hunt. I am very thankful I that I’ve seen the peek one more time. Everything was perfect!
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