Weather: pre-rain, no wind, perfect, 45 degrees tops, 38 in the morning.
Happy Halloween!
I took the day off to take Rocko hunting 2 1/2 hours northeast of here to the Allegheny National Forest.
We left the house at 5:50AM and arrived to our first spot around 8:15AM. There was enough daylight where I figured we just arrived as grouse would be coming off the roost. As I walked past the initial pines, i heard a grouse flush out of the trees behind me. I turned to look and there was only a limb shaking. Hey, counts as a flush right?!
So we worked towards a dam with some excellent upland shrubs surrounding it. I picked this spot last January as a key woodcock area. That did not disappoint.
As soon as we made it down to the wet, swampy area, Rocko went on a solid point. It's interesting because just on the way he acts and points I'm able to tell if he's on grouse or woodcock. It helps me get prepared for a shot.
So I walk in, kick around where he is, and nothing is happening. At all. He's still holding, and I look at his eyes which are focused almost behind him. I stomp behind him and sure enough a woodcock flushes, scaring the living daylights out of me. One shot, miss. Second shot, miss. Humbled again.
We end up flushing another one about 30 minutes later with no shot offered. I actually saw the woodcock fly a crescent moon shaped flight and actually land parallel to where it flew. We went to follow up on it, and flushed a grouse! Meanwhile, 2 more flush with it! I offered two shots through horrible brush and thin pole timber and apparently miss the mark.
I love heading up here because I always pack my lunch in, sit on the ground, have a coffee, eat a sandwich, and give Rocko a piece of bread. Rocko always eats his bread, then does 2 laps around me faux-hunting at 40 yards, and then comes back, sits by me, and starts to whine because I'm taking to long. This is like clockwork.
I then met up with a guy who had shot a woodcock and had his Brit with him. We talked for awhile and he decided he was going to fish. In the meantime I turned Rocko's beeper off (I'm now a beeper guy, not a bell guy...sorry old schoolers) and when we presumed hunting I forgot to turn it back on.
I turn his beeper back on, and he's on point! How long was he on for I'll never know. I work my way over, flush a woodcock, and miss once and don't offer a second since it may have landed in the dam. As I'm walking out, another flushes with no shot. I follow up on it and flush it again, but still no shot! It made it over a mound of dirt and was flying like a B2 bomber.
We hit the upland shrubs again and flushed a grouse, with no shot.
On our way out, we moved a few grouse as well but the birds seemed spooky. I took another pot shot but missed. Here is a shot of all my misses (kind of embarrassing but the folks that say they don't miss are liars!)
So I had an hour left and decided to hit another spot that was similar to this one, but did not have a dude fishing close by.
As I got out of the truck and crossed the road, I heard the most distinct sound ever: a grouse drumming. I couldn't believe my ears.
I headed that direction to pursue the bird and Rocko just was not cooperating. He was after something near the swampy area. I went on this one alone. I tromped around for a few minutes but nothing was flushing but I knew something had to be there. And of course, as I stood still thinking what to do next, the bird flushed and did a straight-up/angled (like a crooked bottle rocket) flight and I was able to connect on the first shot.
It was a beautiful bird with minimal damage, so this boy is getting mounted. Only now I have to wait 10 months until the bird is done! It should be well worth it though. I'd like to get the bird in flight flying upward at at 45 degree angle like I shot it. I contemplated having it in a drumming pose since I believe this to be the same bird I had drumming, but this will be my first mounted bird and I love the flying pose.
When it was all said and done, I did a count. We flushed a total of 14 grouse and 4 woodcock. One of our best days.
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