Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Grouse camp.

Just got back from five days Grouse hunting and fishing up in the Panhandle National Forest.
I had never been in that country but I was hoping to get in a little fishing on the St. Joe along with some bird hunting. Well,,,, after driving up and spending most of the first day discovering how little public access there was and that the few places a commoner could get to had a Montanifornian standing on every rock I hauled ass over to historic Marble Creek a friend had told me about.
Got lucky and found one of the best campsites I've seen virtually abandoned. There were only three sites with two up by the head and one a couple hundred yards away at the end of the road. Of the four nights I was there only one other camper showed up and stayed one night. Only time I even saw em was when I waved on my way out hunting the next morning. Perfect!!!



Beautiful stream about 100yrds behind camp. Close enough to water the dogs and do a little fly casting ("casting" not "catching") but far enough away that mosquitoes weren't a problem.



The bird hunting was pretty good. Got four Grouse in the three days I hunted which is pretty good for a geezer with geezer dogs in these steep mountains IMO. Even had Grouse right in Camp when We got back one afternoon but the Cur dog spotted em and flushed em away before I could get the gun out. Surprisingly,, that's the second time I've had Grouse in my camp over the years. Must be my cooking.
I took a detour on the way back to camp one afternoon to check out a Botanical Garden a couple miles off the main road and since I had a bird on board I had harvested earlier I took the opportunity for a photo op with one of the old growth Cedars. Crappy pic (as usual) but you can see the width of the base of the tree and the size of the nice plump Grouse. Quite a bit bigger birds than ours down in the Clearwater.


Here's a better pic of the bird. Like I said "nice plump rascals".


All in all a great trip and I have to give it to the Panhandle Forrest Service for the way they keep the place up. The Clearwater dist. could learn a thing or two if you know what I mean.
If I live long enough I hope to go back a few days before the opener next year and spend some time hiking that Botanical Garden (the place is almost spiritual,, could easily be a thread of it's own) as well as some more of the historical logging landmarks like the dam system they built in the 20's to transport timber in the spring run off. Almost a lock system if you will.
Anyway,,, here's another pic that doesn't do those majestic old Cedars justice. Anyone finding themselves in that area I highly recommend you check out Marble Creek.
Thanks for looking.
[img]http://i121.photobucket.com/al...-b2fc-4835fc85087a_zpse438065b.jpg[/img]

We took the boy up past Avery Saturday for his 5th bday. It is a special place

Kalipornia has ruined the Panhandle, for sure. They spread into areas like rats from a sinking ship and wonder why locals hate them for driving up prices to a point the locals can no longer afford to live there and run them out of their lifetime hunting, camping, and fishing haunts.

Great photos of your trip! What gauge is that Merkel (147E ?? )?

Yea,,, Avery's as far east as I went. I drove up to the work camp above Avery but I didn't see any good places to camp or water for the dogs so I headed back to Marble Creek. Sure glad I did.

Love that green reel. The way I flog a fly line I'm thinking I'd be better off with something like that too.



Ten Four ^
Between all the Californikan's with MT license plates in Thompson falls flocking in from the east, and the WA yuppi's coming from Spokane in the west the poor St. Joe is inundated from all sides. Place looked like a dam Subaru/Orvis convention. And that was on a thurs for crying out loud.
I don't think I saw two or three ID plates the whole day.

To bad because I really wanted to try my hand at catching one or two of the big Cut's that stretch of river's supposed to hold but me and my pack of pot-lickers just don't fit in with that crowd.

Merkel's a 20ga,,, and yes,,, 147E.
Got it from my boss when I retired. Love that little gun. Single trigger and all.

When I get settled into my small home in Libby you'll have to jump the line and shoot some of my grouse with me. I'll be shooting a lowly Simson 35 16ga SXS DT and extractors.

I've grown to hate the sight of Subarus. With the usual occupants they're an infestation.

Looks like you had a good trip up there. Marble Creek is indeed a neat place, one of the more touristy of the River though. The wife and myself got 13 birds between us in 2 days, would have been more if it weren't for the occasional miss. We had 5 ruffs, 1 big spruce, and 7 blues. The Hobo Cedar grove is a nice little place to visit. Most locals, (I live in St. Maries), don't fish the Upper Joe anymore, between the constant tourists and not being able to keep any fish.

Yep,,,, Subabru occupants are what drove me out of No NV and my beloved high desert 10 yrs ago.
Hard to believe Subaru and Toyota are both from the same country.

I'll be happy to shoot your grouse and drool over that beautiful scattergun.
Hurry up and get moved.

FieldGrade,

Nice trip and write up. Looks like nice country.

Oh yea, One of my vehicles is an Outback. Great vehicle, goes great in the snow, room for a couple Kennels in the back and still room for gear. Great day or weekend hunting vehicle for a bird hunter that has a home base.

�.and the Merkel is pretty coooool also.

Nice write-up and pics FG.

It looks like you had a good time.

Thanks for sharing

Great photos. Please tell us about your trailer and your shotgun.

Thanks,

Jordan

You must have missed this part.

"Merkel's a 20ga,,, and yes,,, 147E.
Got it from my boss when I retired. Love that little gun. Single trigger and all."

As for the trailer,,, it was made in So. NV back in the 60's&70's by "Pack Mule". They were bought out by some outfit in OK and discontinued this model in the 80"s.
I've had this one since 77. They were hand made and are absolutely indestructible. It's definitely one of my prize possessions. Wish I had a dollar for every time someone's tried to buy it from me. I'd never sell it though. It's too perfect for my style of camping. Plus, my camping gear lives in it so all I have to do is throw some bacon, beans, and beer in the cooler, load up the dogs, and away we go.

Good stuff!

I remember fishing the St. Joe as a kid with my Dad and I left my fishing rod by the side of road. We drove all the way back and it was still there. I still have the reel...after 35 years.

Thanks whiptail.
I'm betting the St. Joe ain't quite what it was when you were fishing it but it's still nice country.
I can't stand crowds so I doubt that I'll ever fish it though.

Good stuff, FG.
Looks like a fine outing.
Thanks for posting.

That's allot of birds.
You hunting with dogs and shotguns or 4-wheeler's and 22's?

We usually either hunt 4-wheelers or do the Tundra sneak. We take a little single shot 20 gauge and a .22 of some sort. Nice thing being that this kind of hunting is still legal in these mountains. I've been up there twice since reading this write up and about laughed myself off the road the last Subaru I saw with an Orvis representative standing behind it. I do love Subarus though, my wife drives an older one. They get around great in the snow, gives her piece of mind and I don't have to worry so much.

Well,,, shooting off of a four wheeler isn't exactly legal but everyone does it. Hell, I suspect the fish cops even do it. HA
I don't look down my nose at those who hunt that way though. It's just more fun with a pointer for me and since I'm just feeding me and really don't like freezing fish or fowl, a bird or two a day's plenty for me.

I actually have mixed emotions about Subaru's too because like you, I know some good folks that drive em (mostly their wives commuting to town for work), but I've meet just as many if not more elitist, snob, phony "naturalists" behind the wheel of one too.

If only life were so easy one could determine a person wholly by the car they drive, eah?
Still fun to poke fun at em though.

Well,,, shooting off of a four wheeler isn't exactly legal but everyone does it. [/quote]

I didn't mean shooting off a four wheeler. I meant that driving around shooting them on the ground with .22's was legal. All these old logging roads are not publicly maintained so it is legal to shoot from the road surface, especially the gated ones. Also, we don't shoot from on the 4-wheeler or inside the pickup. I don't want to teach my kids bad/illegal habits.

A bird dog would probably be pretty handy, as most of the time there is usually just one or two that will make the shooting easy. The rest have to be chased down through the brush or flushed up a tree. Thinking about it, I guess I am my wife's "Bird Dog"

Yes, it's a big world out there and some even blame the manufacturer of the gun and not the user.

I also think more of my dogs than have them be transported around in the bed of pickup, waiting to be rear ended or subjected to a flip over.