It is that time again... Hope to see some game pics soon... I will miss the opener of grouse and dove for the first time in my life, but I am anxious to see everyone's success!! Best of luck to all..

For the grouse opener I am going to spend five days in the BWCA. I was up there this summer and found some sweet areas loaded with great habitat and a lot of drumming going on. My trusty GWP died last spring so I'm dogless for the first time in ages. I've never done a pack in canoe upland hunt and figured this would be a good way to get out hunting without him. I'm really looking forward to it.

Won't do any upland hunting until the second weekend unless I fill my bear tag before the season opens. Even then I might wait as woodcock doesn't open until the second week and that gives the dogs more opportunities on retrieving birds. I have grouse in the woods behind the house but I don't hunt much. The habitat is kind of fractured with limited dispersal from other areas. It is also getting rather old and is in desperate need of cutting. I do what I can on my parcel but the neighbor's are at best indifferent to cutting.

I used to hunt sharptails on the opener but the opener for them was moved back to correspond with the pheasant season in my main hunting area. I haven't heard if I drew tags for prairie chickens so that is still in the works.

Still formulating plans to hunt Nebraska or maybe Kansas along with one of the Dakotas. Those have often become later season hunts as their season runs past that of MN. Chasing birds in 50 degree weather during January is a nice break from trudging through swamps with knee deep snow and below zero temps though the latter is not every day but often enough to not be unusual.

I am trying similar in October in the Adirondacks, St Regis Canoe area. There are some good log shelters around, many unused I am sure since deer are not open yet. Have never hunted ruffs. I will stay 2 weeks, and also hunt the waterfowl opener for black ducks.

Where do you like to put-in at BWCA?

Not sure where or when yet, but Hank is getting to go west for some pheasants this year. Thinking IA or KS due to driving distance. Other than that, I hope to draw a pheasant area here and do some put and take stuff.

Not much happening here.. Blue grouse are scarce.. Been all over the mountains, seen none, but am hunting other stuff... Haven't had a chance at doves yet.. This is likely for me to be a slow early upland season..

Well, I have a brand spankin' new Brittany pup who will be 6-1/2 months old when quail open in the Panhandle, and I expect we'll be starting her on wild coveys shortly thereafter. She's going up there to spend a month in training camp prior, and I'll join her in early November.

I've also taken on a new contract in Nebraska, and am considering bringing the new dog up here in Nov/Dec to try her on pheasants.

Best of luck to all y'all, and looking forward to seeing your pics!

We will make our annual, mid-December trek to central SD where the pheasant surveys are up (if only in our dreams and really,.. how can that be?) over last year due to a mild, SD winter (ok, that’s an oxymoron).

It’s not failed to ever live up to expectations. Of course, you need good company too. 🙂

Where in NE?

Made a long hunt for grouse this day.. NO LUCK and they doves seem very scare also.. Very dry here, that may be the problem..

I scouted a new area a week or two ago and saw over 100 grouse. Season opened the first, and I had next week scheduled off for hunting. What could go wrong?

Forest fire. Oh yeah. Smoking it right now. Might as well work.

F2 what a bummer... I haven't spotted that many grouse in years!!!

Took the dogs for a walk Sunday in an area that I often chase sharptails.We found two broods which is a vast improvement over the average and especially the last couple of years. I was unable to get to the other side of the field due to high water but I have hopes for when the season opens in October in that area.

Ruffed grouse are scarce though i know of 4 broods using at least part of our cabin property. There are good numbers of woodcock though, I was afraid numbers would be down due to a late snow that persisted a few days during the laying season. The damp conditions have the birds spread around which is nice as I would rather find a bird every 10-15 minutes than 5 at once and then an hour or more until the next ones.

I'll get to the homestead place at the end of the month after the woodcock season opens, grouse numbers are generally higher there as spruce grouse are also present. Drumming counts were up there but weather was not good for brood raising and the populations have not seemed to keep up with drumming reports which is possibly due to West Nile Virus. That has been the case for a decade and the virus is believed to contribute to low chick survival.

It will still be a good year as many areas cut during the high pulp lumber era are now 12+ years of age and open enough to move relatively easily through. There looks to be another 10-20 years of great hunting on these parcels.

Taking my 5 sons/sons in laws to presho, sd for several days in Oct. We've had a great time on previous hunts and I'm certain our upcoming hunt will be memorable. Nothing like pheasant!

I'll be doing the South Dakota thing for the first time ever towards the end of Oct. Just me and the dog. I hope that the state ground produces something because I don't know a soul in that state.

I think it will be quite a learning experience.

You should do fine on state land, depending on the area. Some areas are still down in numbers and birds are scattered in the grasslands but they are found with some walking.

I mostly hunt the north central part of the state where bird numbers are lower than many other parts. About 2/3 of my time is spent on public lands with half my birds coming from there. Finding land with a mix of cover types within a mile of crop fields, especially corn, will be a winning combination.

We usually leave the weeds in the field.

My thoughts too!

Ruffed grouse opened Saturday but wasn't able to get out until yesterday afternoon. I was able to scratch down two ruffs from a brood in an hour or so of excersizing the dogs. Picked up another early this morning along with two doves. I almost left the gun at home as the area we checked out has only a couple acres of woods and it's been cool enough the doves have mostly left.

Now, I need to figure out something to go with the birds for a meal. Not much here besides bread and peanut butter. I wimped out on bear hunting tonight as rain, wind, and some thunder trumped the cooler temps and clouds and freshly hit bait this morning.

My 22 month old Drahthaar is ready for his second season. Hoping to hit Kansas and Nebraska as hard as we can for quail and pheasant. Anything furry that gets in the way I reckon will just be collateral damage.

Hopefully, the "collateral damage" doesn't include any skunks! Nor porcupines if any are found in the areas you hunt.

Sharpness on fur was my main gripe with the versatile breeds, A skunked dog can make for uncomfortable living for quite a while as the skunk essence wears off. Pulling porcupine quills can be hazardous and/or costly if one needs to take the dog to a vet.

Raccoons can be a problem too but I've only had one fracas with them that needed a trip to the vet. A few of the others had the dog put up until the staples came out but that typically was a week to ten days.

A suggestion for a skunked dog if your dog gets skunked. There are a few products that can help lessen the time needed for the odor to go away but tomato juice is most definitely not one of them. Nor is water at first, the hairs of the dog will draw in water and with it some of the essence. That makes for a longer time for the scent to wear off.

The very first step for a skunked dog is to rub the oils off with dry weeds, towels, etc. I go against the grain and lift the hairaway from the skin to lessen areas of contact. I also pat dry as much of the sprayed area as possible. I then apply something to counter act the odor. The best and easiest to acquire product is womens' douche', it seems to be the same thing as the skunk remover washes but at far less money. Thoroughly soak the sprayed area and let sit. Unlike tomato juice and other similar substances, douche' is hyper allergenic and will not cause a rash on the skin of some dogs. I'll repeat the douching several times before rinsing off. Some of the essence will be pulled into the hairs but hopefully so will enough douche' to make the odor bearable. The dog will stink after getting wet but it will go away in time. I give the dog a bath with strongly scented shampoo every couple of days when possible to hasten the odor break down. Even so, it can be several weeks until the dog smells normal.

And pray the dog does not get sprayed in the mouth. The oils are readily absorbed into the mucus membranes and there is no remedy to remove the odor. The odor can linger for months in such cases and your vet may not want to clean teeth in that time! Trial/test judges aren't too happy either though the most junior judge will be the least pleased unless there is an apprentice judge where the other judges will chuckle as the teeth are checked.

With one dog the odds are lessened for a negative contact and with some persuasion against chasing fur the odds can be reduced further still. There will always be chance encounters and times instinct kicks in over training but overall the odds are in your favor on any given day to not meet up with PePe, a quill pig, or other critter that could cause harm.

Finally got into some birds yesterday... Will be heading home Thurs. so hopefully on my home turf we will bag some more....

Woodmaster, thanks for the tips. Getting my kit together for this fall and will be adding some items to it. Need to get some small bolt cutters too in case of snare issues. The pup got into his first porcupine last fall and that was not pleasant for either of us. All that said, love hunting with that dog. Raccoons so far have been small enough to go down easy. He's 81 pounds and pretty solid now. Almost time to go!

If you don't have one, get a medical stapler to toss into the kit. It is much easier to do than sewing and one can start the healing process immediately. They run about $30 I think. Also pick up the staple remover as it makes removing staples easy.

WCH,

Nice and congrats, looks like the girls are ready for another season. Here's hoping it is a great one....

Well done WCH!! I was hoping to be in WY chasing sage hens, but a relocation got in the way. Maybe next year. I made sure sage hens made it to the top of Hank's (my dog) bucket list.

Hey Kid: I tried to send you a message with some tips on Adirondack grouse but I don't think it was delivered. I have some experience in the Eastern Adirondacks if you have any questions. Good luck with your trip. I will be up there in another month on a backpack deer/bear hunt.

It was slow in moose camp this year, but I still got to shoot willow and rock ptarmigan, a bunch of spruce grouse, a sharptail and a couple ruffed.

Got into these the other day.. My old 870 and 3 3/4- 1 1/5- # 5's

Congrats and a great pic!!!!
Looks like you are having a fine early season.

We have had a pretty fair season.. Lots of smoke at times from forest fires... Haven't done much with blues yet.. They seem down in numbers... Thanks for looking!!!

Sagehen opened yesterday. Our favorite place has been over run with a bunch of about 35-40 from Hawthorne who use it as a big party, then they go on military maneuvers and try to wipe them out. They keep the birds off water for 48 hours and stress the heck out of them by pushing them constantly.

I have a very remote place that has a few. We'll take a bird or two there and do it in a quiet setting that's tough to get into.

We each nailed one on Saturday...



Owen limited (2) this morning and I added one more.



The birds were extremely wild, so Owen thought he would switch from his new Weatherby 12ga SA-08 to my old Mossy 835 with full-house 3 1/2" loads this morning. He's showing off his bruises this afternoon. With the warm weather it was a bit dangerous to take the dogs out, so they stayed home and ate pizza crusts and leftover taco meat. Peg and our granddaughter spoil them rotten.

Boy must be tough, The Gamebitd doesn’t exist that could make me choose 3.5’s.

Congrats on the hunt.

Have been hunting around 3 days a week, for an hour so each time, because up until now the weather's been pretty warm. Have been finding Hungarian partridge pretty regularly, a big improvement over last year when they were very scarce. This was the first one, taken out of a covey flushed by Lena the Labrador in chest-high cover (to me), not unusual with Huns when the weather's warm. Have gotten some doves as well. Lena has also put up enough pheasants during the outings that it looks OK for them as well, despite last winter's snow and cold. She'll be much happier next week when I can legally shoot those damn roosters.

I covet that shotgun, John. I also like to hunt and eat Huns.

I guess I'm saying I'm jealous.

Will be out chasing some ruffed grouse and woodcock in the morning- if I pass this damned kidney stone by then. Grouse have been a little tough to hunt as its been hot, rainy, or windy every chance I've had to go. It's supposed to drizzle off and on but that probably means frog drowning torrents an hour out from the truck.

Looking forward to pheasant season, the little sorghum patch I put in has 2-3 roosters in it every time I run the dogs through it. I need to get the bridge over the ditch finished and that will open up a fair bit more land to wander.

I'm off in 20 minutes. My partner will have to drive as I hope to catch a nap on the way there. I'm getting too old to run off a couple hours sleep.

Our sage grouse season is over...Forest grouse is still on, but haven't made it up there...All our other upland birds live farther north or east from us.. Late in the season will target them..

My last three sage grouse were shot with this old model 97 and 5's. All were just over 50 yards. The 30 in. full choke did a number on them...

Rates a Two-Cool...

Thanks, glad you are still getting some grouse in Nev...

I had an old Rem Pump Shotgun (pre-Model 10) that I used for the late season, much like you do with the M-97 except I used 4s and shot pheasants. There was something neat about using a firearm my great grandfather would have thought of as new.

headed to presho, south dakota on sunday. 4 days of hunting pheasants with my son, sil, and step-sons. the boys are excited.

Congrats, that is some great shooting.

Here's a few pics from this year, haven't really gone hard of the ruffies yet, pheasants and sharpies tomorrow for a whole week though!
Cat

It looks like the main woodcock flights have passed through, there have been considerably fewer contacts on them the last week than earlier. The vast majority of birds taken recently have been adult males with a scattering of juveniles and females unlike last week where adult males were a minority. There should be at least one more sizable flight as the final males come through, probably this week or maybe early next week. If the weather holds like this odds are good timberdoodles will be scaring me on my walk to the deer stand in a couple of weeks.

Ruffed grouse have been difficult, they are running like pheasants in a cornfield. I normally see this in the spring when chasing woodcock as the birds are adults but even this year's young are running. I have a week left to chase grouse, once deer season opens I keep the dogs in the yard and when deer season ends I get serious about pheasants.

No grouse today, but that didn't stop the fun.

So John, what is that SxS?

On our annual Columbus Day long weekend trip to Pittsburg, NH Mischief the Wonder Dog and I managed a bird a day with 16 Gauges.
Here's Mischief scouting likely covers:

Here she is hunting dead:


And mandatory gun pictures:


Not bad walnut for an economy H&R 16 Gauge.

Nice work!!!

Headed to Kansas after voting on Tuesday. Stopping in OK to visit friends and then on to KS for a week or two. The pup is 2 this year and hoping for good things out of him. He had a good start last year. Now if we can only find some birds.

Cool pictures!
My little Pug, who passed away last year, was fun to take hunting. He would happily flush roosters and Huns for me.
Good times.

Great opener for roosters!!!!

Another great morning!!!! Hope this lasts for our stay here!!

Nice!!!! Looks like a fine year is in the making.

Hope so... Have you had any luck in Pa.?????? My old friend is doing deer/turkey... His shorthair is old, and I don't think he will get another... Bum knee and 71 makes it tough...

Yes, we have been putting up a lot of Pheasants. However, they have been pretty much avoiding me on the flush and I've only killed one. Have to get after Grouse here soon, but the reports are not all that encouraging.

Well done WCH!! My plans for Iowa have been thrown for a bit of a loop as I forgot about a planned event for my youngest son. Still think I'm going to make the trip, just will be for 2.5days of hunting vs. the 4.5 days I was thinking of getting. 2.5 days of wild birds is probably worth more than the amount of preserve birds I can afford...

pointer, good luck.. The only roosters we saw today were walking a back trail after shooting time.. Maybe tomorrow...

Thanks as I'll need it! Hank's a great pal, but him and I are far from good at finding and killing birds. Hopefully the roosters "cooperate" with you today.

We are headed for Dodge city Friday morning. About a 6 hr drive

Bud, Merlot and I had a fine day playing in the snow....

Nice job.. 16 ga. # 5's!!!!!

The black dog turns 2 on Sunday. We are working real well together this year. He put up this limit of 3 pheasants and 4 bonus quail in the first hour of our hunt on public ground last week. Headed out again tomorrow for some walking and hopefully shooting. Got my daughter home and hoping he gets it done again.

Great!!!!!

Last day of deer season here, starting tomorrow I can safely take the dogs out and chase pheasants! With the cold weather the swamps should be frozen hard enough to walk on. I just wish the farmers would get out and harvest the corn as that standing corn gives the pheasants too much cover during the day.

As usual, I have been seeing plenty of ruffed grouse as I have a rifle in hand rather than a shotgun. Then, maybe they know I don't shoot grouse after the woodcock season ends except under very rare circumstances.

Merlot is on IR....One of the Porcupine quills from the Michigan trip was in there festering. He came up lame after our last hunt. Vet said I can hunt him this weekend, but no need until after Deer season.

I got lucky and the one in my dog's ankle came all the way out the top side for us a few days after the incident. Can't stand porcupines these days. Hope the pup heals up fast.

b, best wishes for the little guy, and best of luck on deer!!! And bear if you are after them..

Will see how he heals up. Was going to try and stumble into a Bear, but this and work changed those plans.

Very well done guys!! Hank and I spent a few days in Iowa looking for wild roosters. He put birds in the air, but they weren't holding (or he wasn't holding them) super well. More than a few places I found birds last year were dry holes this year, but I did find a new place that held enough birds to wear him out. He behaved/acted like what I think a bird dog should. Just not sure if the lack of birds was him not finding them, he's far from a super dog, or me not taking us to places with good bird numbers.

Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr

Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on Flickr

NIce pics Pointer. On the wild birds we've been after, when the pup starts getting birdy and working one, I close the distance very quickly. Most are flushing in shotgun range with the exception of CO roosters which love to run about 100 yards and flush. The quail have been holding nicely though. Hoping to pound a few more here soon.

Ran into goat head burs here in CO so bad that I felt guilty for the dog. Kept pulling them off him as we hunted but will mark that spot off moving forward. Found relatively few of those in Nebraska thankfully.

Nice work... Beautiful dog...

Took the wife for a boat ride and duck scouting trip this morning. Not many ducks around but the Snipe are here in force already. Thinking about heading back after them with a proper gun/ loads in the morning, still too warm here to take the mutt to the lake though......

Thanks for the advice. That's pretty much what I was doing. Just wish I could have gotten into more birds for Hank.

May have to meet you in KS some year so you're pooch can teach mine a thing or two...

Pointer, sounds good. Was thinking I need to try and find around a 60 pounder for alternating in the line up. Bane is running around 80 and can plow brush great but he gets beat up after a long day in the field. Alternating fields with 2 dogs may work better for me. But would be happy to try and learn Kansas a bit next year. Bird hunting is sure a great way to wrap up each year and still looking at 2 months of season to go.

Hank is 60# and 3 days in a row of all day hunting have him wore to a nub. Lots is probably due to my lack of conditioning for him. Thinking of getting some roading weights to make the runs I do take him on more effective. That and to get my fat butt our running with him more... I'd love a second dog, but I'm thinking my wife is not going to go for that.

I need to make more time bird trips, just the kids and their activities get in the way, but KS is on the short list.

Oldest boy and I took a walk this morning with Remi and our trusty Model 11. She put up our first Woodcock and I got the privilege to add to the list of game bird species taken with a family heirloom....

That is awesome. Never shot a woodcock. Brother inherited a Model 11 from my grandpa that he got in 1917. Proceeded to let it rust all over. Sad deal. Yours looks great still. Going to try and add to the bird pile here shortly.

30338,

Until yesterday I hadn't either. I figured the big snow storm immediately North and West of me would push some my way. Did a little research on the cover they like and Bam, Remi the Wonder dog winded it, put it up( after a few "whoas" so I could keep up) then reluctantly retrieved it after the shot. Apparently they don't smell as good as quail and pheasant do to her.

This gun has been in my family new since the 50's according to lore and has the wear marks to prove it. My great uncle bought it and hunted quail, dove and pheasant with it. My dad hunted everything in the Sunshine State during his possession. At 8 years old I killed my first Gobbler with it and have used it almost exclusively since. I'd like to use her for Grouse one day then she's likely retired until my boys get bigger.

Went to Vermont to hunt grouse the first week of Oct. Heard plenty of birds, but the cover was too thick to get any shots.
It's the first hunt where we didn't draw blood. We put a lot of hours in the field and my 12 yr old Gordon wasn't happy at all, and he let me know it.
I also found out that he's going deaf and the thick cover made hunting with him very frustrating for the both of us.
The scenery was beautiful, when it wasn't raining.
Usually I go to Maine, but after my Brit passing away earlier this year, I didn't have the heart to go and tried a different state.
Next year I'll be heading to Vermont a few weeks later and hopefully the leaves will be down, as well as some grouse.
Deer season ends in NY today, so I'm going to hunt all the places I jumped grouse during deer drives next weekend.

SJC

The more I bird hunt, the more I wonder why I elk hunt. Few more for Bane.

Banner day and banner picture!! Well done by the both of you!

Thanks Pointer. No quail were harmed during the course of the day and I have to remedy my wing shooting ills. Watching youtube films of quail hunts and looking for weaknesses in their flight paths. Its time to get serious as Bane is getting miffed at me.

Damnfine work 30338! I've got to admit our Remi is not thrilled with my quail shooting ability either... Telling a retrieve crazy Lab " no bird" sucks.

The hunting hasn't been the best this year and the fine weather this month hasn't helped any. Very hard to do much damage in conditions such as these. After quite a bit of deer hunting, we are refocusing on what is important and going pheasant hunting three days in a row this weekend. Saturday a group of about a dozen up to Sully County. Sunday a different group about the same size over north of Highmore.

Monday is one of my favorite hunts of the year. The same very small group of 3-4 each year depending on whether adult kids are home for Christmas and able to wake up and go along. We are refugees from our own homes that day and we have a great friend with a world famous lodge who lets us come up in the morning and wreak havoc for a few hours.

Gonna be a good weekend.

I was going to do some grouse hunting in the north woods this weekend, but was reminded I had to guide for the Elder members of the family at a Pheasant preserve.
While I'd love to be chasing grouse, I have to pay homage to the ones who guided me in more ways than hunting when I was a youngster.
Looks like the Grouse and my 12yr old Gordon will be getting a break this weekend too.
One day, I hope I'm able to go out into the field when I'm their age.


SJC

Oldest boy, Remi and I investigated a new area today and found a covey of Quail between rain storms. Knocked one down, Remi promptly put up a single after the retrieve ( which I swung on and never got a shot off, pesky safeties...) then put up a single out of range on the road headed back to the truck ( I learned my lesson about letting her get too far ahead in areas I don't think there are birds).



After watching me clean birds several times my oldest boy wanted to give it a shot...



All in all a pretty good training afternoon for myself, the pup and the boy.

Merlot had a breakout day....Bud and I put in 6 hours and Merlot must have put in the equivalent of 10. Something changed and he started going to his Birds head high and minimally fooling around with ground scent. It was a joy to watch. Birds were running strong and some flushed out of range, but a couple of these got up early or came back.

He is beat, tired, muddy and lost some of his hide for the effort. Great day....

Hit up Clark county SD, where my baby sister and her gang live, the first week of December. All wild birds and pretty tough conditions, no snow and no wind make it easy for birds to run and flush wild. I went ahead and shot a limit every day like I always do. I’m always amazed when I go hunt SD at the sheer numbers of birds. And that the locals always tell me how much better it used to be. I’ve hunted up there for 4 seasons and never hunted a day that I didn’t kill a limit. SD has an incredible upland bird population and I’m thankful to be able to go spend some time hunting up there.

I shot my AL48 20ga most of the time this year with 1oz loads of 71/2s. Also shot two roosters with 2 shells with my old reliable Browning Double Auto, one with a 11/4oz of 6s and one with 11/4oz of 2s. Both with fixed MOD chokes.

30338, what kind of dog is that. Good looking dog for sure.

Nice work Battue and Merlot! We spent the morning picking briar thorns and a tick or two out of Remi after a couple days chasing quail in NC. She seems to be really getting the hang of wild birds also putting up three covey's in two days along with a few stragglers that tried to hide out at the scene of the crime. Wish I had some Pheasant to chase down here!

Tex, he is a Drahthaar. And thank you.

Merlot is going to be sleeping hard tonight. So fun watching them work.

No ticks out anymore here, its feeling like winter. Nice work on the quail. Sounds like Remi is coming on nicely too. The more they hunt, the better they get for sure.

30338,
If my shooting ever gets on par with the dog work the birds will be in trouble! These were the first ticks I've found on her this season, heading home to Florida for a week now I'm sure that'll change....

Nice pic Harry! Give Merlot a treat from me.. You need to run a vest on that little guy!

Vest? You should see his nuts!!!! They were glowing like two hot coals. Last trip to the Vets after a hunt, the Vet said WTH is going on with his balls? The skin was hanging in shreds. I said you run naked thru the jaggers and greenbrier and you will know. He just said damn and gave me a free tube of bactroban.

We enjoyed great hunting in South Dakota this year. I think bird numbers were double from last. I was there all November.

Looks awesome. See any grouse?

A month should just be about right.

Yes got a few. I heard numbers were up on the Grasslands.

Great pics!

Great!! What make of double??

1912 Charles Daly 16ga

Ah, very cool!!

We had a great weekend. Killed a six man limit on Saturday, took Sunday off as Saturday was very windy and cold.
Followed up with a three man limit on Monday morning. One of our party killed three with three shots, using an M21 choked Skeet I and Skeet II, and by 10:04am! Birds tough to find this time of year as the dry conditions have them spread out and relating to what little water is available.

Lola and I found some hunkering out of the wind on Saturday. I remembered to take a picture this time!

Nicely done BK!