The morning started out cold and windy. Not exactly welcoming me out of the warm confides of my bedsheets. Nevertheless, the king of the woods was calling my name, and I obliged. My father and I started out on a spot we had been going to for many years. We got there only to find a truck already in our spot. Not wanting to walk through empty woods, we decided to head up the road further to some uncharted territory. This would prove to be a worthy decision.
We found a fresh logging trail from earlier in the year, and decided it looked like it would hold birds. It was about a 1 mile loop of evergreens and aspens. Being that it was a windy day, I figured that the birds would be seeking refuge in the evergreens. My hunch was correct and about halfway through the loop, Inga locked up on point and soon after 4 grouse flushed out of the top of an evergreen tree. They flushed in the most difficult direction, as grouse always do, and offered no shots. The rest of the loop produced no more flushes, and we were soon on our way to another spot.
Once we got hunting the new spot, I flushed a timberdoodle and nailed it with the first shot out of my brand new Citori 525 Field. We continued walking through the thick stuff and took a quick break. Dad was commenting about the lack of woodcock and simultaneously flushed one right at his feet. He hit it hard and Inga made a very good find. We kept walking and due to the high winds, saw many wild grouse flushes.
Later on, we saw a large red-phase grouse flush across the trail, so naturally we went in pursuit. The grouse flushed into extremely thick cover. We got about 50 yards into the covert, and flushed a grouse about 15 yards ahead of me. I took a shot and dropped it. Upon finding and marveling at the grouse, I found it was a beautiful male, one of the biggest my father and I had ever seen. Both Dad and I were so happy and tired that we decided to call it a day. Inga had a couple points and retrieves, and overall it was another day I will never soon forget.
My wonderful girlfriend, Becca joined me for an afternoon hunt. We stuck to the trail to keep things fun and worthwhile. We flushed the first grouse right away off of a small clover patch. I was using my grandpas 870 and after a lifetime of tang safeties, couldn't quite figure out the trigger safety in time to shoot. That grouse survived. The next grouse flushed as we were cresting a hill about 40 yards away. Yet again, no shots were fired and the grouse lived to see another day. A little while further down the trail, a huge grouse flushed off of an embankment to our left. It offered no shot yet the trip was a very memorable one for me. I look forward to a lifetime of hunts with Becca.
Today was our first short hunt with Inga, our new Drahthaar puppy. We picked her up out of Park Falls, WI as a 4 month old pup. She has such a loving nature and is very eager to please. The first hunt was at a nice and easy pace, easy enough for the whole family to come along. She was being a typical 4 month old puppy not paying much attention when the inevitable happened. As I was coming around a corner behind her, three grouse flushed out of an evergreen blowdown just to the left of the trail. None of them offered me a shot and we went home empty-handed.
Upon arriving at home, I decided that I would take her for one more walk before we all went to bed. Coming up to the same spot the trio of grouse came from earlier in the day, a lone bird flushed right off of the trail in front of Inga. I missed the initial shot and connected on the second, providing Inga with her first grouse. She even retrieved it. Not bad for a puppy! I cant wait for future seasons with her and my family.
Very warm day! Hunted in short sleeves and worked up quite a sweat. I shot one woodcock on a challenging cross shot. I missed on all three shots at a left to right grouse. It was one of those way too easy shots that turned out to beat me. Dad followed up and nailed it only to find that I had hit it in the legs. All in all, a fun and safe day in the woods.
