This is Crazy

December 27 and the bees are not only flying in and out of the hive, some of them are finding pollen somewhere to bring back

The Brandon Covert

Thicket and I head once again to the Brandon Covert. I've moved grouse there on 2 other occasions this year and this trip proved to be no different. Sadly the birds were grouped together and I walked into them shortly after the start of the hunt. I'm positive I heard 4 birds flush and there could have easily been more. Thicket hunted the cover eagerly but we just couldn't find any of the birds for a reflush. I did find the remnants of a grouse. By the signs a victim of a hawk or owl.

And this small buck who wasn't going to waste.

Here's a poor quality video of Thicket checking back in after one of her 200 yard casts.

Wed. & Fri. Hunts

On Wednesday Thicket and I hunted the Prince covert. Earlier in the season we moved 4 grouse in this covert, but this time the covert held no grouse that we could find even though we hunted it thoroughly. Still hoping to find some birds for Thicket I looked at my map and saw an X where I had marked a recent clearcut several years ago on a scouting mission.

It's a huge cut located on the side of a steep ridge and although the Game Commission had taken down the  deer fence that had enclosed it when I had first found it, the cover was still extremely  thick. We hunted the perimeter of the cut, as I often do to get a "feel" for the cover, hoping to find a grouse along the edge but we found nothing although in a covert of that immense size there had to be some birds somewhere in it's depths. So we called it a day knowing that we would be back in years to come to give it another try.

On Fri. Emma and I headed north to the Graham covert, one that we have been hunting for a number of years and usually shared a bird or two with us. It's an immense reclaimed strip mine with spruce plantings and a mostly black birch forest running along the edge of it.

Emma gave me a lovely point at the edge of the strip mine cover and I just knew that the grouse was hiding in a small group of spruce directly in front of her. As I walked in focused on the spruce the grouse erupted 40 or 50 feet below the spruce and escaped down the ridge without me getting off a shot.  Later she gave me two points that held no birds although she was sure that the birds were there and I had to spend time kicking the cover in front of her to convince her that the birds had gone out before we arrived.
 Part way through the hunt I saw Emma running toward me with something white in her mouth. She's retrieved several "interesting" things to me in the past but this was the first time that she brought me a buck scrotum obviously from a recent "gutpile".

She was very pleased with herself and I thanked her and told her what a good girl she was before she would resume hunting. It's the little things that our dogs do for us that makes them special :).

I Held Beauty in my Hand Today

Emma and I headed north to hunt some of my Clearfield county coverts. The first stop was the Tree Top covert a small but steep ridge covered with the fallen tree tops from a recent logging venture.

                                                                                                                                                              
There was a strong wind blowing so scenting conditions were far from ideal but 10 minutes into the hunt Emma goes on point above me on the ridge. She's pointing downhill into a tree top and I had to make several detours in my struggle to reach her, but both she and the bird held tight. The bird flushed up the ridge and The Twigg, the little 16 gauge Belgium hammer gun, and I were in harmony and the bird dropped with a right barrel shot. The bird had fallen deep into a tree top and Emma struggled to retrieve it, finally getting a hold of it just as I reached her. To my surprise it turned out to be a beautiful chocolate phase bird.

It has been longer that I care to admit since I've killed a grouse over a point and I sat on a log and savored the moment until Emma came and reminded me that the hunt had just begun.  We finished hunting the ridge with one empty point, no doubt a bird who lifted before I was within hearing range.

The next stop was at the Pheasant Ridge covert also a tree top littered cover. A small stream wandered down through the hollow which held many boggy spots.

Although Emma hunted diligently we found no birds in this cover.

 

The last stop was the Clover Run Covert. A huge clearcut growing back in mostly birch with scattered clumps of beech.

 

It was in one of these beech clumps that Emma with on point again, but this grouse didn't hold long and I heard it flush out on the other side of the beech as I made my way in. Emma had one more point that proved to be empty even though she was sure the bird was still there, letting me walk all around in front of her while she still held the point.

 

Two grouse pointed, one shot at and hit. It may not seem like much to some people but it was a Glorious Day for Emma and I.

 

The Late Season Begins

Thicket and I headed north to try a covert that Emma and I had hunted in the early season. That day we had moved only one grouse but the cover looked good and deserved another try.

 

 

I flushed two grouse in this covert and watched Thicket slowly track another grouse, but she got too close and the bird flushed. I was still pleased as it was a good lesson for her and hopefully she will realize that she can not pressure a grouse like she can a woodcock.

 

It was hot and sunny today and the covert held little water.  Thicket did find a little spring and made the most of it.

 

 

I came across a producing Chestnut tree with a number of husks laying about.

 

 

Sadly the dreaded orange fungus of the Chestnut Blight was growing on it's trunk, a sure sign of it's impending death.

 

 

Thicket was running big yesterday with 200-300 yard casts partly from the 2 week layoff because of deer season and partly because at 1 1/2 years old she's in her "teenage" years. I feel certain that as she matures she'll "rein in" her casts  but for now the Tek tracking collar is a tremendous asset in keeping track of her.