Disappointment

Headed up north today to look for some grouse with Emma.It's been a dry fall so far but Emma still found a little mud.

A Monarch resting on its way south.

The autumn olive bushes were loaded with berries.

Come on Dad let's keep lookin'.

A devil's club. You only have to grab onto one of these suckers once to learn never to do it again.

Their berries. Don't know if grouse like them, but do know that bears relish them.

Aspen. Conjecturing up images of grouse and woodcock nearby.

The cover we hunted through.

One wild flush was all we could find today in these beautiful coverts. Hope my luck turns before the season starts.

Getting the blood pumpin'

The leaf littered lane leading in the Doll's Head cover.

A view of the cover. Still thick with summer's vegetation. It will be thinning soon with the shorter days and cooler nights.
Lots of food in the Doll's Head this year.

Hawthornes.

Teaberry.


Crabapples.

I couldn't pass up this shot of a toadstool to add to my toadstool collection.




This volunteer appletree always seems to produce a bounty of fruit every year.

Last April Emma and I ended the spring training season with a woodcock point. Four months later she points the first one she finds and puts a smile on my face.

A little later on she makes me smile again.

Waiting on the tailgate for the brier pulling that follows an early season training session.

Although this cover had plenty of food we couldn't find the grouse that are often found there, but Emma's two woodcock points after 4 months of tweety bird watching definitely got my "blood pumpin'" Come on October.

1st Scouting trip

On a tip from my vet I headed north in search of new coverts. A large hunting lease where he said his flush rate was as good as on his Michigan trips. As with any grouse hunter I'm always looking for new coverts, so leaving the setters at home because of the hot weather I journeyed into this unfamiliar cover. With the cover too thick for bushwacking I walked this old gas well road and was rewarded with 3 grouse flushes.

The remains of a large turkey. Perhaps a coyote kill ?
At another piece of cover I found aspen and marked my map accordingly.

Another area had an enormous amount of grapevines covering the smaller trees.

A sight to get any grousehunter's blood pumping. Another note on the map.

A sweet gum tree telling me that fall is fast approaching.

My dues have been sent in and I hope to have pics of some successful hunts with my setters and hammerguns this fall from my new hunting grounds.

A Secret Shared Part II

After I had shared my smallmouth stream with Russell he insisted that I come fish a small trout stream where he had permission to fish that was carefully managed for lunker Rainbows. Catch and release, barbless hooks, and supplemental feeding had produced some enormous trout. Down a farm lane passed an old house and barn we arrived at a small stream lined with huge willow trees.

After a pleasant talk with the stream owners, a handful of fish pellets revealed the monsters that lived there.

The really huge "Bows" were content to wait for more pellets, but I was lucky enough to tempt this nice one with my offering and was rewarded with an exciting battle. In our haste to get pics and return the fish safely to the stream I forgot to get a measurement but it's safe to say it was the biggest trout I've ever caught. Just to let you known what type of person Russell is he refused to cast a line and was happy being the guide on this most memorable trip.

A Secret Shared

There are only a few people that I share my smallmouth streams with. My wife, Caleb, my great-nephew, and now Russell. I met Russell several years ago when he was hired as summer help in the distribution center that I work at. A college student working towards his teaching degree, he impressed me with his love of fishing and hunting. He is one of the rare people who I've hunted and fished with who enjoys the experience of being on a stream or in the woods and if fish or game are found so much the better, but these ventures afield are not gauged by the weight of his creel or gamebag but rather by the sharing of a meandering stream or brushy grouse covert. Russell's teaching now near the Chesapeake Bay but still finds time to occasionally come back to these Allegheny Mountains that are home to him. The following pictures were taken on one of my secret smallmouth streams that I've trust it's location to Russell with.

The water. Low with lots of rocks, walking is required to reach the deeper holes that the smallies thrive in.
Fish on!!! The start of an enjoyable evening.

The first fish, a nice chunky smallie that brings a smile to Russell's face.

Some nice Rockbass were also found and returned to the stream.

As the sun started to set the action increased.

The fish of the night. All the fish were caught on my hand-poured plastic worms that Russell like to brag up :).

A long walk through a hayfield and along the back country road to the truck ended an enjoyable evening that hopefully will be repeated soon.

Just another day in Paradise

Caleb, my nephew Jim-Bob's boy, was able to fit a fishing trip into his busy schedule so we headed to an enchanted creek that I treasure. I know someday other people will realize the size of the smallmouth bass that live there and fish it out but until then I treat it gently and enjoy the magic it possesses.

On the walk in we pass by one of the creekside residents looking no doubt for breakfast.

After several fruitless casts near the parking lot we press upstream until we find we we're looking for.

After a good 30-45 minute walk we reach the enchanted pool. A place where I've made some wonderful memories of past battles with the resident smallmouths.

After several smaller smallmouths and a couple of rockbass SUCCESS!!!

One last jump.

Now there will be two people with wonderful memories of this special place.