"Accomplishment" Webster describes this as the successful achievement of a task. Accomplishments are always gratifying, but when an accomplishment takes training, dedication, perseverance and teamwork to achieve. Well now that is the kind of accomplishment that tends to make the chest puff out just a little further.
October 8th-11th Dad and I headed north for our 3rd grouse & woodcock hunting trip in northern Michigan. This time choosing to hunt in the Camp Grayling area at the advice of my good friend, and life long grouse hunter Jim Hamer. Jim has always told me that any Grouse that makes into the game bag is a trophy. Over the last three years I have learned that no truer statement has been spoken about pursuing this bird. As a rookie grouse hunter, I have sought out the advice of older more experienced hunters and thankfully many of them have been graceful enough to pass along some of the knowledge they have acquired during their years. Through them I've learned important information ranging from identifying the right types/locations of covers, food sources, and even grouse hunting etiquette. My dad introduced me to most of the types of game that we pursue when I was a young boy growing up in Southern Indiana. But Hunting Grouse was a new challenge to both of us, and our 4-legged friends three years ago. During the last three years we have had very little success in our grouse hunting efforts. The only coming in the form of 1 lone grouse that my dad scored last year in the Upper Peninsula (His first). We could only hope that this year may be different.
Early Saturday morning we headed north cautiously optimistic that maybe this was the year. Dad, myself, Remi, Colt, (Two of my Britts) and Tessie (Mr Hamer's "once in a lifetime" Grouse guide dog, who also happens to be Colt's Momma) I've heard Jim say that all Grouse dogs can hunt other species of upland birds with success, but not all bird dogs can hunt Grouse. (Yet another experience proven truth. Now 3 years into my grouse hunting journey, I would add to that the same may be said for hunters) We reached our first destination south of Grayling just after noon, and set out for our first 1/2 day in the woods on this hunt. Excited to go we geared up, grabbed our guns, mark the truck on the GPS (a must) and set Tessie on her way. We were not 100' from the truck when I heard her collar playing the sweet sound of Point mode. Dad and I looked at each other, grinned and headed towards her into the cover. We were crawling under limbs, squeezing between young aspens, pushing through stickers that were drawing blood on exposed skin, and all this not even 5 minutes into this trip. When we reached her, her quiver of excitement, and breathing were her only movements, as she stood locked up tight, confident that she had found what we were looking for . We moved in slowly from both sides, and suddenly the beating of wings erupted and a grouse helicoptered towards the sky and blasted off to the south. (Taking some of that advice I mentioned earlier) I emptied all three rounds from my favorite Browning, as I attempted to catch up to the bird speeding away. "Damn it, I missed". Tessie gave the area a once over, to make sure the bird wasn't lying on the ground and soon agreed with me as she headed off hunting again.
Based on my experience hunting Pheasants and Quail I have always considered myself a pretty good wing shooter, but like I said earlier I had really only been able to fire a couple shots at grouse in my life until this day. Well on this afternoon, Tessie would provide 14 productive points on grouse, and 1 on a Woodcock. I'm embarrassed to tell you that I fired a total of 20 times in the next 3 hours, and I only connected once and it was on the Woodcock. Unfortunately that day Dad seemed to always find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he actually didn't fire a shot a single shot.
Later that day we put Tessie up for some rest, and got Colt and Remi out for their opportunities. Both Colt and Remi are very accomplished bird dogs. However, neither of them had any more previous success with grouse than I had. Between them, they busted 7 grouse during the evening hunt. As bad as I wanted success for myself, I also wanted success for them. So I had committed to myself on the way up, that no matter how many birds those two pressured and busted before we could get there. I was not going to get frustrated. I was going to let them hunt, and give them every opportunity to figure it out. Late in the day, Colt started figuring it out. On the 5th bird that he encountered and he scored his first productive point on a grouse. Of course it only resulted in another one of my misses that day, but that's not his fault. For him, this was a win!
On Day two we meet up with 3 friends from Lake Hill (My hunting club) who were also up hunting in the Grayling area. They took us to a cover they've hunted for years, and dad scored his first woodcock of the trip. Later in the day we traveled back south of the Grayling, and hunted another cover near where we hunted the day before. During this hunt Colt had his second productive point on grouse, which resulted in yet another miss. Well not long after, we got into a serious patch of thornapple, that was thick with grouse, Now I had always pictured how it would go when I got my first grouse. You know a staunch point by one of my Britts (like the opportunities I had both the day before and earlier that day) Capped off with an impressive shot, after I flushed the bird, and finished with a stylish retrieve. Well, not on this day. My buddy Tim was off in the distance hunting his flushing dogs when they moved a bird, The grouse came flying into my range overhead, and we all swung around to take aim. Tim's brother Dave, my dad, and I all touched off shots at the bird. Somehow they both decided that it was my shot that took the bird down. (I'm still not totally convinced) I really think it was a sympathy present for all the poor shooting. Nevertheless, "technically" I scored my first bird that day. Though I found it just a little hard to be truly excited about it.
Day Three dad and I headed back to some familiar covers that we had hunted 2 years prior. Remi got the first run of the day, and though she found several birds. She could not figure how to tone down her rambunctious style of hunting, and become more cautious when encountering scent. So about 10:00 I kenneled her, and called on Colt again. With his recent successes, I was hopeful that this was the day we could put it all together. After switching spots, we stepped into a small patch of young aspen growth, and headed south into the wind. Not to far into the cover Colt was quartering back towards me from my left, when he slammed on the brakes and locked up. Right paw lifted slightly, and I could see the intensity in his eyes, POINT! I Yelled to my dad. The cover looked more like what we would expect to see a woodcock in, but I was hopeful for grouse. I walked in on the point, and fore a moment nothing happened, then all the sudden the bird took flight out in front of my dad giving me a passing shot low into the popple. The bird crashed down, and colt quickly located it. A good sized gray phased grouse. Finally, there was no doubt on this one! I scooped the bird up and placed it into my game vest and we continued on. In about another 100 yards, we started moving out of the aspens and into more mature woods loaded with Thornapple, Not 50 yards into it, colt found scent again locking up near a large dead fall. Point! I yelled to dad again. I walked up to the downed tree, and stomp in around it. Nothing.... I kick some branches on the tree, and all the sudden I hear the beating of the wings of another grouse. This time taking flight to the north and trying to put distance between us fast. I fire two quick shots, and the bird disappeared into the popple. Dad called out "Did you get it?" I replied, I don't so. Colt was now hunting dead looking for a wounded bird, when he went on point again. (A good sign) I walked into the general area where he had froze up again. I kicked a limb that had broken off of a tree, and there below it was a beautiful large mature, gray phased grouse. "I got it!" I called to dad. I got another one! Dad walked over to me, grinning from ear to ear (and I have to assume I was too) and we took a little break. After snapping some pictures of Colt, and the birds we were getting ready to set off hunting again. Dad grabbed me by the shoulder, gave me that "come here kid" (from my youth) and gave me a big hug. Now I'm a 38 year old man, hunting with my 60 year old father, and still he was not concerned about the lack of shooting that he had those 3 days. Rather he was just excited for me and the accomplishment that we (He, I, and Colt) had just completed. There were more points, birds, and shots fired in those three days, than what I can write about in this passage. (64 grouse flushed, 4 successfully taken)But none of it compares to the 5 minutes we spent taking that break, talking about the last 3 years leading up to that moment, and the time we shared that day. We will both treasure these days forever.
Thanks for being part of it Dad, thanks for a great trip. Now we can both call ourselves grouse hunters, and guess what..... I have a grouse dog.
This is just a beginning of a serious grouse hunting addiction, not an end. But I do want to give thanks to all of those guys who shared their knowledge to help pass this tradition on down to us, and were directly responsible for us having this success. You know who you are.
Sincerely,
Matt
Woodcock
Remi living the good life
2 legit gray phase birds
Having a moment
