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| < 16ga. General Discussion ~ It's snowing in Pa and beautiful in the Grouse woods! |
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 Posted:
Thu Jan 01, 2026 11:35 am
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Member
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1286
Location: Nebraska
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| Best of the new year to you and yours, Dave, and good times in the woods and on the waters for 2026! |
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Bore, n. Shotgun enthusiast's synonym for "gauge" ; everybody else's synonym for "shotgun enthusiast." - Ed Zern |
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| Posted:
Thu Jan 01, 2026 9:06 pm
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Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 3273
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa
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kgb,
Thanks much buddy, our Grouse season is now over, no more January Grouse season here in Pa. I will definitely miss the 2nd Grouse season here in Pa, as you know it was my very favorite time to Grouse hunt. Looking forward to the 2026 Grouse & Woodcock season with my Westley Richards side lock double gun. Hopefully my foot operation will be completely healed up by that time. Thanks for the well wishes, hope everything is good in your neck of the woods
As you know I sold the Grouse Camp in Potter/Tioga, I am pretty much lost right now!
all the best,
Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith/Westely Richards Man |
Last edited by Pine Creek/Dave on Tue Jan 20, 2026 7:53 am; edited 2 times in total
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"L.C. Smith America's Best" - John Houchins
Pine Creek Grouse Dog Trainers |
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| Posted:
Tue Jan 20, 2026 7:45 am
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Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 3273
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa
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Gentlemen,
Got another 2" of the white stuff last night, the Grouse woods is really looking fine, to bad the PGC took our 2nd season away, it is now perfect to Grouse hunt, with bright sunny windless days on the snow covered woods, here in Pa.
On another note I understand it is so bad out west right now that they are having 100 car & truck pile ups on the snow covered high ways.
There are good reasons my folks settled in the Pa mountains!
all the best,
Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith/Westley Richards Man |
_________________
"L.C. Smith America's Best" - John Houchins
Pine Creek Grouse Dog Trainers |
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| Posted:
Tue Jan 27, 2026 11:26 am
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Joined: 17 Jan 2014
Posts: 1693
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Finally got some winter here Saturday...
[url=https://imgur.com/UzaMpJU]
[/url]
It's been very dry here all fall and early winter. Hopefully the spring snows will make up for all that. |
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'Tis better to burn out than it is to rust...... |
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| Posted:
Tue Jan 27, 2026 11:26 am
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Joined: 17 Jan 2014
Posts: 1693
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Finally got some winter here Saturday...
[url=https://imgur.com/UzaMpJU]
[/url]
It's been very dry here all fall and early winter. Hopefully the spring snows will make up for all that. |
_________________
'Tis better to burn out than it is to rust...... |
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Tue Jan 27, 2026 5:09 pm
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Joined: 07 Mar 2010
Posts: 520
Location: South Eastern PA
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My buddy and I snuck down to Maryland last week on MLK day snow or no snow. Everyone told me that it just wasn’t worth the trouble. That it’s just not done but I planned on hitting Maryland’s Eastern Shore for woodcock regardless of whether or not it snowed.
The day before we were was supposed to go it snowed and then it snowed some more. We got about 6 inches where I live, but Maryland was supposed get less. In the end, the area where we went got only about 2 inches. When I left my house it was 14 degrees.
Getting ready to roll:
We hit the first covert and after only about 15 minutes Phoebe locked up and Emma backed her in picture perfect fashion. At the flush a beautiful large female exploded out of the cover and flew right into my IC pattern of RST 8’s. Not a bad start. We spent the next 3 hours busting our humps without a flush, though the dogs got birdy a few times. So back to the trucks we went to grab some coffee and discuss where to go next.
The dogs did not mind the snow one bit:
Phoebe on point:
Phoebe with the bird and Emma trying to get in on the action:
We went about 5 miles down the road to cover that was easier to walk with established trails running through the cover that we figured would give more edge to work. We had 3 more flushes in the next two hours. We got all 3. It’s been a long time since I had a woodcock hunt where we did not miss a bird. In the end we were 4 for 4, each of us taking 2 birds. By our reckoning after examining them we think they were all females.
I’ve read that males are first to migrate from their home range and first to return to establish mating grounds. The abundance of females, although a small sample seemed to show that.
Afterwards we had a small toast to Hubertus for a safe hunt in some nasty conditions. (The first half of the drive was dicey).
It was a great way to end the season. |
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| Posted:
Tue Jan 27, 2026 5:19 pm
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Member
Joined: 19 May 2006
Posts: 719
Location: Too far south in New England
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| Excellent haul in challenging conditions! Great pics, beautiful Fox! |
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"You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means" - Inigo Montoya |
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| Posted:
Wed Jan 28, 2026 7:17 am
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Joined: 17 Jan 2014
Posts: 1693
Location: Denver, Colorado
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| ROMAC: Excellent post, thank you! |
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'Tis better to burn out than it is to rust...... |
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| Posted:
Wed Jan 28, 2026 8:35 am
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Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 3273
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa
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ROMAC,
Great snowy Woodcock hunt in some adverse conditions. Give the dogs a dog treat
for me, real nice work! Real nice picture also.
all the best,
Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith/Westley Richards Man |
_________________
"L.C. Smith America's Best" - John Houchins
Pine Creek Grouse Dog Trainers |
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