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Gran16
PostPosted: Sun Oct 31, 2021 9:45 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 08 Mar 2016
Posts: 120
Location: South Dakota

16gaDavis wrote:
we live in Ontario co , and the cabin in So Steuben . Can't get a break with the rain - never seen anything like it ! We just got 4'' Tues and at least 2'' out of this event . We have Canandaigua outlet in the back yard - highest I've ever seen . Even spring run off . ... Steuben was in a flood watch area again yesterday - I'll need an airboat . Was seeing plenty of deer and bears earlier , not much of anything for birds ! (no ducks either ) Geese up the wazoo !


Yep the ducks don’t seem to be around in steuben this year, not that there is very many in a good year. Even a faithful wood duck spot was empty of them this year.
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16gaDavis
PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:58 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 24 Jun 2013
Posts: 2062
Location: canandaigua - western n.y. (formerly deerhunter)

G16 ... I have a newly rebuilt small pond which generally attracts some mallards and woodies . The last 3 yrs , haven't heard or seen a thing . Our big attraction is that there is a couple acre pond just up the street and that usually attracts ducks and Geese . Nada . New owners may be shooting them out of there . Used to be a hoot as the roving group of Coyotes used to travel around at nite , and there'd be all kinds of racket when they'd try to sneak on the Geese . Could hear it all the way to our cabin - LOUD !! Several times a nite ! Duck hunters here are haveing it slow due to all the small water pockets from the flooding chasing the Ducks away from their normal pot holes .

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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 11:01 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

Gentlemen,


Rained most all day Sunday, weather is suppose to break on Monday afternoon, it just stopped raining about 1:00, Monday. Took a walk out back moved 2 young Grouse Shadow our Gordon, set them up real nicely on a relocate. No shot behind the small pines under the larger trees. Good training however. No Woodcock flight yet here in Potter/Tioga, Pa. Hope it comes soon or we will miss most of the Woodcock season this year. Finally got decently cold last night, hope the birds were finally pushed down from Canada.

If we have sun tomorrow Galen will be here and we will try to Grouse & Woodcock hunt. Not looking real good, 40% chance of rain. Opening week has been a mess of rain. No birds shot, only 3 birds pointed. Still can not get near enough to gun a bird, very spooky Grouse hunting right now.

I have an antique 16 gauge Crescent Hammer gun I want to test out in the Grouse woods, no shots with it, in the 1st week, big time bummer.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

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boon hogganbeck
PostPosted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 6:55 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 27 Nov 2020
Posts: 83
Location: mtns of central PA

Put up 9 grouse in PA last Saturday. Unfortunately, I'm having some pointing dog issues, so the trigger on the Sweet 16 was not pulled...
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 9:48 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

boon,

Glad you had nice Grouse contact, sorry about the dog not preforming well!

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

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boon hogganbeck
PostPosted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 10:26 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 27 Nov 2020
Posts: 83
Location: mtns of central PA

Well, that's bird dogs, I guess... the highs are highs, and the lows are low... Getting the dog through a minor health issue now, but I'm not sure I'll be back in the woods until the Dec. season. But I did find a couple marvelous new covers. They hold birds. Probably because they are so nasty and difficult to climb into, that my dog & I are the only Pennsylvanians dumb enough to crawl up that mountain side! Felt like I was bear hunting again. Needed a stiff drink & lots of ibuprofen after that.
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:09 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

boon,

Real nice you found some new coverts, I have to admit my Grouse Coverts need to be expanded again, seems we had a lot of Grouse hunting pressure this season and a few of the out of state hunters have encroached on my more accessible habitat. Not real hppy about that fact for sure. I still have some very hidden coverts that only the old timers knew, and most of them are hunting in heaven now. We did have a lot of new Grouse hunters this season from up in Mass and down in Maryland, few were good enough shots to take many Grouse, but they did stir things up big time in the woods. Our over lapping Bear, Turkey and Archery Deer season don't help anything either. Finally had good Grouse contacts from Thursday thru Sunday here in mid November, a little over 3 birds an hour. Big drop from the 2020 season for sure with our almost 5 bird an hour contact. The real wet weather has definitely effected our Grouse population. Sense I am moving more slowly now, after my open heart surgery I am keeping Shadow our Gordon pup in under 150 yards, she is doing real well, still learning Woodcock and we still have had no flight come in. I believe we are going to miss the Woodcock flight this season for the most part, only shot a couple homie birds so far. I really like the 1914 L.C. Smith 20 gauge with the short 24" barrels, great gun for thick habitat, real glad I picked it up. Need to go take a shower, just came out of the Grouse woods and it was not very cold. Talk to you later.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

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Lloyd3
PostPosted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:13 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Jan 2014
Posts: 1365
Location: Denver, Colorado

Can you hunt on Sundays in Pennsylvania now?

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boon hogganbeck
PostPosted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:23 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 27 Nov 2020
Posts: 83
Location: mtns of central PA

Lloyd3 wrote:
Can you hunt on Sundays in Pennsylvania now?


Not really. The Game Commission gave us 3 Sundays last year and this year... only this year could you hunt small game. Today was the 1st legal Sunday. Hopefully the old blue laws will go on the scrap heap. Sunday hunting has ample support, but evidently it needs to be passed through our legislature, and word is that the state senate majority leader is holding up the vote (she voted against Sunday hunting last time around). Sorry to enter the political realm, but that's the reality.
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boon hogganbeck
PostPosted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:31 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 27 Nov 2020
Posts: 83
Location: mtns of central PA

Hi Dave,

I have not encountered any woodcock myself (but I am a woodcock dunce, I have not flushed a single woodcock in the last two seasons), but someone not too far south of you told me he encountered a pile of flight birds in the last 3-4 days.

I tried to hunt grouse today, but not 30 minutes into the hunt and just getting into the good cover, my dog came up bleeding pretty good from a foot. Stepped on something sharp between his pads. I decided to pull the plug. Went home, cleaned him up. The wound has opened and closed a couple times, but knock wood, it seems to have clotted okay. Glad I have hardwood floors. Hoping he's mended for next weekend. I have time off next week, so I didn't want to risk opening up the foot more today. This season has been a comedy of errors for me.

Not 50 yards out of the truck, before that, he banged on point--"Here it is!" I thought. Nope, big porcupine waddling across the logging road, his first encounter. Thank god he didn't charge in. Gave the dog a good jolt, broke him off porky, and I'm very glad not to be pulling quills.





Pine Creek/Dave wrote:
boon,

Real nice you found some new coverts, I have to admit my Grouse Coverts need to be expanded again, seems we had a lot of Grouse hunting pressure this season and a few of the out of state hunters have encroached on my more accessible habitat. Not real hppy about that fact for sure. I still have some very hidden coverts that only the old timers knew, and most of them are hunting in heaven now. We did have a lot of new Grouse hunters this season from up in Mass and down in Maryland, few were good enough shots to take many Grouse, but they did stir things up big time in the woods. Our over lapping Bear, Turkey and Archery Deer season don't help anything either. Finally had good Grouse contacts from Thursday thru Sunday here in mid November, a little over 3 birds an hour. Big drop from the 2020 season for sure with our almost 5 bird an hour contact. The real wet weather has definitely effected our Grouse population. Sense I am moving more slowly now, after my open heart surgery I am keeping Shadow our Gordon pup in under 150 yards, she is doing real well, still learning Woodcock and we still have had no flight come in. I believe we are going to miss the Woodcock flight this season for the most part, only shot a couple homie birds so far. I really like the 1914 L.C. Smith 20 gauge with the short 24" barrels, great gun for thick habitat, real glad I picked it up. Need to go take a shower, just came out of the Grouse woods and it was not very cold. Talk to you later.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 7:43 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

Lloyd3,

We were given some Sundays here in Pa, because last season the PGC took away the late season, January Grouse hunting. The few Sundays the PGC gave us really does not amount to much compared to what we lost. Most Grouse hunters that I know will not hunt on Sunday any way. Most of the old timers will not take life on Sunday. The out of state guys have been doing most of the Grouse hunting on Sunday, at least around here. Got to admit it does not really set well with me either. I do not believe they willl get Sunday hunting past the Pa legislature in the future, they have been trying for many years.

all the best

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

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kgb
PostPosted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 9:46 pm  Reply with quote
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Location: Nebraska

Dave, the Sunday hunting ban sticks with a PA kid for a while, even though I only experienced it from age 12 to 18 when I left home. It became normal to me after a couple seasons and really appreciated for the exact reason it was so painful in PA.

You go to school (or work) all week, then when Saturday rolls around you're hit with prohibitive weather or some obligation to keep you out of the woods and it's back to the salt mines hoping you don't wind up with a 3-week span with zero hunting opportunity during the all-too-short seasons.

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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:56 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

kgb,

I agree with you in many ways, when I was working at NASA/Martin Marietta my Grouse season seemed like it hardly existed at times, and I definitely wanted to hunt Sundays. Now that I am retired from Martin Marietta and the Military both the shoe is on the other foot, that was at least until the PGC decided to eliminate our entire January Grouse season. At any rate we lost way more hunting time than the 3 Sundays will ever replace.

I am glad I am older now, I do not feel quite as bad about loosing the late Grouse season. The men are really yelling about not being able to Grouse hunt around both Thanksgiving and Christmas, when they are off for the holidays. I do believe we should be able to Grouse hunt then for sure. Grouse hunting on Sunday here in Pa would at least add a week or so back to the season, which would be nice for us. Especially around the holidays and in the early part of the season.

hope all is well out west,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

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boon hogganbeck
PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:33 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 27 Nov 2020
Posts: 83
Location: mtns of central PA

kgb wrote:
Dave, the Sunday hunting ban sticks with a PA kid for a while, even though I only experienced it from age 12 to 18 when I left home. It became normal to me after a couple seasons and really appreciated for the exact reason it was so painful in PA.

You go to school (or work) all week, then when Saturday rolls around you're hit with prohibitive weather or some obligation to keep you out of the woods and it's back to the salt mines hoping you don't wind up with a 3-week span with zero hunting opportunity during the all-too-short seasons.


Yeah, I have to say agree. As a working stiff, Saturdays are my only real opportunity, and rain poured the first three Saturdays this year and I lost another to a dog injury. Really only had 1 prime day of grouse hunting so far. I’ve got some days off December so I’m hoping they balance out the year a bit more.
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nj gsp
PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 4:39 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 437
Location: WI

It would make for a very short season here in the upper Midwest if we could only hunt one day on the weekend. My season finished this Sunday though. With the deer season opening yesterday in Michigan, deer season in Wisconsin opening Saturday, and all the lake effect snow that dropped in the UP this weekend I’m done. We have more snow coming this weekend.

I can tell you that slogging through 10” of wet snow, especially when the ground isn’t frozen is a LOT of work. Only got one bird this weekend, but that was enough. I took the Citori Superlight Feather (as per usual) because the weather was just too crappy for my old double guns.

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