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Gentlemen,

Was out again today in the Grouse woods here on the northern tier of Pa.
Although the weather has been too warm we are seeing lots of birds, both Grouse and Woodcock. The birds are very spooky, even the Woodcock are flying 50 yards out, the smallest noise setting them into flight. The Grouse are not sitting at all and although the dogs can get near them and lock up on point, no human can get with in 60 yards of them before they bust. We did manage to get one nice crossing shot at about 40 yards and were very very lucky to down the Grouse with my 16 gauge L.C. Smith double gun.
To warm to stay in the woods for more than 3 hours at a time, our Gordon dog needed to be sprayed heavily to keep her bug free.

Waiting on some decent Grouse hunting weather! Too many leaves still on the trees.

Will prepare the Grouse for dinner tonight, along with some 12 year old Famous Grouse Whiskey in honor of my Grouse hunting buddy, Gunny Harold Bowman who passed away just recently. I miss him badly.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave

Great report, thank you for sharing
Mike

p.s. was HOT here this year and windy, the dove have finally moved South,
Total for me this year was 163 doves. Lots less than it used to be when I was younger !! Smile

Mike,
I know what you are talking about, most prior years at this time, I would have 5 Grouse and 8 Woodcock in the freezer and had some additional birds for dinner.
After my open heart surgery everything changed, I have limited both the Grouse dog training business and the bird hunting. I hope your Dove hunting was limited because of different reasons.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Nothing in the So Tier in NY to report - not a bird or a Drum ! (between Bath and the PA border )

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1381 Location: Denver, Colorado

Dave:

Hard to lose hunting buddies, so my condolences on the loss of your friend. While walking trails this past month, I too would occasionally contemplate the now-silent guns of the folks that used to join me afield. Like a cloud passing over the sun, your thoughts grow grey and glum for a moment, but after some time the sun comes back-out and the focus goes again to the "now" and the next contact with game. You hunt by moving forward and life is, by-necessity, very much like that too. Try not to linger too-long in the past or you'll miss the next shot at the rest of your story. I try to focus on my gratitude for all those good memories and the new "moments" still coming. Anyway... that's how I deal with it.

Lloyd

Member Joined: 30 Nov 2011 Posts: 1698 Location: Minnesota

Well written Lloyd!

Lloyd3,
Thanks buddy for the kind words, I try not to dwell on the members of our Grouse Camp who have moved upstairs, I do have a lot of great memories and most of these men were my family or close to it. Every time I walk thru our mountains I realize how lucky I have been to be raised by those incredible people and to have had the good friends I have had. I am still looking forward however, I hope I finally get my Ryman puppy that I have been promised, my dogs seem to add a great deal of happiness to our family life.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Pine Creek Ryman Maggie Mae and me, I miss her badly also.

Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 196

Great picture and sorry about the loss of your friend.

AC,

Was out today hunting with the new 16 gauge Bristol Silver gun. No doubt about it she is a nice double gun, that throws good Grouse killing patters, however at 6.9lbs with no snap caps and 6.10lbs with shells she will definitely make a better Pheasant gun than a Grouse & Woodcock gun. However I did manage to down one Grouse on A 35 yard crossing shot, crossing the big Deer trail. I also used the newly acquired 28 gauge Bristol Silver on the lower covert along the creek, tried to shoot a Woodcock banking thru the woods, the trees were to thick for shot to reach the Woodcock even with the B&P 15/16 oz shot. We did back up the shot, however again the habitat was way to thick to down the bird. Maybe next week when we loose some more leaves the 28 Bristol Silver will get the job done. Will take the RST Pigeon shells for a little more penetrating power also.

Thanks for the kind words!

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 27 Nov 2020 Posts: 84 Location: mtns of central PA

Man, they are spooky all of a sudden, but we did manage to get the drop on one yesterday... fell to the old Sweet 16.

boon,
Finally having some cool sunny days here on the Northern tier of Pa, the wind is still making the Grouse and Woodcock real spooky, hard for a human hunter to get in gun raange before they take to the air or even worse running like mad. Our young Gordon Grouse dog is putting on a nice show however, locking up on many birds! Beautiful day here today, this Sunday we were not allowed to Grouse hunt unfortunately.

Congrats on a real nice Grouse shot to down that bird! Got to love the old 16 gauge guns.

Leaving the new 16 gauge Bristol Silver when I Grouse hunt next time, my L.C. Smith Guns are calling my name big time.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Love those red phase birds! Nice shooting!

Boon,
My buddy Galen is due to arrive tomorrow about 9:00 AM and we plan on Grouse & Woodcock hunting for a few days here in Potter/Tioga together. I hope the weather stays cool and sunny, we will see. We are both old timers now, he is in his 80's and I am in my mid 70"s, hopefully we will be able to keep up with my young Gordon dog.
Shadow has been coming along quite well, maybe we will get a couple Grouse and Woodcock tomorrow. Then we planed a nice steak dinner when we return to the log cabin. I have been pushing it pretty hard in the Grouse woods this last week, we will see how long I am able to walk the woods tomorrow. I did rest today, was only out for a couple hours close to home.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 27 Nov 2020 Posts: 84 Location: mtns of central PA

Good luck to you. I'll be kicking around the next couple Saturdays or Sundays, depending on when the conditions look right. Haven't decided exactly where yet. The bird numbers seem steady from last year. And they seem a little tougher every time I go...

Joined: 27 Nov 2020 Posts: 84 Location: mtns of central PA