11-2-23 Grouse Hunt
Most of my chronicles are focused on fishing, however I recently went on a trip with my father and an old friend to grouse hunt in New Hampshire. Growing up, if I wasn’t fly fishing, there was a good possibility I would be grouse hunting or at a skeet shooting competition. I met a lot of great people on the skeet field, and one of those people is Dr. Gary Trilli. We’ve been in contact since I moved from Pittsburgh about 20 years ago and finally found some time to get together and hunt.
I’ve hunted New Hampshire before and had some pretty good numbers of birds in the past. My father and I left New Jersey and Gary headed out from Pittsburgh. We had my GSP puppy Sage, this was going to be her first real hunt. The first 8 months of her life, she was battling meningitis which made it tough to get out and hunt with her. My father was also going to bring his dog, who has a lot more experience.
Gary had hunted in Maine about 2 weeks prior and the reports weren’t great. Apparently there was a very wet spring which made it tough on the ground nesting grouse, but I’m always optimistic. 2 hours into the first morning and we had yet to even hear a flush, but the silence was broken with some yelps from the dogs. Both dogs came out of the cover with a face full of porcupine quills! Fortunately, they weren’t in too deep and we were able to pull them out pretty easily. Neither dog seemed to care and both were ready to get back after it.
As the day went on, it was more of the same, lots of great cover but not many birds. We had 2 flushes in the first spot and my dad managed to get a shot off at 1, but did not connect. Sage was starting to figure things out and getting some scent from those birds seemed to get her even more fired up. We went from spot to spot and only had a few more flushes to show for it. Near the end of the day, I noticed both dogs smelling hard and getting birdy. Unfortunately the grouse did not hold tight enough for the dogs to point, it flushed about 15 yards ahead of the dogs and crossed through an opening. I was able to get a shot off and connected with the bird.
At this point, I got pretty pumped to see if Sage was going to retrieve it, I was pretty hopeful she was going to bring it back without any problems. Well, that didn’t quite work out and she decided to stop half way and start ripping some feathers out for herself! Ohh well, we always have something to work on. At least she got to get a good smell of a grouse and knew what we were after.
That night, as I was cleaning the bird, I noticed a lot of damage, so I assumed the dog was at fault. However, I was using a brand new side by side 28 gauge that my parents got me for my 40th birthday and after some conversations with dad and Gary, they had informed me that I put the full choke in my gun instead of the cylinder, which probably explains most of the damage. Well, I’ve been out of the shotgun game for a while and those guys definitely had a good time reminding me of that.
The next day we headed out to a new area that we hunted 2 years prior. The cover is thick and most of the hunting is on the side of a mountain, so the walking can get sketchy. I put my dad and Gary on the logging road and I went busting through the brush with Sage. After an hour, we had a few old grouse tracks and bear prints that looked to be from the day before. I headed back to the logging road and joined my dad and Gary. As we all walked down the logging road together, a pair of grouse took off about 15 yards away, one went up the mountain and the other took a hard right. I was able to get a shot off at the bird that went up and connected, Gary got a shot at the second bird but it was pretty tough given the path it took through the heavy brush.
Another opportunity for Sage to retrieve, and again, she decided to pluck the bird on her way towards me. Two nice male grouse in 2 days and all I had were about 3 feathers left in the tail fan. Given it was her first two retrieves, I wasn’t upset at all and I know I need to spend a little less time on the trout stream and more time training her.
We ended up hunting hard the next few hours and then headed back to the cabin. Dad brought his charcoal grill and made some rice and kabobs which were delicious. Given the lack of birds around, we decided to call it a trip and all headed back home the next morning. On the drive back, I couldn’t help but notice all the amazing looking rivers and streams through New Hampshire and Vermont. Perhaps I’ll have to plan another trip with fly rod in tow.