Grouse Opener

Count your blessings…it could have been Chappy that ate it.

Here is the vacumn cleaner her self. I think she was trying to make nice.OHHHH the “I’m sorry look”

Just aint workin’

Ya but if it were Chappy I wouldnt have a bill to pay!!!

And you could just put him down!!

Kind of makes you wonder what dogs think. Why does a pin look appealing? Why does my dog have an affinity for goose crap? Strange beasts, they are!

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Why does my dog have an affinity for goose crap? Strange beasts, they are!

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I remember reading on the internet somewhere that dogs eat what they see their owners eat.

My dog thinks deer crap is a pile of …….

I had a girlfriend that was a Vet Tech and you would not believe what a dog will eat coins. small baby food jar, hot wheels car , spoon , golf-balls as in 17 of them , the most disgusting one was the dog that ate all the cat litter in the litter box and it clumped up in its stomach

get a styrofoam ball a bit bigger than a golf ball, a bunch of those stick pins, add fruit loops to the stick pins and then insert them all over the styrofoam ball, makes cool Christmas tree ornaments projects for the Girlscouts. Now imagine a dog helping herself to the Christmas tree decorations! Was a pretty cool x-ray picture of the dogs stomache though! Million dollar dog.

Opening weekend is staring us straight in the face.
I ran my dog yesterday and busted a brood but man were they tiny. Freakishly tiny. She also flushed two turkeys.
I’ll be hitting it this weekend and next in northern sconny and the arrowhead. They Ely shortly after that. Looking forward to it immensely. Anyone else heading out this weekend or soon?

My first crack will be the weekend of the 27th and again the following weekend.

Bring on October. I hate hunting on shorts.

Weather looks good for morning hunts this weekend at least.
That will be good enough for me with fishing in the afternoon!! Unless I’m seeing birds then I might have to go back out Sat evening.

My 10 month old pup Bolt and I will be hitting Bigfork this weekend.

Looking forward to his first hunt on wild birds.

Love this weather!! Tomorrow morning is going to be sweet. Just getting out with my shotgun will be all I need. I wouldn’t mind getting a bird or so but on opener it is not necessary for a successful trip. Good luck!!!!

I beginning to chomp at the bit too.

Ducks next weekend and grouse the following two weekends. The following weekend home to give the little lady some love and lawn mowing followed by chasing ditch chicken starting Wednesday the 16th.

I love this time of year.

Good luck, grousers!

Good luck men!!

I didn’t stray too far from the cabin since my niece came up and I am entertainment director. I had one flush at my favorite Wis opener spot but cleanly missed it. That was the fewest I have ever seen/heard there hunting. Never saw another hunter. I ended up picking hazel nuts. On Sunday I went to a different area but never got out of the truck in the rain. I did come up on a covey on an isolated 2-track but they were so scrawny their tails hadn’t even popped out yet. I said hello to them as I drove past. Hopefully this up coming 4-day weekend on the north shore sees opportunity. I’ll take some rods too.

Toughest year I have ever had. We stunk it up on the north shore but the weather was a huge factor. Rained most of the time we were there then when it stopped raining it got very windy. Two things that keep grouse hunkered in tight. Hopefully weather cooperates in two weeks for Ely. One thing for sure across both Wi and MN is the fact that grouse nested late or lost their first nests. Confirmed in talking with people and my own experience. I let 3 birds slide on the north shore because they were so tiny and underdeveloped. My young partner was not happy with me…

The area we stayed was so beautiful. There were remote lakes and streams everywhere. I was so curious about the fishing whenever I drove by one. I did take a rod and caught two smallies in the lake we stayed on. Crooked Lake.

Well, I’m off for the first grouse hunt of my season leaving this afternoon for the Side Lake area. Looks to be a nice weekend if the rain stays away.

I hope you get some. Good luck!

How did it go? I am sick to hear that its supposed to rain this weekend. I have Friday off and headed to Ely. I cant get a break grouse hunting this year.

Intermittent rain and big wind last Friday, rain and big wind Saturday and a nice Sunday. I saw as many birds Sunday morning as I did all day Friday and Saturday combined. No birds in the bag and took only 4 shots.

It seems my area is now on the decline. Though it could be the weather and holding birds tight. I don’t know.

The last three seasons a guy could shoot a limit each day if he ground it out and was shooting well. Tyler and I would come home with a dozen birds easily. Oh well, those days will be back in a few years.

Exactly what I am seeing. I know there are pockets and some people that stumble into them claim high numbers but they seem exceptionally low overall to me now. I wouldn’t even consider going to any of my low-potential areas now like McGregor.

We took good numbers of grouse last year and we hunted a pretty small area. From what I’ve seen this year, I think I’m just going to skip the grouse this time around. I’ve never had to “pound the ground” to find multiple birds on the 80 acres I frequent. So far this year, I’ve seen one bird worth taking and I just let it go…..mostly because it just wasn’t going to be a good shot anyway. Any other year that’s been like this, the family just decided to ease up on the pressure and I’m ready to do the same this year. Guess I’ll just have to chase muskies instead!

Hit 3 different areas in MN over the last few weekends heard 1 drumming saw 5 shot 3. All birds seen have been young of the year and all but one had full tail feathers. My son whiffed one that looked like it had short tail feathers.

I have noticed a ton of food in the woods this year compared to last years famine. Dogwoods are heavy, highbush cranberries, hazelnuts, alder, and lots of clover.

Just missed seeing a bear from the looks of the tracks. Colors were awesome last weekend. Should be a little thinner this weekend with the rain and wind.

Ferny.

Cool pics Ferny.

Agreed! Those are awesome photos.

I got one by Ely this weekend before it started raining.

Tough weekend, again. Precipitation and wind didn’t help.

Our area has an abundance of woodcock this year. More than I have ever seen before. In fact I have seen more woodcock than grouse.

With that said; why is it that many dogs, including mine, don’t like to pick up woodcock?