doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Northern Tier Update

Not necessarily. They won't stick around long if everything is frozen to the point that they can't probe for worms. But if they're still able to feed, they'll often wait for a front accompanied by a strong north wind to help push them south.

I almost never see woodcock up here. At best one or two a year. Not sure why but they simply aren't common here.

Slowly starting to accumulate a few birds in the larder now. You can see back into the cover when walking and the bugs are almost gone. I did hear some crickets singing along the trail yesterday afternoon, but that can't last much longer (getting cold at night here). The mosquitos and gnats seem to have almost disappeared (compared to how they were even a few days ago).

It's been a struggle to get my legs back under me this year (and then deal with all the greenery, heat, and bugs) but things are clealy looking up. Shooting sporting clays regularly last year seems to be paying in spades when a bird flushes now, even when I'm not at full-alert.

Shining times here!

SE MN . . . I can remember swapping reports with a fellow Army Reserve officer (we were both on the staff of the now defunct 205th Inf Bde (Separate/Light). He lived and hunted them in SE MN, often with good results. We lived close enough to enjoy good hunting in NE Iowa. Our best year was 1980, when we recorded 60 flushes on opening weekend. And those birds offered a number of good shooting opportunities. Sadly, since then, things have gone in the other direction. The main problem was cover aging out with little logging and essentially no clearcutting.

Now, having moved to northern Wisconsin, I typically find what Lloyd finds during the early season: Too many leaves resulting in more birds heard than seen, along with too many bugs and too much heat. I did kill a grouse on opening day my first year as a Wisconsin resident. But these days, expecting to shoot a grouse on opening weekend is typically a forlorn hope. The main difference is no shortage of good habitat. But our fortunes don't improve until somewhat later in the season. Fewer leaves and bugs. Cooler weather. And more woodcock to provide some action in the absence of grouse.

Lloyd, do you have much in the way of young aspen where you're hunting? Northern Michigan University did a long study on woodcock in the UP. They concluded that once aspen reaches 10 years of age, it begins to lose its attraction to woodcock.If there's not a regular migration route where you're hunting, you may be mostly out of luck where timberdoodles are concerned.

Mr. Brown: Minnesota seems to want to clear-cut everything anymore (to pay for tampons perhaps?). Many of my old haunts are in recovery from a recent logging event. It bothers me to lose a still-productive trail but I also have a few that have aged-out and are not as productive as they could be. I just hope to live long enough to see them all recover.

Small popples and birch are the rule here, rather than the exception. Jack pines abound as well (planted in the post war years here). If there is more perfect ruffed grouse cover somehwere else, I have yet to hear about it.

I picked up one of those bird carriers when I lived in Morocco 50 years ago. Worked well for the resident Barbary partridge. Even better for the coturnix quail that migrated across the Strait of Gibraltar in the winter. The daily limit on those was 50 which sounds ridiculous. But the first day I really got into them, I bagged 15 and only stopped because I'd used up the one box of shells I had with me. But I think 15 was about the limit for the bird carrier. There always seemed to be a Moroccan willing to accompany us as our beater and guide. They also carried birds for us. We had dogs, so the beater part wasn't as necessary.

I like the carrier in the warmer weather but I do miss my vest. The minimalist stuff has it's moments, but carrier does allow for the more hard-hit birds to bleed all over your trousers while walking...

Also, wearing my Russell's today (1st time this year, dewey grass this morning).

Good eyes Brent.

Lloyd, I was addressing the absence of woodcock, not grouse. We were still getting woodcock in NE Iowa long after grouse were mostly a memory due to habitat loss. But you may be too far west for a major migration route. If so, or if you don't have other habitat types that appeal to woodcock, either of those might explain why you hardly ever see them. They do migrate along the Nebraska-Iowa border. Northern Minnesota certainly has woodcock further east. They always show up in the bag of the Ruffed Grouse/Woodcock Society's National Hunt over around Grand Rapids. Where I live in North Central Wisconsin, if grouse numbers are low, we can usually rely on woodcock until they've all gone south to provide some action. Some years, depending on weather, they're still around after the woodcock season has closed.

Things are improving here, the cover is now optimal and we're seeing more birds.





The Sprucie was an accident but... I didn't see it well enough to warn-off my boy. It'll go into a Kentucky Burgoo this winter.

The sprucie will grill just fine.

Many young birds?