doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Report from the North Country

The opener here is next Saturday, so after mowing and other household chores were done I went for a small "toot" into the forest yesterday to see how things looked. Still very green here (it has rained steadily since my arrival last Tuesday). State budgets are clearly a bit thin up here still as I'm not seeing many of the hunter walking trails receiving much attention as of yet (last year, most of the mowing didn't get done until just before MEA weekend up here).

I have rehabilitated an older SUV that my father-in-law drove for many years up here (an '02 Isuzu Trooper) by having the automatic transmission worked on locally last summer (not a cheap fix, but far-less expensive than replacing it with another vehicle). My wife & I bought this car new in Denver and it was interesting to be driving it again after 23-years. It's full of cobwebs and grime (after sitting in his yard for several years since his demise) but it is much smaller than my older Ford pickup and very nimble (& much easier on gasoline). It's primary mission these days is boat launching (but it's also nice to have a backup 4x4 up here). Because of it's smaller size, I was able to get back into parts of the forest yesterday that are normally off-limits to me (sadly, they are now reserved for the off-roader 4x4s up here, which is a local industry) but the road gates were all open still (likely for maintenance). All of those gates will be closed by next week, so I took the opportunity to see if these roads & associated trails were worth the long walk it would take to hunt them (thankfully they were just allright).

The good news (after driving lots of lonely but beautiful miles) is that I saw several birds-of-the-year on the edge of the roads (small & incautious when compared to mature birds). Last year there were almost no younger birds (and the season was a bit thin accordingly) so this year should be more "normal" (& normal up here is usually pretty wonderful).

We've had several very colds nights here so-far (with even a light frost or two) so the bugs are almost completely gone and the Fall-colors are creeping into the canopy. It wont be long now.

That’s a good preliminary survey.
Hit those trails at dawn, and start clicking on the gps before they close the gates.

Fwiw, it is cold here as well. Should knock the ticks down.

Are those mowed trails on federal or state property? I hunt mostly federal national forest lands to east of you, and uh I have no trails that are mowed at all.

It is definitely green and well watered. How many grouse are out there seems to be a bit ambiguous. D n r drumming counts were down a bit, if that means anything.

The fastest way to build a book of spots is to cruise forest roads at dawn with a “clicker”. A handheld gps with a MOB button.
Repeat at dusk if you want.

nice report...

looking forward to chapter 2...

It seems that woodcock are migrating. The numbers on my property are increasing almost nightly. Perhaps the cool weather recently has them on the move. This does not seem like great habitat for them, and I have yet to see a single worm here. Not even after a long, 2.5'' rainstorm.

Dusty is regularly flushing a few grouse on the property, and we have seen young birds, so we hope to bag a few this weekend.

This was last week up here, just before the last little cold snap...

My neighbor's tomato patch.



Yummy!



Out in the new boat yesterday (it was 80-degrees after 3-nights of light frost). Walleyes and perch were the haul.

It all begins Saturday here.

wonderful...

From mostly green to yellow in just a few days here...

more wonderful...