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

"The Red Gods continue to smile upon me here.

This looks pretty good but don't get too-worked up...these are road birds."

I have it on good sources they will taste just exactly like flying birds! Hitching up, headed up Friday!

Chief

Another good day here. Only 1 road bird this time.

More pix for Ed...



Don't need to do it often, but my brother and I went out and grabbed a bite last night at one of the local "resorts". I see more rainbows up here than anywhere else (look just left of the birdhouse). Not sure why exactly but they are surprisingly fun to see (remembering something biblical I suppose?). A fitting end to the day yesterday. (RIP Charlie Kirk)



Ed, this is why this is sharptail country as well. It is my understanding that many locals prefer to chase these birds over ruffed grouse (huh?). We are on the very edge of the Great Plains here so you do have access to both of those worlds.



Back to the task at hand...and why these guns are referred to as "fishtails".

This is only an "adequate" grouse gun in that it is a bit heavy and it needs to be carried "cocked" (at least by me) in order for it to be reasonably effective. My old Brummy 16 is normally the far better option here (except for when longer shots are called-for as this one has 30-inch full-choked tubes).

I'm planning on a side-trip to North Dakota in mid-October (for prairie birds) so this is my way of "conditioning" myself for that upcoming adventure.

thank you so much...

looking forward to tuning in to your latest adventures...

Lloyd, I know that divide well. In that part of the country, on both sides of the border, it's literally the western edge of the forest. You walk out of the woods and the plains stretch out before you. I love it.

James: It is unique, isn't it?

Sadly, it's also rapidly becoming one of the last refuges of truly-huntable populations of Bonasa Umbellus in these United States. In the world I grew up in (NW Pennsylvania) they are extremely scarce anymore (they were quite plentiful in my youth). My brother tells me that in northern New Hampshire they aren't nearly as depleted (and I'm seeing online that northern Maine may still be in respectable shape as well).

You folks in Canada will likely be the final stand for all that (& from what I understand these birds here are the Canadian Variant, [Togata] as well). I see more hunters here with every passing year. When I first started coming up, 25-years ago now, it was very different place (very empty & no 4-wheelers).

yesterday...



"I want to live with a Cinnamon Girl..."

Lloyd, I'm always surprised when I go to a place like Penn or Mass or upstate NY at just how much wildness there still is, because I have a rough idea of the populations in those places. I feel that way because in Canada, when you go to the wild places, there are effectively no people. Not there and not close by. In the US, with the population you have, even the wild places in the east are thick with people. If I drive 2 hrs north of where I sit and type this, I have 1000 miles to the west and 500 miles to the east of basically empty grouse habitat. It feels endless. And I expect it to feel that way for at least another 50 years.

Now, there are good years and not so good years. Great habitat and not so great habitat. But these are largely naturally occurring circumstances. Not too influenced by man's presence. Just as I need to travel to the US if my goal is to hunt quail, I think it will not be too long before American hunters will need to travel to Canada for good ruffed grouse hunting.

50 years ago, used to hunt the top of a mountain in Putnam county, ny, about 50 miles north of the empire state building...plenty of birds there back then; grouse and pheasant...

but, no coyotes an no turkey varmints needer...

Coyotes go where the people are.