My only, actual double on ruffed grouse happened on a very rainy day, years ago, in Pine County, MN.; in the company of my first Setter, a Gordon called "Stoke":
There are a few things you can tell from the photo. A Darne R10 was used, it is raining hard enough for everything to be soaked, and there are two grouse on my leg. We quit after the photo, just too unpleasant to be out.
Even better than my shooting that day, was the performance of that dog, who pointed bird number one, a nice easy for me crossing left shot, stayed on point until bird number two flushed, a not so easy crossing right shot for me, then retrieved bird number one, bringing it to rest on top of bird number two, picking up both and bringing them to me.
Yes, there are witnesses. It was a heck of a feat, from start to rain soaked end. I bought that dog when I was 27, he died when I was 43, and was the best bird dog I have ever been around. Mean as hell, but, absolute best.
I miss him.
Another snowy/rainy day, another Setter:
This was "Gypsy", a Sando dog, although I will be candid, and state I'm not sure what Rod Sando, former DNR commisioner in Minnesota was attempting to do. She was a mutt in English setter terms, with outcrosses to completely unrelated hunting and show stock. She was a healthy dog her entire life, durable as a truck, and, outside of breed standard for an English female, 75 lbs in her prime. She was a specialist on pheasants, and developed a style on late season running roosters that put them on hold, a set and relocate trick that fooled those birds into sitting tight. If she ever handled a grouse well, I missed it, but, she lived through a time when the grouse population plummeted and stayed there, so, we hunted pheasants. She is shown on a day that started out with freezing rain on top of snow, that quickly cooled to sub zero temps, and turned into a blizzard that persisted for two days.
Yes, we continued hunting. When you found birds, usually holed up in a piece of low slew in a picked corn field, you found 150 of them. The dogs would point into a howling wind from 50 yards, and we would move in.
She wasn't wet at this point. But, I had to walk back to the car, and dry her off, and warm her up for perhaps an hour when she became hypothermic. You have to watch Setters for that in Minnesota.
A sweet dog, that never hurt a fly, but, was a super pheasant hunter.
This one pointed this bird twice before I got it:
The orange belton Setter is tough to see in a snow storm. Before this photo of "Louise" or Louie, was taken, the day featured light rain, mostly a mist, that turned into big, heavy, clumps of snow some time later. The dog went on point, but, I could not see her. The bird fushed perhaps twenty yards to my right, and the dog had pointed the bird from perhaps 30-35 yards. Wet conditions are good scent conditions. Later, the sun came out, it warmed up, and I could see the dog's second point on what I think was the same bird, perhaps 1/2 mile from the first point.
My experience only, but, while just as bird crazy as the Gordon, neither English I owned was as intelligent, or as natural a retriever as the Gordon. They are/were, much more pleasant housedogs, and take to strangers, women and children better than my Gordon did. The Gordon truly hated all three, and when the house I bought was rural, and had been broken into 7 times, according to the previous owner, the Gordon ended that run. He wouldn't fit into the neighborhood as it is today.
Rain and snow don't slow me down too much. Most of my hunts are pre-planned, and if I don't go, I won't get to go. Woods and fields are empty of other hunters, save crazy people like me. I have done very well, and, been skunked on wet days, same as dry days.
I have a gun or two that doesn't go out in the rain. Most of them, do.
Best,
Ted
