Spent 4 hours in the Michigan UP woods. No dog.

12 flushes and 1 in the skillet. Leave are still VERY thick and not much color yet.

It was a great day.

up-- but a dog to point and hold those birds-and a nice inherited Purdey light 12 bore- a la George Bird Evans used in his "prime" might be even greater..RWTF

Awesome! I am hoping to accomplish a no-dog grouse one day myself, or any grouse for that matter. Not many of them left here in Georgia.

Ithaca1,
Spent last Friday in the Lower on the West side w/dog purposely hunting some new covers. Thick leaves and crazy thick ferns and underbrush since we haven’t had a frost yet. Still an enjoyable day!

A friend who hunts dogless has put one bird in the freezer. Where I'm hunting--with one well experienced dog and another that's gaining more experience--we're simply not finding grouse. We are starting to find more woodcock, but not all that many of them either. Right now I'm working at giving the dogs more time in the woods. And giving us a chance to find places where my hunting guests (who will arrive in a week plus) might see some birds. I've had a few nice points on woodcock where I thought I might get a shot. But as others have said, it's still pretty thick. Some strong winds and cold weather have brought down leaves and the ferns are turning brown. Starting to look more and more like better hunting conditions.

We may relocate one of our hunts to the UP. I have a friend up there with a cabin. If he's finding more birds than I am, I have no problem heading north rather than having him head south.