Grouse Odyssey 2012

Rich promises a write-up (as in "Right . . . yup"), so here's a couple of pics from last week's Odyssey.

Here's Phoebe with her sire Bandit on the left and littermate Daisy in the middle.

That's littermate Daisy, not illiterate Daisy

Here's our pirate flag.  Rich will explain.

Long may she wave

Here's Rich still working and not following through on his God-given right to relax on his God-given right to enjoy a weekend/vacation.  We cured him of that with good old-fashioned ridicule. 

Rich not relaxing

Here's Rich in Munising, MI.  After he relaxed.

Rich relaxing.  Feel better now Dude?

I think that's about it for photos right now.

Why Grouse Hunting the U.P. Ain't for Sissies!

Cougar Photographed by Michigan Trail Cam Suggests Resident Population in Upper Peninsula

New dogge

Some grousers already know about my new dog.  Ezra is a six-month old setter from Chuck and Nancy Thurston's Whispering Woods kennel in Michigan.  I was on my way through Michigan a couple of weeks ago to the Orion board meeting and so arranged to stop by the Thurstons' to take a look at the dog.  Six hours of visiting later, I was pretty much committed but knew I had to run it by She-Whom-We-All-Know-Must-Be-Consulted-With-First.

Well, luckily Wendy has never met a dog that she didn't like, so she deliberated for a second or so and then said yes.  Now, one of the things that I knew about the dog ahead of time (and one reason why he was still available), is that he had developed a limp at five months.  The Thurstons had had him checked out, x-rayed, etc., and they told me he was fine according to their vet.  The limp had cleared up by the time I saw him, so I committed to the purchase.

Brought him home--beautiful dog, one of the calmest dogs we have ever seen.  But wouldn't you know it, the first day out with Wendy's boxer, running up and down the trail, and Ezra pulled up lame again.  So we made a vet appointment to have him checked out again and arranged to have the Michigan vet's x-rays sent to our vet in Trumansburg.

Well . . .  the Michigan vet had missed the fact that Ezra has a hairline fracture to one of the bones in his elbow.  Our vet expressed surprise that the Michigan doctor hadn't caught the fracture in the x-ray.  But in some ways this is a relief, as I had done enough internet research to start worrying about everything from elbow dysplasia to hypertrophic osteodystrophy. Good news is, with restricted activity the dog should heal on his own, with no lasting effects, in 10-14 weeks from the original injury, that is, if we can keep him from re-injuring it.

So there you have it. A new addition to the stable, and instantly the best-mannered house dog (next to Aldo) in the bunch.  He should be a nice addition to our grouse camp ponies.

New dogge

DOUBLE!

Nothing like waiting until the last minute. My brother, Chris, and I hunted Monday morning. Spring turkey season ended today. We had the whole month of May to chase turkeys, but due to weather, wary birds, and poor calling technique just hadn't been able to get it done. Monday was going to be it for both of us. We hunted a brand new location that we'd just gotten access to, but one in which we've see quite a few birds. Unfortunately the evening before we had a significant storm come through right before dark - 75 mph straight line winds and heavy rain. Turns out the winds knocked down what seemed like half of the mature trees in the woodlot we sat on the edge of and where we thought birds were roosting (didn't realize this until the sun came up).

Anyway, nothing gobbled from the roost anywhere around us that morning. About 6:15, Chris spots a Tom come into the field we were watching from the NE (to our right). Seemed responsive to our calling, but couldn't get him to come any closer than 100yds. Eventually a couple hens showed up and pulled him even further away. We sat there and watched the show for a couple hours. Figured we were screwed. Hens eventually decided to head to the NE (again back to our right), and toward a location that we might be able to ambush the Tom if he continued to follow, which he was. So we slowly backed into the woods from our location and tried to sneak through the woodlot. This is when we discovered all the trees laying on their sides. Trying to get into position was more of challenging then we thought. Chris and I separated as we made our way around the downed trees and to where we thought the birds would come through. By the time I got into position, the hens had already made their way through the field we were watching and into an adjacent field. Fortunately, we hadn't disturbed them. But still no Tom. Eventually I moved enough to where I could see Chris and he signaled that the Tom was still in the main field. We slowly continued to sneak into position.

The Tom had hung up in the main field, but was close. Another 10-15 yds and he should be in range. Unfortunately he decided not to follow the hens, but headed back in the direction he just came and away from us. That's when Chris noticed another bird. When I finally saw the other bird, it came running up to the Tom. They were both now 100+yds to our SW. Again we figured we screwed this all up. Chris and I stood behind the top of a downed tree and watched these 2 birds mess around in the middle of the field. Chris thought the other bird was a hen, but by it's behavior I thought it might be a Jake. Fortunately I had my rangefinder with me and could just make out the stub of a beard on the 2nd beard. Definitely a Jake. About that time I notice a hen had snuck out into the field to the north (almost behind us, to our right). Chris and I were exposed and assumed busted, but the hen just stood there. After about 10 minutes of just standing there like statues the hen began to feed. Chris then says, "hey they're headed this way and running!" The Tom and Jake must have seen the hen and were beelining it in our direction. Chris squatted behind the downed tree top and I set up off to his right. He says what's our plan - on 3 and you take the bird on the right? Sure! The two birds were on us in no time, moving left to right. They were at about 50-60 yds. The big Tom was in the lead. I had to wait until the Jake cleared the edge of the downed tree top, so Chris had a shot too. I now had a clear shot but the Jake wasn't in position yet. Unfortunately the Tom saw something he didn't like and I could see was starting to get nervous. The Jake needed to come forward another 10 feet, but about that time the Tom did a pirouette and was buggin out. No time for 1-2-3. He took my #5 Winchester Supreme turkey load right in the noggin and dropped in his tracks. This left Chris a bit out of position and he had to raise up on his knees to get a clear shot of the Jake. His shot was bit rushed, but found its mark. He knocked the bird down, but he needed a 2nd shot to be certain.

A fricken double on the 2nd to last day of the season. First time we took birds when we were together and we both took a bird. Very memorable!!!






Chris ended up taking a 15 lb Jake. Mine was a 24 lb Tom with a 10 inch beard and 1 and a half inch daggers for spurs!! Could have easily gone the other way, I just happened to be in the position to take the first bird and it was the big Tom.

Great way to end our spring turkey season!!

Phoebe near Kenneth, Michigan

Here's another pic from the trip.  Woodcock were spotty, as usual.  Had a good first day on the eastern U.P. and landed these three bogsuckers with Phoebe.

I must say I got to see good work on woodcock from Bill's dog Maya and also from Rich's Conley, he of the earlier Pillsbury Doughboy fame.

My GPS crapped out on me last week, so Pete, no coordinates for you.  Sorry.