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cwalt

MH
Posts:180

10/16/2007 8:54 AM
Very dry in the woods and birds are scarce in a lot of covers. Most small brooks are dry and fire danger is relatively high. This is actually an extended summer although evenings are quite cool. We usually have rain in October and November but there hasn't been a lot. The dryness hasn't affected the dogs' scenting or tracking. Very few rabbits and dragonflies are, quite unusualy, still abundant. I have little doubt about the magnitude of climate change here in New England. The most noticably scarce birds are migrating woodcock, they're setting down in the few remaining areas of moist soil and their distribution is very haphazard. Ruffed grouse are not scarce but they too are concentrated near available surface water. There are some benefits, ducks are more predictable... if you can find open water you can find ducks. Have not observed the usual numbers of juvenile black ducks in lakes and ponds this summer but adults are abundant. My grandson downed his first ruffed grouse last week with a .410! My son got a few grouse and filled out his permit with a 1100+ pound bull moose with a 56 inch wide rack. Single heart shot at 150 meters with a 30/06. We have about 200 pounds of fresh moose meat in our freezer and my son has more than 200 pounds in his freezer. We have meat and the deer season hasn't opened yet. Have been eating grouse, moose tenderloin and apple pies for the past week. Cj

jerry

JH
Posts:31

10/16/2007 9:15 AM
It was dry here in New Hampshire for much of August and September, but we've gotten a lot of rain in the past couple of weeks. There are about average numbers of woodcock and grouse around, and substantially more geese than normal. Juvenile duck production was low this year due to cold, wet conditions and high water levels this past spring. While that did reduce brood success, it promoted adult survival. At least that's what our state waterfowl biologist told me. We have good moist conditions here. Our first frost of the year occured Saturday morning and that has brought out the fall colors on the trees. I can't say I've noticed climate change here in NH, just a pretty typical dry spell in mid to late summer. Of course, I'm not as far north as you are by a few miles, but it seems quite normal here. Congratulations on the moose! I haven't been drawn for the NH permit since 2000 and we miss that wonderful moose meat. I'm going to stroll around in the back 40 at lunch time looking for turkeys instead. We've been doing quite well this year on pheasants and geese and the freezer is beginning to fill up once again. Cj wrote: > Very dry in the woods and birds are scarce in a lot of covers. Most > small brooks are dry and fire danger is relatively high. This is > actually an extended summer although evenings are quite cool. We > usually have rain in October and November but there hasn't been a > lot. The dryness hasn't affected the dogs' scenting or tracking. > Very few rabbits and dragonflies are, quite unusualy, still abundant. > I have little doubt about the magnitude of climate change here in New > England. > > The most noticably scarce birds are migrating woodcock, they're > setting down in the few remaining areas of moist soil and their > distribution is very haphazard. Ruffed grouse are not scarce but they > too are concentrated near available surface water. There are some > benefits, ducks are more predictable... if you can find open water you > can find ducks. Have not observed the usual numbers of juvenile black > ducks in lakes and ponds this summer but adults are abundant. > > My grandson downed his first ruffed grouse last week with a .410! My > son got a few grouse and filled out his permit with a 1100+ pound bull > moose with a 56 inch wide rack. Single heart shot at 150 meters with > a 30/06. We have about 200 pounds of fresh moose meat in our freezer > and my son has more than 200 pounds in his freezer. We have meat and > the deer season hasn't opened yet. Have been eating grouse, moose > tenderloin and apple pies for the past week. > Cj >

stuwest

JH
Posts:39

10/16/2007 2:50 PM
may you get fat... Stu, Dawn & Hunter West Founder, Pointing Labradors "Letting Labs Point the Way!" Alma Bottom Pointing Labradors N4758 350th Street, Elmwood, WI 54740 (715) 639-3900 h&w (715)684-9892 cell StuWest@AlmaBottom.com www.AlmaBottom.com Cj wrote: > Very dry in the woods and birds are scarce in a lot of covers. Most > small brooks are dry and fire danger is relatively high. This is > actually an extended summer although evenings are quite cool. We > usually have rain in October and November but there hasn't been a > lot. The dryness hasn't affected the dogs' scenting or tracking. > Very few rabbits and dragonflies are, quite unusualy, still abundant. > I have little doubt about the magnitude of climate change here in New > England. > > The most noticably scarce birds are migrating woodcock, they're > setting down in the few remaining areas of moist soil and their > distribution is very haphazard. Ruffed grouse are not scarce but they > too are concentrated near available surface water. There are some > benefits, ducks are more predictable... if you can find open water you > can find ducks. Have not observed the usual numbers of juvenile black > ducks in lakes and ponds this summer but adults are abundant. > > My grandson downed his first ruffed grouse last week with a .410! My > son got a few grouse and filled out his permit with a 1100+ pound bull > moose with a 56 inch wide rack. Single heart shot at 150 meters with > a 30/06. We have about 200 pounds of fresh moose meat in our freezer > and my son has more than 200 pounds in his freezer. We have meat and > the deer season hasn't opened yet. Have been eating grouse, moose > tenderloin and apple pies for the past week. > Cj >

cwalt

MH
Posts:180

10/16/2007 3:02 PM
From: "Jerry" > It was dry here in New Hampshire for much of August and September, but > we've gotten > a lot of rain in the past couple of weeks. There are about average numbers > of woodcock > and grouse around, and substantially more geese than normal. Juvenile duck > production > was low this year due to cold, wet conditions and high water levels this > past spring. While > that did reduce brood success, it promoted adult survival. At least that's > what our state > waterfowl biologist told me. Geese seem to be thick here in the spring and bypass us in the fall. We haven't had much rain in northeastern Maine, we're on the New Brunswick border. It would be nice to find some woodcock for training purposes. Cj

cwalt

MH
Posts:180

10/16/2007 3:06 PM
From: "Stu West" > may you get fat... Probably will until the War Department leaves camp... eating my own cooking is a pretty fast way to lose weight. I tend to use the smoke alarm as a cooking timer... when it's black it's done. Cj

jerry

JH
Posts:31

10/16/2007 3:10 PM
Cj wrote: Geese seem to be thick here in the spring and bypass us in the fall. We haven't had much rain in northeastern Maine, we're on the New Brunswick border. It would be nice to find some woodcock for training purposes. Cj A friend of mine runs a very pretty GSP and has been doing well on woodcock this fall. How you people can manage to hit those things is beyond me... We always have some geese every fall but this year promises to be a very good one.

cwalt

MH
Posts:180

10/17/2007 10:41 AM
From: "Jerry" > A friend of mine runs a very pretty GSP and has been doing well on > woodcock this fall. > How you people can manage to hit those things is beyond me... > > We always have some geese every fall but this year promises to be a very > good one. ~~~~~~~~~~ Woodcock shooting, like woodcock eating, is an acquired taste and your body language has to develop to the point at which you can shoulder the gun and fire before you can visually focus on the bird. My woodcock shooting ability has declined along with my hearing since I originally learned to start my swing on the sound of the bird's flush. I've got hearing aids but they don't help much with a slower reaction to the flush. They're a great bird for teaching young dogs since they hold so well at the approach of a dog. With some good flocks of flight birds you can get your dog on a couple of dozen birds in a relatively short time. In my view they're more valuable for the dog's development so I rarely harvest them unless we're planning for a barbecue. We just don't get the geese in the hunting season but as a worthy substitute we've got turkeys all over the place and they're steadily spreading northwards throughout the state. When I go deer hunting I'm surrounded by turkeys, of course when I'm spring turkey hunting I call up a lot of whitetail deer... it's usually the "you can't win" department around here. I'm fairly lucky in one respect, my dogs don't seem to go after the turkeys and stick with the grouse. I think that's a learned behavior since I cannot shoot turkeys in the regular hunting season and I just ignore them when a young dog starts tracking them. That's a very interesting subject... how rapidly a young bird dog learns to ignore song birds and non-game birds when you ignore them. Cj

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