Grouse Tales

Before turning our attention to a week of November moose hunting and the opening of deer season, we enjoyed another couple of productive weeks of bird hunting in northern Aroostook County. Our two German shorthaired pointers (Grace and Alli) performed remarkably well after waiting months for their favorite time of the year and sitting out while we were guiding moose hunters. They did get a few days afield when we could treat our tagged-out moose hunters to a few days of grouse hunting. Alli did see some pre-season action that got her tuned-up for the real deal. While running bear baits I had allowed Alli to ride shotgun; she got some much needed exercise on those days. She was rewarded for her patience waiting for me to “dump & run” dozens of buckets of bait. She alertly watched me enter the woods and anticipated my return, always wanting to join me for these brief excursions. At the end of our daily trips she learned to look forward to the opportunity to “free run” in front of the truck on some of the seldom traveled branch roads. It was excellent exercise for the upcoming bird season when she would spend hours searching covers for grouse and woodcock. She was building stamina and conditioning muscles. She also developed new talent for sniffing out grouse hiding in the grasses along roadsides. The first time I saw her slam on point I couldn’t imagine what had caught her attention. I stopped the truck, got out to investigate, and low and behold a covey of young grouse burst in to flight in all directions! WOW! I think Alli was as surprised as I was to see the birds go! I expressed my gratitude with a pat on the head and a “good girl” then sent her down the road again. We repeated this exercise many times in August and September. Come October I had plans for this new technique…

Wayne had never seen Alli “road” grouse. I told him about it but he thought the story was an exaggeration until one afternoon we had a chance to hunt over the dogs together. Wayne and I take turns when hunting together over the dogs…first bird was his and whether he missed or bagged it, the next would be mine. It kept the hunt fair, and competitive! After alternating Grace and Alli in several covers and bagging a couple of grouse, I suggested we try this new method. It was a warm, sunny day and we’d already spooked several grouse from the roadsides. Wayne had two grouse after I missed my first opportunity of the day, so it was my turn again…We’d taken a right off the main haul road when I suggested we put Alli out. Wayne was skeptical. She loped in front of us, occasionally casting in to a cover. Her white coat allowed us to keep track of her location through the dense cover when she trotted in, then out of the woods as we cruised along. I’d been bragging about her abilities so was excited and hopeful she would soon find a bird. Then she did it! Soon after taking a right on to another branch road she slid to a stop, nose at a distinct angle toward the ground directly in front of her. Wayne stopped the truck, I opened the door to step out and drop two shells in my Winchester 101 when the grouse literally flew up in to my face and rocketed across the windshield, down in to the cedars on the opposite side. I redirected Alli and we were off on a wild grouse chase! She quickly relocated the bird and as it flew back from where it came, I fired and there it fell – the first grouse shot over “Alli-the-wonder-dog”. We used this technique several other times during the season with similar results. It is a fun way to bust birds off the road sides on those days when hunting is slow.

Dewitt Davies drove up from Long Island, New York, on October 24th for his ninth guided grouse hunt. He hunted over Grace when she was a pup, and was there to hunt over Alli her first season. Grace is now 7, Alli 3 is years old. I had to work the first day of Dewitt’s hunt so Wayne guided him to a limit of grouse. The pressure was on when it was my turn (remember, we’re a competitive pair!) It turned out to be a rainy day but our spirits would not be dampened. I knew where we’d left several grouse near a stream bed in Pennington. Those grouse were there every time I checked on them. With a momentary break from the rain we parked the truck and decided to hunt the birds up on our own. I instructed Dewitt on where to expect the birds and sure enough, soon after crossing the stream three birds quickly took to flight. Dewitt downed one. I collected the bird and stowed it in my vest. We took to the woods to hunt up the other two, searching the ground and scanning the trees until I spotted one of the grouse on the branch of a tall fir, neck stretched, ready for flight. Dewitt eyed the bird just as it launched, he fired, and another bird fell for the bag! At this rate we might have a limit of grouse before lunchtime. We never did find the third grouse and as the rain returned, and increased, we stared back to the truck. After walking 20 minutes out after a 5 minute walk in I had to admit I was “turned around.” “Dewitt, I don’t quite know where we are” I confessed. He questioned, “You’re kidding, right?” No, I was not kidding. I had left my compass at the truck for this quick in-and-out hunt but now the only indication of direction was the distant sound of an occasional logging truck traveling Route 11. Heading off toward Route 11, while a sure thing, would take us a couple miles through some low, dense and wet country. Dewitt had a compass in his pocket, a never used gift from his grandfather. He handed it to me and I decided to do some dead reconing – pick a direction and go with it. There were familiar geographic features but with a low ceiling I couldn’t be sure if the map in my head was in fact a correct mapping of the features I was trying to interpret. We finally walked in to an old clear-cut. Since modern clear cuts are made with heavy equipment, that equipment must be brought in on the road system. We just had to walk the clear cut to find the road. I knew the road system so although it might be a long walk, it would be an easy walk back to the truck on a dirt road. An hour and 16 minutes after declaring myself “lost”. We were back to the truck looking like a couple of drowned rats! Back at the lodge for lunch and dry clothes we talked about our adventure. Dewitt asked what we would have done had it been late afternoon and darkness fell? I explained we would have made the most of what we had – the safety of a clear cut – we’d have walked it until daylight then walked out, like we had just done. When he confessed spending the night in the woods made him uncomfortable I explained that it would them become my responsibility as his guide to gain his trust in my ability to keep him safe. At that moment it occurred to me – why would Dewitt trust me, it was me who got us lost in the first place! We both laughed long and hard!

Dewitt went safely back to New York with his limit of grouse, anticipating cooking them for his family for Christmas.

NOTE: I received a call from Dewitt on Christmas day – he wanted to tell me how delicious the grouse had been and how much he enjoyed cooking them with his new son-in-law. We never know how our adventures in the woods of Maine will be shared with others or how one memory of a hunt extends and adds to other memories, long after the hunt.