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Ruffed Grouse, Pheasant and Woodcock hunting, bird dogs, and good food and storytelling. Those descriptions pretty well sum up the long weekend that I have planned as the start of the Upland bird season gets under way for me. Tonight I head up to the club/camp and enjoy the annual tradition of meeting with some friends, storytelling with a cold beer, and settle in for the night as we all wait for Saturday’s opening day of hunting for Ring Neck Pheasant in Massachusetts.
Then it’s time to pack up and head up to camp in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont to spend a few days hunting the Ruffed Grouse. Those big deep woods of the Kingdom is a special place for me and I have been fortunate enough to have hunted there many times during the years. Ruffed Grouse are known as the “King of the Upland Game Birds” because they are extremely difficult for a dog to consistently find, point, and hold. This time of year especially, when there are still many leaves clinging to the branches of the trees. In a lot of the scenarios, we will be putting up birds that the dog does not see, or sees for only a fraction of a second before they disappear behind the thick foliage that makes for very tough hunting conditions.
But these are also those precious few weeks that can be devoted to upland birds before the other activities of the fall season will inevitably intervene. For me, these adventures are also about renewing those old friendships with the friends that I just don’t get to see as often as I’d like anymore. Those many stories and tales that have become such an important part of the lore of camp life, as we relax around the wood stove at night and remember the day’s adventures in the woods chasing The Ruff.
I wont be posting here for a few days, No signal in the woods.
Bob Dylan once called Smokey Robinson “America’s greatest living poet”, I guess the Nobel committee didn't buy it...He has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature. Well deserved
Then it’s time to pack up and head up to camp in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont to spend a few days hunting the Ruffed Grouse. Those big deep woods of the Kingdom is a special place for me and I have been fortunate enough to have hunted there many times during the years. Ruffed Grouse are known as the “King of the Upland Game Birds” because they are extremely difficult for a dog to consistently find, point, and hold. This time of year especially, when there are still many leaves clinging to the branches of the trees. In a lot of the scenarios, we will be putting up birds that the dog does not see, or sees for only a fraction of a second before they disappear behind the thick foliage that makes for very tough hunting conditions.
But these are also those precious few weeks that can be devoted to upland birds before the other activities of the fall season will inevitably intervene. For me, these adventures are also about renewing those old friendships with the friends that I just don’t get to see as often as I’d like anymore. Those many stories and tales that have become such an important part of the lore of camp life, as we relax around the wood stove at night and remember the day’s adventures in the woods chasing The Ruff.
I wont be posting here for a few days, No signal in the woods.
Bob Dylan once called Smokey Robinson “America’s greatest living poet”, I guess the Nobel committee didn't buy it...He has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature. Well deserved
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