The weather was perfect with a temp of 41 degrees, light breeze and as Jeff said blue bird skies. I decided that my new SPE Skeet gun #34813 would get the call for duty. While I usually use a 16 gauge for grouse hunting it just seemed right to use this SPE w/a 7/8 oz load of #8’s today.
I chose an area in the Manistee National Forest that has 4 Aspen/maple cuts from 2016 interspersed in a bigger block of mature hardwoods. When I arrived and tuned down the two track at 11:15 my heart sunk as there was a truck already parked there but as I got closer a bow hunter was loading his gear back in the truck after a morning hunt. He said no one else had been there for the morning….Bingo!
My plan was to stay on the thick brushy edge of the transition cover of the mature timber and aspen cuts. As Rosey and I got to the back side edge of the first cut she locked up on point. For whatever reason I assumed it was a woodcock so I snapped several pics of her on point. As I snapped the third pic a grouse rocketed straight out in front about 15 yards ahead of where she was on point. Needless to say I was holding my phone and not my gun! Oh well, at least my plan seemed to be working. We hunted the rest of that cut without any further bird contact.
I made a cross through the hardwoods about 500 yards to the second cut. As we rounded the SE corner of that edge a grouse flushed from the low brushy Maple sprouts and flew towards the center of the cut. We continued to work towards the back side of the cut with one more flush out of the low oak and maple shoots. As we neared the NW corner of that cut Rosey when on point to my left in the thick transition cover filled with briars, wild grape and maple shoots. As I moved closer the grouse flushed to the left then swung to the right and I was able to connect with my first shot of the day. Rosey retrieved the bird and as I was admiring it another grouse flushed wild about 30 yards from where she made the retrieve. As we finished that block we had one more flush. We then made a walk through the mature woods and picked up the two track that took us back to the farthest cut off the main road. It sits about a mile back so it doesn’t get a lot of pressure and I was hoping it would hold some birds. Oddly we worked the edge of that whole cut and never moved a bird. We made the loooong trek back to the truck and took a well deserved break before hitting the last covert which is the one closest to the “main” dirt road.
As we worked the South side edge cover of that cut a grouse flushed wild out of the the low brush. As it cleared the top of the cover I took a shot but it kept on sailing unharmed into the the mature timber. As we continued to work towards the SW corner of that edge cover Rosey went on point right at the start of the mature timber and I was slightly down below her. As I made my way to her another grouse flushed and again flew towards the mature timber with no shot offered. We rounded the SW Corner of the covert and Rosey went on point about 100 yards from the last point. I moved forward and got ready for a shot. The bird came out from the base of a big
maple shoot swinging left then back to the right as it swung right and cleared the cover I shot behind the bird then swung through and connected with my second shot dropping it at the base of a mature oak tree. I marked the bird and called Rosey to hunt dead. It took her a minute but she found the grouse and delivered it to me. This bird was a young juvenile from this year’s hatch.
We made our way along the West side edge cover flushing two more birds as we got to the NW corner. As we worked the N side transition cover she went on point two more times with me missing one of those birds and having no shot on the other. We also wild flushed two more grouse and she had a beautiful point on a woodcock to end the hunt at 4:30. As we cut through the mature timber back to the truck I reflected on what a SPEcial day I had had with Rosey and #34813. I keep track of points and flushes on grouse and woodcock. We ended up with six grouse points, ten wild flushes and one woodcock point with two grouse harvested. In my mind it doesn’t get any better than that!!!
