Last week's snowy conditions

[ROMAC]

I rented a place with a few buddies last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We knew we were going to get some weather but decided to go no matter what. We got to the cabin before the weather started and hit the woods. We got just 2 grouse flushes that afternnon after walking 4.9 miles of swamp edges. The conditions were not bad but the ground had about 1/2 inch of crunchy ice formed from a skiff of snow melting then freezing. Every step echoed like walking on broken glass.

The weather started just as we got back to the cabin, by midnight we had 12 inches of heavy snow. We woke up the next day not expecting much given the conditions. Sometimes things just go your way though. There was one set of truck tracks leading in to the parking area we were headed for breaking up the virgin snow. We were going to try a 1,000 acre SGL not far from where we were staying. When we got there it looked like whoever it was pulled in, got out made some tracks around their truck and decided to call it quits. Maybe we did'nt drink enough coffee yet because it never occurred to us that the Game Commission might have beat us there and just did a stocking of birds, but that, apparently is what happened! Two hours later we all had our limits of cock birds and the dogs were in heaven. The snow was just deep enough to make it an exhausting hunt. My hips were singing for days afterwards. We logged 3.1 miles hitting the hedgerows, creekbottoms and fields. 3 Fox Sterlingworths in 16 gauge were used, as well as a Manufrance and a Browning all 16 gauge.

All in all a great time!

[Jeff S]

Grrrrrreat pictures Roger! I'll bet you guys had a ball. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Silvers]

Nice Roger, thanks for making time to take the pics and post. So good to wear about all 16's and the three Sterlies. Sounds like a good and memorable hunt, one that your gang will talk about for years. I assume you used your smart phone health app to get the miles?

We had the same depth of snow here in the northern tier of PA, kind of unusual for this early and as a cabin buddy often comments after waking and seeing bad conditions : "Good Morning America". Last Saturday was our last day of the first grouse split and a friend and I had planned to get out, only 1-4" snow were predicted, but plowing the driveway and other snow work took priority. Seems like the weather forecasters were more accurate when I was a kid and before modern satellites, Dopler radar, computer models, etc. Well now we're back to rain and the snow is almost gone. Our buck season opener yesterday was a complete washout.

[ROMAC]

The group of guys I hunt regularly with have all benefitted from my accumulation of Fox 16 gauge Sterlingworth's. I'm always, as most of us are, looking to upgrade what I have with better examples of Ansley's finest, be it originality, condition, measurements, choke etc.... It's great to see others get excited to get to hunt with them, I've now sold a bunch off to them. But in the end I'm the winner, they have all developed a love for lightweight 16 Foxes and everything else Fox for that matter.

We get to hunt together as a group with Foxes, and they bring the Dogs! LOL!

Frank, yes, I have the app on my phone. It's good for what it is and we have gotten much better at gauging accurately how far we have hunted. 4 miles or thereabouts is a pretty good stroll in the woods.

Lastly, I hunted a full day yesterday. The rain started around 11:00 and was very heavy at times. Best small investment I ever made was buying a set of Fisherman's bibs in loden green. I've been to Alaska 3 times and saw them in use there alot. My guide at the time said they are 100% waterproff until they aren't, and then you can usually fix them with duck tape. I kept them in my pack until the rain started and then slipped them on. Plenty of room so I don't need to take my boots off. My Goretex jacket worked as advertised. Oh, another thing, I found and bought a hunter orange Fedora about 20 years ago. I don't like wearing a hood while deer hunting. In my experience if you take it off for event just a few minutes you'll get a hood full of water down your back when you pull it back on. The Fedoras' wide brim is great for keeping the water from getting in from around your neck.

I saw 5 doe total and let them walk. I did not want to mess with them on such a dreary opening day.

[vaturkey]

Fun day in the field Roger. I am so sick of the rain and swamp like conditions. Hit a SGL twice last week. Freezing temps and frozen on the top followed by 4" of ice cold water. Dog hated it, I hated it, pheasants hated it. The dogs did 29 miles per the GPS and we did 10 miles over the 2 days. Total birds moved were 2 and the only pointed pheasant got to go for a ride in the truck. For whatever reason we moved about 4 Woodcock the entire year and we usually move more then that every hunt. I've come to the conclusion it can be too wet even for Woodcock. Looking a heading to Nebraska late next week to see if we can find some Quail. There's not much here in Va to hunt these days, so the old say "Go West young man" applies. Except in our case it will be 2 old men with a few young dogs.