Well, grouse season is all but wrapped up now with the opening of firearm deer season in Northern Michigan. I hate to see it go. Maybe we'll go a last time or two when the season opens agian in December but we tend to leave the birds alone in the late season--they've got enough on their plate getting ready for winter. If there's not too much snow, I'll run the pups solely for the experience.
It's alwasy bittersweet this time of year. I just don't want to let Fall move into winter. Rifle season is okay for a little while but it gets long for me. And it marks the beginning of production tying, snow shoveling, wood hauling--work. When you you make your career in a fly shop, work isn't supposed to be involved. You just sit around and talk fishing all day (I wish).
This fan is from a nice red-phased grouse I shot this year. Grouse in our area are generally gray phase, so the reds can be rare. There's a thousand theories about grouse and their populations. I find them all weak and incomplete. For example, some folks say that when you start seeing more red phased grouse up here that the grouse numbers are on the rise. Maybe. I thought the overall numbers were down this year and roughly half the birds I shot were reds.
Then there's all the talk about the "cycle". While there is unquestionably some sort of cycle, the reasons are unclear. Much of the talk is a predator/prey argument. The problem is that the predators change depending on the study/theory but the cycle remains the same. Some talk about the bobcat numbers rising or falling, while other studies talk about gosshawks, coyotes, skunks, racoons, etc . . . The other animals likely (I'm guessing here) rise and fall with the grouse numbers and not the other way around--kinda like the hunter numbers. When grouse hunting is great there seems to be many more hunters. My guess is that the grouse cycle is a very complex relationship between the bird and its habitat probably having more to do with food sources and weather.
I gonna miss chasing them this year.
Here's a great link . . . if you like grouse hunting, you'll love the Ruffed Grouse Society .
http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/515/articles/introduction
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5 comments:
Andy: I agree mostly with your observations....grouse sure seemed down the first couple of weeks of Oct. Spent a full week in the Western UP; 3rd week of Oct. In the right spots we moved a lot of birds and shot mostly first year birds. The first 2 weeks of November produced many more birds than the early season...again mostly first year birds...I think the down cycle is greatly exaggerated. By the way this the best woodcock year in a long time and I have been hunting Crawford and Kalkaska County since the late 70's. I am looking forward to early Dec. grouse hunting as long as the snow stays away
I agree . . . this was a great woodcock year. I think we had a wonderful breeding year. Lots of birds. As for grouse, I didn't find as many as in past years, but I also wasn't very versitile. Sorta got stuck in a rut thinking the same old tricks would work. With anything, that's usually a mistake. Started to find birds late. Keep after 'em!
Also, please keep in touch. I love comparing notes.
Andy: I will do a little X Mass shopping next week in Grayling if the shop is open. Of course I will bring my little setter with me...she loves Crawford County.
Looking forward to meeting that little pup. Looks like we might get a chance to let the dogs run around just a bit more. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. See you soon.
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