# 2013 Bird Season Reports



## N M Mechanical

2ESRGR8 said:


> My Hifive pup had a good day.


 
I see you are hunting inside of the "Club"


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## FindTheBird

2ESRGR8 said:


> My Hifive pup had a good day.


Looks like somebody forgot to tell that pup that pointers are not grouse dogs

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## quack head

Double Tap said:


> Not a bad day in the woods today. Good dog work, Plenty of woodcock. The highlight was having my dog retrieve a bird to a friend of mine who has spent the last 6 months next to his wife while she lost her battle with cancer a week ago. He always brings the birds to me. But not this one. Sometimes I think our four legged friends are smarter than we give them credit for.


Awesome.


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## jasonmichalski

We flushed 7 woodcock and 2 grouse this morning, I bagged. A woodcock and my stepmother bagged her first ruffed grouse ever!!









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## I'm with Brandy

I did not go out today but I did go out yesterday. I don't know why, I hunted Monday thru Friday and told myself I would stay home on the weekends. Any way I did get one Grouse and one doodle on Saturday. The Doodle I shot during a down poor. And I met a few road hunters. A guy that I had seen on Wednesday and Saturday told me both days he had not seen a bird. But he never gets off his ORV. The Wednesday he told me he had not seen birds I flushed a group of birds less than 100 yards from the 2 track he drove down. Any way a few clips of the action the third was not a grouse it was the local competition. Seems I am rushing my first shot and missing.
Grouse:
http://s399.photobucket.com/user/Cherry_pics/media/Hunting/GP020034_0005.mp4.html
Doodle:
http://s399.photobucket.com/user/Cherry_pics/media/Hunting/GP040034_0001.mp4.html
Hawk:
http://s399.photobucket.com/user/Cherry_pics/media/Hunting/GP020034_0002.mp4.html


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## scottsinift

Hunted the north east lower saterday hit all my best spots and only put up 6 grouse and 4 woodies in six hours of hunting. last year we were moving 20 to 25 grouse a day in the same spots.


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## Double Tap

Good number of woodcock. 0 grouse. 3 guys 8 birds yesterday. Got my limit again today. Saw several more woodcock.


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## HankVIII

Had one of my best shooting days ever saturday. Got all 4 birds I shot at, 2 grouse and 2 woodcock. Low flush rates. Super lush, thick cover.

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## Outdoors Fool

Nice to see you guys are finding some birds. I'm living vicariously for the next week or two. My dog put a big gash in her foot 2 weeks ago, her and I are both going stir crazy while this thing heals! Keep up the stories


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## I'm with Brandy

Outdoors Fool said:


> Nice to see you guys are finding some birds. I'm living vicariously for the next week or two. My dog put a big gash in her foot 2 weeks ago, her and I are both going stir crazy while this thing heals! Keep up the stories


http://tuffoot.com/


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## Hevi

I was fortunate enough to have all three of my days off dedicated to grouse hunting and getting my pup contacts. I hunted Friday and Saturday solo and loved it. I had high hopes for the pup, but low expectations considering that he is just over 8 months old. He proved me wrong.

First day, first spot, he points a grouse and I kill it (no liberated bird work leading up to season at all). The short form of the story was this: I made it out to the two track and called him in. I gave him a quick drink of water and after the drink he ran about 10-15 yards, hit the brakes and spun with his nose into a blow down. I took about two steps toward him and out came a grouse that gave me the kind of look that they usually don't afford a gunner. Point, shot, and I would say I got about a 60% retrieve out of him. I took it from him and proceeded to throw a party for him. If that would have been the last bird of the trip, I would have been happy with the outcome.










Chopper had some pieces of exceptional dog work and he also had a couple stumbles. I missed my share of grouse over him this weekend due to cover and some poor shooting. The other thing I realized this weekend is; I need to recognize his good bird work as much as the mistakes. For some reason it's easier to remember the fumbles. He's a good dog and I don't give him the credit he deserves.

So, second day driving out of the last spot I see a road bird. So, I creep back into a parking spot that I have parked in before and proceeded to get Chief out. What the hell...might as well put him down where I know there are birds. I gave the birds a minute to settle in and move on their way and put to the pup down. I made a loop and missed a big red phase that I walked up. As I was coming out of the low they were in Chief's bell stopped dead. I thought he was listening for me so I called him...nothing. Called him again...nothing. Then, I thought to myself, "He's on point idiot". I got to him in about 20-30 seconds and he was standing big. I walked in, bird blows out, dead bird. I was as excited as he was, and that's saying something. That was the conclusion of a very long, wet Saturday.

My Sunday was spent with friends and some different dogs. My buddy Cody bought a dog named Rusty from Bruce at HiFive that is a Butch x Rudy pup. He shows it well. The first spot we hit on Sunday, Rusty worked a bird and bumped it, then relocated and worked it for about another 75 yards and got it pinned. It was no rookie. It was a very big swamp bird that made Rusty work for it. The bird went out and Cody didn't have a shot, but did get to see his dog lay down a very solid piece of dog work.

I ended up shooting three pointed grouse this weekend and a couple of woodcock. I actually stayed out of some prime woodcock area to focus on grouse contacts with the puppy and it paid off. Trust me, just because he pointed two this weekend doesn't mean that those were the only grouse contacts he had. But, I can say this; I watched him learn all three days. He handles like a veteran, hunted more and more ambitiously as the days went on, and when it was slow he started to stretch it out and search. And he continued handling well the entire time.

Also, we finished off the weekend with Glenn L. and Scott K. I've never hunted with Scott, just drank. I've done both with Glenn. As we were walking in to a spot Brad U. pulled up and joined us. We took a long walk and burned some powder. Glenn, Rez is a really nice dog. 

Great weekend, good progress made, and was lucky enough to spend three days in the woods. Looks like mother nature is turning the heat up this weekend so I'll put some finishing touches on the wife's bowhunting situation. At least she'll fill the freezer. 


Be safe and shoot straight,
Matt-


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## 2ESRGR8

Attaboy Chief!


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## Mr. Botek

I have had my most enjoyable bird season so far, and I attribute that to not concerning myself with numbers and enjoying the experience. Also to watching my 7 month pup. 

The grouse opener was quit crowded, but I started and ended the day with no company. Jit the pup had his first grouse point, only his second smell of grouse.

Last Tuesday took the pup for a short hunt, discovered I'd not put the choke tubes back in after cleaning. Had a good laugh by myself & a quality training run.

The woodcock opener started with bagging the older dogs first point of the morning. Change of cover produceda point & first bagged grouse for the pup. Finished the daily limit with the pup pointing my first banded WC. (not one I banded)

Ran the older dog for a wonderful group of Veterans at Tails-A-Waggin yesterday morning, managing to bag all 15 birds put out. Finished the day with 2 more grouse pointed by the pup, and the older dog puncturing a pad that looked scarier than it was.


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## Mr. Botek

Jit's first of hopefully many.


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## FieldWalker

Hevi said:


> Also, we finished off the weekend with Glenn L. and Scott K. I've never hunted with Scott, just drank. I've done both with Glenn. As we were walking in to a spot Brad U. pulled up and joined us. We took a long walk and burned some powder. Glenn, Rez is a really nice dog.
> 
> 
> Matt-


I prefer the drinking... 

Between the injury and the forecast of heat... looks like I'll be taking next weekend off.


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## jasonmichalski

Mr. Botek said:


> Jit's first of hopefully many.


 great job Dean, that's a good looking pup


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## Hevi

FieldWalker said:


> Between the injury and the forecast of heat... looks like I'll be taking next weekend off.


Probably a good move. I just realized that I leave for North Dakota in three weeks. I'll probably stay close to home and save some $$.


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## I'm with Brandy

Went to a new spot today 15 minutes into the hunt I thought Brandy was on a doodle she was going in circles tracking a bird. We were moving up a little hill out of a damp area. I was about 10 feet away from a large log Brandy came over the log at me and two grouse flushed right at my face. I should have just hit them with the gun because by the time I turned to take an away shot one had disappeared into the foliage and I missed the other one. We did follow the second bird and got another flush but I could not see the bird at all. Flushed a couple doodles but I didn't shoot already have a few in the freezer. Found black berries that were still a little unripe. was a short hunt I only had an hour before my first call.


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## KEITH207

First day of hunting in the NLP today was fun. 12 woodcock points, one in the bag and 6 grouse points, none taken. The dog work was good, the weather is great and the grouse woods are beautiful. God I love the fall!!!


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## BigDaddyZ

I'll be heading up to the Huron NF Oct 10 - 14 from Ohio. Hope to get into birds like we did two years ago (back to back grouse limits with two different guns it was great!) not like last year lol no fruit in any of or fav spots due to lack of rain so I hope the trees produced well this year! Good luck everyone and keep the positive reports coming!


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## BIGSP

BigDaddyZ said:


> I'll be heading up to the Huron NF Oct 10 - 14 from Ohio. Hope to get into birds like we did two years ago (back to back grouse limits with two different guns it was great!) not like last year lol no fruit in any of or fav spots due to lack of rain so I hope the trees produced well this year! Good luck everyone and keep the positive reports coming!


Not quite sure where you're hearing positive reports? Fruit production is fantastic this year but, bird production sucks. Be ready for some humble pie. Hopefully you will find the same numbers as the last couple of years but, from everyone I've talked to bird numbers are down and down drastically from last year and certainly from 2 years ago. But, please come up here and spend your money, our economy needs it. Plus this is the last year you'll get a cheap license next year it's going to cost your $150. Keep us posted, and pray for some cooler weather. It's going to be warm for the next week.


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## BigDaddyZ

Lol well maybe there will be some positive posts still to come lol yea I heard that the price is going up what will a three day lisc cost next year does anyone know?


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## 2ESRGR8

BigDaddyZ said:


> I heard that the price is going up what will a three day lisc cost next year does anyone know?


Next year it will be a 7 day non-resident small game license and will cost $80.00. You do not have to buy the base license when only hunting small game.
If you want to hunt more than 7 days the non-resident base license is $151.00.

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,...ivery&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery


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## BigDaddyZ

Well that just sucks! Lol o well guess we will have to just go up there for a week instead of long weekends! Good luck guys!!


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## BIGSP

BigDaddyZ said:


> Well that just sucks! Lol o well guess we will have to just go up there for a week instead of long weekends! Good luck guys!!


You seriously would stop coming over $71? Text you spend more than that in gas getting here. Where else would you go to go hunting? A few friends of mine are having this debate right now. Anxious to hear your thoughts.


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## HankVIII

From what I have been seeing it looks like the reports from the NE lower are better than NW lower. Or maybe I am just using that as an excuse for my crappy flush rates.

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## Dave Medema

Just curious, what is the cost of a daily pass at Disney World, or a round of golf at a nice club, or a day of skiing?

I think hunting license fees area bargain and really spike my fun meter. 

BTW - I must be doing the grouse thing wrong.


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## TimBuckTwo

Good to hear that others aren't seeing 30+ grouse per day, I thought I was hunting the wrong areas... I was in the NLP for 4 days last week. We had double digit flush rates daily for WC, two areas we had > 10 flushes/hr. We flushed grouse everyday, but < 5/day and only put one in the bag (my first). Areas that looked phenominal with berries, apples, cover, and sapling so tangled and thick the dogs had trouble moving through it didn't produce a thing, areas that looked marginal at best put up tons of birds. There may have been more grouse, but I think my dog has a hard time scenting in the rain, which we had a lot of. A spot that I was debating even going to which was at least 5 miles away from a water source but looked like great grouse cover ended up being our WC honey hole, go figure.


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## Gavan

Only one blank cover. All others had good bird production. Actually more grouse than woodcock. Including the blank cover I would guess we were at 4 grouse an hour and 3 woodcock an hour. Seemed like the best covers were wet and the worst were dry.


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## FieldWalker

BIGSP said:


> Not quite sure where you're hearing positive reports? Fruit production is fantastic this year but, bird production sucks. Be ready for some humble pie. Hopefully you will find the same numbers as the last couple of years but, from everyone I've talked to bird numbers are down and down drastically from last year and certainly from 2 years ago.


We're seeing more this year than last year.... but almost all mature birds.


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## Steelheadfred

Dave Medema said:


> Just curious, what is the cost of a daily pass at Disney World, or a round of golf at a nice club, or a day of skiing?
> 
> I think hunting license fees area bargain and really spike my fun meter.
> 
> BTW - I must be doing the grouse thing wrong.


Dave,

In Northern Michigan a round of golf is 45-185 dollars to play 18, or 4-5 hours of fun, does not include gas to the course, golf balls, tees, beer cart use.


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## jasonmichalski

BIGSP said:


> You seriously would stop coming over $71? Text you spend more than that in gas getting here. Where else would you go to go hunting? A few friends of mine are having this debate right now. Anxious to hear your thoughts.


I think he was saying that because they went from the 3 day to the week permit he would have to come for a week and not just long weekends. 


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## Hevi

Steelheadfred said:


> Dave,
> 
> In Northern Michigan a round of golf is 45-185 dollars to play 18, or 4-5 hours of fun, does not include gas to the course, golf balls, tees, beer cart use.


How much is the cover at Fantasies?


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## BIGSP

jasonmichalski said:


> I think he was saying that because they went from the 3 day to the week permit he would have to come for a week and not just long weekends.
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Got it. I hear people bitxh about 114 bucks for Sodak for 2 5 day periods but guess what they keep buying them. With the decline of western pheasants grouse may soon be the only game in town. So guess what people pony up for this great resource or quit playin the game.


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## Hevi

BIGSP said:


> Got it. I hear people bitxh about 114 bucks for Sodak for 2 5 day periods but guess what they keep buying them. With the decline of western pheasants grouse may soon be the only game in town. So guess what people pony up for this great resource or quit playin the game.


I'm going to hunt NoDak until it's not worth the drive. That might not be too far away. That being said, I haven't even checked on license fees because it doesn't matter. I'm going hunting and know that in order to do so, I have to pay to play.


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## WestCoastHunter

So ends hunting for the common man and so begins the transition to a European style system where only the well to do can afford to hunt.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## BIGSP

WestCoastHunter said:


> So ends hunting for the common man and so begins the transition to a European style system where only the well to do can afford to hunt.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Are you out of your mind? Seriously living on the left coast you must be smoking too much of that legal pot.lol If you can afford to travel out of state then you can afford a few bucks more for a license. Our in state small game hunters actually saw their license fees drop. We have tons of state land this increase in fees brings us in line with many other states and will allow us to better manage our lands and increase the quality of your hunt.


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## stagliano

Hevi said:


> How much is the cover at Fantasies?


Bahahaha!!! I think it's free if you go on a Tuesday night. 


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## TimBuckTwo

BIGSP said:


> Are you out of your mind? Seriously living on the left coast you must be smoking too much of that legal pot.lol If you can afford to travel out of state then you can afford a few bucks more for a license. *Our in state small game hunters actually saw their license fees drop.* We have tons of state land this increase in fees brings us in line with many other states and will allow us to better manage our lands and increase the quality of your hunt.


In part this was because of the mass hysteria ammo buying frenzy. Every round that left the shelf contributed partially to the DNR through taxes I believe. I'm pretty sure there is also more habitat projects planned as a result as well.


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## WestCoastHunter

BIGSP said:


> Seriously living on the left coast you must be smoking too much of that legal pot.


It keeps me mellow. :lol:



BIGSP said:


> If you can afford to travel out of state then you can afford a few bucks more for a license. Our in state small game hunters actually saw their license fees drop. We have tons of state land this increase in fees brings us in line with many other states and will allow us to better manage our lands and increase the quality of your hunt.


Hunting in Michigan is a treasure for some of the reasons you just listed. Protect that.

But I now live in a state where license fees have gone up over the years and will probably continue to do so. Between my small game license, migratory bird hoohaw, duck stamp, and western Washington pheasant card I forked out about $150.00 this year. My Discover pass that allows me to park on state lands cost me another $35.00. If I want to go after big game I can easily take that into several hundred dollars for tags and a big game license (and you can only take one deer here and an elk if you're lucky). 

If you want to hit a preserve here you are looking, on average, at about $150.00 - $200.00 for 5 roosters!

A LARGE amount of timber land out here is huntable, but a lot of it is privately own by timber companies and those companies have gated off roads that you used to be able to drive on. You also can't camp on it. In a growing number of cases those lands are now permit only and you need to shell out another $150-$300 and more for one of those (and it is per tree farm and there are a limited number of permits). There are some perks, fewer people and you can camp in those areas, but the bill keeps on growing.

I realize I'm comparing apples to oranges here. Washington is not Michigan. But when I see comments like "a round of golf is 45-185 dollars to play 18, or 4-5 hours of fun" that irks me. With all due respect to the golfers of the world, any slack jawed jojo eating slob can play a _bad_ round of golf and have fun. It doesn't take a lot of practice. You can even drink beer while you do so in some cases. But to become an effective hunter you need time in the field, lots of it, and it needs to be affordable for hunter numbers to stay at a sustained or increasing level. People shelling out 45-185 dollars for golf every weekend are not in the same category of income as a lot of hunters.

I absolutely agree with your point there. I just see trouble down the road as prices rise and hunting access disappears. I know several people out here who have given up on hunting altogether because of declining access and the increasing fees. 

Don't let that happen in Michigan.


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## mudbat2128

2ESRGR8 said:


> How is that different from silky dogwood?


I think Silky dogwood is just the nursery name for it, but I'm not positive on that. I do no that there is to kinds of it the red and the green and that the leaves alternate where they come off the branch. The grey dogwood is a opposite leaf plant meaning that meaning that the leaves grow across from one another on the branch. Also on the green alternate the berries are blue, on the red the berries are white. 

This is the book I have been getting most of my information from its Trees of Michigan by Linda Kershaw and I got it off of Amazon. It has just some great photos in it and its the best one I've seen.


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## TimBuckTwo

Here's what I use. Suppose I could have looked up those photos myself but I'm in the instant gratification/free answers generation.

I purchased the book on abebooks.com for a $1. I love that site.


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## jasonmichalski

Went out this morning 3 hours before it heated up outside, and we flushed 3 grouse and 14 woodcock, put three woodcock in the game bag.















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## ejzoe67

Out in the Gladwin area today. Put up 6 woodcock and one grouse. Took home one of the woodcock. Ran into someone looking for a lost lab. Hope they found him we took an extra walk in the area they said they lost him with no luck. 


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## Double Gun

Moved 18 grouse today and a couple woodcock. It's days like this that remind me of why I went with a pointer...hot!


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## hehibrits

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## TimBuckTwo

hehibrits said:


> View attachment 46077
> 
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Great pic


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## yooperguy

Hunted 2.5 hrs. with 4 flushed grouse. 1st flush not seen. 2nd flush I got. 3rd and 4th flushes seen from what was a bumper crop of blueberries this summer.









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## 88luneke

Friday morning, on our way North, we hit a spot to kill some time before the others made it to the cabin. 

Autumn went on point and I flushed two woodcock and got one of them. Didn't even realize I hit it til she picked it up and brought it back to me  A party was then thrown for her haha










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## k9wernet

Here's a good comparison of four common dogwood varieties, including their alternate names: http://www.friendsofeloisebutler.org/pages/plants/pagodadogwood.html

See the table at the bottom of the page


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## jasonmichalski

Went out for a few hours this afternoon with my Dad and step mom and we flush 16 woodcock and 6 grouse, we bagged 5 woodcock.


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## FindTheBird

Field trialed this weekend and only hunted 1 hour Saturday PM in a nice grouse spot with a flush count of zero grouse and 2 wc. It was the first time in a long time I hadn't gotten a grouse pointed there.
The bird hunter count was intense though--my eyes are still burning from all that blaze orange


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## N M Mechanical

Since I will probably not hunt today my numbers for the first 15 days of the season are the same as the last 5 years. The flush rates and what is in the cooler are the same.


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## HankVIII

My 6 year old came along on her first bird hunt locally on Saturday.


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## FieldWalker

HankVIII said:


> My 6 year old came along on her first bird hunt locally on Saturday.


A setter and a V - great combo!


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## mudbat2128

Had this bird drumming as I was getting the dog ready this morning.


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## 2ESRGR8




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## TimBuckTwo

mudbat2128 said:


> Had this bird drumming as I was getting the dog ready this morning.


Grouse drum year round?


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## wyle_e_coyote

Simple answer, yes they do.

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## 2ESRGR8

TimBuckTwo said:


> Grouse drum year round?


Yes. 
Drummers will do it to defend their territory, with brood breaking up and birds shuffling around the forest males have to defend their turf.


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## hehibrits

I am officially changing my Nelson dogs name to WD Jr. During a legendary Friday hunt he began favoring his front right leg but it was near the end of the hunt and he was pinning grouse one after another so we kept on it. Back at camp he was a little gimpy but went right to sleep. Saturday morning when I put him down he refused to put weight on his leg and wouldn't let me touch it, so I headed into Gaylord to find out he had dislocated three and broke two toes and will be shelved for the nodak/sodak/Iowa trip since departure is Saturday. It's tough to lose a veteran dog on a long trip west, but it does free up a spot on the string for my Slim dog, who at 20 weeks, might just need a little prairie in his life to stretch out his legs.


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## TimBuckTwo

Got a few miles on in Presque Isle today and moved 3 grouse.


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## yooperguy

The leaves are mostly down in the EUP. My pup put 3 different runners in the air this afternoon. I shot at and missed 1 of them. If I was in a slightly different position, I would have taken a shot at the second. The third didn't offer a shot. The cool thing is that I was able to see all 3 grouse on the ground trying to evade the dog before they flushed. They are like little running backs with all kinds of jukes and moves!

A very nice afternoon indeed.


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## MallardMaster

2013 UAW Bird Camp Results
We left Holland around 4:30AM to begin our 8hr drive to Esky on the Thursday (10/17). We arrived in camp a little after noon. We promptly unloaded the truck and started pounding cover. On Day 1 we hunted 1 large cutting and a couple of smaller fringe pieces that run along the roadside. Had we known that Thursday was going to be our best day hunting, we would've hunted until dusk. As it was we decided to call it quits and start busting some tops. We ended up with 2 Grouse and 11 Woodcock. We should have got our last Woody, but we (I) was not able to finish my job! We had a lot of flushes but were a little rusty. We were really impressed with the amount of road birds that we saw on the dirt road as well as 426.
Friday morning we woke up to sunny skies and no wind. It was actually quite nice. We decided to gear up and pound a really large cutting. We were not in the cutting more than 30yds when we bumped 2 Pats. Scored on one of them. Then we began a slow walk for miles were we never popped a single bird. It was a bit of a bummer to say the least. We then pulled the classic 'Swinging Gate' maneuver to the other side of the cutting. In typical fashion we started to bump birds again. Managed to pick one Pat up on the path that flushed out there. Thankfully the dog was able to find it. Then the skies started to lower and spit on us. We ended up with 2 Pats and 3 Woodies in that cover. Since we were already wet we decided to check out this really old cutting that we have been hunting for 10 years. We were able to scratch out a woodie there as well. Then the rains came by the bucket. So we went back to camp to crush some food and pound a few pops. Later in the afternoon we decided to take a cruise to check out some deer hunting spots and some new cover. The new cover was a little old, but held some woodies for us. We were able to get 4 out of that cover. Day 2 we ended up with 3 Grouse and 7 Woodcock. We had close to 40 flushes for a day of hunting which I thought was quite good. Had the shooting been a little better we could have had a nice pile for the pot
Saturday (10/19) we woke up to another nice day outside. That all changed though once we decided to start hitting cover. The first 2 spots that we hunted yielded 1 woodie on the lone flush. Perhaps the birds scooted out the night before. We were a little upset, but there isnt really nothing we can do about that. So we went back to camp and polished off the rest of the Blatz and loafed around for a while. We then decided later in the afternoon to head out and hit a piece of cover we hunted on Thursday and see if we couldn't run into a bird or two. Plus we had to go and clear some shooting lanes and spruce up a blind. We walked a LONG ways without even scaring a bird. Frustrated, we decided to double time it back becasue it was starting to spit rain. Not sure what happened, but our gund went cold. We could not seem to hit the broad side of a barn. We ended up with a lot of Pat flushes. The worse part is that a buddy and I decided to go chasing after one and ended up getting a little turned around from the other 2 guys. The bad part is that we were caught in the dang snow/rain squall that came rolling through at that moment. Kind of a bummer. We found our way back though. 
Had a great time at camp once again this year. I think we ended up with 21 Woodcock and 5 Grouse. All of us agree that we should have been higher in the Grouse take, but it is all good. Had a wonderful meal of Grouse Fajitas and Woodcock teasers to call it a week.
Hope everytone is able to get out there and throw a little lead down range yet this season before we have to swap out the pop guns for a rifle!! Best of luck!


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## mudbat2128

Had a nice little hunt Sunday morning and then I went home to watch the Lions play.


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## I'm with Brandy

mudbat2128 said:


> Had a nice little hunt Sunday morning and then I went home to watch the Lions play.


Nice photo, almost looks like a painting. I hunted about 1700 acre of private land on Friday had a many flushes lost count first time the birds had been hunted this year on that land. Going back on Thursday. I got out today and put two grouse in the bag. Had a couple woodcock flushes but I didn't want any more of them. Pups were with mom with she flushed the first woodcock they were very excited about that. Left when the rain came in.


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## N M Mechanical

mudbat2128 said:


> Had a nice little hunt Sunday morning and then I went home to watch the Lions play.


 
Why quit hunting to watch the lions


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## mudbat2128

N M Mechanical said:


> Why quit hunting to watch the lions


I don't know, I think I just like a little time to recharge. I have 45 days between Sept 15 to Nov 15 so its not like I don't get enough time to hunt.


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## TimBuckTwo

Last week I went on a 6 day hunting trip that started in Hiawatha National Forest. It was my first time in the "big woods" to hunt grouse. My father in law, brother in law, and I stayed at my FIL's hunting cabin deep in the sticks. This place was 6 miles down a decent size but seldom traveled logging road, then 2 miles down an overgrown never traveled cabin road. Wood stove, propane lights, and all the nostalgia you could want. The cover around the cabin was a hundred or so acres that was a 10 year old clear cut. Grouse were literally right outside the cabin door. What surprised me most about the "big woods" was the type of cover we were finding birds in. In the NLP I typically look for aspen clear cuts 10-15 years old, and typically, the cover is 95% aspen. In the UP, clear cuts consisted of apsen, hardwood, and conifer all mixed together. Some of the stuff we flushed birds in was wide open, and some of cover we thought would hold loads of birds held none. There were areas we hunted that had nick names by my FIL and the cabin owner like "the knoll" that are legendary to them, but looked marginal at best to me. Needless to say, the knoll produced, and produced well. It had been 9 years since my FIL and Bob (cabin owner) had hunted the King, it used to be an annual trip and had ran for 20+ years. You could not wipe the smile off either of their faces no matter how hard you tried. On the third day of the trip I left Hiawatha and headed to Hawks, MI as it was time to meet up with my deer hunting buddies and set stands, plant some trees, and get ready for swamp donkey season.

Birds numbers were the best I ever experienced. Also new to me was grouse being in coveys, we had multiple times that we flushed more than one bird. In one area we had 5 flushes. Only landed 1 grouse and a woodcock, but the experience was phenominal. I'll be headed back there for sure. One unfortunate thing that surfaced is that my Brit is bumping birds. He has had probably 20-25 grouse contacts and I got to see a few of them up close. He pointed a couple grouse from 30-40 feet away right in front of me. When I walked up he broke point, rushed in and flushed the bird, these birds were not shot. I have seen him do this up close 4 times this season, other flushes can be heard off in the distance and I am missing oppurtunities for sure. It's pretty frustrating to say the least. I have posted before his steadiness and its time to get serious about it. Back to the whoa barrel and I am thinking about investing in a bird launcher for quail and chukar. I don't have the time to drive to wild birds on the weekends and train on them, so my only option is training birds. I never yelled at him, lit him up on the collar, or was mad at him. This is my first bird dog, I have a lot to learn, and due to normal life activities his training has been limited. I hope to get things in order by next season. Thanks for reading.










He loves them grouse!



























Some productive cover.









Saw this young owl on the first day. I was within 5 feet of him and he didn't even flinch or fly off, probably had never seen a human. He just sat there and watched the dog run back and forth.









Colors were nice.









Planted 9 apple trees at deep camp.









What happens at deep camp when your running low on food. Left over bacon from breakfast, cheese, and hot dogs. Only at deer camp!









The lake on the property I hunt.


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## Mr. Botek

Sounds like paradise TBT! Thanks for sharing. 

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## Jim58

TBT that was a great report with great pictures. It's always good to make the FIL smile.
Thanks for posting.


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## k9wernet

Sounds like an awesome trip Tim! Your FIL's place sounds like the perfect location for our next MS Upland Forum meet and great! 

I'm not an expert, but I think we're looking at a Saw-whet owl. Here's a description from allaboutbirds.org:



> A small owl of all types of woodlands, the Northern Saw-whet Owl can be found roosting in winter in small, dense conifer trees, sometimes even in parks and gardens. *Its defense upon discovery is to sit still and not fly, leading people to perceive them as "tame."*


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## yooperguy

Great report. Nice photos.


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## TimBuckTwo

k9wernet said:


> Sounds like an awesome trip Tim! Your FIL's place sounds like the perfect location for our next MS Upland Forum meet and great!
> 
> I'm not an expert, but I think we're looking at a Saw-whet owl. Here's a description from allaboutbirds.org:


Kevin,

It was my FIL's friends place, but none the less, the Hiawatha Forest would be a great place to setup camp and have a meet and greet. We need to get together and hunt, if not this season then next. Nice work on finding the owl, sounds exactly like I what I was experiencing. Truth be told, I'm glad my trigger finger wasn't itchy, I first saw him when I was coming out from under a brush tangle and had he flown he would have looked similar to a grouse. Don't want to even think about it, that would have been aweful.


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## k9wernet

TimBuckTwo said:


> Truth be told, I'm glad my trigger finger wasn't itchy, I first saw him when I was coming out from under a brush tangle and had he flown he would have looked similar to a grouse. Don't want to even think about it, that would have been aweful.


Yeah, I can think of two times that I flushed a barred owl and realized as the gun was coming up that I wasn't looking at a grouse.

There's still a lot of season left! Let's set something up.


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## Seth L

I took four first timers out this Saturday, and we had agreat time. With a total of seven guys in the group l which I was trying to organize, keep safe, and get on birds itwas a lot of work but worth it. We ended that day with only three woodcock despite my dogs doing pretty well for the conditions. We could have done much better but no one shot well at all.

On Sunday I only had one rookie with me which was much more relaxing. We were rewarded with a few woodcock and a grouse in a half day of hunting. The dogs once again did much better than the shooters. The afternoon was very dry and with the wind kicking up I was very happy with how many solid points on grouse they gave me.


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## Jim58

Seth L said:


> I took four first timers out this Saturday, and we had agreat time. With a total of seven guys in the group l which I was trying to organize, keep safe, and get on birds itwas a lot of work but worth it. We ended that day with only three woodcock despite my dogs doing pretty well for the conditions. We could have done much better but no one shot well at all.
> 
> On Sunday I only had one rookie with me which was much more relaxing. We were rewarded with a few woodcock and a grouse in a half day of hunting. The dogs once again did much better than the shooters. The afternoon was very dry and with the wind kicking up I was very happy with how many solid points on grouse they gave me.


Great picture!

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## milmo1

Seth L said:


> I took four first timers out this Saturday, and we had agreat time. With a total of seven guys in the group l which I was trying to organize, keep safe, and get on birds itwas a lot of work but worth it. We ended that day with only three woodcock despite my dogs doing pretty well for the conditions. We could have done much better but no one shot well at all.
> 
> On Sunday I only had one rookie with me which was much more relaxing. We were rewarded with a few woodcock and a grouse in a half day of hunting. The dogs once again did much better than the shooters. The afternoon was very dry and with the wind kicking up I was very happy with how many solid points on grouse they gave me.


Nice pic. Is that an AL48?

We struggled too on Saturday. Couldn't find em in the aspens, the firs, the mixed covers, high, low...
3 grouse flushed, 1 doodle, 0 bagged.


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## Seth L

Yes it is a 20ga AL48. I would love to find one in 28ga for my son without paying $900.

I was very happy with my dogs to say the least. At my honey hole I stopped to eat lunch first which I regreted because aguy drove in and got to hunt it first Still managed to get 5 points on seven birds after they left. I did my best to have my buddy get a bird but he was just not used to shooting in the thick stuff. Not my most productive weekend as far as the gamebag goes but the amount of solid points on grouse... well I still have a smile on my face! The woodcock were in a very young clear cut that was mostly briars and ferns with some inch thick aspens. They held very, very tight.


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## TimBuckTwo

What if anything do you say to someone that drives up and starts hunting the cover that you are obviously about to hunt? Maybe "hey, are you porkie hunting too? This is my best spot, last week I got 5 here."



Seth L said:


> Yes it is a 20ga AL48. I would love to find one in 28ga for my son without paying $900.
> 
> I was very happy with my dogs to say the least. At my honey hole I stopped to eat lunch first which I regreted because aguy drove in and got to hunt it first Still managed to get 5 points on seven birds after they left. I did my best to have my buddy get a bird but he was just not used to shooting in the thick stuff. Not my most productive weekend as far as the gamebag goes but the amount of solid points on grouse... well I still have a smile on my face! The woodcock were in a very young clear cut that was mostly briars and ferns with some inch thick aspens. They held very, very tight.


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## hehibrits

While I was typing my last post I was waiting for the last few rows of corn to get run right next to an 80 of public land. 










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## hehibrits

Like a wise yooper once said, "if you can't shoot, you eat woodcock."


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## i missed again

hehibrits said:


> View attachment 50518
> 
> Like a wise yooper once said, "if you can't shoot, you eat woodcock."


:lol::lol::lol:


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