# Bird numbers



## Gnoyes (Jan 23, 2013)

What have you all been seeing in terms of bird numbers in your covers? So far, it's not looking great in the area I hunt in the NWLP. My springer and I have put up exactly one family group since August, in the very best cover I know of. Many other known brooding areas we've hit since the opener have turned up only scattered singles, or no birds at all. 

We had an extremely cold, wet late spring here again and we're in a known area of heavy WNV presence. Hopefully things will improve as the season progresses, but I'm not convinced.


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## NbyNW (Jun 30, 2012)

Way too early to tell. It's the third day of the season!

That being said, when training I didn't run into tons of birds, but I don't train in my hunting grounds as much as close to home covers. 

Went out last night put up at least five grouse and one WC. This AM put up Four WC and one Grouse. Shorter runs with the warmth.


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## hoyt03 (Jul 21, 2003)

Hit a couple great spots Sunday. Moved 1 bird . This was in Mason County


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## Full_Draw_Killer (Jan 10, 2014)

I have been hearing good things.

I moved 4 birds and bagged one on Sunday in 2 hours. The weekend prior a buddy and I moved 17 grouse on a Saturday. On the other wide of the state thought where my families cabin is, it has been a little slow.


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## Mark4486 (Oct 14, 2015)

Love this thread every year. It’s gonna get interesting fast. In my area it’s hard for me to tell this early but have flushed a lot of woodcock.


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## Gnoyes (Jan 23, 2013)

Mark4486 said:


> View attachment 433629
> Love this thread every year. It’s gonna get interesting fast. In my area it’s hard for me to tell this early but have flushed a lot of woodcock.


 Ha! I hunt alone and don't personally know any other birdhunters, so I've got to get the gossip somewhere.


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## Kevin Moeller (May 24, 2018)

Mark4486 said:


> View attachment 433629
> Love this thread every year. It’s gonna get interesting fast. In my area it’s hard for me to tell this early but have flushed a lot of woodcock.


I love this thread also, only because of the varying nature of peoples replies. Alot of dismay about numbers last year, but it was our best year to date by far. Excited about this year.


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## RCA DOGS (Sep 24, 2011)

I have seen just as many this year so far as I did last year at this point. But this year I haven’t got out yet!


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## U.P.Grouse Chaser (Dec 27, 2018)

i made it out for a couple hours of Sunday. Had 11 finds 8 grouse and 3 woodcock. had 1 shot opportunity which i promptly missed.


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## BillBuster (Apr 25, 2005)

Seem to be plenty of birds in NEMI


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## setterpoint (Feb 20, 2015)

had five birds up Sunday four came out of trees pretty wet out, dog pointed onethat I connected on went for an hour Sunday evening 3 grouse up no shot
went moday had two bird pointed got a shot off on one but missed 
tue morn went to one of my faverite spots one woodcock pointed no grouse at all first time iv been to that spot and not have a grouse up
most birds were young grouse


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## nick brown (Mar 6, 2012)

Went out for the opener. Moved 4 grouse and 37 woodcock. Amazing day with great dog work.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

nick brown said:


> Went out for the opener. Moved 4 grouse and 37 woodcock. Amazing day with great dog work.


Now you have me worried you found my spot lol.

I was out labor day weekend and found a small section that i put up 18 woodcock in about 45 mins. I also found 2-3 family groups of grouse in the same area. 

Numbers of woodcock sure seemed to be good.


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## Mark4486 (Oct 14, 2015)

nick brown said:


> Went out for the opener. Moved 4 grouse and 37 woodcock. Amazing day with great dog work.


Woodcock opens saturday


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## nick brown (Mar 6, 2012)

Mark4486 said:


> Woodcock opens saturday[/QUOTE I’m well aware of the seasons. Thanks. Hope to get out after them this Saturday


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## Mark4486 (Oct 14, 2015)

I seen your pic and thought it was from this year


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## NbyNW (Jun 30, 2012)

Mark4486 said:


> I seen your pic and thought it was from this year


That's a grouse.


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## Mark4486 (Oct 14, 2015)

NbyNW said:


> That's a grouse.


Your right I’m wrong... my eyes must be playing tricks on me


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## Mark4486 (Oct 14, 2015)

nick brown said:


> Went out for the opener. Moved 4 grouse and 37 woodcock. Amazing day with great dog work.


Sorry I didn’t look at your pic close enough I just didn’t want you to get in trouble.


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## nick brown (Mar 6, 2012)

Mark4486 said:


> Sorry I didn’t look at your pic close enough I just didn’t want you to get in trouble.


no problem thanks for looking out


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

gundogguy said:


> Grouse have gone migratory on you, way to clean the berry eating bud sucking birds out of that 40 acres, piece good job!


Lol.Eat my berries and pay the price.lol.


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## NbyNW (Jun 30, 2012)

Mark4486 said:


> When I started hunting birds I hunted my buddies property and it was pretty much infested. After 2yrs of hunting it and pulling maybe 7-10 birds each year (only40 acres) they aren’t there anymore. I wonder if they get hip to what’s going on.


Potentially over hunted. There are plenty of small parcels like this - honey holes - that can only take so many birds being harvested annually. Add in regular predation from avian predators and you can easily wipe a cover clean. 

I have a few spots in particular that hold a decent amount of grouse and I will not shoot more than one or two annually in these spots so they can hopefully handle a decade plus of hunting.

That being said, if it is amazing cover, young aspen mix with multiple food sources they should eventually come back. When they do, go a little lighter on them and they will stay longer. When you have a place like this and want to train your dog on wild birds, they are invaluable.


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## ab5228 (Nov 13, 2009)

I’ve found similar numbers to last year in only two days hunted so far.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

NbyNW said:


> Potentially over hunted. There are plenty of small parcels like this - honey holes - that can only take so many birds being harvested annually. Add in regular predation from avian predators and you can easily wipe a cover clean.
> 
> I have a few spots in particular that hold a decent amount of grouse and I will not shoot more than one or two annually in these spots so they can hopefully handle a decade plus of hunting.
> 
> That being said, if it is amazing cover, young aspen mix with multiple food sources they should eventually come back. When they do, go a little lighter on them and they will stay longer. When you have a place like this and want to train your dog on wild birds, they are invaluable.


I would say most likely the habitat changed and birds moved. May not even be the habitat on his land it could be that neighboring areas got better. 

For instance if the place had lots of hawthorn and that was the reason the birds were there it could be there are no hawthorn fruit this year. Those types of fruit tend to have a non fruit bearing year every 3rd year.

Also a neghboring clear cut may have reached prime maturity and the birds are close by but just in better habitat. It could be the blackberries somewhere else are in a bumper crop year.


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## Mark4486 (Oct 14, 2015)

It’s got a ton of wintergreen and lots of young hard wood trees with a thick understory


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## augustus0603 (Oct 24, 2005)

West Nile could be a factor too. Birds are still testing positive and it will wipe out a brood. I've seen a few different age classes of broods the last few weeks. It's pretty apparent there were some late hatches in some areas.


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

Doesn't fit the thread but I wanted to post something to you boys about Washington State birds. I spent a week there last week NW of the National Park. I've never seen so many grouse in my life. They were everywhere and more of them than there was quail when I was growing up in South Georgia. 

Just a tip if any of you guys travel and hunt.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

6Speed said:


> Doesn't fit the thread but I wanted to post something to you boys about Washington State birds. I spent a week there last week NW of the National Park. I've never seen so many grouse in my life. They were everywhere and more of them than there was quail when I was growing up in South Georgia.
> 
> Just a tip if any of you guys travel and hunt.


Just took a look at their season and bag limits. Looks like they have 6 species and 3 are off limits. The ones you can shoot are blue, spruce and ruffed. 4 per day with no more than 3 of 1 species.

Were you seeing ruffed grouse or a mixed bag?


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## michiganmaniac (Dec 9, 2008)

Great now nw washington state is gonna be over run with MI grouse hunters this weekend


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## 6Speed (Mar 8, 2013)

DirtySteve said:


> Just took a look at their season and bag limits. Looks like they have 6 species and 3 are off limits. The ones you can shoot are blue, spruce and ruffed. 4 per day with no more than 3 of 1 species.
> 
> Were you seeing ruffed grouse or a mixed bag?


Ruffled


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## Kevin Moeller (May 24, 2018)

6Speed said:


> Ruffled


 lol


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## ab5228 (Nov 13, 2009)

michiganmaniac said:


> Great now nw washington state is gonna be over run with MI grouse hunters this weekend


Lol let’s go!


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## Nymphing (Dec 25, 2018)

Headed up NE of Gaylord and to a few spots north of Atlanta in the morning. Anyone have any recent reports from up there? Might give the Greasy Creek GEMS spot a once-over, as well. Driving from Lansing. 

I’ll check the thread on the way up tomorrow. Thanks guys!!

Andy


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## NbyNW (Jun 30, 2012)

Nymphing said:


> Headed up NE of Gaylord and to a few spots north of Atlanta in the morning. Anyone have any recent reports from up there? Might give the Greasy Creek GEMS spot a once-over, as well. Driving from Lansing.
> 
> I’ll check the thread on the way up tomorrow. Thanks guys!!
> 
> Andy


No offense man, but that’s getting a little more specific to location. It’s one thing to talk about GEMS, but posting up on here about more specific locals is not a good idea.


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## skidoojc (Aug 28, 2006)

Look for these and hit it.


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## Harol (Sep 11, 2015)

NbyNW said:


> No offense man, but that’s getting a little more specific to location. It’s one thing to talk about GEMS, but posting up on here about more specific locals is not a good idea.


North of Atlanta doesn’t seem very specific to me. I frequently refer to rose city or gladwin area


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## Nymphing (Dec 25, 2018)

Sorry about that, buddy. Not trying to impose on anyone’s spots. I’ll be hunting public land.




NbyNW said:


> No offense man, but that’s getting a little more specific to location. It’s one thing to talk about GEMS, but posting up on here about more specific locals is not a good idea.


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

augustus0603 said:


> West Nile could be a factor too. Birds are still testing positive and it will wipe out a brood. I've seen a few different age classes of broods the last few weeks. It's pretty apparent there were some late hatches in some areas.


 WNV is not contagious.It is contracted from the bite of an infected mosquito.


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## NbyNW (Jun 30, 2012)

Nymphing said:


> Sorry about that, buddy. Not trying to impose on anyone’s spots. I’ll be hunting public land.


First post, asking about how hunting is in an area, do you want gps numbers too?

What the hell happened to just getting out there and burning some boot leather and figuring it out for yourself? Also, it says your from Marquette, what the hell are you doing hunting in the lower? The UP has many more birds.



Harol said:


> North of Atlanta doesn’t seem very specific to me. I frequently refer to rose city or gladwin area


Frequently? You might not want to. IMO. Its one thing with Gladwin due to the GEM, but throwing out locals close to 75 is going to draw attention from internet scouters and out of staters.

If people ask, PM them if you really want to help.


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## ab5228 (Nov 13, 2009)

We found some more or less northwest of Cleveland today.... 7 grouse and 1 woodcock. 2 pairs and 3 singles. I haven’t seen any big family groups yet. Had shots off of points on 3 and knocked this young bird down. First grouse of the year for us.


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## homemadespud (Jan 19, 2014)

First time out this season, hit all my honey holes. no dog. Flushed 12 grouse no woody's and one snowshoe. 1 grouse shot at and missed, probably should not have shot. 4 hours solid walking. numbers about same as last year.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

NbyNW said:


> The UP has many more birds.


From what I'm seeing, not.this year. I've hit six U.P. counties and over 100 spots and have not found anything decent here yet.


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## Quig7557 (Dec 31, 2008)

Nice job, could you be less specific about your location
I was out yesterday, everywhere I hunted, there were tracks. I heard some shots, I never saw anyone out. Moved 4 woodys and three Grouse. I’d say not as good as last year for my locations,(places I hunt), not mine!



ab5228 said:


> We found some more or less northwest of Cleveland today.... 7 grouse and 1 woodcock. 2 pairs and 3 singles. I haven’t seen any big family groups yet. Had shots off of points on 3 and knocked this young bird down. First grouse of the year for us.
> View attachment 436295


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Trophy Specialist said:


> From what I'm seeing, not.this year. I've hit six U.P. counties and over 100 spots and have not found anything decent here yet.


What do you consider decent?


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## ab5228 (Nov 13, 2009)

Trophy Specialist said:


> From what I'm seeing, not.this year. I've hit six U.P. counties and over 100 spots and have not found anything decent here yet.


100 spots and 6 counties is really getting after it! I'm jealous.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

DirtySteve said:


> What do you consider decent?


My flush rate on grouse this year is about .75 per hour. Before this year my worst in the U.p. was 1.5 per hour. Most years k are about 3 to 4 per hour. I've had a couple years of 8 to 9 though.


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

Trophy Specialist said:


> From what I'm seeing, not.this year. I've hit six U.P. counties and over 100 spots and have not found anything decent here yet.


I have a friend that was up bear hunting and fishing the rivers and they found a lot of birds.
Check your PM.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Trophy Specialist said:


> My flush rate on grouse this year is about .75 per hour. Before this year my worst in the U.p. was 1.5 per hour. Most years k are about 3 to 4 per hour. I've had a couple years of 8 to 9 though.


I would consider 4 per hr decent. My son goes to school up there and he has been doing better than that without a dog. Planning on making a trip to see him mid October with our dog. Cant wait.


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## augustus0603 (Oct 24, 2005)

birdhntr said:


> WNV is not contagious.It is contracted from the bite of an infected mosquito.


The biologist told us if Momma's got it when the chicks are born, so do they.


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

augustus0603 said:


> The biologist told us if Momma's got it when the chicks are born, so do they.


Interesting.I have not seen that in all the reading and papers I have read from Stewart,and Straka but it sounds very plausible.At least mosquitoes are not prevalent early in the year.
A hen lays one egg a day on average so after up to two weeks of laying then almost a month of incubation the hen most likely is already dead or incapable of caring for them and withering away.


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## michiganmaniac (Dec 9, 2008)

If youre looking to up your flush rate i can send you the address for this house







in the heart of the central UP lol.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

Also, I've put hundreds of miles on the truck driving U.P. back roads in the past two 12 days and have yet to see one grouse there. I'm sure some on here will see birds here and there as I have, but from what I and other avid bird hunter that I know have been seeing, this a bad year for the central U.P. I'll be out all day again tomorrow in yet another area and wont give up, but I do plan to shoot a limit of ducks before I go after grouse. Lots of ducks this year.


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## ab5228 (Nov 13, 2009)

We got out early this morning for a wet run, in a different county, a ways north of Indianapolis. Grouse were a little light but woodcock were thick. The cover was tough for shooting. Bella did better than I did.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Is that the screen on the pathfinder?


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## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

Hit 3 covers today
11 grouse points, 33 woodcock.
Only two grouse gave me shot
Went 500


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## ab5228 (Nov 13, 2009)

DirtySteve said:


> Is that the screen on the pathfinder?


Yep


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

Saturday's news feed.lol.We hunted four different locations from eleven to seven and it was quite the show with birds at each location.My one dog Annie was up to bat at the last two places.She is a decent gun dog but sometimes doesn't allow a bird enough space and sometimes but seldom creeps a touch.
So for the last month and a half I didn't let her have birds and would grab her collar and walk her off the birds.
Yesterday she layed down a nice performance and only bumped a couple grouse and a couple woodcock out of over sixty finds with a lot of shooting and hunting deads commands.
The last property(30 acres)provided endless birds.Surely many of which were double flushed at least.
At the end we came back to the truck to end the hunt and she rolled out into the front section close to a residence that I leave alone.
Garmin says 106 yards dog on point.I go to her and march all over and she was still steady so i thought it most be a woodcock but then finally a grouse flew.After that four more were with that one and she managed to point two more of the covey.
After that her clock was wound up and she strung out 5 more woodcock at a fast pace but i had my limit.It was a bird every 5 minutes on average. 
Driving out there were woodcock in the road so i believe that a flight rolled in because that last string of birds was in a area we ran already.
I however didn't shoot well on grouse.SMH


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## Mark4486 (Oct 14, 2015)

Weekend update.... we had a lot of flushes both grouse and woodcock. Flora is still thick in my area so every bird shot this weekend was a quick instinct shot. Grouse out flew our guns. Flushed a brace of grouse which was cool to see. My buddies were happy because even no we where hauling major kills we were having contacts. Birds numbers are up from last year but I think it is due to all of my off season scouting I did. This is my 4th year birdhunting so habitat and food identification is becoming second nature.


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## Abu65 (Oct 26, 2013)

Looks like you are figuring it out.


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## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

Hunted some great cover in Iosco co. with my son this afternoon along with our inexperienced lab. Bird numbers seem way low. Did get one grouse and a woodcock in about 3hrs. My son got the woodcock, his first and missed 3 others. Grapes everywhere with awesome cover but just very few birds.


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

Woodcock blitzkrieg for us.Then for grouse we had two family groups and then singles.The grouse countt was in the high twenties with some possibly being double flushed I believe. Buddy had his three woodcock and I myself had three plus one grouse. ELP.
10am to 7pm.


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## Zeboy (Oct 4, 2002)

Trophy Specialist said:


> My flush rate on grouse this year is about .75 per hour. Before this year my worst in the U.p. was 1.5 per hour. Most years k are about 3 to 4 per hour. I've had a couple years of 8 to 9 though.


I spent a long weekend in the Central UP with my son. In addition to grouse hunting we managed to catch some brookies and shoot a couple ducks (including a pintail) on the opener. 

We spent close to 10 hours in the uplands. 5 different spots, 1 new spot and 4 that had been productive in the past. Grouse hunting was dismal. My grouse flush rate was very close to yours. Woodcock were quite plentiful and we did well on those. Odd that wc obviously had a productive nesting season but grouse did not. Did manage to connect on the only two grouse I shot at. Was able to show the new pup a few dead birds to play fetch with. 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Zeboy (Oct 4, 2002)

Pics.
















Sent from my SM-G935V using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Mark4486 (Oct 14, 2015)

Great pics everyone glad everyone’s getting birds.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

Had a fun weekend just me and my dog. Hunted sat and sunday. Woodcock numbers seem very close to last years which to me was excellent. I dont count flushes or ppints but atleast 20 woodcock flushes sat and sunday. Grouse numbers seem better than i experienced last year. Had 12-15 flushes sat and around 10.today. had 5 solid points today where the grouse held til i came in to flush. Out of all 5 I still only managed 1 missed shot. So far grouse have eluded me well this year. 

Picture from today....


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## kdogger (Jan 10, 2005)

Flushed 1 grouse 1 woodcock Friday. Flushed 27 grouse zero woodcock Saturday. 1 grouse zero woodcock today. Go figure. Went to the same spot today as Saturday. Birds were gone.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

I did get into some good ducks on the opener but my grouse flush rate is still less than one per hour. Not seeing a lot of woodcock either. I've shot 13 grouse so far but I've hunted every day but one rainout and I hunt very hard and shoot better than average. I still have not seen any young of the hear birds and only saw one cross a road in the truck.


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## Quig7557 (Dec 31, 2008)

Those ate nice numbers. My weekend was similar, less numbers, but here and gone the next day. I was thinking they may have roosted in trees more because of the rain. We did flush one from a tree



kdogger said:


> Flushed 1 grouse 1 woodcock Friday. Flushed 27 grouse zero woodcock Saturday. 1 grouse zero woodcock today. Go figure. Went to the same spot today as Saturday. Birds were gone.


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

We had a 100 finds on woodcock.I wasn't going to say it but that's the honest to God's truth.I ran two large two year old clear cuts.Flushing and shooting was dang near impossible as well as passage through brush and brairs.
We after awhile wanted to return to the truck but Dixie kept taking us in.I had no leash and wish I did.The last one was a 108 yard find just before the truck.We had a bird every couple minutes.


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## brdhntr (Oct 1, 2003)

birdhntr said:


> We had a 100 finds on woodcock.I wasn't going to say it but that's the honest to God's truth.I ran two large two year old clear cuts.Flushing and shooting was dang near impossible as well as passage through brush and brairs.
> We after awhile wanted to return to the truck but Dixie kept taking us in.I had no leash and wish I did.The last one was a 108 yard find just before the truck.We had a bird every couple minutes.


I have a couple spots NW of your home base that the last two years we had to carry the dogs out to get out of there. I use the knitting counters for flush counters and I've rolled them over regularly the last couple years. I know some of the locals were howling about the cutting in there, but it was sure needed for the birds. 

This weekend was camping with the Scouts, so no birds chased. Was tough after losing the old dog to not be in the woods. Will be back up there in two weeks, I'll run locally this weekend in between deer hunts.


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

brdhntr said:


> I have a couple spots NW of your home base that the last two years we had to carry the dogs out to get out of there. I use the knitting counters for flush counters and I've rolled them over regularly the last couple years. I know some of the locals were howling about the cutting in there, but it was sure needed for the birds.
> 
> This weekend was camping with the Scouts, so no birds chased. Was tough after losing the old dog to not be in the woods. Will be back up there in two weeks, I'll run locally this weekend in between deer hunts.


I believe you are aware of which cuttings I was at.The one is very large and we only scratched the surface.


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## ab5228 (Nov 13, 2009)

Mark4486 said:


> View attachment 437161
> Weekend update.... we had a lot of flushes both grouse and woodcock. Flora is still thick in my area so every bird shot this weekend was a quick instinct shot. Grouse out flew our guns. Flushed a brace of grouse which was cool to see. My buddies were happy because even no we where hauling major kills we were having contacts. Birds numbers are up from last year but I think it is due to all of my off season scouting I did. This is my 4th year birdhunting so habitat and food identification is becoming second nature.


Your dogs expression is awesome.


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## Lamarsh (Aug 19, 2014)

This past weekend was my first time in the woods this season hunting (ran dog a few times in August). Got 3 morning hunts in this past weekend over 3 days, which I honestly don't think is quite enough to gauge grouse or woodcock numbers, but in that small sample I was shocked at how few grouse we put up compared to woodcock. I was hunting covers I have put up tons of grouse in, and this year I was shocked at how few we put up. Woodcock, on the other hand, were plentiful and made for great dog work. Rock solids on almost every single find, which made my trip. Hoping my experiences this past weekend with grouse was just an anomaly, only time will tell.


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## All Is Well (Oct 4, 2018)

Grouse numbers in the UP were were and we did not have a dog. Woodcock were crazy thick on day two ( Saturday)


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

Third weekend in a row and grouse numbers have been consistently good for me this year.I would be confident to say numbers are a tic higher than that of last year at this point.

As for woodcock it has been on fire even on a slower day.








Saturday's bounty for Mark and I.In the afternoon the wind really started ramping up and the hunting was tough for the dogs and some birds left out ahead at times.The wind was swirling around but when we dropped in between the ridges the dog work was solid.I missed a few chip shots but we definitely left many for seed.lol.


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## skidoojc (Aug 28, 2006)

birdhntr said:


> Third weekend in a row and grouse numbers have been consistently good for me this year.I would be confident to say numbers are a tic higher than that of last year at this point.
> 
> As for woodcock it has been on fire even on a slower day.
> View attachment 439873
> ...


Sure I’ll drive up and hunt with ya.


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## Mark4486 (Oct 14, 2015)

birdhntr said:


> Third weekend in a row and grouse numbers have been consistently good for me this year.I would be confident to say numbers are a tic higher than that of last year at this point.
> 
> As for woodcock it has been on fire even on a slower day.
> View attachment 439873
> ...


It was a perfect weekend with flawless dog work attributed to Annie & Dixie. Good, fast, and safe shooting. Beautiful scenery and birds. Great food and stories. One of the best weekends I have had bird hunting. Thanks birdhntr.


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## birdhntr (Jan 25, 2014)

Mark4486 said:


> It was a perfect weekend with flawless dog work attributed to Annie & Dixie. Good, fast, and safe shooting. Beautiful scenery and birds. Great food and stories. One of the best weekends I have had bird hunting. Thanks birdhntr.


I knew you were the type that would truly enjoy it.You are a true upland hunter !


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## ab5228 (Nov 13, 2009)

We found fewer grouse in the UP than last year. Woodcock were plentiful.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

My flush rate yesterday was 5 grouse per hour hunting one spot I bad not hit yet this year. Super thick, 7 year old Aspen. I don't count t woodcock flushes since I don't shoot them unless I'm with someone that wants them. Not seeing a lot of them though either. Today was fun. The new dog is really doing well and the colors are peaking here.


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