The weather this fall has not been the greatest for grouse and woodcock hunting because it has been so wet.  It seems like every time we decide to take the dogs out, it starts to rain.  Last Friday was no exception.  The forecast was for dry weather, but at the last minute it changed and we woke up to rain.  When it is raining or wet, the birds sit very tight in the cover and are even more difficult to find.  Plus you get all wet slogging around the wet forest.

We waited a bit for the rain to stop and finally it did, except that everything was wet and it looked like it might start raining again at any moment.  We debated not going but we figured we could use the exercise and Storm and Freighter definitely needed the exercise, so we headed out.  Thunder had gone duck hunting the day before so it was his turn to wait at home.

We went to an area where we have had success in past years.  This area has dense cover.  It is not an easy hunt for the hunter or the dogs.  They have to maneuver though all the cover and if the dogs happen to flush a bird, it can be hard for the hunter to swing his gun in order to get the shot.  The dogs can get poked by stray branches as they jump over, or crawl under, downed trees.  The dogs don’t seem to mind though.

We just started hunting Storm and Freighter together as a brace.  Storm has a lot of experience hunting these woods, so we figured that she could teach Freighter.  It can be difficult to hunt two dogs in dense cover.  You have to constantly check that one or the other have not worked too far ahead.  Storm and Freighter hunt pretty close and have good recall so even though we had to stop now and again, they worked well together and stayed close to hubby.

Almost immediately they flushed a bird.  There was no chance at it because it flushed away from them.  I guess the mere thought of 2 brown hunting dawgs put fear in the heart of that birdie and it moved on quick.  Maybe this would not be such a bad day after all.

I stuck to the road for safety purposes and so hubby would know where I was.  Hubby and the dogs went off road and the cover was so dense in places that I could not get decent photos or even see them.  It was a windy day and I only heard a few of the birds flush.

It wasn’t long before the dogs had another flush.  They flushed a woodcock that landed in a wet marshy area with thick grass.  They hunted and hunted but could not come up with that bird.  They probably went over it, or stepped on it, and it sunk.  We moved on.

They flushed a grouse and hubby got that one, but as it landed, another grouse flushed (there was no chance at that one since there was only one hunter).  The first bird was retrieved which made one grouse in the bag.  They tried to find the second bird to hopefully flush it a second time but they could not find it and ran into the wet marshy area.

They hunted down one side of the road and then back up the other, entering the cover in various places.  Sometimes hubby just sent the dogs into the cover to hunt while he waited.  That is the beauty of hunting with dogs.  They are happy to do all of the work.

The dogs worked hard and we had to stop and water them a couple of times.  They did not want to stop.  They were into finding birds.

There is an area near a pond where we usually find woodcock and sure enough, Freighter flushed one.

He was a nice boy and let Storm retrieve it.  Both dogs can be possessive of birds but neither was on this day and I think they had a blast working together.

All and all I think they had 7 or 8 flushes and 2 in the bag.  It was a mix of grouse and woodcock.  Storm flushed a rail or a snipe (hubby was not sure which it was because it flew off so fast).  He did not try for that because we would not eat it, but it was cool to see.  I had never heard of either a rail or a snipe, but now thanks to Storm, I know.  Good job Storm.

So a day we thought would not be decent for hunting, turned out to be a lot of fun and a great experience for Storm and Freighter.

Don’t forget to enter Storm’s Spooktacular Giveaway.  Entries close next Monday.  It is easy to enter so don’t miss out!