KENNEL TALK

By

Ken M. Blomberg

"Late Season Grouse Hunt"

     Three things I love are late-season grouse hunting, old dogs and cold, finger-numbing January days in the woods.  I spent a bit of time with all three last month.

     It was a late-season grouse hunt during a winter that was in the process of going down in the recordbook as a severe one.  Snow came early and often, blanketing most of the Badger State during the November deer hunt.   It remained knee-deep throughout the month of January in my neck of the woods and even deeper north of our place.  Deer were yarded up in the north woods, while southern Wisconsin became a snowmobiler’s delight, much to the dismay of the northern tourist industry.  But the grouse were in winter heaven statewide, with deep, powdery snow for night roosting.

     The old dog named Buck and I explored the woods close to home a few times last month, searching for wintering ruffed grouse.  Together, we hunted on paper mill land, a state wildlife management area and behind the house on property near the Wisconsin River.  He was named after his great-grandfather Buck and his pedigree includes well- known families in the German Shorthaired Pointer world like Frulord, Uodibar, Vom Enstrand, Hillhaven, Pheasant City and Serakraut.  His father and grandfather both won first places in a walking wild bird gun dog field trial, the Wisconsin Woodcock Championship.  In 1999, at age nine and a half years old, Buck placed second in the gun dog division of that year’s woodcock trial.

     He’s probably one of the best pointing gun dogs I’ve ever owned.  Oh, there have been dogs in my past that accomplished certain things better than Buck, but as far as an overall pointing gun dog, he’s going to be hard to beat in the future.  And while hunting this past January, he continued his tradition at nearly eleven years old.

     The old dog, a late-season grouse hunt and a finger-numbing January day in the woods was mine several times last month.  Snowshoes were in order, as the knee-deep snow was a real chore for this aging hunter.  During the above-mentioned hunt, I took a couple of spills a while traversing a cattail marsh along a frozen backwater slough.  Falling on snowshoes in deep snow is easy.  Getting back up is another matter.  Using my gun for support (after unloading) I got back on my feet and on to a frozen beaver pond.  There the snow wasn’t as deep and made for easy going.  Just about the time I reached the beaver’s dam I broke through the ice, sinking slowly near the shoreline.  I managed to free my snowshoes and climb to safer footing, at which time I decided to head back into the woods.

     Old Buck and I found an area the loggers had worked over, where I ditched my snowshoes and followed a skidder trail.  The only other tracks were from deer, who had followed the trial to browse on the treetops left from the logging operation.  It followed a backwater slough and led the two of us into some fairly nice grouse habitat.  He pointed only twice that day and try as I might, I couldn’t manage to flush a bird.  But that’s why I love late-season grouse hunting, old dogs and frigid January days. 

     Grouse hunting after the snow gets deep is often a labor of love.  And that’s why hunting “old ruff” in January trips my trigger.  It makes hunting grouse the following year in October just that much sweeter.

     Hunting with an old bird dog is just plain satisfying.  Training days are over and hours spent are quality time for sure.  Each hunt could be the last, but here’s always hope for just one more season together.  As far as Buck’s concerned, I believe he’s got one, maybe two good seasons left in him.

     Finger-numbing days?  Well, knowing there’s a warm home to go back to at the end of the day helps.  And the long, cold winter gives us pause to dream about spring, summer and fall.  Dog training and next fall’s hunting seasons are just around the corner!