Great Weather Stinks

It was overcast and relatively cool when we started out this morning.  We went to one spot where we could run two dogs in different directions.  Lloyd Carney and I took Jack and went one way and Tony and Booker took Spot and went in the opposite direction.  We moved 7 grouse and one woodcock they moved 7 grouse and 2 woodcock.  By the time we got to the next spot it was already getting warm and we were all shedding layers.  Lloyd and I went one way with Bee and Tony and Booker went off with Trash.  we moved two grouse and one woodcock they moved 2 grouse and three woodcock.

The next cover we went to (which has a geographic specific name that will not be included here) was already being used by the local general surgeon who gives Tony his regular colonoscopy (I think they've bonded) and Tony felt obligated to give up the cover to the guy last year.  We went down the road and into another spot where we moved a total of 9 woodcock with Thuddy.  By then it seemed more like a summer day that one in October with temperatures climbing into the mid-60s.  We half-heartedly ran Booker's Shine dog in a place that was reported to have had 25 grouse last weekend.  Today it had 1.  It wasn't yet 2:00 but we decided to call it a day and wait for a couple of late day hunts. Tony and the boys will run Bookers puppies down through Red Barn and I'll give LJ a shot here in the home cover.  If we do any good I'll ad a postscript later this evening.  At this point the total for the day (not counting a number of road birds that we barely slowed down for) was 19 grouse and 16 woodcock.  Tomorrow should be a much better day for bird hunting showers in the morning and light rain intermittently in the afternoon.

Addendum 6:00 PM

As we were getting ready to run LJ around the Home Course, I happened to look out the bedroom window and there were three grouse feeding in the high-bush cranberries about 50 feet from the house. By the time we got LJ ready to go that number had grown to about five.  LJ ran into the middle of them and stopped to flush as they went off in different directions. He then went on to point two of them as singles.  As we moved on along the edge of the fields he had three woodcock finds with five birds.  The short loop is about 35 minutes and he had three more woodcock finds and another grouse before we got back to the house.  Not a bad walk for the end of the day hunt!