Triumphs, Trials and Tribulations of Great Bay Babe and Great Bay Belle

[Coalman]

09-25-16 Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.
Grouse will die here.

Very sad situation on the mountain. From a hillside oozing with water last December to yesterday's three mile hike and not one drop to be found. Streambeds all dried up. The only grouse we flushed, wild, was right in an old streambed.

It looks like a trip to Billy Goat Pond is in order. It is only a 600' climb to reach the ridge. It is the grade I'm not looking forward to.

A view of the big lake from the old foundation. The raspberries here from July were dried on the vine. We need water bad.

[Coalman]

Received this email from a hunting buddy.

"This is what happens when you leave your trail cameras inthe woods for six weeks."

[Anna Scott]

It's a wonder they didn't take the camera. I couldn't tell from the picture whether they had broken it or not. I can never understand why people can't live and let live.
We have had an extremely dry summer but the blackberries seemed to thrive on it. They are now calling for a week of rain which we can really use. Lots of bear sightings as they are have trouble foraging in the woods due to the dry conditions.

[Coalman]

I don't think the beaver who cut down the aspen tree has a home computer for reading the card.

[Coalman]

10-01-16
AM
Found enough grapes in our NH cover we should contact a vineyard. Or Stonewall Kitchen.

I'm hoping for a couple good frosts to start fermentation. I could use any advantage.

The grouse were there. It is thicker than an Amazon jungle. Many encounters. one visual.

PM

Back to the cover I found the last day of the Maine Season 2015. I swear this was cut with wildlife in mind. The ^lands were beautiful but bone dry. So we headed to the lowlands.

That is where the birds were. Wet stunted hemlock and fir in the hillside seeps at the bottom the ridge.

Belle cast left and disappeared. I heard the bird flush. Even before the butt of the 555 had a chance to seat in my shoulder the grouse sailed across the grown up woods road on a glide with set wings and full fan.

If I could only paint.

[Scoutpout]

wonderful visual description... so now you've found one of their hiding spots..

[Coalman]

10-2-16

The weather was overcast with a heavy mist as we started our ascent to Billy Goat Pond. An hour later we made the ridge line. Goldenrod, grass, bracken and hay-scented fern dominated the old woods roads.

When we made the summit we were in a cloud. We came within 50 feet of the pond before we saw it.

It had water and the grouse were there.

Notes to self.
Do not try the pond until December. Only educating the grouse. If it weren't for the moose and deer trails who prefer the path of least resistance you couldn't walk the roads.

Rubber, repeat rubber boots are the only footwear that will keep your feet dry. Not Red Head and not LL Bean. The GorTex style hiking boots failed in NH both days. High top rubber boots ruled in the sphagnum moss of ME.

Kudo's to LL Bean's GorTex upland pants. Two days wet woods. Two days miserable conditions on overgrown woods roads. I stayed dry.

Do not give up on the grapes. Explore We let our guard down yesterday. A grouse flushed from overhead. The fruit hung purple from the host vines entangled in the struggling maple.

Grasshoppers were thick when we exited the truck at the old log landing in ME on Saturday. An early morning hunt in cooler temps are in order.

The juniper bushes at 1,900 feet are heavy with berries.

Acorns are on the ground in the spruce, hemlock and fir that dominate the ridge line. Remember the yellow clouds of pollen last June? We complained because it turned your vehicles green? Wow is all I can say. Just like the apples trees last year. Record crop. Good insurance for wintering deer.

Turkeys are everywhere. Saw at least 100 this weekend.

Every flush this weekend was a single. No woodcock seen.

Did not see another hunter. While I like the solace I worry if young forests have enough voice in policy setting.

Young forests in the baseball phase are a bitch to hunt.

This is our season. I'm glad it is here.

Highlight of the weekend.

American Chestnut Tree

[Coalman]

10-06-16
Two years ago our dad Bud, ashes were laid to rest with his favorite canine companion, his chocolate lab, Rusty over a place that always came first in his dreams. Carlton Brook Bog in Maine's Aroostook County.
Like my dad did with me, my son Shawn is going to be making his first visit to the Twin Pine Camp this month. Our quarry is ruffed grouse.

Our aim is making memories.

See you soon Dad!

[Coalman]

On Fire
I wish the title to this post meant we found the bird hunting was on fire but sadly it was the hills and mountains chance to claim the fame.

10-07-16
Arrived in Clarksville around 11AM. Knew the road I wanted to walk due to flushing the brood of grouse there last month. At the end of my 5 mile hike it was birds 0, hunter 0. That is because we didn’t move a bird. After the first mile or so Belle and I reached up into the woods. We paralleled 50 yards inside the road alternating to each side in the best looking cover. No grouse, no woodcock. Bailed out of there to a reclaimed apple orchard. Fruit hung heavy on the branches. One grouse flushed wild, missed a woodcock. Drove around some private gated roads and never saw a grouse. These roads get very little use. A story was starting to emerge.

10-08-16
Get serious day. My hunting partners arrived last evening. We were fresh and full of vinegar when we started the day in Stewartstown. That didn’t last long. In our 1.5-hour hunt in some of the best bird cover I have hunted in my life, 3 guys, 2 dogs, I missed woodcock and no grouse. Hmm.

Next we went back to the gated property. In the first cover we found the woodcock in the raspberry thickets. It was hot when we started so two us went in short sleeve. Big mistake when you get into raspberries. Our unprotected arms looked like we met a thrasher with a knife. We did flush three grouse, all wild, all unseen all in the low spruces. The next cover was a hillside of regenerating aspen. I finally saw a grouse flush ahead of Belle. My shot was miles behind. We put up four grouse and two woodcock. Not so good for the amount of prime woods we covered.

We ended the day with three woodcock and two very tired dogs. Yours truly lugged an empty game bag around all day and it wasn’t going to get any better.

10-09-16
It poured buckets of rain Saturday night so to say it was a soggy start was an under estimate. In my five mile first hunt at an old farm with oodles of old pasture, alder runs and spruce hillsides Belle moved two grouse. I heard the second one fly into a tree and went to investigate. That is when I heard Belle barking. Barking in the woods? That was a first. I called to her and she came. She then proceeded to run back, sit down, look up into the spruce clump I’m sure the grouse was in and did it again. She barked treed. She would bark, look at me and then look up. I knew what she was trying to tell me.

That turned out to be one lucky grouse because I couldn’t see it but I would have shot to reward Belle for telling me where to look. Dogs do the darnedest things.

Our last hour hunt was a memory hunt where Belle put up six grouse in an hour last December. They must not have been cold because they were not there.

I have the first 12 days of December off. I’ll be looking for a rematch.

I stand by my sightings. I met another dog less hunter Sunday morning. His first question to me was “Seeing many grouse?” I hunted the Lakes Region of NH opening weekend and we moved ten grouse on one hillside.

Looking forward to other NEHN member reports from northern NH.

Next stop the County. Maine here we come!

[Coalman]

Third stop on our 2016 Partridge Gypsy Tour with my son Shawn.