Northwood grouse trips

C

crossfire

8 pointer
Jun 13, 2006
598
Mayfield, Ky
Happy Camper said:
I have a question GG, just how to you even get started on getting a gal into bird hunting? I've tried every trick in my bag and can't get my wife to hunt or fish! The only thing she will do with me is hike, and mushroom hunt. I told her bird hunting was hiking.....with a gun. Actually I'm delighted with my wife, she just isn't very outdoorsy.
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Got to be careful with this one. GG is a grouse hunter through and through, but I like to deer hunt as well. After getting my wife involved, she claims the largest deer mounted in my den with a 145" 10 point. That makes for awkward storytelling moments!
 
jarrodcombs

jarrodcombs

6 pointer
Feb 23, 2007
497
salvisa ky
My wife used to go to michigan and wisconsin with me before we had kids. She loved it, but I think being super mom trumps bird hunting now a days
 
J

jrfrmn

Fawn
Dec 23, 2005
44
Grouse

Where would these places be? send me a pm.
grouseguy said:
Oh, I hear you. I had the same experience about 10 years ago ... it seemed every place I planned to hunt that day, there was already a truck, or two, already parked there. However, it was about that time that 2 things happened.

I realized that most all of the out of state hunters, hunted the same areas. You would see a truck from KY parked at a trail in the morning and when you came back by in the afternoon, a truck from VA was parked there now. It was almost like they all signed up for the same "Here's Where to Hunt Up North" newsletter. The flip side of that is that those places that they didn't hunt, weren't hunted at all. So I started finding new places, where the southern hunters weren't ... usually where the hunting didn't look that great from the road and you could park your truck where it wasn't seen from the road and mostly my problems were solved.

That is also about the time I made friends with a local outdoor fanatic that had only hunted grouse with a lab. By showing him how grouse are truly meant to be hunted with pointing dogs ... you flusher guys can flame all you want ... we helped each other out. I gave him a pup and taught him how to handle a pointing dog and he showed me just how little I new about northwoods woodsmanship. His woodsmanship helped me to navigate through unfamiliar country and hunt more cross country ... where we often took two trucks and hunted from one truck to where the other was parked completely getting away from the trail systems and hitting places that other southern hunters didn't even know existed.

Anyway, it all worked out for you as you seem to have found a place that just suits your personality and the way your group prefers to hunt. I, on the other hand, usually have grousegal with me and through this original friend, we actually have a larger social circle in Phillips, than Grayson and we really enjoy the social aspect of meeting for dinner, going to each others places for cookouts, watching the Packer games, etc.

It's all good ... we've both found our own sweet spots.
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JonDunn

JonDunn

10 pointer
Dec 26, 2005
1,729
Up the holler
A month from today at this time if it's the Good Lords will and the creek don't rise, we should be somewhere in Indiana, headed on north.
 
grouseguy

grouseguy

12 pointer
Dec 9, 2001
6,178
Phillips, WI / Grayson, KY
Talked to my partner, Jake, last night. He is still mostly guiding for muskies, but he has had 1 half day grouse trip. In 4 hours last Friday, they flushed 20 grouse and 12 woodcock ... leaves are still on thick and bear hunting is in full swing for both houndsmen and bait sitters. However, they boated 48.5" and 47" muskies last week and his boat finished 5th in a tournament on Butternut last weekend for a nice check. The biggest bear in the area so far has been a 503 pounder treed in the Flambeau State Forest, and Jake has 1 remaining bait sitting client still hunting.
 
jarrodcombs

jarrodcombs

6 pointer
Feb 23, 2007
497
salvisa ky
I have 7 more long days then north bound baby. Temps are finally dropping and the dogs are primed and ready. I am slightly saddened to leave my 14 yr old shorthand behind again. I think it kills us both when I leave
 
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trust me

Troubled Loner
Nov 27, 2004
17,305
Jerkwater, KY
jarrodcombs said:
I have 7 more long days then north bound baby. Temps are finally dropping and the dogs are primed and ready. I am slightly saddened to leave my 14 yr old shorthand behind again. I think it kills us both when I leave
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My old dog knows it's coming. Last year I walked outside early one dark October morning and she was in the kennel going wild. I wondered what was up, and let her out and she clawed the paint off the truck trying to get in the back. It dawned on me that those early morning October load-ups for the trip North were as anxiously anticipated by her as they were by me.
 
trust me

trust me

Troubled Loner
Nov 27, 2004
17,305
Jerkwater, KY
JonDunn said:
Which reminds me of the stop we made one year. The guy in the wheelchair goin berserk at the gas station.
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I still don't know what I did to piss off that guy. He was putting along in his easy-glide scooter chair, going the wrong way in my lane, and he flipped me off.
 
C

Chessie202

6 pointer
Nov 15, 2004
363
Harrison Co.
I'm headed to the Western U.P. next Friday. My contact says that there is a lot of food in the woods and the birds are spread out, but there are plenty of birds to hunt. He also said there is a lot of Woodcock this year.
 
agr_hunter

agr_hunter

6 pointer
Nov 30, 2005
308
Over the Hill
Had to come to Madison for work this week so I snuck up to the northwoods for a two day hunt. 21 birds and three bagged in three shots. Still thick, 77 degree afternoons, and lots of bugs. Got into a covey of 5 and 6. Not bad outing considering the conditions and my Brittany was in heat.
 
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