THROUGH A DECOY’S E - We put in the work for our birds for this year’s hunt

THROUGH A

DECOY’S E

YE

BY

CHUCK K OLAR LOCAL OUTDOORSMAN

Allie’s beeper collar started beeping well off the trail. The screen on the Garmin read 78 yards due south off the overgrown trail we hiked along. I trudged through the thick blackberry stalks, listening to their thorns pull on my brush pants, into the nine year old aspen stand.

Many of the aspen trees stood less than shoulder width apart. Between that, the aspen blow downs, and scattered patches of blackberry stalks – 78 yards felt like 780 yards. Branches pulled at your hat when ducking under tangles, and slapped at your face when you pulled a leg through a tangle.

About 20 yards from Allie’s point a large 80 year old white pine that lost it’s fight with a wind storm, laid on the ground creating one more obstacle to negotiate. I kind of half climbed across the large tree and mid-straddle, a woodcock flushed from the point 10 yards from me. I didn’t get my gun to my shoulder.

After dismounting from the pine tree, (and I need to point out that dismounting from the tallest horse I rode in my life required less effort than getting down from that white pine) I then heard a second woodcock take flight from the other side of the downed tree. Allie quickly pointed another bird deeper into the cover. The bird flushed on the other side of a trio of fir trees. This repeated several more times in that cover without an opportunity for a shot. On the couple birds that I saw, the thick cover prevented me from getting the shotgun to my shoulder or swinging if I did. My partner took a different line in and encountered a second white pine and a large old red pine that both lost their battle with a wind storm. He never made it all the way into the flight of the woodcock. On top of this the rain started again. We agreed to call the rain a heavy sprinkle. Walking a couple miles through thick cover holding rain droplets creates the same result of falling in a creek.

The scenting conditions for Allie certainly didn’t help, judging from the fact that for every woodcock she pointed, one of two more birds flushed wild that she didn’t seem to scent. I started walking out to the trail now 300 yards away. About 50 yards from that trail a grouse flushed from off a large mossy rock about five yards from me. I actually saw the grouse flush instead of hearing it first. It flew straight away but a tangle of branches kept me from getting the shotgun to my shoulder quickly. By the time I did, the grouse banked right and an aspen blocked me from swinging with the bird. I didn’t fire a shot.

I did call to my partner to watch for a grouse crossing the trail behind him. The bird never crossed the trail.

Allie’s beeper collar alerted me to a point 35 yards north. “Why not west towards the trail,” I thought. I circled around the point, stepped into a bed size opening and a woodcock flushed 10 yards away from thick cover. It flew up and away, then started banking right.

The instant that bird flushed I pulled my shotgun up, felt it fall into place perfectly and started yelling in my mind – head down focus on the bird. The stars aligned and a second later I connected on a woodcock. The first small flight of woodcock anyone from camp bumped into.

A few hours later the rain finally quit and the sun actually came out. The temps went from chilly to almost a bit too warm. We dried out and ate lunch. After lunch we hunted a couple new covers and set out with hopes of many more woodcock flights.

We found none, but a pointed grouse flushed at my partner’s approach, flying out to the trail and banked left for a clear path along the trail. His thumb slipped over the safety switch and the grouse lived to flush another day. We walked five miles so far that day and that bird represented his first opportunity of the day.

Back at camp we found out that those that hunted closer to camp saw no rain, but saw few birds, and lots of other hunters. We all agreed we were working very hard for our birds this year. They call this hunting for a reason. Good luck, but please remember, Safe Hunting is No Accident!