Tales from the semiannual grouse camp
Beep, beep, beep, beep, . . . . Actually before the third beep we were all headed towards the beeping. At the source of the beeping, we found my buddy Mark Fuessinger’s dog Curtis on point. We got there from differing angles which is one of the beautiful things of hunting with a beeper collar.
We all arrived within 30 seconds with Mark getting there first, Clyde second, and I just after that. Mark said he could see the woodcock Curtis was pointing. Curtis had been holding that point for a couple minutes by now and Clyde and Mark decided to get a picture of Curtis pointing with the woodcock in the picture. They succeeded.
I took a picture of them taking that picture, since taking pics of dogs pointing birds means that when the bird finally flushes you’ll miss, and that’s exactly what happened. A second bird just outside the picture radius was also missed.
Curtis was having a heck of the day at our unofficial National Gordon Setter Grouse Camp. He produced several points and a few birds were shot over him that day. There are not pictures of that. Curtis sired my dog Allie, who produced several points with woodcock harvested from those points. Allie’s littermate Cruiser (co-owned by Mark and Holly Wachuta) placed third at the official Gordon Setter Club of America National Walking Field Trial held in Michigan that day. And two of Cruiser’s puppies both pointed their first birds that day at camp.
By day we hunt grouse at camp. No less than five miles walking the grouse woods each day. By night we dine on culinary feasts cooked by our camp chef. This may be the only grouse camp in the country that the hunters actually gain weight.
We toast the days hunt with something fine, smooth, and light brown. We remember dogs from the past years, friends that can no longer make it, and we tell stories. It’s the best time of the year.
A collection of methodology, we each do it just a bit different. One guy runs silent just using a Garmin tracker system alerting him to points and where they are. Mark likes to run a bell and beeper collar on his dogs. Another guy runs a Garmin tracker, a bell, and a beeper. I run a Garmin tracker collar and a beeper collar. No one’s right, no one is wrong. It’s what works for you and your dogs.
We contacted more grouse this year than we did in the past five years or so. They weren’t big on holding for points or even waiting to flush until you were close enough to see them. They were running out from under the points. They flushed wild a lot. They didn’t offer a lot of shots but when they did, birds fell from the sky. One guy had one of his dogs find a porcupine four days in a row. That’s a heck of a feat. He said something about the dog finding more porcupines than grouse. The final full day of hunting was a warm one with light winds. It was just after noon and we had Kenzie down. The area we were in had a lot of ups and downs with a bunch of knolls running through it. Mark and I stayed on the trail and let Kenzie pound the brush. We already had two grouse in the game pouch. We were about a quarter mile from the end of the loop when the pup crowed a grouse and flushed it with the skill of any springer worth their salt. The grouse flushed high and crossed to our left. Mark felled it with a 30 yard, high crossing shot – he’s annoying like that. The bird landed some 45 yards up the side of a hill through a ton of brambles and slash. Kenzie raced up, picked up the bird, and retrieved it for us redeeming herself on her poor pointing performance.
Earlier that same day Allie had a beautiful point on a male grouse. The fact that we can sex it means we reduced it to bag.
The next day was a travel day for many. Early that morning we received word that Cruiser won a field trial in Virginia finishing his Field Championship and becoming the 7th Dual Champion of Tartana Kennels own by Phil and Holly Wachuta of Stetsonville.
Perfect end to a perfect camp! Only nine months until we are back.
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