I just got back from a week and a half at my camp in North Central Pennsylvania.

The weather was damp as it tends to be this time of year. I had to fire up the camp clothing and dog dryer after hunting in the rain.



My camp is not too far from PCR’s house. We hunted a local public game land a couple of days. Mark (PCR) knocked down this cockbird that the dog flushed and it crash landed in a tree and got itself stuck up there. He had to get a long branch to free it from the crotch it was stuck in.





Mark and a limit of roosters.



We ended up both limiting out. I got the two hen birds.



The dog gets the heart from the birds he flushes and I kill. Here he is waiting for his treat.



We did some archery hunting on Mark’s property. I blew an easy shot on a fat doe. He fired up the woodstove in his fur shed and we hung out there and talked trapping when we weren’t hunting upland game or deer. He showed me the bobcat and huge fisher he caught last year.



As usual, it was a good trip, had a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to heading back up after Christmas to do some more deer hunting and coyote and beaver trapping.

That looks like a great time. Nice job on the limit of birds.

Neat!

Nice !!!

Nice to see you all having fun

Did you see many grouse?

Came looking for Grouse hunting at Grouse camp and found Pheasants, am disappointed

Great pics,look like yous had a great time.

Be sure to tell grumpy butt hello for me ! Nice bunch of birds and it sure looks like it was a fun time !
Allan

You only pay for what you need

Very nice. Looks like a superb day.

Looks fun I’m glad to see PCR2 is doing well.

Is it legal to shoot hen pheasants there?

I only flushed about fifteen in the three days I targeted them specifically. I hunt a 3500 acre timber company lease that has been continually logged for the last 30 to 40 years. The ten to fifteen year old cuts are about as close to ideal grouse habitat as you can get. Ten years ago twenty-plus flushes a day was common. They’ve been in decline since then.

The big disappointment was the woodcock. I told PCR I would trade him a good woodcock hunt for a deer hunt. I know some spots where, if the migrators have come in, fifteen or twenty flushes an hour is possible. The weather was nice the beginning of last week then we had a major cold front come through with an all day rain on Thursday and snow and high winds the day after. I thought for sure that would push the migrators ahead of it. I hit all my usual spots but they had not arrived yet.

I don't run dogs anymore so I can't say for certain but we haven't had much cold weather up here to drive them out. They linger until the ground freezes or the snow drives them south. Woodcock hold so tight you need to almost step on them to get them to fly which makes it tough to know how many birds are around if you don't have a dog.

The “Grouse Camp” name is a holdover from many years ago when we would go up in mid-November to hunt grouse and woodcock. That was before we realized they stocked pheasants on a nearby state game lands. We moved “Grouse Camp” to the third or fourth week of October to take advantage of the pheasant season. The name stuck.

Yes

I can’t imagine hunting them, or any other upland game without a dog. Not having a good hunting dog has got to make it a lot tougher. Woodcock have always been hit or miss. If the migrators are in, we flush big numbers. If they’re not, we only flush a handful if any.

That holds true here. We always have a few locals but we still depend on the birds coming out of Canada to get things hopping. We had a terrible grouse season this year. It looked like the birds were doing well all through the winter as I was seeing a lot of grouse sign while trapping. Things fizzled out somewhere along the line. I ran English Pointers and Brits. I lived for the month of October.

I see PCR2 has let himself go since leaving the site.

Lol just joking.

You two bro’s look like you had some fun!