doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Fall of 2023 LOTW

Ted & I talked about this, do you remember "Devo" from back in the 80s? "Devo" was short for "de-evolution" and was the name the Mothersbaugh boys from Cleveland, Ohio came up with for their band. I think I even read that their sister came up with the wild designs for their cloths and headgear? Anyway, here's my version of "Devo" in the shotgun world...at least in the cab of my old Ford truck.

Excellent thread!

Interesting sunsets up here...









Drive into the light, right? That way, for me, is home. Just a few days left here.

That is big country. Everything, is an hour+ away, and you are at the gas station, daily. But, there is really nothing else like it, anywhere, and I am already looking forward to being there, again.

Best,
Ted

Wow, it must take several big ranging dogs to hunt those wide areas. Please post some photos of your dogs.

Kindest Regards;

Stephen Howell

The pictures of the farm fields are NOT where we hunt. There are sharptails in the area, but, I don’t know anyone who hunts them. I’ve never shot one in LOTW county. I wouldn’t say they are abundant. There are no pheasants in the area that I am aware of.

We hunt in the forest for Ruffed grouse, and woodcock. The fields are what we have to drive past to get to the state forest areas.

Hunting with pointing dogs on the forest trails is tough. The grouse spend a lot of time walking back and forth using the trail to get from one side to the other. My Setter pointed a few times at brush on one side of the trail, only to have the bird flush from the other side. I’ve also noticed the birds in that part of the world seem much more likely to run than the grouse I encounter in the southern half of the state. They don’t run like pheasants, but, they can and do get a move on.

I only hunt because I have a dog. While I’ve owned a dog that was perfectly capable of great work on pheasants and grouse, the current pooch struggles a bit with grouse, as did her predecessor. I typically pick an edge between a popple harvest and some sort of evergreen trees, locally, and just walk it until it peters out, with the dog working in a windshield wiper pattern. She tried the same up there, but, I’m guessing the grouse study movement on the trails because they can see it coming. We had some bumped birds, and some that just did not hold for a point, and, some beautiful points. She had a spectacular, and amusing point at a bird that ran under the car.

Long ago, I decided to just take what comes, and enjoy the day. I enjoyed them all.

Photo credit to Lloyd-my pooch and I coming out of the woods. Artsy, me thinks.



Best,
Ted

Ted; Nice photo thanks for posting it. Sunday I received a photo my friend Kym who is up at his cabin at Long Lake, Manitoba. The photo was of him preparing to shoot over his Brittany Spaniel. He says that there is a bumper crop of grouse this year, especially Spruce grouse.


Lloyd, please post some photos of your dog(s).

Kindest Regards;
Stephen Howell

Your entire post, sir, is shotgun poetry.

Lloyd hunts in the school of Zutz-dogless. We generally split up, or start at different ends of the same trail. He is very tolerant of my pooch (not to mention me, checks all the boxes of a great friend) at home, but, she is an exceptionally well behaved dog in the house, and spends the majority of her time in her kennel, pretty much just coming out for a pet, and hustling back in. Just the way she is.

I look forward to that time of the year the entire year, and have missed a few seasons. I’m going to work on that aspect of who I am, and it was Lloyd who got me thinking about making sure to take the time to do it-how many of these trips do we have left?

Best,
Ted

Mr. Howell: I do have a dog (a small, black, standard poodle) and she & I have chased game-farm pheasants many times, but...she has become more pet to my family than hunter these days. Dogs up here are a mixed bag at best. The forest is both immense and dense (and now loaded with ticks and wolves). The birds hang on the edge of these old roads and trails and run back into cover when threatened, only flying occasionally. I find myself slowly hunting down these old logging remnants, gun at the ready, waiting to see movement or to hear the sounds of an alarmed or departing bird. The shots are quick and fleeting with lots of walking in-between.

I plan to bring her up with me someday (next year maybe?) now that tick-medications have become effective & available for dogs and see how she responds to it all, but my expectations are limited (as she is not a pointer).