Lloyd,
A long time ago a friend of mine and I would load up our dogs and head to the same area we hunted this year, but, right between Christmas and New Years. The area is desolate, but, beautiful in the cold, and you can usually get an idea where the birds are by looking down at the snow on the ground. Hunting is hit or miss, sometimes you find a group of birds in the damndest location, sometimes you don’t see a thing. We did combine the hunting with ice fishing, usually on the half of upper Red Lake that is open to non band members, but, a time or two on Lake of the Woods. We had about as much fun as two young guys could have in that part of the world, in late December.
Not much of an ice fisherman these days, and that much grouse hunting in the cold and snow might kill me, today.
Good to hear you arrived safely.
Best,
Ted
