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Finally had a quiet moment to get these posted....


A good road bird stretch. Drive-by shootings don't just happen in the inner city. Good way to start out a youngster who needs a little success at putting something in the pot. Anywhere else and it would be considered very bad form, but it's how 90% of the natives hunt up here so....when in Rome.



Very wet this year. So wet that I had to temporarily replace my beloved Russels with Muck boot clones. Thank God for them.



My best walk of the year, 2 hours in, 1 plus coming out in the dark. Saw or heard 11 birds. Wish every trail was a good as this one was this day.



A good day anywhere, but just the beginning for this one..



The reason I refer to it as "Grousmas". Actually, that's Ted's term for it.



The last good day up there, walked alot (5 plus miles) got 1 bird. Saw lots, couldn't get a shot or get close enough. Good day anyway.

Lloyd,
Thanks for posting, glad you had a good time up there in spite of the wet conditions. My week had 3 days of rain, sure was a wet season.
Karl

A "new" Jeep Compass that I rented in Fargo. I had reserved a mid-sized sedan for the trip over to my father-in-law's place, but Enterprise offered me this instead (limited options in smaller airports?). I initially refused (I've owned and driven several Jeeps over the years) but thought better of it when I considered the weather predictions. Darn glad I did. I was told to not go four-wheeling in it and I never shifted into real 4X4 but...I had water up to the doors on several occasions and it's dainty wheelbase made for easy use on some badly overgrown two-tracks. My usual ride was left in repose (97 F150 4x4) while I put the Jeep through it's paces. They're actually nice when they're new and everything works.

That is gorgeous

67Galaxie: Thanks! When I walk some of these trails it feels like I'm in a cathedral. Such harsh and yet beautiful country.

Lloyd, you make me homesick for LOTW. Beautiful pics.

I can't believe how wet the central plains states are this year. All sorts of two track closures in the Sandhills because of water.

Thanks James!



This was leaving LOTW on Thursday the 10th. The yard was so full of water when I got there the house was an island. I was shocked that everything was still working. Definitely a rubber-boot year.

Big changes coming to my world up there. The proprietor has stage 4 cancer (inoperable). This is the first time I've ever hunted grouse camp without him. I had lots to contemplate on my armed walks. Too much actually....it's in God's hands now.

looks like minnesota...were you around ash lake?

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Don't know if these will open, but the road shows just the beginning of the 22" snow that drove us south in MB. At least the cabin wall was intact when we arrived.
The snow-laden tamaracks were gorgeous.
Spent the next two days snowed in at a hotel 50 miles south.

Ed: Zippel Bay on the Lake-of-the-Woods.

lloyd, your pictures brought back fond memories of a trip to northern mn, about 15 years ago...

thanks for posting them here...

Wish we didn't have to create URLs to post pics here. Had the tinyurl site going for awhile, but it folded. Had Imgur for a bit also. My other forums don't require image hosting.

Likely will not get another chance to do a boat hunt on a river in conditions like this. Swans still there today after almost three weeks in the flooded beans. All I will need is a few family groups heading downriver. Would be over a mile to row upriver to where they are and they would all see me coming. Should be small flocks of ducks and geese on the move. Plenty of snow geese down now, as my buddy saw a hundred thousand yesterday west of Jamestown. So far Gus not too enthusiastic about jumping out of boats, but I likely will be in weeds and shallow water. Carrying push pole, lopping shears, a few duck decoys, and may throw in some hay.
My problem will be seeing them in time to get a shot. I'll also turn my hearing aids on max!
And if I can nail a Great White that has been eating soybeans it will be the first record for the state.

Sorry no pix

Shooting them on the ground is for slobs and not sporting at all. My bet is that opposed to giving encouragement for meager success you only instilled a lesson of laziness and instant gratification. Poor characteristics for a sportsman.

NCA, you just don't understand truck window hunting. A ground shot hardly ever happens. The bird flushes and it is tricky as heck to get the the barrel out the window and adjust your lead on the bird with the momentum of the truck. Or so they tell me. I've quit judging...Geo

The natives in that part of the world are something to behold. The Red Lake WMA is a patchwork of state owned land with Indian lands scattered throughout. While the Indians are permitted to hunt the State land, non band members are expressly forbidden from hunting or trespassing on band land, and it is poorly marked. Native wardens have zero tolerance for trespassing, and if you are a non band member, you can expect to be arrested.
I�ve have come on minivans with all the doors open, driving slowly along roads and logging trails, and four or five kids sitting with shotguns waiting to see a grouse or deer, and shooting them from the van. This behavior is expressly forbidden to, say, Lloyd or myself, but band members have State blessing to hunt in almost any manor they wish. The van on several occasions had dead grouse stacked like cordwood in the middle.
Of course my son asked me about that.
I explained to my son that we can�t and shouldn�t hunt like that, and that the State of Minnesota is governed by liberal people who wish to put groups of people in boxes to determine how they live their lives, instead of governing with the idea that we are all equal and free, and should abide by the same laws.
I think I mentioned something about maybe those guys didn�t like dogs, or buying dog food, and, that it appeared they weren�t real keen on fresh air and exercise, as all the shooters were overweight and smoking cigarettes, even though the oldest was perhaps 12 or 13, but, that was beside the point.
I�ve never been a road hunter. The dogs don�t tolerate it. If I didn�t own dogs, I might not hunt.

Best,
Ted

I wondered when somebody was going to notice that. We call them "bonus" birds. They eat just as well as the ones killed on the wing and it seems to be the only way the locals hunt them. I tend to walk between two and three trails a day when I'm up there and my average mileage walked per-day is usually between 4 or 5. I used to drive-by or around those birds but that began to strike me as rather impractical. I hunt grouse because I thoroughly enjoy them as table fare. I'd much prefer to shoot them on the wing but...that doesn't always happen to be the shot you get up there. I pay for the licence and follow the rules, and in Minnesota that is considered a legal "take". Moralize if you will, but that's how it's done up there.

Instant gratification produces a sense of entitlement. You should be careful what seeds you sow.

Great pictures and fun times out in the woods. Thanks for sharing them Lloyd.

nca225: Parenting is a very personal process. My perception of what is needed to get a child interested in hunting might be a bit different than yours. Participation is pretty critical IMHO, and then a modicum of success. I hunted grouse for many years before I had any success. If I'd of had access to the internet then, or the dreck of media sources that kids have now at their fingertips, I might easily have pitched it all for the much-more immediate satisfaction those outlets provide. When the special meal is served to the extended family and you know you have participated in providing the main course, it can be a significant moment. At least, I know it was for me almost 50-years ago now.

So your perception of what is needed to get a child to hunt is to show them that its as easy as picking low hanging fruit from a tree. It doesn't require any ethics, effort hard work or skill. I don't know about your life experience Lloyd, but I find once those traits take, they are hard to shake.

Your right, we do share different perceptions. I would not feel proud at all if I fed my family a plate of full of ground shot grouse after I spent several thousand dollars on guns, ammo, trips, lodging and the whole shebang. Although I understand YMMV on that.

Life is full of low-hanging fruit. It is also full of some very intense challenges. The trick is to see the bigger picture and appreciate both.

Both God and life are like that...IMHO.

I, I, I. So, what do you do, text your family these pearls about how lucky they are that it only costs them thousands for you to whip up a plate of grouse nuggets? Are you going to get full value when you get the buy back going?

Well as per usual thrifty, you base much of your thinking here on an assumption. Its much more efficacious to just go to the store and get them some groceries for dinner. I just send them a text about what's for dinner after I pick it up. Besides, my wing shooting exploits aren't good enough to put grouse on the plate for all of them, so I just keep all of it to myself and not bother them with stuff they could not care less about.

I well remember my first grouse. He flew parallel with a logging road that about four of us kids were walking up to, out of a woods, doing a �drive�, as we were pretty much clueless about how to hunt grouse. Every single one of us was equipped with a single shot, mine was the only hammerless version. The three other guys fired and missed, and as the grouse flew past me, I fired, and he tumbled from the sky, hitting the ground right in front of me, where he flopped until I pounced on him. I was fourteen years old, and king of my tribe for the rest of the day.
Upon examination of the grouse, I discovered he had the wad from my shell stuck in his armpit. If a single BB had touched that bird, I found no evidence of it. I had simply knocked him off balance, and, if he had a moment or two more to flop, I expect he would have shaken the wad, and resumed his flight.
I cleaned, and later ate him, after we pooled our collective rabbits, squirrels, and pheasants from that season. It was just enough to feed the four of us, and one of our fathers-we had much to learn about hunting. The grouse ate well.
I suppose a real sport would have set the grouse free after the discovery of poor marksmanship and accidental grounding of the bird. But, I didn�t and don�t subscribe to a notion of accidents not being sporting. I collect the birds I hit with the car (always an accident) and one time witnessed a long CB radio antenna whip a grouse out of the sky as a truck went past. The truck never slowed a bit.
That grouse ate well, too.
Hang a gun out the window of a vehicle and shoot a bird and I�ve got no time for you. Stop the truck, get out, and hunt a bird you saw run across the road is different.
Steve Bodio wrote eloquently on this exact subject in �On the Edge of the Wild�, in the chapter �Evolution of a Hunter�.

Best,
Ted

"Let Him that is Without Sin among you Cast the First Stone"!!
Lot's of folks here Don't need to be Pitching any Rocks!!
Just Saying, to Borrow an expression from Ho Joe.

Lloyd, sorry about your "hunting buddy." You'll have to make the fresh memories for him from now on. Godspeed.

limapapa: Thank you. Left a bunch of birds up there for he and his wife to enjoy if his chemotherapy allows. Just when you think you've got the next few years figured out, this happens. Didn't even try to fish or hunt ducks without him. The blind would of been a very lonely place...

Blast it...got something in my eyes. Funny what you get used-to. I'd be on a trail and hear some shots in the distance and immediately wonder if the proprietor had scratched one down. He is/was quite good with a pumpgun. His Model 31 sat silent the whole time I was there.

Some good information on Woodcock and Ruffed in Bellweather note from Ruffed Grouse Society/American Woodcock Society (RGS-AWS) today. Also link to American Wildlife Conservation Partners, 50 powerful conservation organizations dedicated to wildlife. Was very disappointed not to see Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy listed as members. But they are very hard to contact to urge them to join. I've donated to TNC for many years. Wonder if they have become anti-hunting/fishing/trapping? Hope not as we are all in this struggle together.

Happy here as I filled my tag for a Great White this morning. No boat and much easier hunt than my first three tries. Can't wait to open the gizzard on that young bird. If I find soybeans it will be a first for the state. Guessing about 14 pounds. In my opinion, Tundra Swan are by far the best eating of all large waterfowl.

Pretty neat stuff! Waiting on the culinary report.