Grouse / Woodcock NH

[SHaRPS]

Anyone here hunting upstate NH this year? Just over a week left until opening day and I am trying to pull the trigger on a trip. I have an 11 month old GSP and would love to take him up there for a day or 2 but with a 6 hour ride but hunting alone in the big north woods is a bit intimidating when trying to look for the birds. If anyone is willing to help out, that would be fantastic. If not, good hunting to all!

[FoxRed]

Not NH but I am heading up to Maine at the end of October. I haven't been before and am so excited. I have heard there should be tons of birds. I am in Mass. Where are you heading up from?

[minigooch]

I just got back from Maine with my 20 month GSP. It was our first grouse outing and we made contact with a few birds, they didn't hold well but we are both learning. The wind was strong and swirling so that didn't help either. The porcupines are plenty and we unfortunately made contact the first day before lunch. There were too many quills for me to handle including in the roof of mouth ,nose ,lips gums ,snout and paw.... so off to find a local vet who put him under and removed quills.(over$200) He was jumpy and stuck to me like glue for the rest of night. The next am he was his usual kick "bleep" self so off we went out and had another good outing until Mr Porcupine . This time only about 20-30 quills that I could handle by tying him off and wrapping a towel over his eyes and had at it with pliers. Ill be heading back in two weeks. I guess my point is be aware and prepared. Keep a vets number in your phone and make sure you know if the have an emergency # or hours. I'm from Mass too and was in Mid-coast Maine. Happy Hunting !

[The Zephyr]

We just returned from a mid-week hunt. Tuesday we had twenty flushes, Wednesday we got skunked (not literally) Thursday we had thirty flushes and ate grouse for dinner. The birds were there, spotty tho. A forester we met said they had a wet spring this year.
Farther south in NH may do better. Pittsburg has a micro climate of its own.

John L.

I did have a memorable double flush. A stop to flush on grouse to the left and when I took a step a woodcock flush up and to the right. No shot on the grouse and I trimmed the yellow canopy above me as the mudbat flew out.

[SHaRPS]

Well minigooch, believe it or not but my dog god quilled! What an awful experience! about 100 quills and I was able to remove all but 1 right where it happened, 1 mile from my vehicle on a mountain. The last one was stuck in his knee joint and he wanted no part of me touching it. He had them all over his chest and front legs. So, on my shoulder he went and I carried him about 1 mile to my truck. 2 hour ride to the closest vet which was able to pull out the last quill ($140). I have to say, I have never seen a dog squeal so much. I have also never seen a dog trust a human as much as he did, and that made me feel great and proud being his owner.

For those people who are completely against skid plates - it probably saved his life. If it wasn't for the skid plate he probably would have had an additional 100 quills and gotten one right to the heart/lungs - from what I saw and from what the Vet said.

He is still on pain meds and antibiotics but he is doing much better! His limp went away as well so he might be ready for pheasant season.

As far as the hunting - we were able to get 2 snow shoe hare and 3 grouse. Not bad at all since we saw about 10 woodcock and another 10 grouse before his injury. Birds were plenty but the ground was definitely wet everywhere. No issues finding birds in Pittsburg for us.