Greetings from across the pond.

[Briarscratch]

Just wanted to drop a line and say hello. I live on the East Coast of the US and like most of you spend way too much time thinking about dogs, guns and times afield. It's tough sometimes to balance the responsibilities of having a family and career with an unholy desire to hunt birds in h3llish thickets, but I do my best. My favorite quarry is the Ruffed Grouse and I spend as much time as possible pursuing them every fall. Although many Setters and Pointers to be the quintessential grouse dogs I prefer to hunt over my Labs. I also hunt pheasant, woodcock, ducks and geese so a Lab makes for an ideal rough-shooting dog.

 

On another note, I heard about Pigeon Watch in an odd way. I'm a member of another bulletin board based in the US and a friend there posted a link to PW. Everyone who looked was amazed by the parallels - the personalities, the topics, the humor.....practically something out of a bizarro world. If you don't believe me check it out yourselves. www.uplandjournal.com

 

It's really cool to see so many like minded people out there - geography may separate us but the need to be afield is universal.

 

Take care,

 

'Scratch

 

(my young pup Lockie and I working up a sweat while chasing Ruffs last October)

[lurcherboy]

Whatto and

 

 

LB

[flash]

whot whot, welcome to the forum, who fancies a glass of lime

nice looking dog

 

cheers

 

flash

[digger]

Welcome to the mad house mate

[LEFTY478]

to PW, mate. Nice looking dog, your lockie. What's with the day-glo orange? Is it "prison chain gang" pattern camo?

[new to the flock]

Briarscratch,

 

Welcome to the site, love the name and very apt for the type of hunting done

 

 

Lefty, we are required to wear Hunters Saftey Orange i most States and in Canada for upland bird, rabbit and large game hunting.

 

NTTF

[Briarscratch]

Thanks for the welcome gentlemen ( and ladies?). The pup is a bit of a blue flamer (the posterior pilot light is always on) and she tests me often but she's a sweetheart and did a find job her first year. Regarding the dayglo - I was hunting during Halloween Week and had a costume party to attend that evening. I was going as a giant pumpkin. But seriously, in most places in the US "hunter orange" is required for all kinds of hunting except waterfowl, turkey and archery hunting. I overdo it a little because the grouse season overlaps with the whitetail deer season and I don't want some jackanape mistaking me for anything other than what I am - a giant pumpkin impersonator.

 

 

Thanks again, you have a great web community here. I look forward to learning a little more about how my brothers of the chase get it done in the UK. I'll do my best to behave and stay out of trouble.

[Dunkield]

Welcome Briarscratch

It is good to have some more overseas members.

As you have found out, you can provide information about how things are done differently on your side of the pond.

 

I have a friend in Jersey, I keep meaning to get out ther to visit him (and Cabelas/Basspro of course)

[pavman]

 

Just wanted to drop a line and say hello. I live on the East Coast of the US

I heard about Pigeon Watch in an odd way. I'm a member of another bulletin board based in the US and a friend there posted a link to PW. Everyone who looked was amazed by the parallels - the personalities, the topics, the humor.....practically something out of a bizarro world.

'Scratch

 

 

Scratch you telling me we have an LB and NTTF over there in a Parallel universe that kind of makes sense

[Highlander]

Ah ha PW goes global Welcome pumpkin

[NorfolkBoy]

Ah another from the Garden State

 

Welcome..

[Whitebridges]

A warm welcome Briarscatch. I don't know anything about ruffed grouse. I found the picture below on the internurd. They look a bonnie little game bird. What sort of habitat do they like? Do you tend to hunt alone or in groups? What sort of numbers might you shoot on an average day? Just interested how you can manage anything wearing orange peel, but that's better than getting mullered!

All the best.

 

[pavman]

Lefty, we are required to wear Hunters Saftey Orange i most States and in Canada for upland bird, rabbit and large game hunting.

 

NTTF

 

 

One assumes to avoid friendly fire?

[Whitebridges]

Ah another from the Garden State

 

Welcome..

 

 

"Scratch and Sniff". Scatch and Sniff our NJ correspondants. "N" stands for Norfolk btw.

[Briarscratch]

 

Whitebridges,

 

A bonnie little game bird they are...so much so that they've developed an almost cult-like following among those who favor them. Ruffs are generally northern birds that prefer successional/secondary growth. By this I mean heavy, dense transitional cover that could be old farm fields going to seed or previously timbered land that's coming back. Although grouse live have a pretty broad range, the cover and food they prefers differ somewhat region by region. In New England they often haunt old apple orchards and long abandoned homesteads. In the upper Midwest they are most often found in logged areas that are thick with returning aspen and birch. But I'm really generalizing here just to give you an idea. Given the density of the cover grouse hunting is hard to do in groups. Often it's a solo pursuit, sometimes with a trusted partner, occasionally with one or two others. Coverts are often jealously guarded secrets and require a great deal of bootleather and scouting to find. Over time one gets better at identifying the types of places where Ruffs are likely to be found and then it's a matter of getting in there.

 

Grouse can be hunted either with or without dogs, and by dogs I mean Retrievers, Flushers or Pointers. The styles vary with the individual but sporting literature in the US by writers such as Burton Spiller, George Bird Evans and William Harnden Foster have largely focused on hunting Ruffs over Setter or Pointers. But to each his own, I hunt over an upland bred Labrador - smaller, athletic, and with greater endurance in the uplands. I'm also lucky to have hunted over most other breeds and types of dogs owned by friends and each has there own appeal. Numbers...well that's a tough one. And one that might be a little hard to explain. Grouse hunting is very difficult because of the bird and the places they're found. The bird itself in incredibly well camouflaged and hard to see even in flight. When they take off their wings make a sound like thunder that can spook the unsuspecting and inexperienced and the places you found them are any or all of the above: thick, thorny, dense, wet, rocky, steep, treacherous and beautiful. So on average, an experienced grouse hunter will shoot at a third of the birds flushed and manage to hit a third of those he shoots at. Many of us carry flush counters so we can count the number of birds found and most never leave their empties behind (don't want to leave evidence) so you know what your shooting averages are at the end of the day. Where I hunt the limit is four per day. My best day I took three and I've only done that once. A bird in the vest is a trophy, a brace is a wonderful thing and nothing in the vest is not a thing to be ashamed of. These birds stymie the best shooters on a regular basis.

 

The orange is a precaution against getting shot, especially in cover where your hunting partner may be completely invisibile 20 yards away. Or where the bird season overlaps with the deer season. The birds don't mind or seem to notice and most hear you coming long before they see you anyway. Especially me, being a "husky" fellow, and often compared to a bulldozer in the thickets. Reams and volumes have been written on the pursuit of this handsome little wood pheasant. Nicknames include the Drummer, The King of Gamebirds, Ruffs, Partridge, Pats, Thunderking and many more, several of which aren't suitable for a public website.

 

So while I hope I've been able to give you a snapshot, I'm sure I've done an inadequate job of describing this funny brown bird that make guys like me gnash their teeth and agonize for the Fall during this time of year. The can be found:

 

Here

Here

And here

 

To show a few likely spots.

 

Hope this helps.

 

PS - Your avatar is making me hungry.

[badgerman]

thoroughly enjoyed reading that - glad to have you on the site!

[dazza]

hello and

[Mungler]

Nice photos and a warm welcome.

 

You will see that in most of our photos it's looking a bit more grey or probably raining. Unlike you, we don't have seasons, we have perpetual forecast of "sunshine and showers" which invariably means grey with showers.

[gundogpa]

Nice job brother on the Ruff...I have a few pics from my place in PA.

 

Here is a nest.

 

 

and hatched and gone.

 

Here she is.

 

Here is a drumming log in another cover.

 

 

 

 

See the scratches from the drummer.