Hunting Season 2019

Upland

    The hunting season kicked off with a trip to the North East Kingdom of Vermont, (NEK). We rented a house in Charleston, right on Echo Lake. I went up there with my wife and daughter, as well as my parents. My Dad and I were able to get away to do some early season grouse hunting. Woodcock didn't open up until our last day, so we mainly targeted grouse.


    Using a mapping system I had to find old cuts, we ventured north. Of course, on the days we couldn't shoot woodcock, we ran into woodcock. Piper had a good point and I flushed, what would have been an "easy" shot. Luna did very well. She retrieved a grouse that flushed from a tree, that I was able to get a few bb's in. Ruby flushed her first grouse and I was able to knock it down quickly. She found it without issue and brought it back to my very happy father.


    The last day out was the opener for woodcock. We went to a spot that had been cut specifically for the conservation of woodcock. We tried to make the most of our time there and split up. I chased around what was probably the same woodcock for about an hour, firing at it numerous times. Luna was doing really well relocating and staying steady. I just was not on my game. While attempting to relocate the woodcock I just missed Luna went on point in an area that I did not believe the woodcock to be. ALWAYS TRUST YOUR DOG. I walked over to her to release her and get her back on task when I flushed a grouse. I wasn't ready for the first flush but lucky for me there was another explosion from the base of the same tree. It was a straight away shot, nothing like the timber doodle fluttering. I knocked it down with the first shot. It was a grouse! Luna didn't retrieve, but she pointed the dead bird. When we regrouped I told my dad about the problems I was having with the woodcock, but showed him the grouse. He showed me the woodcock Ruby had flushed and retrieved.




Luna with her Grouse



Luna and Ruby in the NEK, VT




Ruby's First Grouse





NEK VT, Me and Luna with a Grouse

Pheasant

    Back on Cape Cod for the remainder of the upland season, I took both dogs out a few times to some local areas that stock pheasant. Luna pointed a non performing rooster. I tried to get it to fly but Piper rushed in and grabbed it. On another trip, we were able to kick up a female pheasant in Myles Standish State Forest, that I knocked down. On Thanksgiving I shot a rooster on my way to Western MA in the town of Bolton. Otherwise I didn't get out much.






Piper's pheasant at Myles Standish


Thanksgiving Rooster

Deer

    Deer season was a struggle for the year 2019. I put in the time and effort, but ultimately came up empty handed. This was the first year in a long time that I didn't have a local zone doe tag. There was a 94% success rate for zone 12, but I ended up in the 6%.
    

    The start of the deer season started with a trip to the Vineyard for the second year in a row. We had such great success in 2018 that it seemed like a guarantee... however, mother nature had other plans. We invited along a family friend, Dan Hogan, who was in pursuit of his first deer. We scouted a few new areas and set stands in some areas that looked like great spots. The wind kicked up on opening day which halted all deer movement. On the second morning it was misty and damp. I saw a small doe sneak past me without a shot opportunity. My Dad shot a doe and took a whack at a buck but missed. We came back later that afternoon and recovered that doe. Dan was the one who actually found it after the blood trail ran dry.
    

    That afternoon my Dad shot at another two does from the ground. He hit both but we only recovered one. I saw a deer but there was too much noise and commotion from a group of hikers behind me. The deer spooked and the only sight I had was the white flag as it ran away. Dan did not see much action and didn't get a chance to let any arrows fly. We ended up leaving early because a large storm was kicking up some nasty weather that was going to park over the island for the next 5-6 days. We got on the ferry just in time before the conditions got too bad.
    

    Feeling gypped, I planned a second trip during early October, hoping to catch some rut activity on the island. I saw a small doe at 80 yards on my first night, while it was drizzling. Then the temperature dropped overnight. The wind chill left the real feel below 0. This froze the moisture in my bow's arrow rest, so I had to manually hold it up. I must have jumped 30-40 deer on the way into my stand. A few cold hours later and a nice 8 pointer came right down the trail I had walked in on. At the last minute he jumped into the thickest part of the woods he could find and walked by me at 35 yards, never presenting a shot opportunity. He turned nonchalantly and walked out of my life.
    

    Later that afternoon I had the opportunity to shoot a couple of does that were being chased. The does stopped 10 yards from my stand, but I could hear something following them so I waited. A decent little buck was about 30 yards over my right shoulder. As I turned towards him, he noticed me and took off, along with the two does. Another squandered opportunity.
    

    I only hunted a few times during bow season in Rehoboth, (zone 11). I had a doe come into range, all I needed was for her to cross a small stream, but she spotted me and wouldn't come in. I didn't have many encounters on the Cape. I didn't have a doe tag so I didn't spend a lot of time in any of my stands. During shotgun I tried hunting in Western Mass. Opening day dumped over 2 feet of snow. This was great for tracks, but was terrible for tracking, even with snow shoes. I jumped several does, in different areas, but without a doe tag in zone 2 it made shooting a deer impossible. My father and I tried a few areas at the base of Mt Greylock in zone 1 because my Dad had a zone 1 doe tag. We tracked a few does, but never got a shot. I also lost my phone in the deep snow on one of the afternoons. Someone on a 4-wheeler found it in the spring.


MV Buck





My Dad and Dan with a Doe they recovered on MV


Strange Racked Buck
Cape Cod

Ducks

    I spent a good amount of January hitting the coastal duck marshes. A few times I had my Rehoboth hunting buddies come down to the Cape to try their luck hitting the fast flying divers. I found a new area in Yarmouth I wanted to try and ended up shooting a black duck from my kayak while it flew overhead. Piper jumped in and retrieved it. We even tried sitting on the end of a jetty, where the ducks flew into the river like running a gauntlet. Piper grabbed the easy ones, but when the waters got too cold and choppy she left it up to the brave kayakers.





Female Bufflehead and an Eider


Piper and a Black Duck, Cape Cod Marsh



Retrieving from a Jetty