a deer and a grouse pic's

[mrbb]

well its been a hard cold winter so far, extremely cold this yr lots of ice
got this pic the other evening, of a grouse and a deer at the feeder
I get grouse pretty often all yr, but never seem to get them at the same time as when deer are here?
guess when your cold and hungry you don't mind mixed company LOl

[carbonarcher]

That's so cool hadn't seen a grouse since I was 13 years old love the sound they make with their wings.

[mrbb]

yes the drumming sounds they make are pretty cool
same can be said when they take off, and startle the crap out of you at times, letting you get so close before they flush LOL
I was very lucky, in the first 15 yrs or so, I had huge populations of ruffed grouse all about me where I lived and hunted
and as such, MAN I hunted them a ton, and don't really recall ever not filling my limit each time out, for yrs and yrs
NOW< last 10 yrs or so, I pretty much stopped hunting them as so few seem to be out there, feel like if I kill any, I might bekilling the last of them LOL

I do see them pretty often in my yard, but its normally the same one's
not a whole bunch of different one's
walking the trails behind my place yrs back was nothing to flush 20-30 in a few miles of walking on every hike
NOW< might flush one or two, out of about 20 hikes
for weeks or months won't flush a single one, and then next time out , will bust one or two
Sad I say, state and folks like to say they run in cycles
I call bullcrap on that threory, as I Know when I was kid till my 30's, there was ALWAYS lots here, and then the populations have dropped every yr since, NOT a single rebound yet in say 15 yrs now
so how long are these cycles?? LOL
just like woodcock's
man had a lot of them here too yrs back, haven't even seen a single one now in maybe 15 yrs or so
Had guys that hunted dogs in contests, hunt tests and trials, come from hundreds of miles away to tarin here due to so many, and now?? GONE they are
I personally blame teh game dept, afterall its there JOB< to protect nd manage game
even if they says its NOT there JOB or fault
the question I always ask them here is, then who fault is it??
the company they work for says GAME Commision, and they enforce and control things with wildlife in PA>>
all they want is credit for good things and pass the buck when things go wrong
I am NOT a fan of my states Game dept LOL for a LOT of reasons I can back up!

HAHA!
oh well

[carbonarcher]

Sonds alot like my dads property near Akron with the pheasant and people bringing the dog's out I haven't seen one but herd the best of stories.I hope these birds make a comeback like the turkey my children need to enjoy the wildlife more and work out there thumb muscles on the video game less ha

[mrbb]

Sonds alot like my dads property near Akron with the pheasant and people bringing the dog's out I haven't seen one but herd the best of stories.I hope these birds make a comeback like the turkey my children need to enjoy the wildlife more and work out there thumb muscles on the video game less ha
Pheasants? man thats another sore subject for me in PA
PA was a top 5 pheasant state
WAS
then they about went under, the state game claimed it was the farmers fault?? and there using chemicals??

I been to the game dept meetings and asked, if its farmers fault
hwy are there so many farms out westa nd still so many pheasants??
never got an answer??

they spent hundreds of millions of dollars rasing pen raised pheasants and releasing them, USELESS waste of funds

then about 7 yrs ago or so, Pheasants forever got agressivle involved and offered to bring in WILD pheasants from out west( ND & SD)
mostly
well, they were NOT going to let them for they didn;t like the idea of bringing in game from nother state??
bo ho!!
BUT then allowed as long as costs were on PF, and not teh state??
well turns out wild pheaants work??
and in the areas they started releasing them, there actually breeding and holding there own!
FUNNY< as as soon as the state realized trhis, they started taking credit for bringing the wild birds in
when all they really did was let PH pay and bring them in, they gave them PERMISSION to let them loose??
funny how they want credit but never came up with the idea on there own!!
seems they only want credit for things that are good
and again pass the buck when things go wrong!
HAHA< me and the PA game commision, I guess don't see things the same
I stand by and back up my complaints, they pas the buck
so??

Ohio still has some wild pheasants in area's
but if your into huntuing them, take a trip out west, I spent many hunts out there both for deer and pheasants, loved watching my dog work wild birds
sucked having to drive 1800 miles to do so, when we had them in my home state a few miles from my house, 70's and 80's was awesome for them here, and now??
a joke!

[carbonarcher]

Man I sure wish I could take my dad for a south Dakota pheasant double barrel hunt. Soon as one of us hit the powerball

[mrbb]

hey, you can do hunts out there pretty darn cheap if you know here
I used to rent a house out there and had about 100,000 acres of private lands to hunt for like 75 bucks a day, and a one time fee of 50 bucks for access to the private lands
a two week lic(might be 10 days forget, been 4 yrs since I went out last now) was like 250
was seeing between 100-5,000 pheasants a day, crazy some days with how many you would see
and trust me, having a couple hundred in a field is HARDER than only a couple, as thats a LOT of eyes on you, and when one flush a flock will be long gone LOL
wasn't hard with a good dog to get your daily limit, to be honest it was , kinda like, how hard you wanted to make it
I was picking out birds based on tails, only shot long tails
always used to double dip on trips there, doing pheasants in teh AM, and then deer/archery in the evenings
worked out great for me and the dog, as he was worn out and more than happy to sleep while I hunted deer in the evenings LOL
he would wake up every morning refreashed and I would be dragging butt some days, between the walking for birds and walking for deer, and he slept LOL
great memories for sure, all the more so now he is gone
if you want any info on some good hunt, send me a pm
most expensive part of my trips out west was always my gas bill, all the more so last few yrs
but for a great hunt out there you do not have to spend a lot of money in a lodge or the likes, and some of them places are CRAZY high, know of a few that are like 500 a day to shoot 3 pheasants LOL
that would take powerball money maybe LOL
but a DIY hunt, , no, average guy can do one witha little effort on there part!

[carbonarcher]

I will definitely have to look into that my dads been talking about doing it for as long as I remember I dont know what a pm is not to good with the internet but will figure it out im sure.sorry about your loss looks like he was a great friend dog.

[carbonarcher]

Man it's sure cold tonight 4"degrees.got some coyotes at my dads needed taking care of but they might have to get a free pass.

[mrbb]

cold here and snowing like mad, got about 6 more inches of new snow today and falling like mad right now
I am in a big coyote contest next weekend, almost 40 grand in the pot for this one
but this makes the third yr in a row, for this cocntest that we have a crap load of snow on the ground, by tomorrow it should be about 26-27 inches deep, and MAN that makes for HARD walking , to get out to hunt them
been trying to keep some logging roads and old trails open by plowing with my atv, but many drifted in so deep, just cannot reopen them after the past 15+ inches we got last week!
and again, I really feel bad for the critters this winter
minus 15 lst night, they have to be a hurtting this winter!
I been filling the feeder every day , but the snow is now so deep, many deer are just not coming
the local gun club, owns a few thousand acres behind my house, and they feed them flower bulbs they get free, they dump piles with tri axle and then BIG Mining Trucks, the local powerplant has , hold like 40 ton at a time and dump
so deer yard up near these piles
so do the coyotes LOL
there my prime calling spots come next weekend! LOL

[carbonarcher]

Don't have a pa license yet be a reason to get one

[mrbb]

heck Yes it is, all you need is a basic lic, too, no extra tags to hunt coyotes

here is the contest info for you to look at
and I just sent you a PM< private message, should come up you have a PM when you log into the site


here is the link for teh hunt, look at past yr pay outs to see the cash LOL, gets bigger almost every yr too!

http://www.mosquitocreeksportsmen.com/coyote.html

[mrbb]

incase you didn't see this, here is a tread I started a while back, about other contest, some you can be a ohio hunter too!, just check in with coyotes is in PA
like Is aid, way I see it is, if you don;t shoot a BIG one, don't have to make the drive LOL
but if you get out and manage to kill a BIG one, might be worth the drive and then some!

[url]http://www.bowhuntingohio.com/threads/24384-coyote-contest-s?p=160793#post160793[/ur

[carbonarcher]

Man thats cool thanks for the info

[mrbb]

I would ahve to think they hold contests liek this in your area too, many local fire depts here have them after deer seaon ends
coyote mating season is NOW
and why theu hold the hunts, gets folsk outside in the off season!, helps the deer herd too I bet!
and coyote pelts, if your into that, are worh more now than they have in the past 20 yrs or so!
so even without a contest, you can make money if you wanted!