By Mike Roche

This past weekend found me once again traveling up Interstate 91, this time to New Hampshire.

My destination was the Haverhill/Woodsville area. It had been over 50 years since my boots tramped about in that part of New Hampshire. During my high school years, my father and his hunting buddies were still setting up a 40-man army surplus tent for deer hunting. Since New Hampshire at the time had two zones for deer hunting, they looked for places north of the line that divided the state. They also looked for locations in western New Hampshire, because then a successful hunter could buy a Vermont license and hunt in that state from the tent.

My memories of those adventures with the likes of Leo Jean, Joe LaBonte, Bill Cameron, the Killay brothers and others are special as being a 12-year-old hunting with “the men” was an education in more ways than one.

The trip came about when it was obvious that it was not likely we would encounter ruffed grouse (AKA partridge) during local hunts in Massachusetts and if the dogs did point a grouse, the Massachusetts season was not open until Oct. 14. That led me to search the listings of New Hampshire Registered Hunting Guides and inquire via email to see if anyone would be available for grouse hunting dates before my annual trip to New York. Most of them were booked but one offered me Oct. 14 and 15, which were booked.

This would be different, as my experiences as a bird hunter and upland hunting guide would be reversed. Then it got interesting! Forgetting about foliage season and the impact that “leaf peepers” have when they descend on northern New England, it was a shock when every hotel room that was searched was over $400 per night and many over $700! It was a panic and two hours spent one night got me nowhere.

The following morning, even after consulting my travel consultant daughter Jen, was also frustrating until the idea of taking advantage of my long-time membership in AAA came to mind. In about 15 minutes, an agent was able to find me accommodations which were not cheap but a far cry from the high-end prices that were being charged at most places. It meant a 40-minute drive, but Littleton, New Hampshire, proved to be a very nice place with a busy main street and just about anything you might need, including a train car-style diner on the main street that opened for breakfast at 6 a.m.

The dogs were eager when we met the guide, Dana Charbono, and we drove to a nearby cover. Tessie was out first, and this was her chance to work some grouse. Ten minutes in, she locked up in some alders and held while we missed a woodcock. The same scene was repeated 10 minutes later. We then headed to more open hardwoods and walked a fair distance and then back to the truck without moving any other birds.

As we prepared to change location, a vehicle drove in, and the driver and Dana were involved in a conversation when my chores of watering the dogs and packing up my gear were completed. The gentleman, wearing a worn baseball cap with the Ruger logo and a shirt and vest with Ruger and sporting clays markings, was a hunter and shooter.

The conversation turned to shooting and he said he had been a “company shooter” for Ruger for many years before retiring and shot in sporting clays shoots around the world. When I inquired if he had taken part in the first-ever national sporting clays championship at the Skat Club in New Ipwsich, New Hampshire, he responded he had placed second. This writer had worked the event as a volunteer judge for Skat Owner Tony Haigh after Tony’s brother Robbie asked me if I was interested. What a small world!

The man then mentioned that he traveled each year to Scotland to go bird shooting. Earlier this year, as a guest of Steve Pelz for a pheasant hunt at the Western Mass Bird Dog Club, the other participant was John Chudzik, a retired Amherst Police Officer who also mentioned he traveled to Scotland for wingshooting. Turns out they were friends and both collectors of fine English shotguns. Again, what a small world.

At this point, we finally introduced ourselves and he gave his name as Dave Tilden. That immediately rang a bell as this modest gentleman had indeed been at the very top of the shotgun shooting world when shooting games like sporting clays and five-stand were rising in popularity. We chatted a bit more and then headed to the trucks to drive to our next cover.

The afternoon hunt followed a lunch featuring a “smash burger”— a double cheeseburger cooked on a gas grill Dana brought along and it was indeed filling. We then hunted Laney and she was covering ground and then we could not locate her. She was using the “old school” Sport DOG Upland Hunter beeper collar and, we could not hear her for a few minutes. When she returned, she had blood around her mouth. It was not like her to catch and kill or eat a bird and an examination revealed the blood was hers. She had punctured her tongue!

It was not spurting and so we walked her back to the truck and looked it over closely. There was no immediate risk obvious, so she was put in the crate and Tessie was let out. We eventually moved a couple woodcock in thick alders with no shots. Trying both wetland and upland habitat, we covered a lot of ground and Tessie was a champ. Her range and coverage were great, but no birds. The day ended with six miles logged on my new Apple watch but not one grouse moved.

When Sunday morning started off the same, this writer explained to Dana that the trip was all about exposing Tessie to grouse. We had a discussion about the prospects of finding grouse and Dana was not confident, and at that point, we mutually agreed to end the hunt and not run the dog at length where she would not be getting positive reinforcement for her efforts. So, we headed back to Massachusetts.

As you read this, the New York State Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock Society Grouse and Woodcock Hunt is once again underway and hopefully the hunting will be good. It is clear that across the northeast, grouse numbers are down as the birds are known to cycle up and down, with many suggesting that they follow a seven-year cycle. Hunters returning from the national Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock Society Hunt in Minnesota seemed to have found abundant grouse, so regional difference and certainly spring weather can impact bird numbers. Maybe that is a trip this writer should add to the bucket list?

Mike Roche is a retired teacher who has been involved in conservation and wildlife issues his entire life. He has written the Sportsman’s Corner since 1984 and has served as advisor to the MaharFish’N Game Club, counselor and director of the Massachusetts Conservation Camp, former Connecticut Valley District representative on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, has been a Massachusetts Hunter Education Instructor and is a licensed New York hunting guide. He can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.