My son and I just got back from a three day hunting trip to "North Maine Woods", a large area of managed timberlands located about 20 miles North of Mooshead Lake where there are literally thousands of miles of unpaved logging roads.
It's nice to live in Central Maine and be able to get there in about 2 1/2 hours by pickup. The roads can be quite bad, but this year, they're the best in many seasons, both because the various owners made a commitment to do so and because the weather has been unusually dry for this time of year.
The birds are fairly plentiful this year and most birds are found while driving lesser-trafficked feeder roads and those that aren't regularly brushed-back and ditched. Good cover along the roads allows the birds to feed in the grass without being seen by predators, including hunters. They occasionally go into the gravel to get warmed by the sun, or to get grit for their crops.
We hunt mostly by cruising the old roads, or walking them, but don't have much success walking without dogs. Still, we limited out for the three days...8 birds in possession apiece, though didn't reach the daily limit of four birds.
We walk up on birds seen from the truck and shoot if they flush, or about to run for cover in the very tight, woody cover along the road and ditch.
We did better than other hunting parties, but know where some of the better places to hunt are, based on many trips over the years.
When younger, I scoffed at those who would hunt from a vehicle and shoot birds on the ground, but at 70, I don't any more. When younger, birds in our area were more plentiful, but farmlands have either been converted to strip-development, or allowed to go to older timber, neither of which will provide good bird hunting.
We have grouse on my son's 150 acres out back, but they're too skittish to be hunted, either with or without dogs. They flush beyond sight or range. In 10 years here, I've only been able to shoot about 3 grouse in our woods.
Northern Maine is still grouse paradise.
It's nice to live in Central Maine and be able to get there in about 2 1/2 hours by pickup. The roads can be quite bad, but this year, they're the best in many seasons, both because the various owners made a commitment to do so and because the weather has been unusually dry for this time of year.
The birds are fairly plentiful this year and most birds are found while driving lesser-trafficked feeder roads and those that aren't regularly brushed-back and ditched. Good cover along the roads allows the birds to feed in the grass without being seen by predators, including hunters. They occasionally go into the gravel to get warmed by the sun, or to get grit for their crops.
We hunt mostly by cruising the old roads, or walking them, but don't have much success walking without dogs. Still, we limited out for the three days...8 birds in possession apiece, though didn't reach the daily limit of four birds.
We walk up on birds seen from the truck and shoot if they flush, or about to run for cover in the very tight, woody cover along the road and ditch.
We did better than other hunting parties, but know where some of the better places to hunt are, based on many trips over the years.
When younger, I scoffed at those who would hunt from a vehicle and shoot birds on the ground, but at 70, I don't any more. When younger, birds in our area were more plentiful, but farmlands have either been converted to strip-development, or allowed to go to older timber, neither of which will provide good bird hunting.
We have grouse on my son's 150 acres out back, but they're too skittish to be hunted, either with or without dogs. They flush beyond sight or range. In 10 years here, I've only been able to shoot about 3 grouse in our woods.
Northern Maine is still grouse paradise.