Ruffed Grouse Hunt - Ball Club, MN

Tina and Ball Club MN Ruffed Grouse

October 5th 2011

Another new area was on tap for today.  We made it to the woods at 10 am and it was already 60 degrees.  The Garmin said to take a forest road right off of hwy 2 and it wasn’t too bad until we passed the newest clear cut area where they were still working.  We went another mile down the road to the clear cut that we had marked.  It looked very promising.  Tina, as usual, was the first dog out of the truck.  She worked the area well but didn’t get too birdy.  The trails along the clear cut ended up being rather short so it was back to the truck and another mile down the forest road that was now getting more narrow.  I wouldn’t want to be on it most years as it looked like it would normally be very muddy.

Spot number two was a narrow trail with about a 10 year old cut on one side and some lower areas along the other.  About 15 minutes down the trail and Tina had a nice solid point and I was able to take it on a straight away flush.  The trail only lasted another 5 - 10 minutes.  On the way back we were able to move the same Woodcock three times.

Spot number three was six more miles down the forest road and I was getting more nervous about driving down it.  Luckily I have been practicing my Rally Driving skills on the Mac at home.  We made to the spot ok and I put Marge down for her workout.  The cover was a bit older than what I prefer but I was hoping the grouse might be trying to stay cool in the shade.  Marge did get birdy once but we didn’t produce a bird.  Back at the truck it was Fergie’s turn to get some time on the ground.  We got a nice walk in and checked out another trail that was in the area.  She got in some good sniffing but not bird action.

We pulled the plug as it was over 70 degrees and it was time to get back to the cabin and start to work.  It was a decent hunt and fun to get back into some areas that I don’t think I’d normally be able to get back to.