Bird Dogs Afield host Paul Fuller is the gun dog columnist for Northwoods Sporting Journal. The Journal has granted permission to re-print Paul’s articles. Thank you Northwoods Sporting Journal.
Grouse Utopia? Try Northern Ontario
Avid grouse hunters are always dreaming of finding a utopia of productive coverts. You know, that secret spot over a mountain where there’s a grouse every twenty feet. Your writer also dreams of the El Dorado of grouse coverts.
About every other year, I venture to new places in search of grouse utopia. My wife, Stu Bristol (Maine Master Guide and Outdoor Writer) and I just returned from Northern Ontario in hopes of finding grouse aplenty. And, of course, our two shorthairs were along for the hunt. Our encounter with grouse utopia was very close. Here’s the story.
For the past two years, Peter Martin of Kap River Outfitters has been telling me about the fabulous grouse hunting he has around Kapuskasing, Ontario. Kapuskasing is located about as far north in Ontario as one can drive in a normal highway vehicle. It’s 900 miles from our home in Durham, NH. The “team” finally decided to visit Peter; departing on Sunday, September 25th, and arrived in Kapuskasing on Tuesday evening, September 27th. Peter houses his grouse hunters in a very nice home right in Kapuskasing. Along with moose hunters and bear hunters, Peter and his wife, Terry, make everyone feel at home.
For most of us who travel to hunt, we begin checking weather forecasts about one week before departure. For foreign countries, I’ve always preferred the Underground Weather website. The weather forecast for Kapuskasing was positive…30s at night and high 40s during the day. That was one week before departure. In reality, we had high 70s with bright sunshine…that made it feel like the 80s. Therefore, the birds were inactive most of the day; seeking cool temperatures under the firs and spruce. Dillon, my older shorthair, had numerous points the first day but we’ve all seen this situation…the birds flush on the other side of impenetrable cover. On the third day, on an old logging road, we had thirteen flushes in a quarter of a mile…and we never had a shot. That friends, is a lot of birds.
Speaking of a lot of birds, in the three days we hunted, we failed to flush a grouse in only one cover we entered. Every other cover yielded at least one flush.
Like most avid grouse hunters, I carefully survey the areas where I flush grouse. Is there a common denominator? On the first morning, the common denominator was that I always entered a cover with white birch within 40 yards. There was also plentiful white clover and wild strawberries along the logging road. This magic formula always produced a flush. The second day was the warmest and this is when the bids where all under the spruce and firs. We had rain the third day and the birds were still under the spruce and firs.
If you’re like me and enjoy the adventure of a new grouse destination every other year, then I would definitely try Kap River Outfitters. In three days of hunting, we never saw another hunter. Miles and miles of logging roads and tens of thousands of acres of prime bird cover were all ours. How close to utopia can you get? Due to a full October schedule, we were only able to go the end of September. My next trip to Kap River Outfitters, however, would definitely be in mid-to-late October…or even early November. At this time of the fall, we would not have to contend with unusually high temperatures and think foliage. And, a bonus would be the magical high bush cranberry bogs that Peter loves to hunt. These are only accessible after the leaves drop. I spoke to a hunter who has hunted the high bush cranberries and he told me that he had thirty flushes in 50 feet. That’s grouse overload but I would like to see it just once…and so would Dillon.
Would I go back…you bet. Peter likes to say that he has almost unlimited potential for grouse hunters and I believe him. There is one disclaimer I make with all bird hunting destinations. Remember that extreme weather during nesting season can change the bird forecast dramatically. I recommend that you stay in touch with an outfitter regarding bird-nesting success. They typically know by mid-July if their season will have plentiful birds.
For further information, go to www.kapriveroutfitters.ca. Peter will be happy to answer your email or chat with you on the phone. Grouse aplenty awaits you.
Paul Fuller is host of Bird Dogs Afield TV which may be seen in New England on WBIN (Comcast Ch. 18) and Fox 23 in Portland beginning on November 5th at 6:30 AM and running through December. Previous TV broadcast episodes, and dozens of videos of training and hunting videos and Paul’s previous Sporting Journal columns may be seen or read on Paul’s website which is www.birddogsafield.com. Paul may be contacted at paul@birddogsafield.com.