A hunter’s reflection on the complexities and associated emotions of the moment we find ourselves bird-in-hand… In the closing minutes of the last day of Wisconsin’s ruffed grouse season, I shot a beautiful mature gray bird that flushed wild high out of a mature aspen. Holding that improbable bird, part of me wanted to let out a wild barbaric WHOOP, one which would rip through the surrounding woods, but doing so never seems quite right to me in this sober moment when I have just ended the life of such a wildly noble creature. On top of the elation, I felt...
A Winter Grouse Hunt in Wisconsin – RGS
The sights, sounds and silence of a winter grouse hunt.
On a winter grouse hunt all is quiet, save for the creaking of my snowshoe bindings and the webbing crunching the snow underneath. Not wearing his usual Swiss bell, which would clog with snow, even the dog is quiet. He mostly walks behind me in the packed snow, occasionally stepping on my snowshoes. When Jenkins steps out of my tracks, he swims in snow as he breaks his own trail.
[Read more…] about A Winter Grouse Hunt in Wisconsin – RGSA Working Forest is Not Lacking in Wildness – RGS
The working forest we hunt is full of wildness and we are drawn to these special places. We make a big deal about preserving and protecting wilderness areas. Groups, such as the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club, work diligently and spend millions to protect these pristine lands. On the other hand, we have far fewer people and organizations interested in protecting working landscapes and the wildness in these “ordinary” places. These working landscapes — the farms and orchards that grow our food as well as the forests that supply our wood and paper — are just as important and just...
Ruffed Grouse Hunting with a County Forester
A day in the grouse woods with a forestry professional.
Aldo Leopold wrote in Sand County Almanac that it’s best to just tag along behind a bird dog because it knows “grouseward better than you do.” This tends to be true, but a northern Wisconsin forester, especially one who hunts ruffed grouse with a passion, is a close second. That’s why when Bayfield county forester Mike Amman asked me to join him on a hunt, I immediately asked when and where.
[Read more…] about Ruffed Grouse Hunting with a County ForesterWorking Forests are Local and Sustainable.
A Wisconsin ruffed grouse and woodcock hunter appreciates the local and sustainable nature of working forests. A few years ago, I was helping my neighbor, a contractor, frame up a house. Carrying 2 x 6s from the pile to the foundation, I noticed they were stamped MADE IN GERMANY. Here we were in the midst of Wisconsin’s Northwoods, in the midst of fine stands of red and white pine, and we were buying lumber grown and milled halfway around the world. This made no economic or ecological sense to me — it still doesn’t — that we would use lumber from...
