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Hunting

Choosing a New Forest Shotgun -Five top aspects to consider

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by Mark Herwig I started grouse hunting in 1974 in the 3.9 million-acre Superior National Forest west of Grand Marais, Minn. We got a few, then got lost, but that’s another story. The point is, in six decades chasing grouse and woodcock, I’ve fielded many shotguns in many seasons of life and I’ve learned a few things about what makes a good grouse gun. Some of you may be thinking about what many wingshooters consider the best, most fabled grouse gun of them all, the vaunted Parker Bros. side-by-side, made from 1867 to 1942. Alas, my humble beginnings in a nonhunting family didn’t...

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Know Your Cover – Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)

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by Jake Tomlinson Growing up hunting grouse in the hills of north-central Pennsylvania, I learned early that once we reached the hemlocks, we had to be ready to shoot. To this young hunter it seemed that there wasn’t a hemlock in all of northern Pennsylvania that didn’t offer an opportunity at a bird. The Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is Pennsylvania’s state tree and plays an incredibly important role in forests throughout the Northeast. This large conifer reaches heights of more than 100 feet and generally holds its branches to the ground, providing grouse and other wildlife with thick cover and buds to...

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NAVHDA: Leaving a Lasting Impression

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by Erin Kalpin I was 12 years old, sitting in my bedroom nestled at the back of the small home I was growing up in. There, I touched the golden wings on the ruffed grouse pin before placing it on my blaze orange Ruffed Grouse Society hat. The following day I’d be heading to a North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) test, where we’d be running the small 7-month-old puppy I claimed as my own, named Ben, in his Natural Ability test. During the test, I proudly stood next to my dad when we reached the water and we paused for...

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’Round the Barn

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by Marc Fryt “Stupid barn!” I yelled, ejecting two more smoking spent shells from the shotgun. My voice carried off deeply into the early winter woods. Windsor, my English setter, was bug-eyed and excitedly bounced his head up through the brambles. The sound of the grouse whirring up through the branches reverberated in my head. “No bird!” I shouted down, looking at the final wisps of smoke circling out from the chambers. It was a soft pitch, and I’d whiffed. The large male ruffed grouse had kicked up slowly, profiling itself against bare sky while it lumbered through the forest opening, providing two shot...

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Pieces and Parts: A Woodcock Affair

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by T. Edward Nickens It’s never been less than a mystery. Not even after three dozen years in pursuit of this bird. Not even when the bird dog is stone-still, stems of river cane quivering to give away its presence in the bottomland thicket and, for a long moment, after I’ve stalked to the dog and found a meager opening in the greenbrier and river birch through which to swing a shotgun, and I know that somewhere close by a woodcock prepares to launch. Even when I know all of this – and I know it less often than I’d like...

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Track2wing

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Action Trackchairs for Wingshooters with Bird Dogs!Track2wing Project Applications Available All terrain access for wingshooters with bird dogs! RGS & AWS along with Pheasants Forever and the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association, is helping spread the word about the Anisfield-Wilson Track2wing Project – a program to grant Action Trackchairs to individuals with mobility challenges who want to train and hunt with bird dogs. Applications are available now until March 31, 2024. Track2wing was founded in 2020. Since then, Track2wing has granted 39 Trackchairs to recipients all across the country. Applications are reviewed by a six-person committee. Those approved take...

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