MAINELY OUTDOORS – by Bill Graves
While the rest of Maine seems to have a downturn in grouse numbers, there’s a plethora of partridge throughout Aroostook County. Extensive late spring and summer rain spawned doubt about the hatch survival but all that worry was in vain as October hunters have literally had to shoo birds off the roads. Limits have come quickly and easily for most upland gunners and then while driving from the woods even more partridge show up.
Writer Bill Graves actually got both of these birds with one shot despite one being 8-10 feet behind the front grouse. This lucky coincidence lead to a four-bird limit with just three shots.
I hear plenty of stories from sportsmen who got their four partridge in just an hour or so of road riding, and then saw just as many birds on their way back out of the woods. Sightings of a dozen or more grouse during a day’s hunt seems a common theme and most of these spottings yield a bird or at least a shot.
A couple weekends ago, a friend drove up to his camp in the North Maine Woods to take care of several necessary chores in preparation for fast approaching deer season. By mid-afternoon the work was complete so he and a hunting buddy decided to combine a bit of whitetail scouting with some heater hunting for bank birds. In roughly two and a half hours the duo saw 17 partridge, several pairs and trios, and bagged two limits.
A week ago Monday, after Mother Nature provided the Crown of Maine with an early season blanket of white, another acquaintance took a pre-work walk through a nearby woodlot. In an hour and a half he saw six grouse and bagged four of them. The day prior to the snow storm I accounted for my daily limit of biddies with only three shots! More good luck than good management, I achieved a one shot double on a pair of partridge, one about eight feet behind the other on an old logging road.
If there happens to be a wild apple orchard or even a random tree or two near your house, check it out before or after work. This fall the grouse are flocking to such fruit trees for the easy food, perhaps due to the heavy population of birds. Some gunners are hopscotching from one apple tree to another in their neighborhood with consistent results. Knock a bird off a limb one morning, then return a couple of days later and a couple more will be picking fruit on the ground under the tree. This year, apple tree grouse are a dependable, renewable resource.
Last week’s heavy, wet snow and strong winds stripped a lot of the remaining leaves from roadside trees and brushes, thus making it easier to spot partridge on stumps, logs and banks. With November comes deer hunting and many regional bird hunters will alter their focus from feathers to hair, so pressure on prime partridge hot spots will diminish notably. Thanks to more open spotting conditions and fewer bird hunters, success rates should remain high despite the many grouse already taken.
Most local partridge hunters ride the woods and field roads in search of birds but there are some sneak and peak sports that haunt fruit and nut trees as well as grown-over logging trails. The smallest cadre of county grouse gunners, however, and often the most successful, use well trained bird dogs to sniff out and pinpoint partridge.
A good pointer or setter will not only sniff out every bird within nose range, but can locate and retrieve all wounded or dead grouse in the thickest cover. For those who prefer wing shooting over banging birds on the ground, dogs are the best way to go, although a friend of mine frequently points out; “Sittin’, runnin’, or flyin’, -they don’t taste a bit different in the stew pot.”
Partridge are truly plentiful this fall, so dig out your favorite 12 or 20 gauge, a handful of shells and enjoy a pre-work outing. Not only will the gunning be great, but your taste buds will be rewarded with partridge stew, fresh fried partridge breast or a bird to go in the bean pot. Don’t forget to put a couple in the freezer for a special mid-winter taste treat.
