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Crazy flight is when a Ruffed Grouse flies at top speeds for great distances. It occurs specifically around summer’s transition into autumn, right as leaves begin to fall. First-year grouse in particular exhibit this behavior. Grouse can be seen making huge flights across highways, big open fields, and even into metropolitan areas like New York City. During many of these events, these birds end up going headfirst into windows, a threat to birds in general. However, this specific behavior and the speed associated with it make it both deadly and destructive.

Hiking down to a tidal marsh hosting a flock of resting geese, my friend was “heeling” his extremely large and willful Pudelpointer down a wooded clammer’s trail. It was going pretty well until the dog heard a honk and noticed geese in the nearby eelgrass. The Pudelpointer jerked about wildly, attempting to get to the geese. It was amazing that my friend was able to remain attached to the dog.

Things literally started going downhill on his first hard leash correction. Just like Superman, it sent him airborne. Unbelievably, he found a way to land on his feet and started down the muddy trail as if he was on a snowboard. Eventually, he ended up at the bottom, where he hydroplaned across the mud flats.

Is it a fuzzy face infatuation that pulls at your heartstrings? Or is it that your dog is a bird-finding machine? For most, it’s probably a combination of the two. When deciding to breed or not to breed, be honest with your motivations. That adorable face comes with heavy liabilities and responsibilities. Unfortunately, the fact that you’re in love with your dog doesn’t necessarily mean it has the genetic traits to better its breed and produce a good hunting dog. 

There are temperamental, health, and emotional risks when it comes to breeding your dog. Potentially, your dog could pass along temperment issues that could put the owners of your dog’s puppies at risk. You could pass along skeletal or muscular issues that would limit the dog’s ability as a hunter or even to live a life without suffering. Never let your feelings interfere with you making the right choice. Your choice to breed has the potential to impact a large group of buyers and their families. The impacts of poor breeding is a heavy weight to bear. 

Natural selection has a funny way of influencing nature. American Woodcocks (Scolopax minor) are a fantastic example of this. Often referred to as Timberdoodles, the woodcock is one of those strange creatures bopping around our world as a result of evolution.

I can recall my first experience observing American Woodcocks. I was an undergrad studying wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison enrolled in a field ornithology course. My class took a morning birding trip out to the local arboretum and it just so happened to coincide with the woodcock’s breeding season.

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There are a few ways to fuel a fury-filled debate in any subculture. For uplanders, simply state that your favorite game bird is King of the Uplands and watch the chaos ensue. But what does it take to claim the title of king? Is it the bird’s behavior or environment? Are external factors involved, or is it just in our heads? Perhaps it’s a combination of many things. 

William Harnden Foster, the father of modern ruffed grouse hunting, wrote:

“There are champions eager to rise and contest this claim in behalf of Bob White, princely little bird of the rag-weed and sedge. None will discount the thrill of the covey rise, his speed of wing, nor yet his charm for the bird dog. There are those who say that the sweetest chords of music are but hollow sounds compared to the magical whistle of the woodcock, that round, long-billed, squat-bodied bird of mystery and the dark soil under the alders. Then, too, a newer generation of upland gunners has adopted with enthusiasm the Ring-necked Pheasant, the gaudy immigrant, leggy, raucous, a handy bird for field trials and excellent either roasted or fried. But after all has been said and done, when it comes to native wariness, individual daring and resourcefulness, power, cunning and all those things that place one creature above another, physically and mentally, then we must turn to our native pa’tridge, I should say our native grouse, is known to those who have seen him at his best. He is the king of American game birds and so those who have hunted them all will attest.”

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That year was a particularly challenging one. A record-breaking wet spring during nesting season hit the pheasant hatch hard. The roads into a bunch of properties didn’t fare well, either. Forest fires had been brutal in the Pacific Northwest, burning hundreds of thousands of acres of grouse and quail habitat. The heat dome really did a number on chukar and Hungarian partridge numbers, too. Then, on top of it all, there was the logging. Even though this happens regularly, it was just the first time I felt the impact personally.

Normally, I have a whole slew of locations and species to choose from. It was a new experience for me to not know where to go. It felt like starting back at the beginning. Having a season with so many cards stacked against me, I strategized new ways of finding birds.

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To walk the walk, bird hunters need to first learn to talk the talk. Deciphering the various terminology of the pointing dog world can be confusing. Dog training verbiage is not universal. It can vary regionally, and the dogs you are running or the program you are following may have their own verbiage, too. 

When I picked up my first Deutsch Kurzhaar (DK) pup, I was greeted with a long list of required breed tests. I found myself swimming in alphabet soup in short order. I remember being told I had to run my DK in a young dog test called the Derby. When I asked how the testing system worked, the answer was a series of acronyms that ended up sounding like the teacher in Peanuts: “Wha, wha, whawa, wha.” With an overwhelming blank stare and a grin, I knew I had work to do. 

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Non-lead hunting ammunition has been mainstream, especially for waterfowl hunting, for over 20 years. Since the ban on lead ammunition for waterfowl hunting, many bird species have been conserved due to the decrease in lead on our landscapes like raptors, waterfowl, and scavenging birds; today, these critters are ambassadors for using non-lead ammunition when hunting.

But lead ammunition is still legal to use for upland bird hunting, including some spots in Wisconsin. As a result, lead continues to accumulate in places where upland hunters pursue birds. The American woodcock has flown under the radar in this regard. However, one team of researchers in Wisconsin noticed that woodcock accumulate high levels of lead in their bodies.

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However, their reputation is only partially deserved. These birds become far more wary with dogs on the ground. Clearly, they evolved to avoid canids and big cats, not humans. If you want a sporting hunt for dusky grouse, a dog is all you need to make it interesting.

In 2006, taxonomists recognized distinct genetic and morphological variability in two major groups of blue grouse. They renamed the birds of the interior Rockies dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus), and named the occupants of the coastal mountains sooty grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus). Within each species, multiple subspecies are recognized.  

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During my childhood in southern New Hampshire, kids competed to shoot a limit of “pa’tridge,” my brother and myself included. I admit, I lost just about every time to my older brother. However, we thought shooting the limit was a good idea. After all, it was the 80s.

These birds gave an air of boundless existence. Hunting the droves of ruffed grouse in the Berkshires of Massachusetts when our grandfather was setting up a stand seemed almost too easy. We believed the grouse there and in the woods by my father’s house would be there forever.

But we were wrong. We never thought to ask ourselves, should I shoot that limit?