It seems we’re always raring to go bird hunting as soon as it’s October 1st, but then once bow hunting and regular deer season begin, we never bird hunt the remainder of the season.

After all, deer hunting, especially this year, seemed to consume my ever minute of free time. Not only did I hunt the regular season, but I also hunted the muzzleloader season. I only missed one day all season. I saw lots of partridge (grouse) all season long, but never had the right gun to take any. I jumped grouse going into my bear stand. I walked under a grouse while looking for a place to hunt. I had a number of grouse hang out in front of my tree stand at daylight, while I was deer hunting, and even though I could shoot one, I didn’t.

 

So when the hubby told me that while he and my oldest son were on their way home from rabbit hunting up north, they saw a bunch of partridge roosting in trees during the last hour of the hunt, he got my attention. On their first try, they managed to bring home a rabbit and a grouse.

“I want to do that”, I said. And so the next Friday night, I got out of work early and we dashed out of town and headed to the woods.

 

As soon as we got there, it was no time before we had spied 5 different birds! We had to get our timing right. You never stop AT the bird. You drive by and then sneak back, but sometimes, you stop before you get there and sneak up. Sometimes, you argue about whether it’s a bird, then as you sneak up, you second guess how far you can shoot and watch the bird fly off, or you see THREE birds in a tree and they all fly at once. I’m working to get a video of the hunt up on my Facebook page.

Then you finally see a bird, sneak up on it, and blast it. Northern Ontario Partridge will be on the menu soon! And after hubby retrieves the bird, it’s back in the truck to find another one before the sun sets.

The best part about this time of the year is that the birds aren’t pressured. When we hunt in the fall, you have to spot the birds among the bushes and trees. You sometimes ride for hours and may or may not see any birds. In only an hour, we had seen eight birds!

We went two more times; each time racing against the clock for legal shooting, driving a certain stretch of road where the guys had seen the birds the first night. Each time we brought home three birds, but saw many more than we saw during the fall season.

It’s a great way to put some birds in the freezer before winter, and a nice change of pace after deer season.

Next year, we’ll be heading out earlier in the season to try our luck. Take a ride, and instead of looking in the woods, look to the tops of the trees. You just may get lucky!

Happy Hunting!