Australian Adventure

In the Public Domain - SGL 285 Cannelton, PA

By Rob

Secrets are a part of grouse hunting. No one wants to give up the exact location of their best covert or the number of times they missed shots over perfect points. But I have carried a real grouse hunting secret, one that spanned decades, one that threatened to drive me out of my mind like some aspen thicket version of the Chinese Water Torture.

The painful, hidden truth was that I - a card-carrying member of the Ruffed Grouse Society, a bird dog owner, and an upland hunter for over 20 years - had never bagged a grouse. Unbelievable. Shameful. And yet, oh so achingly true.

Like any monumental achievement, my personal streak of futility had a strong foundation. It had been built through a combination of bad luck (more than my share), bad planning (much more than my share), and bad shooting (more than Ray Charles’ share). I had explored every method possible to not shoot a grouse and had even invented a couple of new ones along the way.

And so, as I rolled out of bed on a frigid winter morning, intent on another day of chasing the elusive king of upland birds, the now-familiar question came immediately to mind. Would today be the day? Would I hold that softly feathered mass in my hand, spread that elegant tail, feel the comforting weight in my game pouch? Or would The Streak continue, sending me home with nothing more than a vest full of twigs and a face full of scratches like so many Saturdays before?

A 20-some year losing streak will tend to make you a bit superstitious and from the beginning, there seemed to be a number of positive signs this day. For starters, it was my birthday, which had to be good luck, right? Second, I would be trying out a new spot today, State Game Lands 285 near Cannelton in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. SGL 285 had received a good pre-season recommendation for grouse from the local Wildlife Conservation Officer, so I was encouraged.

The good karma continued when I stopped for gas at the Kwik Fill in Midland, PA, about 10 miles south of SGL 285 on Route 68. Noticing the gray nose of my Weimaraner, Hunter, poking out of the truck window, an older gentleman ambled across the parking lot to talk bird hunting for a few minutes. When I finally remembered that I had come this way to go hunting, not talk hunting, I got back on the road again.

Off of Route 251, I turned onto Watts Mills Road and into the game lands. A parking lot at the top of the hill seemed to be surrounded by promising cover so I pulled in. On this crystal cold January morning, we were the only vehicle in the lot.

According to Mel Schake of the PA Game Commission, nearly all of the 2682 acres at SGL 285 are forested, with the exception being 180 acres of herbaceous openings that the PGC maintains for food plots and warm season grass plantings. The forest cover is mixed in age, but I was looking for the thickest brush available. I had no trouble finding it since at least 60 percent of this game lands consists of reclaimed strip mines that are beginning to reforest.

Although the strip mine property creates the best grouse habitat at the site, it also creates one of the most difficult obstacles. Much of this area consists of long, parallel spoil piles, each about 20 feet high and 75 feet apart. Walking perpendicular to these piles is a recipe for heart failure, so I prefer what I call “ridge running.” I walk along the top of each pile from end to end, then drop over the side, climb the next pile, and walk back the other direction. This can still be exhausting and it often feels like you’re not covering much ground, but it has been a productive method for this habitat. Of course I mean productive in terms of flushing birds, not actually shooting them.

As I walked along the base of the first slope looking for a place to scale it, I heard the familiar rumble of a grouse flushing well beyond our position. Only 10 minutes of hunting and our first flush; was this another good omen or déjà vu? I shook my head to clear the thought from my mind and stormed up the hill with a bit more force than usual.

I picked my way along the top of the first ridge, stumbling through brush and across treetops that had apparently been cut for habitat improvement, and I watched with appreciation as the dog worked the slopes on either side of me. He broke to the left, went down the slope to the base of a downed tree, then turned and worked back up the slope along the tree trunk. He was really getting birdy when I realized that I should stop appreciating his work and start getting ready to shoot.

No more than a second later, a grouse burst from the treetop lying on the crest of the ridge in front of me. I swung to my right and fired. The bird tumbled out of the bright winter sky and fell lifeless on the next ridge top.

There is only one word to describe the emotion I felt at that moment: shock. I could not have been more surprised if I had stumbled onto a supermodel sunbathing on that hilltop. As Hunter crashed through the brush to bring the bird back and I fumbled for my camera to record the moment, I realized that it was finally over. No more Streak, no more futility, no more dirty, little secret.

Another hour or so of hunting didn’t produce any more flushes, but I deliberately left some of the best looking cover unexplored because I wanted to have something to come back to. I spent most of that time enjoying the rewarding weight of the bird thumping against my back with each step.

I would recommend SGL 285 to any bird hunter (besides grouse, it’s also stocked with pheasants in the fall) and those chasing deer or turkey too. It’s got outstanding habitat, its own rifle range, and is conveniently located just three miles from a retail strip along Route 51 in Chippewa where you can get anything from extra shells to a Big Mac.

Of course, convenience, facilities, and habitat will not be what draw me back there. When I go back, I’ll be thinking of a cold morning when my dog dropped into my hand the birthday gift that I waited so long to receive. I’ll be thinking of my first ruffed grouse. And that’s no secret.