Birdless

It's becoming a familiar routine--rising around four, dressing in the clothes I laid out in the living room the night before (so as not to wake Kristine), gulping some cereal and coffee, tossing my gear in the back of the car, and getting on the road a little before five, bound for some place where the chances are good that a walk through the woods will flush a few grouse.

Yesteday, I decided to explore some new areas not far from my usual shooting grounds. That may not have been the best choice from a purely utlilitarian standpoint, but it made for an interesting day, as the exploration of congenial places usually does.

The first location I tried was a high, dry jackpine flat with clumps of aspens rising in recently cutover areas. A scattering of oaks contributed to the grouse larder too, so this looked like a place worth investigating. To be in a clearing half a mile from the road, watching the sunrise imbue the dried grasses and shrubs with apple tones of gold and red, was itself almost worth the trip, I thought as I laced my boots and packed my hunting vest with supplies for the day.

As it turned out, aesthetic satisfactions were the only ones the area offered. I didn't move a single grouse. I did hear a few shots in the distance, so someone was finding somethings. Had to be squirrels, I told myself.

Around ten, I drove to another parcel of state land about ten miles away. This place looked better thant the first in some ways, with generally younger aspen stands and some scattered marshy areas. But I turned up no birds here either. The abundance of tire prints in the numerous two-tracks that cut through the area may have had something to do with that.

After that it was lunch (BBQ chicken leg and thigh w/ salad and potato wedges, $4), then to another new prospect. Judging from appearances, this one also had great potential. Here's a shot from deep inside:




This place may be worth another trip, but it didn't turn up any birds for me yesterday.

I spent much of the day in the middle of dense stannds of young trees like that at the center of the photo---hence relatively few pictures from my hunting trips. A bunch of limbs a few feet in front of your face doesn't make for stunning photogaphs.

I planned to end the day at a spot where I'd moved three birds on my last outing, but got to the opening just off the road where I park and saw a couple of trailers set up with three or four cars parked in front of them. Probably someone setting up deer camp for next week. I don't know if any of the hunters would have been out in the woods or if they would have cared if I went by them, but I didn't want to deal with the company. So I went exploring one last time, finishing the day at another parcel of state land about a mile away. It was more open than the others I'd hunted, and I stalked the brushy edges of pine stands, as well as a few alder thickets in boggy areas near a stream bottom. I actually did see grouse tracks in a muddy spot, but the bird evidently hadn't lingered nearby.

Saw this chair placed in the pines at the edge of the field. I like to be comfortable in the outdoors as much as anyone, but this is taking things too far.




So for the first time, I saw no birds at all on a birding jaunt to the near edge of northern Michigan. It is late in the season, and they are likely to be a bit spooky, besides having had their ranks thinned since September. But the day gave me a much-needed clearing of the head, and I'll be back at it come December.