By Mike Roche

The Silverado pulled into the driveway Monday at dinnertime, returning from northern New York and the third leg of my odyssey.

It began with a drive to Jay, Vermont, to join good friend Dean Scudder for the opening day of grouse and woodcock season in the Green Mountain State. That was followed by a long drive to northern Maine, where the dogs and I shared a cabin with Paul Rullo. Paul is a hunter who was part of a group of hunters who had purchased a hunt years ago at On the Wing Grouse Camp, and I guided them.

In the course of introductions, Paul responded when I gave my hometown as Orange by asking if I knew his neighbor in Essex, Clay Morin. Clay was one of my closest friends and we had lots to talk about. Over the succeeding years, Paul returned regularly to hunt, and we became good friends. He recently acquired a bird dog, a Drahtaar named Gunther, and he wanted to get him some contact with ruffed grouse.

My next stop was Lakewoods Camp in the Rangely region of Maine. It is one of the original camps built in the 1800s as summer retreats for the wealthy families of Philadelphia, New York and Boston. The railroad was extended, grand hotels built and the resort industry was created in the Rangely region. The history is obvious in the rustic cabins at Lakewood and the experience was excellent. The fishing on Lower Richardson Lake is famous and the bird hunting was good.

Lakewood has excellent guides, but my trip was unguided. Good cover is plentiful and close to camp or also outside the gated area which provides exclusive access. As has become the norm for this October, it was much warmer than usual and that made hunting much more of a challenge. Scenting conditions were difficult for the dogs, grouse were in the cooler habitat in the thick spruces and dogs tired more quickly. That same weather scenario followed me to New York, where my plan was to spend 10 days getting ready for and participating in the 13th annual Ruffed Grouse and American Woodcock Society New York Grouse and Woodcock Hunt. When Sunday’s forecast was for three days of rain and snow, the dogs joined me for a return to Massachusetts and a break from our journey.

Returning Wednesday afternoon, we found the higher ground covered with a few inches of snow as we hopped from covert to covert, scouting in advance of the big hunt. This year had a record number of participants with 45 hunters signed up. Richie Frisella and his wife, accompanied by four English setters, were staying at the cabin when we arrived. They joined me Thursday morning at the cover, which was to be where my guiding would be for the two days of the hunt.

Richie asked if I would run one of my French Brittanys with his setters. My normal preference is to hunt one dog at a time, but Laney and then Tessie joined the long-legged, long tailed setters and things went very well. In fact, the second run was excellent as Tessie and Richie’s setter pointed and honored perfectly three times! We were not able to translate that great dog work into birds, but it was a really fun morning of bird hunting for all involved.

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Friday included some hunting and some work getting the camp ready for the arrival of the hunters. Some of those serving as “huntsmen” for the weekend checked in, with some staying at the cabin and a few camping at a nearby property in their RV trailers, which were really plush motel rooms on wheels. Dean Scudder was there in his tent, “roughing it.”

My cabin mates included Sam Glasbergen, Kevin Sterling and Bob Duport. Sam is a Hannaford’s store manager in New York, Kevin is a consultant for the Ruffed Grouse Society, and Bob and I go back a long way, as he guides hunters and fishermen in New York, Maine and Montana. It was a great group of cabin mates and Kevin cooks a mean breakfast! We all met at the Holiday Inn in Malone, where the hunters stay as part of the hunt package. We enjoyed great barbecue and adult beverages during introductions and an explanation of the events of the weekend.

Saturday we all met our hunters, and it ended up being a single hunter for me as one of the participants was not able to make it. Gary Rothrock, a veteran grouse hunter from Pennsylvania, followed me to the cover and he put his 4-year-old Llewellin setter (a breeding of English setters) Pete to work. It was obvious that this was a very nice gun dog. We did not move a lot of birds and soon, the heat of the day made hunting a challenge. Lunch, however, prepared by the same business that had done Friday night’s fare, was outstanding. Then it was on to the main event, Saturday night’s meal.

Donovan’s Restaurant in Malone, New York, has been described as “the best food in the North Country” and is a fine restaurant with outstanding food. Since the event was first held there 13 years ago, they have prepared a filet mignon meal that is – in my humble opinion – the best ever (and most of those attending know fine food!) and many concur. The appetizers alone are worth the price of admission, with five different exclusive offerings including grouse and woodcock.

There were silent auctions that consisted of “high-end” Ruffed Grouse and American Woodcock Society items and other fundraisers, which were all successful in raising money for the RGS/AWS work. That work is focused on “healthy forests,” which are beneficial to so many species of wildlife. People who understand wildlife know that those things do not just happen. The message which needs to be repeated is that managing our resources, including forests, means active management. That means selective cutting to create the forest variety, including early successional growth, which is required by so many species of insects, plants, birds and animals.

Looking around the room at the dinner, it was obvious to me that it was privilege to be surrounded by people who had the resources and wherewithal to make a difference and had stepped up to do that through the work of the Ruffed Grouse Society and the American Woodcock Society.

Mike Roche is a retired teacher who has been involved in conservation and wildlife issues his entire life. He has written the Sportsman’s Corner since 1984 and has served as advisor to the Mahar Fish’N Game Club, counselor and director of the Massachusetts Conservation Camp, former Connecticut Valley District representative on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, a Massachusetts Hunter Education Instructor and is a licensed New York hunting guide. He can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.