By Mike Roche

The middle of October is a special time. Fall is in full swing with brilliant foliage, cooler temperatures, and so much great stuff to do outdoors. Stripers are feeding furiously off the coast, trout (including the fall stocking of over 70,000 trout) are feeding as waters cool, archery deer season is on, ducks and geese opened in the central zone, and upland bird season kicks off tomorrow.

My trip to New York was interrupted when rain and snow were forecast for the beginning of the week. This writer does not hunt birds in the rain unless under special circumstances, like the Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock Society New York Upland Hunt. The prospects of sitting in the cabin for three days of cold, miserable weather led to a drive home, but we are back in the Empire State for this weekend’s big hunt. Our first days were enjoyable, and the grouse were plentiful with a couple of them tumbling in front of the Ruger 28 gauge. Woodcock did not seem to be abundant, but that can change in a night if flight birds drop in.

The French Brittanys, Laney and Tessie, were very inconsistent. When they were good, they were very good and when they were bad, they were horrid! Hopefully they will be on their ‘A’ game this weekend for the hunt, which raises money for the important habitat work done by the Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society. For me, this 15th RGS hunt will be special, as my friend Bruce Bennett is selling the cabin and about 900 acres of land that he has purchased over 30 years. During that time, it has been my pleasure to be his guest and hunt and guide on the great upland habitat. The future is up in the air.

One of the reasons that the drive home – about five hours with stops for the dogs and gas – made sense was that one of the Garmin TT25 GPS dog collars purchased last fall was acting strange. It would post a ‘?’ instead of the distance the dog was away, would continue the ‘standing on point’ symbol long after the dog had moved, and seemed to be showing the dog’s location in exactly (180 degrees away) the opposite direction. That was very bothersome, as finding the dog in thick cover is the most important thing. In the evolution from the bell to the beeper to GPS, it is amazing how good it is to have the controller in your pocket beep and buzz when the dog goes on point and give you an arrow reading that gives the direction and distance. My mind was filled with what it would be like, on a Sunday, to try to get a replacement.

On Monday morning a call went to Lion Country Supply (Lion as in Nittany Lion, the Penn State mascot) in Pennsylvania. That resulted in a chance to work with Randy (an amazing employee in tech support) who had been instrumental last year in my choosing and then switching Garmin controllers. He was once again a great help.

What amazed me was that the collar is so technically advanced. He said that the issues were likely associated with my travels to Vermont, Maine and New York. The collars and controller are Wi-Fi enabled and in need of an update. They were synched with my home Wi-Fi and Randy informed me that they would update regularly every time they were turned on. It took some time and a number of adjustments, but the system was running perfectly when we finished. The technology amazed me. He told me that it was important to synchronize the units with satellites if you travel 150 miles and that is done easily – just set them 30 feet or more apart and let them communicate with the satellites for 20 minutes.

Initially, yours truly was biased against GPS collars because the hunters just seemed to stare at the screen and announce where the dogs were. When my great dog Dinah lost her hearing and mine was unreliable, the GPS seemed like the answer, and it is truly great. There are still many traditionalists and field trailers who use the bell, and beepers are still preferred by many for locating a dog on point. The hound hunters, whose multiple dogs range miles away in pursuit of rabbits, foxes, bears and coyotes, love the GPS, which possess so many great features including sharing data and detailed maps. While hunting in northern Maine, Paul Rullo showed me the feature that lets you add the location of your truck to the screen. That could have saved me more than once in the past!

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In Massachusetts, pheasant hunting season opens tomorrow. The pursuit of the gaudy cock birds, whose cackle as they burst into flight never fails to get the blood pumping, is the best way to introduce someone to hunting as the season tends to have mild temperatures and participants get exercise and usually some action. Massachusetts will once again stock over 40,000 pheasants, more than the other New England states combined. My focus will be woodcock and grouse but once the woodcock flights have moved through, we will be looking to find some ring-necks!

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.