The "CONSERVATIONIST", and this weekends report

The "conservationist" is a new grouse camp award created by yours truly for the easiest shot missed, worst excuse for missing made, or just plain general "overall suck" in regards to shooting. I'm pleased to announce the first award ever goes to my father. Keeping in mind he is a "trail walker", he had at least four opportunities to shoot both barrels at grouse down the road, or just barely off of it. He willingly accepted his award, and nominated himself after the mornings hunt. It's all in fun, and a lot of fun we DO have with it.
This weekends report was much better than the previous two. Considering the fact we actually bagged a few birds, and had action from the minute we got into a particular large cover made it better than the previous two outings. "Tick Heaven", as this extremely large cover has become so aptly named, has always held the largest number of birds no matter the cycle.  and while it took us a bit cover this massive mess of aspen, swamp, and hardwoods, it did what it always does, produce.
Although we didn't put up crazy numbers, we had 12 flushes in about 3 hours of hunting. I connected on one of those crazy swooping down from a tree shots (which I always seem to miss), and Dottie has decided that she DOES want to be a retrieving German Shorthair this season (she always hasn't been the best at that).
The temperatures in the high 30's really made for some great walking for the first three hours of the hunt. The fact of the matter is we have been pretty spoiled with temperatures the first three weekends, but that appears to be ending this weekend. I have to admit that with temperatures predicted in the mid seventies, I might find myself on the golf course,  rather than the woods. As we found out last weekend, a week isn't sufficient for any meteorologist to make a reliable prediction. So we STILL have hope for next weekend. My guess is the next time I make it up to camp, the woodcock will have arrived.