R. Michael DiLullo

Grouse, Pheasants and Old Glass

We worked our way through the ancient apple orchard without flushing a single grouse. The cool October morning was giving way to the warmth of the sun, as my female English springer spaniel "Bess" and I climbed over a rock wall and stepped into a field of overgrown broom straw and fescue grass. The sun warmed my face and I stopped for a moment to enjoy the sensation. Rising steam from my shirt collar began to fog my glasses. Removing them, I wiped away the sweat from my brow, whistled to "Bess" and continued along through the field.

Although the morning temperature was in the low forties, a freeze the night before had caused skim-ice to form on the puddles. I had worked-up a sweat bustin’ brush in the dark jungle of tangled brambles and briars below the orchard. As we crested a hill, I stopped to catch my breath and take in the view before me. A frost \overed the landscape, turning the ground foliage into a glaze of ice crystals. The shroud of white and the vibrant autumn colors lay juxtaposed against an azure sky. A light breeze was blowing through the trees and the bright hues of red, orange and gold danced to the wind’s rhythm. A perfect October morning to be afield, I thought. My breath was rising like the mist off the farm pond to my left, and "Bess’" panting resembled that of a lumbering locomotive. The air was cold and damp, and I could feel my wet shirt against my back, as an uncontrollable shiver overtook my body.

Treasures of an October morning; hunting old homesteads has always been productive for upland birds because they offer large areas of edge cover. They can also yield treasures from era’s long since past. Photo by: Author

Besides some new scratches and a bruise or two, the only thing I had to show for my morning’s effort was an antique Pepsi bottle. I found it nestled under some old tires and boards in a hardwood bottom. I noticed it after my foot discovered an exposed root of a pin oak, and I took a nose-dive into the soft mixture of fertile earth and deciduous leaves that made-up the forest floor. The bottle laid half concealed, its neck sticking out of the debris. I removed it from it’s resting place in the junk pile and raised myself back onto my feet. I remember noticing the weight and thickness of the glass. The red and white Pepsi-Cola logo was slightly faded, but overall the bottle was in remarkably good shape for spending nearly half a century exposed to the elements. I wiped it off, admired it for a moment and placed it in my game bag.

Ahead of me, almost completely camouflaged against the background of saplings, overgrown vines and bushes, was an abandoned farm. Thorn and briar bushes along an old fence line led to the battered farmhouse and dilapidated barn. The house was still intact. Most of the windows were broken, however, and there was a good size hole in the roof where the limb of a large oak had come to rest during some storm years before. Part of the porch roof had fallen in, and the overgrown hedges and ivy had taken over. A net of ivy vines covered the front of the house and several cedar trees had taken root helping to conceal the old home-site even more. As I moved closer, I noticed it had that distinct smell of rotting wood and earth, of mildew and sun baked pine tar, the same smells that seem to always inhabit these lost places.

The barn’s roof had collapsed bringing with it part of the sides of the building. As I came around the side of the house to get a better look at the barn, I noticed something move from the corner of my eye. There in the tangles of an overgrown grapevine were two grouse. The birds were busy feeding and preening themselves and hadn’t noticed me yet. Almost before I had stepped from the cedars that were concealing me from their sight, they flushed in an explosion of feathers. I swung and leveled the Charles Daly on the bird to my right. As the old twenty spoke, I saw the bird veer sharply and disappear in the brush near the barn.

	Hunting old fence lines and hedgerows can be very productive for upland birds. The Author’s English springer spaniel "Bess" with a trio of pheasants, all shot along an old fence-line on an abandoned farm. Photo by: Author

"Bess" broke and was on the bird before I had time to reach for my whistle. After several seconds of crashing through waist high brush she appeared from the cover with the bird in her mouth. I accepted the retrieve and gave her a loving pat on the head. As we walked about the old home-site, I could not help thinking that there always seems to be a sadness associated with places like this. I find myself wondering what happened to the owners, what tragedies beset their lives that caused them to give-up their land and their home. I suppose it is a type of morbid curiosity, a part of human nature that exists in all of us. It is also part of the romance and allure of these lonely places.

As we made our way around the barn, I realized something an old-timer told me when I first started hunting, that old home-sites are magnets for wildlife. Much of my knowledge, both of hunting, fishing and life, has come from experience. The rest has come from research and the advice of older, more experienced, and usually wiser individuals. Although, at times I was too stubborn to accept it, in hindsight I later realized their advice was usually worthy of much consideration. As I reflected back over my time spent afield, I began to realize how much game I have observed, hunted and harvested in just this type of environment. For they are usually very productive havens for upland bird hunting. These areas provide adequate cover and food sources for a large variety of small game animals. Many of my days hunting for pheasants and quail are spent concentrated around abandoned farms and old home-sites. The mixture of overgrown and broken cover, of fields and patches of saplings, thickets and secondary growth that typifies abandoned homesteads are natural attractors for game. This mixing of various covers and food sources lend itself to the fringe element in which game animals thrive.

Hunting the edges and corners has always been very productive for upland bird hunting. The edge is the zone between different types of cover. It is the blending together of two habitats. This border region creates protective cover and provides an area of new forage and forbs, which, naturally attracts many species of game animals. Old home-sites offer much in the way of these types of coverts. Plants such as grains, grasses, clovers and berries along with fruit, nut and mast producing trees are found in these environments or ecotones. The great diversity in cover and food sources in these environments also plays a role in how much game is present. Many factors account for the quality and quantity of game in a particular area, but the one constant remains; if you don’t have the food sources and the cover, you won’t have the game.

Working the edges and corners of crop fields can really produce birds. The edge is the blending together of two different habitats. The Author’s springers "Bess & Flo", with a rooster pheasant taken along the edge of an overgrown hedgerow. Photo by: Author

Quality habitats are very important for managing upland game birds. With the decline of agricultural producing farms throughout the U.S. and the expansion of suburban areas into former farmlands, we are again seeing a regression in many game bird species. Both grouse and woodcock populations have been declining as habitat is lost to development and the clear-cuts of the last century returns to older mature stands of forest. Quail, pheasant and duck numbers are continuously being monitored. Many habitat restoration and improvement programs are being embarked upon by private hunter/conservation groups such as The Ruffed Grouse Society, Ducks Unlimited, Quail Unlimited, and Pheasants Forever, to name but a few. Some of these programs are extensive in that they reach high levels of state and federal government, while others are based on a grass root approaches of getting the landowner and hunter involved. Projects such as clearing lanes in old growth forests in the northeast to boost woodcock and grouse numbers, the annual burning and planting of grains and legumes in the south to help the decreasing native quail populations and planting of food plots are all relatively easy and inexpensive ways to aid local wild game bird populations, thus improving habitats.

Wetland’s restoration and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) are helping to boost quail, pheasant and waterfowl populations, especially in the Midwest. Under the CRP program, farmers are paid to set aside a percentage of their land for wildlife habitat. Long-term cover crops like grasses and trees are planted, some crops are left unharvested, or the land is left in its natural state. These wildlife conservation programs have been extremely successful the last few years, but are heavily dependent on congressional funding, private landowner and farmer cooperation. Other cost-sharing assistant programs are available through The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) that is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) and the Farm Services Agency (FSA). Other agencies including state Wildlife Conservation/Management Agencies can provide technical consultations, free seed programs and other cost sharing opportunities.

The edge element is a key factor in upland hunting. Hedgerows, like old home-sites offer a variety of cover and food sources. Hedgerows vary greatly in size and width, but they all create a large amount of edge. Hedgerows are usually unkept fence lines between adjoining fields. The fencerows, over time, have grown into thickly covered tree lines, which act like magnets for game birds such as pheasant and quail. These wooded corridors offer game birds easy access to fields for feeding, dusting and mating, while still providing refuge from predators. The old adage about "cause and affect," is fitting. Part of the decline in wild game bird populations throughout North America can be attributed directly to the increasing predator population. Coyote, fox, bobcat, skunk, opossum, raccoon and feral cats all feed on wild game birds, their poults and eggs. Nest perdition is now considered the greatest threat to game bird populations. The increase in predator numbers is due in part to the anti-fur/ anti-hunting movement so popular in Hollywood, the media and the "politically correct" crowd. Their trendy campaigns have resulted in a low market value for furs due to a lack of demand for fur products. Their political endeavors, spurred on by the animal rights activists, have resulted in the elimination of trapping certain species in some states and extremely restrictive trapping regulations throughout most of the continental United States. Less trapping has lead to predator numbers being kept unchecked, and a marked decrease in the wild game bird populations nationally.

	Old home-sites and abandoned farm buildings can be magnets for upland game birds. Many of the Author’s days afield are spent concentrating around these areas. The cover near this old house held several grouse. Photo by: Author

About half way down a long thick hedgerow that divided two of the overgrown fields, "Bess" suddenly became very "birdie." I watched as her short tail began wagging faster, her nose was to the ground and working overtime. I was thinking it might be the second grouse when suddenly the grass erupted with fur and feathers. The big rooster cackled as he scrambled to gain altitude and escape "Bess." I shouldered the Daly and the pheasant folded in mid-flight. "Bess" struggled through the thick cover with the large rooster, delivering him to my waiting hand. As "Bess" and I made our way back to the truck, I paused for a moment to again take in the scenery, and submit the day’s events to memory. My hard-earned cargo’s weight was beginning to feel uncomfortable against my back. "Bess" too, was beginning to act less than her normally energetic self. Unloading the birds into the cooler I stopped, as I always do, and marveled at the beauty of each. The gaudy iridescent colors of the rooster pheasant and the subtle flaxen and earth tones of the grouse, each a work of art from nature’s canvas. Then reaching into the bag, I retrieved the old Pepsi bottle. Articles of the past converged with the present. Samples of nature’s beauty and a man made art deco antique, lay in contrast to each other on the tailgate. Man can play a positive role in nature’s scheme; I thought . . . It was a good day!