There’s no grousing as bird season looks solid

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Each summer, long before the weather begins cooling and the leaves begin falling, diehard bird hunters are looking ahead.

They’re anticipating days spent afield, riding roads or following skilled dogs in search of a clear shot at a speedy grouse or woodcock.

And they’re wondering how the last year’s weather will have affected this fall’s chances.

For the past few weeks I’ve been hearing encouraging anecdotal reports from Aroostook and Washington counties.

On Thursday I sat down with Brad Allen, a Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife biologist who serves as the state’s bird group leader.

Even Allen was smiling.

Hunting for ruffed grouse – partridge to most Mainers – and woodcock will likely be solid this year, Allen reported.

“As you know, [2005] was rock bottom, [2006] was slightly better [for grouse],” Allen said. “I’d say the prognosis is for a pretty good year. We’ve had three very bad years in a row of springs for production, and this one has been a good one.”

Jim Carter, who owns Munsungan Hunting & Fishing Club in Aroostook County, and Jeff McEvoy, who owns Weatherby’s in Grand Lake Stream, have both reported seeing more birds this year.

Allen said wild apples are abundant, and grouse should be concentrated in food-producing areas.

Allen explained that over the past several years, solid woodcock populations have essentially saved the day for hunters.

This year, partridge should make a noticeable comeback. Weather during the nesting season is the big key, he said.

“What happens in the springtime, when it’s really wet, if you have a hatch in May for woodcock or early June for partridge and it rains really hard, you lose that whole brood,” Allen said. “Whereas, if that rain comes a little later, the partridge are two or three weeks old, the woodcock chicks are two or three weeks old, [and] they can handle some wet weather and some of them will live.”

Allen said nesting conditions were good, and people who spent time in the woods prior to nesting were seeing plenty of birds. Now they’re seeing broods of grouse containing four or five chicks.

“That’s a pretty good to fair result,” he said.

That’s not to say that the late winter and spring weather was entirely kind to Maine’s game birds.

A Patriots Day weekend snowstorm that dropped 18 inches of snow on the Greenville area likely took a toll on woodcock, Allen said.

“I’ve got photographs of woodcock with snow banks around them, and that’s not a good sign,” Allen said.

Because woodcock need to probe the ground for food such as earthworms, snow cover is troublesome for them. Grouse, meanwhile, can fly up into trees and eat leftover fruit.

“In a snowstorm like that, [woodcock] literally have to fast. They have to last a week or two without eating,” Allen said.

But Allen said game bird populations are really determined by the present year’s production, and a good nesting year likely helped woodcock rebound a bit.

And after a few lean years, Allen’s overall view has to be encouraging.

“It’s not going to be a banner year [for grouse] because we’re only two years from a low, a low-low. But I think it’s going to be a real good season,” he said.

Legere excited about fall

Fairly often – but not nearly often enough – I toss a bunch of gear in my truck and head northwest to one of my favorite Maine fishing venues.

The East Outlet of the Kennebec River offers exactly what I’m looking for on these semi-frequent jaunts: the chance (if I’m lucky) to hook a few trout or landlocked salmon in a beautiful river.

Luckily (for those times when I’m not able to head to Greenville and beyond), Dan Legere keeps me posted on the goings-on.

Legere, the proprietor of the Maine Guide Fly Shop, spends many of his days on that stretch of water and is comfortable sharing his vast knowledge with others.

This week’s topic was especially educational, as Legere explained the seasonal ebb and flow of fish populations in his home water.

For some, fishing is a hit-or-miss pursuit. For Legere, figuring out reasons for the misses (and repeating the hits) is the key, as you’ll soon find out.

Here’s some of what Legere had to say in his most recent fishing report:

“Finally the heat of summer may be behind us. As a matter of fact the water temperature in the East Outlet has already dropped 10 degrees from a high of 77 a couple of weeks ago,” Legere wrote. “At that time I had a chat with our fisheries biologist who was monitoring the activity in the fish ladder at the East Outlet dam. On that particular day they passed over 400 fish through the ladder headed for the lake.

“When the water temperature exceeds 70 degrees the migration of wild, 11/2- year-old salmon into Moosehead Lake goes into full swing. Something in nature tells these salmon they need something more than bugs to grow to maturity.

“The increase in water temps will peak the migration. After a year in the lake feeding on smelt the salmon will mature sexually and start to return to rivers in the fall to spawn. The 11/2-year-old salmon aren’t the only ones heading out of the river, a major amount of the population in the river are with them,” Legere wrote.

“In the spring we always look for falling water levels and rising water temperatures. The high water of spring subsides and the insect activity increases. Fishing gets better and better. In the fall we want just the opposite. After the low water, warm water of summer we look for increasing water flows and decreasing water temperatures. I always say we hope for a good hurricane to blow by dumping a substantial amount of water that will usually lower the water temps by five to 10 degrees. When this happens we are guaranteed a fall fishing season like you read about.

“Because this doesn’t always take place our fisheries managers have agreements with the water folks to increase water flows after Labor Day to attract fish gathered at the mouth anticipating these spawning conditions. Usually this will immediately bring in a wave of trout and salmon. These are very aggressive fish that haven’t seen a fly in a while,” he wrote.

And when there are aggressive fish around, Legere has just the tactic to fool them.

“It’s time to start swinging streamers again. We have already started picking up some early arrivals in the East Outlet. It’s easy to tell a fresh fish to the river. They hit with purpose, jump over the boat and are blind-you chrome-sided,” he wrote. “After they are in the river for awhile they will darken, especially the males. After the first wave, fish will continue to enter the rivers all fall.

“So it’s time to lay plans for your fall fishing trip and polish off the stream wallet for what is my favorite time of season. We’ll land our biggest fish of the season because the biggest fish in the lake now have an uncontrollable urge to head upstream,” Legere concluded.

If you’re looking for a good reason to head up to the Moosehead region, Legere’s enthusiasm for the season would seem to be reason enough.

Coming up …

Next week I’ll share more information gleaned from the conversation with Brad Allen, including some interesting thoughts on this fall’s shotgun turkey hunting season.

Among other things, Allen pointed out that a fall season for turkeys is a lot different than the existing spring gun season, and those who’ve never given fall hunting a try may want to change their tactics.

On Tuesday I’ll tell you more about this new hunting opportunity and share some of those tips with you.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.