Maine’s ruffed-grouse and American-woodcock seasons open Wednesday. Old thunder wings ranks as our second most popular game critter behind deer, based on the number of licensed hunters in this state who claim to hunt grouse. Hunting for the king of game birds continues until Dec. 31, but woodcock closes at sunset Nov. 14.

Grouse can offer fine sport until season’s end if weather cooperates, but by November most woodcock have winged it south. However, we all have stories, including myself, about flushing timberdoodles in late November and even early December.

The topic of grouse brings up a discussion on the best shotgun for New England grouse and woodcock, and I have a definite opinion. My perfect choice is a side-by-side shotgun with twin triggers, open chokes, straight English stock and splinter forend. (The last two features help the shooter point better – or it does me anyway.)

A 20-gauge creates a fine tool for Maine uplands, but my preference leans toward a 12-gauge, simply because a heavy firearm comes to my shoulder more smoothly than a lighter 20 – strictly a personal opinion.

I once had the ultimate shotgun for the uplands – a 12-gauge side-by side with a cylinder choke in the right barrel and a tight improved cylinder in the left barrel. I would put a low-brass shotshell with No. 8 pellets in the right side and long-range Remington No. 71/2 in the left.

Then, if a flushing grouse offered me a long shot, I’d choose my back trigger for the hotter load in a tighter choke. If a grouse or woodcock went up in my face, the No. 8 shot in the right barrel worked fine if I waited a second or three for the bird to get out 15 to 20 yards. In short, twin triggers give us an instant choice of chokes in the heat of the hunt. (In my preteens and teens, I grouse-hunted with a Fox 16 gauge double with twin-triggers.)

One day, a well-known upland-bird hunting writer accompanied my old English setter and me and criticized my choice of using two different shotshells in the same hunt, claiming I would mix them up. Horse feathers! I kept the No. 8 low brass in my shooting vest’s right side and the No. 71/2 in the left – pig simple. I’ve followed this regimen all my adult life.

Notice I said “once had the ultimate shotgun for the uplands.” I hung it on wooden pegs above my bedroom door, and over the years the weight of the shotgun caused the pegs to slant slightly downward. Eventually, the shotgun fell off the wall onto a laminated floor, and it is no exaggeration to say it was smashed all to hell with both the English stock and splinter forend split and the barrel bent.

My preference for my style shotgun makes plenty of sense for me, particularly twin triggers and two barrels. However, an over-and-under with a selector barrel, slide action or semi-automatic all prove fine for the shooter – if the choice works well for the owner’s personality and skills.

Some folks swear by sighting down a single barrel instead of the wider double choice, and who can argue with that logic? I just became accustomed to looking down the rib between two barrels and in fact prefer a rib on a single barrel for sighting.

I lived through the golden age of upland-bird hunting between Augusta and Belfast, and enjoyed unbelievable sport. After World War II, abandoned farms created perfect grouse-and-woodcock habitat through the 1970s. This experience led me to writing a book about upland-bird hunting in New England and selling articles to multiple, bird-hunting mags – a testimonial to the sport here back then.

These days, reverting farmland from the mid-20th century has turned into primary forest, superb for wild turkey, not grouse and woodcock. In northern Maine, though, rejuvenating clearcuts and strip cuts draw serious upland-bird hunters. These aren’t the classic covers with stonewalls and old barns, but when a hunter gets in an alder or poplar thicket, it looks like the corner of any classic bird cover.

Lots of folks head to rural hamlets such as Rangeley, Eustis, Jackman, Millinocket, Sherman Mills, Patten, Houlton, Presque Isle and other small communities, find lodging and hunt a week or two in surrounding covers.

Yes, October is nearly here, and folks love this month for hunting Maine’s upland birds, including stocked ring-necked pheasant. Game birds offer more shooting by far than big-game hunting, and that appeals to many folks who get bored with Maine deer hunting, particularly youngsters.

It’s a grand month and offers statewide waterfowl shooting, bowhunting for deer, hunting bear, plinking gray squirrels with a .22 rimfire or blasting them with shotguns and more. Indeed, October is a grand month for hunting, fishing, hiking, running, biking, gathering wild foods and photographing, but we’re talking hunting this week.

Ken Allen of Belgrade Lakes, a writer, editor and photographer, may be contacted at:

KAllyn800@yahoo.com

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