Hunting of Moose, Grouse & Bears Oh My

     It’s the time of year when people ride around in pick up trucks wearing blaze orange, myself included.  Yesterday after I picked Josh up from the bus he wanted to see if we could find some grouse to shoot.  Being the awesome mother that I am I put on an orange hat and vest and said let’s go.

     The hunting reports for grouse this year haven’t been too good.  While drumming counts were high in the spring experts are wondering if something happened during nesting to limit the number of young born.  On the Gunflint Trail there are plenty of grouse it’s just a matter of seeing them while you’re hunting.

     We drove around, walked around and only kicked up one bird that we couldn’t scare up again.  I had seen one on our property earlier in the day and mentioned it to Josh so back home we went.  At least we weren’t skunked.

     The Minnesota moose hunt opens on Saturday.  While I have been seeing a moose on the road in the mornings it has no antlers.  It is a young one that has patches of fur missing and worms crawling all over it.  It smells so bad there can’t possibly be another moose anywhere within a twenty mile radius.  So there is absolutely no need for any hunters to come anywhere near the end of the Gunflint Trail unless you’re heading out into the BWCA to hunt.

     There are reports of a bear bothering a residence nearby.  It’s been very pesky and it sounds like if it returns it may not live much longer.  She has 2 cubs that she is teaching to find food in the wrong places. 

     Oh the joys of blaze orange, problem bears and dead moose.