# What A Difference A Few Days Can Make



## ChardonRob (Apr 7, 2005)

I hunted Hamden Orchard again today. I walked five or so miles through some of the thickest crap I've ever been in and got one kind of halfassed false point for my effort. My pointer managed to injur herself half way through the day so half of my time was spent just trying to get back to the truck before she quit walking. We made it but just barely. I found a lovely hole full of water that appeared to be a couple of inches deep until I stepped in it. I thought I had stepped in a well until I hit bottom three feet later. I got myself into an area where I actually had to crawl on my hands and knees for several yards to get through the brush. I finally broke out into an area where I could almost stand up and there on the ground was a big pile of deer guts. Since I know the lucky bow hunter had to parachute into this area I was a bit curious as to how the deer was removed. Coast Guard helicopter with a rescue basket was all I could come up with. At least it was an interesting day. Nonproductive but interesting. I won't even get into how I ended up on a small slice of land with swamp on all four sides of me. I'll just say that I retraced my steps and found that the magic piece of dry ground that got me into the area had vanished, poof.

Okay, I have to get back to planning my soon to be failed suicide attempt. If anyone heads to Hamden this weekend, God help you.


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## lv2fish (Jun 23, 2005)

LOL, I have been in situations like that before. Thankful not many times however. Good story.


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## Mr. Basskisser (Oct 18, 2005)

Sounds like you were in some grouse cover. Anytime you have to crawl is really a good sign, difficult hunting, yea, but still a sign of good cover. Maybe the two you got last time were the only two around.LOL  Better luck next time!


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## steelmagoo (Apr 13, 2004)

There is some pure evil thicket at Hambden. I would like to see some patches of clear cutting at a few of our local public hunting areas to promote future upland bird hunting.


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## ChardonRob (Apr 7, 2005)

I couldn't agree more Steel. Not that I'm a big fan of the public hunting pheasant releases but they actually had to quit doing the releases at Hamden a few years ago because the cover was so thick. Taking a brush hog up and down those choked out fields sure wouldn't hurt. Everyone is complaining that the grouse hunting sucks and has sucked for several years. On ODNR's own web site it states that the best grouse cover consists of 5 to 7 year old growth. I have never been to a public hunting area with 5 to 7 year growth. Instead of spending our money on building shooting ranges right on top of prime hunting land how about spending a little money on selective cutting.


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