The following is an excerpt from the latest edition of the Ruffed Grouse/American Woodcock Society’s award winning member magazine, Covers.
Thursday Evening - Arrival
I follow my path north. Green forests turn to roan agricultural fields that grow buildings and cities of concrete and steel. There are too many lights and not enough stars. I pass the metropolis and the built environment scales down. There are fewer lanes and less infrastructure on the highway exits, and I can see the horizon again.
Trees return but now they’re different. The outer edges of the canopy flicker in the color of fall, the trunks flash chalk gray and ivory white. The woods sprout closer together, more stems in each acre than the large hardwood forests near my home. Pine trees join the deciduous varieties and somewhere during the drive I realize I’m in a different biome.
I drive through Eagle River, Wisconsin, and receive a text about finding the trucks with their tailgates down. I pull around the circle to greet my host, RGS staff member and magazine editor, Britney Booth. The soft wagging of tails and excited yelps filter out of the truck caps and custom-built hunting storage units. The open tailgates form a modern wagon train, circle dup to create a sense of place in an otherwise new environment. I recognize the feeling even though I’ve never been. I stretch my legs and pat a bird dog on the head. I’ve made it to grouse camp.
To read my dispatches from the rest of the weekend in Eagle River, please join the Ruffed Grouse Society and enjoy the latest edition of Covers Magazine. If you’d like to donate to the wonderful work of RGS and help manage young forests throughout North America, you can do so here.
If you haven’t thought about bird hunting in general, or attending Grouse Camp in particular, I hope my writing and photos from Covers might help. If you’re still not convinced, I’ve included a few extra images from the weekend to help inspire any New Year’s resolutions.