It was anything but a briary grouse thicket I was fighting. The long-barreled smoothbore in my hands would have been inauspicious in an overgrown New England apple orchard or a young aspen stand in the Upper Midwest. But it had already proved itself in my Pennsylvania grouse woods, and I knew it would prove an adequate, if not ideal choice, for the perdiz and doves of Uruguay.

      I say no briar thicket fighting because the partridge in this part of the world stick to wide open cattle pastures and hay fields. There’s not a thorn within 500 yards of where these birds are found, unlike the cover I’m accustomed to fighting back here at home. Except for the long barrels on the ordnance I was toting, I knew it would be an exceptional perdiz gun. It was a 28-gauge Caesar Guerini Summit Sporting model with 32" barrels.

Hector Sarasola, owner of La Ninette Lodge, with hisVictor Sarrasqueta 16-gauge side-by-side.

      The “partridge” I am referring to is not the “pat” of New England but the spotted tinamou of Uruguay and Argentina. You may have heard of this bird referred to as the perdiz, but in Spanish “perdiz” simply means “partridge.” One afternoon as I was hunting behind a little French Brittany, Rumba, I began wondering how she would handle Michigan UP grouse. She was skidding into point after point – giving me a chance to see how the little 28 bore worked down there. My gunning log notes at the end of the day simply say, “best dog yet.”

      But let’s talk about this gun. Another Caesar Guerini gun, the Magnus, is available through RGS. I know some of you have purchased this one, and no doubt many others have seen it at a banquet. The Magnus model has side-plates adorned with gold ruffed grouse. The Guerini I’m talking about here is not that model, which we will cover in a future issue, but the Summit Sporting.

      I can begin by telling you that I just shot this gun yesterday. Practicing for grouse shooting, I was on a skeet field shooting primarily low six targets from the low-gun position, as I think this simulates one of the most typical grouse shots, as well as my share of low sevens and low fives.

      I shot 50 targets with the long-barreled Guerini and 50 shots with a high dollar .410. It was amazing how much easier it was to hit with the Guerini 28 than the .410. (The latter was also an over-and-under.) Doubtless the size of the pattern came into play. I was shooting these birds at about 22 – 23 yards, and at that distance the 28’s pattern is much wider.

      This 28 is built on a 20-gauge frame. At 7 pounds 1 ounce, it’s no super lightweight. Since the shotgun is called the Summit Sporting, you can bet it was designed for sporting clays. But as I had taken this one to South America three times already, I knew it was an outstanding dove gun, the long barrels are a definite plus to help a steady swing on the plentiful marauders of crops down there. In the 28-gauge it was a pussy cat with recoil. I shot both 17 and 21 gram 28-gauge loads in Uruguay, and definitely preferred the latter.

A brace of perdiz with the Guerini Summit Sporting.

      
The Summit Sporting lock up is the same as on all the Guerini over-and-unders. It has an under-locking bolt in the base of the receiver that moves forward upon closing to engage two lugs built into the bottom of the monobloc. These lugs dovetail into dual areas that are milled out in the base of the receiver, and the barrels pivot on trunnions.

      Though these competition guns have not been around for decades and decades, they are already garnering an enviable reputation for durability and dependability.

      The monobloc sides are nicely jeweled. The uniquely engraved receiver wears a Tinaloy finish, which I am told is sort of like a double nickel coating, thus providing a great deal of corrosion and wear resistance. There is also engraving on the receiver sides and bottom, as well as the trigger guard, top tang and opening lever. At 14 ¾",

the stock is nice and long for a relatively tall person like me. The recoil pad is particularly appealing to my tastes, being very thin with rounded top, sides and bottom, set off from the butt stock with a black plastic spacer.

      The trigger is crisp and light, gold plated, and can be moved back and forth to attain a custom grip-to-trigger distance. The barrels wear a relatively thin top rib, and the barrel side panels are ribbed. The checkering is extremely well done (no doubt via CNC laser) and very tight at 32-lines per inch. The foreend, which goes on and off easily, is Schnabel in shape, and the release is a button at the front. Once is place it is tight with no wiggle. There’s also a palm swell on the right side.

      This over-and-under model is available in 12-, 20-, 28- and .410 gauges, with 28, 30 and 32" barrel length options. (The 12-gauge even comes in 34".)

      Are the 32-inch barrels too long for the grouse woods? Probably, I’ve always touted a shorter barrel for grouse, no doubt because that’s about all I’ve ever used.

      The bottom line is that I send this Summit Sporting back to Cambridge, Maryland (Guerini USA headquarters) for a second set of 26" barrels, which is perfect for the grouse woods here.

      To learn more about all the Caesar Guerini models check out www.gueriniusa.com.

      Nick Sisley can be contacted at nicksisley@hotmail.com

RGS seeds log landings and skid trails with our RGS Trail Mix to provide future brood habitat and forage for grouse and other wildlife.

   “Partnership” is a word we use frequently to suggest that we here at RGS aren’t the only ones deeply committed to our mission. Partners give us added strength and increased resources. It isn’t just a buzz-word, here in the world of non-profit wildlife management we truly rely on strong partnerships to better achieve our mission-related goals.

      RGS relies on public and private partners who own or manage land that is forested, in the process of becoming forested, or could become forested in the future. We can create grouse and woodcock habitat by cutting, planting or waiting – but we can’t do it without the willing participation of landowners. This participation requires a significant commitment to altering the habitat on the part of the landowner. It often includes changing the way habitat management is perceived and understood – which can be pretty tough hurdles to overcome.

      Our shared vision of reversing the trend of decline in grouse and woodcock habitat and populations is to manage habitat on the landscape level, and requires the participation of many different landowners to be successful. We want to increase the grouse and woodcock population in a tangible way, measured either by increased flushes while hunting or by actually counting the birds via a drumming (grouse) or singing ground (woodcock) survey. Other species also dependant on young-forest habitat benefit at the same time.

      A dramatic, measurable increase in grouse and woodcock is most commonly accomplished by converting large areas of mature forest to a mosaic that includes a minimum of 10-25% or more of young forest at any given time. Landowners with hundreds or thousands of acres with a multiple-use, wildlife management mind-set have the

Sixty-five acres of future grouse and woodcock habitat at the Barron Tract of the Forbes State Forest immediately after harvest. This habitat will be prime hunting in less than 10 years. Some early successional songbirds will move in almost immediately.

opportunity to make a very large impact.

      RGS has enjoyed working with many public and private partners over the past 50 years to reach our shared vision. Recently we were able to take one of our biggest strides yet – with an unprecedented partnership that gives RGS the management of 2,300 acres of public forestland in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania for 15 years.

      The Lyme Timber Company sold the forest tract, locally called “The Barron Tract”, to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) in 2008. In keeping with the landscape habitat vision, WPC conferred timber rights to RGS for 15 years, while the land itself was conferred to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry, to become part of the Forbes State Forest. The heavily forested tract in Somerset County, near the village of Scullton, added substantially to a mosaic of public land, effectively connecting Laurel Ridge State Park and State Game Lands 111 – and creating 26,444 acres of contiguous public lands.

      RGS is working with Appalachian Forest Consultants of Stoystown, Pennsylvania to manage the habitat. By the fall of 2009, two timber sales creating future habitat blocks of 85 and 65 acres had been completed. As of March 2010, another timber sale of 90 acres had been laid out, and at least one and possibly two more are planned to take place this

Logs are loaded onto specialized trucks with amazing skill, and the openings created will add quality habitat to the forest over time. The logging companies left the roads in better shape than they found them, one of the requirements of any good forestry contract.

year. RGS has limed, fertilized and seeded the skid trails and log landings. By using RGS Trail Mix on the first two habitat projects, brood habitat and forage for grouse and other species has been created. This practice will continue on all future cuts.

      The “Barron Tract” partnership will serve as a demonstration area for early successional management (the project is

written up on timberdoodle.org), and it will eventually become one of the most extensive, contiguous young forest management areas in the state. More importantly, grouse, woodcock and other hunters will benefit for many years to come from the extensive coverts being created.

  

 

 

 

    RGS gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the WPC and the Richard King Mellon Foundation, who worked together to make this vision a reality. We also extend our gratitude to the Department of Conservation of Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry, Forbes State Forest, for their consistent cooperation and assistance.

      In his 1946 book Eastern Upland Shooting, Charles A. Norris said, “without a dog, upland shooting is a poor, drab, lonesome, and generally unsatisfactory, business. Much of the joy of shooting is dependent upon the companionship of a favorite dog.”

      Bird hunters cherish solid points and they endure flagging points. Training routines are planned to get young pups on birds so they can learn the difference between ground and body scent. Exposure to a variety of different species of birds in different terrain is critical for a broad-based education. During the off-season, early morning training sessions condition pointers, setters, shorthairs and their sporting dog colleagues for opening day. When the prep work is complete, we dog handlers need to back off and let them hunt. Trusting that they have learned their lessons is critical to their continued growth and development. In a way, it’s like handing your 16-year-old the car keys.

      Throughout history, our dogs have been clearly differentiated from other aspects of our lives. There are many reasons for it, and perhaps their steadfastness to our demands tops the list. The common name for a pooch is Fido, the embodiment of our relationship with them. Fido is a shortened rendition of the Latinate fidelis which means faithful. The description “man’s best friend” is probably tied in to a dog’s faithfulness, and hunters with good bird dogs understand that when Fido points, a bird is close at hand. A point is a point, no exception.

      The age-old argument of reason versus instinct inevitably kicks in, particularly when our brains tell us that we know better than our dog. When our gray matter jumps into high gear, our thoughts overshadow our instinct. When that occurs, we are lead down the path of over-thinking the situation. Our minds tell us we need proof. However, what we really need is to rely on our instincts. Our eyes don’t always see what our dogs, our Fidos, instinctively know to be true. Have faith.

      A few years ago I learned that Steve my UPS driver was a bird hunter. One crisp September morning he was dropping off a package with my new sporting dog beeper collar. We chatted about his shorthairs and he gave me a few dog biscuits that he keeps in his truck for these kinds of occasions. We had to inspect the ecollar, so I stuck the bones in the inside pocket of my jacket. We chatted away for about a half hour and then parted ways.

      I have two setters, one a tricolor and the other an orange belton, and they are always happy to see me. Still, the reception I received when I walked back inside was overwhelming. I hung my jacket on the hook in the closet and went upstairs to my office. Both dogs were on my heels, doing circles around me, barking, and running up and down the stairs as if I were walking towards the truck with my shotgun. After a half hour of this chaos, I finally figured out what they were after; they smelled the bones in my pocket and believed I had forgotten to give them one. And they were right.

      Those same character traits carry over into the field. A friend from South Carolina simply says, “good bird dogs don’t lie.”

      I recall several events where I questioned my dogs. One time was last year while grouse hunting in Vermont. My two-year old Rowdy locked up solid in an alder run. There was a woodcock right under her nose that was holding so perfectly tight that I decided to pull out my camera and snapped a few images. I did and on about my 20th shot the bird flushed and took flight. Rowdy stayed on point, so I traded my camera for my 20-gauge and got ready.

      I walked in on her and nothing flushed. I widened my circle, moved around, back and forth, gradually increasing my epicenter. After enough time had passed I walked back to Rowdy who was still locked up. I broke open my gun and said, “no bird.” That was a mistake, for at that moment a grouse started at the sound of my words and rocketed out of the tree.

      Another time my four-year-old Ocracoke pointed a covey of quail. I walked in to flush them, and seven erupted from the switchgrass. My friend Cabe and I each shot a few birds from the covey, and we were pleased with the dog work and our shooting. Ocracoke was still on point so we marked our downed birds and I began tramping around in the grass. Nothing. I thought that there must be some feathers, or that the dog was smelling where the covey was. I broke open my gun, kneeled down in front of the dog, and pushed the grass aside. A quail erupted from the cover, dang near knocked my hat off, and flew straight away. Cabe shot it. The very small bird was probably from a late second clutch and was smaller than the other birds in the covey.

      There is no question that game birds, and ruffed grouse in particular, will get the better of us. They zig and they zag, dodge and weave, fiddle and diddle, and cause us to miss the shot. But “every saint has a past, every sinner has a future,” says Oscar Wilde, and the next time we’ll be able to outfox that under-two pound bird. It will come when we honor our dogs’ point. And in that moment we will understand that redemption is granted not by the sound of our shotgun or the tumbling of a bird, but rather by the good grace of our bird dogs.