October Grouse Hunting…

Mike and I took a jaunt back into Clearwater Lake and beyond to flip over boats in the “backwoods”.  Of course this is a prime opportunity to combine some work with pleasure, namely scouting out prospects for my bull moose tag, and the chance to flush a few ruffed grouse.

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Off the beaten path on McGregor Lake.
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Mike with a pair of "chickens".

Grouse hunting success….

Mike did pretty well checking out a few sunny, open areas for birds.  A few similar locations on the trip back paid off as well.

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Grouse hunting on a nice October day.

Lake trout and grouse hunting?

When you are hunting in October the two do not go hand in hand since the lake trout fishing closes on October 1st.  However, you never know what you are going to run into while crossing Eagle Lake during this most interesting time of year.  We ran across this lake trout floating on the surface just south of Dog Island.  While not dead, it was on its last leg, and upon inspection you can see the reason why!

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This lake trout has seen better days.
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Mauled by a muskie on Eagle Lake
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Muskie teeth marks...this fish is mortally wounded.

October hunting…

Well, it seems that hunting in the Fall is not confined to us humans…as witnessed by this lake trout.  It is a “dog eat dog” world in the wilds, and muskies have to eat too.  We released this lake trout to it’s fate, and it likely made a fine meal to a bald eagle or some other critter that came across it.  Seems that as we progress further into Fall, and the humans become few, there are some interesting things to be seen if you just take the time to get out and check things out.  I’m looking forward to my next run back there…stay tuned!

2 thoughts on “October Grouse Hunting…

  1. Excellent post Gord….and nice shooting Mike! Its really fun to see what goes on at VBL in the months that most of us never see.seems

  2. Nice job all around and how big was the lake trout?
    Must have been that 60″+ monster lurking in the depths of Eagle Lake….

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Testimonials

On behalf of the Boyes Group, I would like to pass on our sincere thanks for hosting the Muskie Madness Week and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at VBL and had a great time!! This was our 7th year on Eagle Lake and we have stayed at a few other lodges but VBL takes the cake hands down! You can definitely count us in for next year. I’m happy to see you post some of my pics, they turned out well. Thanks again Gord for a wonderful week of fishing and your stellar hospitality, you run a first class operation, we look forward to seeing you next year!

Trevor Benner

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