The snow is deep and crusty; the wind gnaws at your neck, nips your cheeks and stiffens your fingers. It is really not the most pleasant time of the year to be outside hunting. However, the alternatives are truly terrifying though! You can stay home and do chores or, even worse, go to the mall! Oh, no, anything but that!
This time of year it’s best to have heavy wool or gore-tex clothing and gloves. Cold weather is not bad once you are out in it and moving. The exercise keeps you warm. Wind can be troublesome, but by dressing in layers I never had a serious problem.
Usually you’ll be hunting grouse or cottontail rabbits. The grouse love to hang around old fields bordered by apple trees and thicker patches of brush. Aspens and poplars are good trees to look for, for grouse love to bud in them at this time of year. Birch buds are also a staple food now. Certain small maples also bud early and are a good food source. Add some hemlocks to this mix and there are almost bound to be some birds about. If the snow is deep and fluffy, the grouse will actually dive down into it to keep warm at night, a perfect insulation and out of sight of marauding owls. When a grouse explodes unexpectedly out of the snow right in your face it’s a rather shocking experience you won’t soon forget!
We have had our best success with two or three hunters moving through the thicker cover in a line about 35 yards apart or closer if it is really thick. I am not the best grouse shot in the world, but every now and then you have a lucky day and one accidently flies into your pattern. A good grouse dog, of course, is a real asset.
Rabbits, as I have mentioned, are another good late season bet. They love stream bottoms and thick willows, black berry thickets, multiflora’s evil thorns and other hair-thick brush. The nastiest cover imaginable is absolutely necessary for their protection day and night. Owls, foxes and coyotes love rabbit also and the cottontails will not stray far from the thickest cover this time of year! Early in the morning and later in the day are the best times to hunt as rabbits only venture into more open areas during the nighttime.
If you have a beagle, the slower he chases the better. A fast dog will put a rabbit down his hole in a jiffy this time of year. All animals are super conscious about saving energy in winter weather and rabbits will usually only circle once before heading down their holes. Even with a slow dog, a rabbit can hole up very quickly. If you get a shot, take it, you will probably not get another.
It is tough to pick the perfect choke and shot in winter hunting because the conditions and ranges vary to such a great extent. I usually use an improved cylinder shot gun and vary the shells. I start with a low brass shell holding 1 1/8ths ounce of 7 ½’s. My second shot is 1 ¼ ounce high brass 7 ½’s or 1 ¼ ounce of 6’s. My last chance, desperation load is 1 ½ ounce of 4’s for the long shot. If all shots are going to be close stick with low brass or the shell combo that makes the most sense.
If I had a modified or full choke I would use 1 1/8th ounces of 7 ½’s for the first shot, and probably 1 ¼ ounces of 6’s for the second and third, possibly 1 ¼ ounces of 4’s for the last blast if the woods allow a long poke and the animals are running or flushing at some distance.
If you have an over and under or double barrel, improved cylinder and modified are good choke choices for most conditions.
Don’t forget our old friends the squirrels if you get a warm, calm day. Favorable weather conditions, which can vary widely, and other natural, undetectable influences beyond my comprehension to sense or feel can cause the squirrel woods to come alive, with bushy tails running through the treetops and scurrying across the forest floor. Sometimes a cold crisp day causes this, I’ve seen it happen in heavy snow as well, but the best bet is usually warmer conditions. I swear the little buggers get bouts of cabin fever being cooped up in that hollow tree so much of the time and relish the opportunity to run wild, just like kids. I particularly remember one warm, foggy day in late December when my father and I were hunting near the Kinzua Dam by the Pennsylvania, New York line. In one afternoon we each saw around 50 squirrels apiece! It was an unbelievable sight, squirrels literally everywhere!
Anyway, get out of the house and take a therapeutic stomp through the brush, that’s what the second season is all about. Like the squirrels we get cabin fever and simply have to get outdoors and breathe some fresh air, feel the breeze on our face and blend into the big woods. There’s peace there found nowhere else.
