Small game season in the mountains of northeast Pennsylvania comes with steep hills and few good misses. The hawthorns are thick, the briars are sharp, the snow is slippery, the rabbits are fast and the grouse are faster. All things considered though, whenever my friends and I hit Penn's Woods for a few hours of small game hunting, it's one heck of a good time. And one heck of a good nap afterwards.
So far we've had some pretty good luck this winter, doing most of our hunting in Wyoming and Luzerne Counties. The grouse population on the private land we hunt is excellent--on our best day we averaged just over two flushes per hour. Of coarse, out of all those flushes, we've only managed to harvest one explosive state bird this season.
Rabbit numbers are strong as well. Over nine hours of hunting so far, we saw plenty of sign and bagged two bunnies. Of coarse, no one said it was going to be easy.
Then again, small game hunting has never been a numbers game for us really. It's a tradition, a great time and an excellent reason to get outside and enjoy the countryside of Pennsylvania. We certainly get our laughs in, we certainly get a good workout, and nothing beats grouse done down home style covered in butter and apple cider simmering in an iron skillet.
