Grouse Camp 2025 was last week.
I was there for a couple of days. A few grouse were flushed but it was slower than expected.
Wed the 22nd with the pix above was great. The conditions were ideal. The trees at 1000 feet had dropped their leaves but lower down there was still some color. This spot I hadn’t been to in many years. I found it likely 20 some years ago and called it the Ripley cover after Aiden Lassell Ripley, famous for his grouse hunting scenes. The name stuck among my hunting friends which is a bonus. It is a spectacular cover and maybe the best I have seen. Amazing apple trees that are much higher than normal in spots. High enough that their shade has killed ground cover underneath them. Very atypical.
On the way back we made a detour on a back road I knew but likely had not been over in decades. The fall color was stunning but it is such a shame it fades from memory so fast. Is there a reason for that? Plant blindness, maybe.
Also, on the way back we passed these commercial lowbush blueberry fields which were as red as they look. The pic was taken around the same time as we passed them. The berries are on a 2 year rotation with unharvested fields looking especially good as in this example. Harvested fields are more muted. Record drought may also have been a factor this year. I checked satellite imagery from Oct 24th and the fields are readily visible from orbit. These fields especially so.
Some more leaf pix but up in Cape Breton. Unlike most areas the forests were not cut here on the slopes. At least, what I assume. The forestry records are vague about it. It makes for a beautiful area. I would love to track deer through there.