GROUSE SCHOOL

2:00 PM  Arrival at training facility

2:15 PM  Meet & greet with instructors

• Assessment of skill set & experience

3:00 PM  Classroom tutorial:

• How to plan, research and optimize your hunt
• Site and food requirements for grouse and woodcock
• Factors that effect grouse cycles and how it changes strategy
• How to locate and identify productive grouse habitat
• Identifying and aging clear cuts
• How to use topographical maps and satellite imagery for pre-hunt planning
• How to use the internet, government & private logging records to identify habitat
• How to be successful in heavy hunter traffic areas
• How to scout in the preseason

7:00 PM  Family style dinner

9:00 AM  Arrival at training facility and continental breakfast

9:15 AM  Safety briefing

• Best guns & loads for grouse and woodcock hunting

10:00 AM  Shooting instruction

12:00 PM  Break for lunch

1:00 PM Resume shooting instruction

2:00 PM  Move into on-site grouse habitat to learn:

• Strategies for hunting grouse & woodcock
• How to safely navigate grouse habitat
• How to hunt safely in a group in dense cover
• How to use pointing or flushing dogs in grouse and woodcock habitat
• Strategies for hunting grouse and woodcock without the use of dogs

6:00 PM   Family style dinner

9:00 AM  Arrival at training facility and continental breakfast

9:15 AM  Students paired with guides and dogs for morning hunt in grouse and woodcock cover 

12:00 PM  Lunch in the field

1:00 PM  Afternoon hunt with guides over pointing dogs in grouse and woodcock cover

4:00 PM  Closing remarks and departure

My first time ever hunting experience.  Now I understand why grouse  hunting is hard and appreciate the teaching I got.  Andy is a great  guide, highly knowledgeable about grouse hunting and the general  ecosystem.  I really enjoy his insights and many teaching moments. 

Rosedale 

I participated in the Grouse Hunting School ran by Catskill Casts & Coverts this past weekend and my experience exceeded my expectations. My business partner signed me up and I'm glad he did.  I am not new to grouse hunting yet the quality of the information presented (the what) along with the supporting reasoning (the why) by  Biologist & Forestry professional Andy Weik opened my eyes. It was literally the foundation that a successful hunt is built upon.  We then took a walk in the woods to see in real life what Andy had been talking about. Shooting clays in and around forest cover was a lot of fun but being able to put all the information together and then put it into practice made for a very successful grouse hunt. We saw a lot of  birds. The school is well worth the effort even if you are an experienced  grouse hunter. The information supplied and presented will make you a better, more successful grouse hunter. Rick, Andy and Amber put on a safe, professional, informative & well organized course. Highly recommended. 

Chris Milosek 

There are some good reviews here, so I won't repeat it all.  I thoroughly enjoyed my 2.5 days with Rick & Amber (but Eloise, their daughter, stole the show).  They put together a top notch team that provided excellent classroom and practical (in the field) instruction of what to look for in terms of habitat, food sources and predators - and how that all translates to finding grouse and woodcock. It all connected on the hunts and was consistently reinforced throughout the weekend.  The aim of it all was to equip us with enough knowledge and confidence to plan our own trips. Everyone involved was very generous with their knowledge, helpful tips and great stories.  It all made for a challenging, fun and rewarding  weekend. 

Hooked on Grouse 

What a great time at the Catskills Casts & Coverts Grouse School.  Learned so much from the experts about the species and their habitat!  Live, hands-on shooting instruction and handling dogs in the grouse woods all came together in a challenging and fun hunt!  Front office hospitality (go Amber!) was awesome. Made a few new friends along the  way too! Can't beat it! 

Uplandcrazy 

Being a newish (2 years) grouse hunter in MI, I was excited to get a chance to actually LEARN about the birds I love to hunt. The Classroom experience with Rick and Andy was incredible. The amount of information that these PROFESSIONALS have - and more importantly are willing to share with you - was astounding. This is not like charter fishing where the Captain and his mates do all of the work finding their "honey-hole spots" and put you on birds. This is an in-depth experience where they work hard to teach YOU invaluable  information about how to scout, locate, and find Honey-Hole spots of  YOUR OWN no matter what neck of the woods you are hunting in. Due to the small size of our class (Just myself, my father, my dog, and 1other hunter), we were able to get two days in the field. And because I brought my own dog, I was paired up with Champion dog trainer Rick A.  This proved to be just as valuable to me as identifying the habitat, as Rick A. was instrumentally helpful in teaching me how to use my best asset (Dog's nose) to help put up the birds. Rick ran one of his Brittney's to give my dog a rest for a little bit, but I was so  appreciative that his focus was watching me run my dog, and offering critiques and HELPFUL advice on things that I was actually doing that could be improved upon. 

TonyR92  

Rick, Amber and team provided a fantastic weekend experience. A lot of great information about grouse, woodcock and habitat that was  eye-opening and hugely helpful to this novice hunter. Andy, a biologist and woodcock expert, was terrific fun and knows all there is to know about habitat and where to find birds. During the day spent with Rick and his fine English Setters we flushed over 20 birds, both grouse and  woodcock. I would encourage anyone to stay locally if possible and bring the dog. Seems like a bonding experience to do with a parent along as well. Catskills Casts & Coverts seems like a great operation and I  look forward to coming back for future grouse hunts, fly fishing and some of their cool travel experiences (Africa, Guatemala, Scotland, etc.). Just a great weekend in the most beautiful fall foliage you’ll  find anywhere. I can’t recommend it enough. 

Octobarn 

A great experience.  Even though I have been hunting grouse for many  years and thought I knew all I needed to know, I found out that I was wrong!  High quality, knowledgeable presenters and guides. 

Maggie the Flusher 

I was looking for a thorough introduction into Grouse hunting. This school was a home run. Rick and his wife Amber run a great outfitting service as the core for the 3 day  course. They brought in a champion dog handler and biologist with decades experience in identifying proper bird cover and WHY it should hold or wont hold birds.  The day of lectures on birds and habitat as well as outfitting your self for a hunt served as the foundation. Learning that could take decades on your own was presented clearly and concisely. Then we were taken out to the field to walk through examples of good, not good, early, ideal, and late grouse and woodcock terrain. Driving with biologist Andy I was able to identify "Grousy" areas by the cover by the end of the course. Hunting an area that is more likely to hold birds is worth the course  alone. After our habitat lecture and field work we returned to the main facility for bird shooting instruction and review. Of course the usual safety is presented and then Rick focused on the difference in shot  approach in the field vs the clay course. We all had ample time to shoot the clay field to get our confidence.  The remainder of our course was spent with the dogs in the field hunting with Rick and his experienced team. The terrain is rough but we saw and  flushed many birds, both woodcock and grouse.  If you are experienced you could fine tune your terrain and dog training with this course. If you are new you will find the  introduction extremely useful. Either way it is a benefit. I cannot wait to return to Rick's later this fall for a 2 day individual grouse hunt.  I know with the knowledge from this weekend it will be a better experience for both myself and the guides. Thanks for a tremendous  experience! 

dbollard 

I had very high expectations for this course but Rick Watson took it to the next level and went well beyond my expectations.  His knowledge, ability to teach and his enthusiasm when teaching made a huge impact in my learning process.  He is incredibly knowledgeable and experienced but loves to share what he knows.  He tailored his teaching to my needs and level of knowledge, was always willing to please, and always very focused on my interests.  He was very adaptable to the circumstances,  including allowing me to hunt with my dog, and I learned in 48 hours what would have taken me many years to do it on my own.  Also grateful to his wife for making every effort to pull this together despite some obstacles that appeared at the last minute.  She was very  helpful, professional and incredibly efficient.  I cannot recommend this  school enough and has changed my Grouse Hunting experience in a very positive way forever. Thanks again. 

Damian F 

Rick and his team did a superb job in providing an excellent educational  didactic session on Friday followed by a walking session of Grouse  habitat on Saturday morning that brought the lecture session to life.  Shooting clays Saturday afternoon in the field was a fun and practical  way to improve our real life Grouse shooting skills. Hunting turned out  to be a great time on Sunday with birds raised due to the superb guiding of Rick and his great team of English Setters. 

Brad Shing 

Just completed grouse hunting school with Rick, Andy, and Justin with support by Amber. Excellent instruction and amenities by friendly and  competent people. 

richard cunningham 

Very detailed review of the most difficult part of grouse hunting -  finding the right habitat!!  Excellent discussions with the staff of  Casts and Coverts and the Field Biologists from the Ruffed Grouse  Society. 

HalPat001