After a very long and relatively mild fall, it suddenly seems like winter here in Northern New Hampshire. Yesterday the high was in the mid-teens and the wind howled all day long. In fact it’s still blowing pretty hard. Hunted Saturday up in Pittsburg with temps in the mid-20s and it was a typical late season grouse hunt. Many of the places we wanted to go were already occupied by deer hunters and hunted much of the day with only one bird seen but not pointed. The final hunt of the day with Big Thudd handling his little namesake saved the day with five points — three singles, a pair and a group of five when we were back insight of the trucks after climbing well up the side of a mountain. Sunday we came south but it was so cold (mostly because of the wind chill) that we only lasted 20 minutes and then threw in the towel. Have family plans this week and then plan to get back at it next week if the weather lightens up a little. There’s no such thing as normal weather in late November and early December here in Northern New Hampshire — we can have snow, rain, below zero temps, or days in the 40s and some weeks you’ll get all of that within a couple of days. Looking at the 10 day forecast we have 49 and rain on Wednesday and a low of 2 on Saturday morning. Any warm afternoons I’ll be taking out the puppies but the older dogs have earned a rest after a long fall and more hunting to come down South.