Good days of grouse hunting

Dani

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We had several good days of grouse hunting while I was out west. And we hunted several different areas. They were all of them gorgeous. We had beautiful days and we had wet days that were beautiful up in the snow. Luckily it wasn’t heavy rain that we had on the wet days.

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And towards the end of the trip the trees were finally beginning to change color from green to GORGEOUS so that made the snowy landscape even more beautiful.

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And there were indeed grouse up that hill

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And there was LOTS of food to be found up that hill

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of different varieties for the grouse to choose from even

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it’s so interesting to me how you can get different color phase grouse, even in the same area

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We also hunted some areas near a bunch of apple trees. Emphasis on NEAR. Everytime I’ve grouse hunted out there we never find grouse in the apple trees. I have heard and read lots about how grouse love apples but we find them here

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and not here

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got me on the why. They were delicious apples. I wish I could’ve brought a suitcase load of the apples home.

But we did well on our walk through the area

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And their ruffles are so pretty

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When we opened them up though, there wasn’t a single bit of apple in em

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But they cooked up so sweetly with a bunch of fresh crisp apples.

We were on an adventure though so we headed for new grounds. On the way over, we watched as they were loading up a grain barge. Looked like to me they needed to add a bit more to the front….or shovel a bit from the back to the front….

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In all his time living in WA, Steve said he’d never made it to that area of WA and he sure wishes he had. It was BEAUTIFUL.

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And how many people can say they can hunt in an area where you could hunt ruffled grouse in the morning and chukar in the afternoon? And leaving from the same parking lot?

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The trees on the way in were just gorgeous

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and there were some other beauties who were happy to show off how gorgeous they are

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And Steve and him had quite a long conversation

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We eventually made it to where we were going to hunt. But what’s an adventure without stopping to enjoy the scenery and see neat critters?

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Because you just never know what you’re going to find when you stop

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Or this pretty fella sitting in someone’s yard way up high

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But hunt we did. And we had another productive hunt

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Though I learned that National Forests actually do have fences running through the middle. So, I of course had to show Drake how to go under the fence when I shot a bird that flew across the fence and landed back in some thick stuff that he needed some help with.

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But Steve and I did well there and were a little sad we had so little time to explore that area.

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But like all ruffled grouses….they were beauties

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We were enjoying grouse hunting so much we didn’t even try our hand at chukar but on the way out from grouse hunting I got to see my first flock of big horned sheep. One of the fellas was a hopeful fella, but the girls were having nothing to do with him.

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and there were some little ones around

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But that big boy was miiiiiighty interested in his ladies

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But he just couldn’t get them to hold still for him

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We left with good wishes to that big boy ….

Who woulda thunk that grouse hunting could have such diverse critters to watch

 
Cool, I am so envious.
Looks like you got some very nice trophy fans. Their variety of colors is very interesting.

Tim
 
thanks for the photos Dani. I really miss the NW and all it offers.

When is Steve going to take you after blue grouse?
 
i'm hanging my head about the blues.......

we drove up a mountain road. Enjoying the scenery. Seeing where the road led. When we were sure we'd gotten to the top, we turned around and pulled off at another road that offered a good view of the scenery. Well I stepped out of the truck, of course with no gun like a "genius", and Drake and I started walking over to where we might have a better view of the mountains. I was walking along when I saw a pair of blue grouse walking around on the ground with us. I headed back to the truck for my gun, which was like 50 yards away, but of course by then Drake had flushed them. Never could find them again. Siiiiiiiigh I should know better
 
What a great collection of wonderful pictures. Thanks so much. Loved seeing those color phases of the grouse, also. Sure glad that you had such a successful trip there.

The bighorns were delightful to see. Nice that there was a good looking dominant ram in the herd that can spread his gene pool there. Glad to see the tracking collars so that the biologists can study all that is necessary.

Thanks again. These photos made my day. By the way, Drake is one cool dog!
Al
 
Thanks y'all!

Al.....most definitely Drake is one cool dog. And we're keeping our fingers crossed that perhaps sometime this summer there will be baby Drakes running around being all cute and adorable.
 
Dani,
Thank for taking the time to post this up. I simply love tamarack trees in the autumn. I think most people don't even realize they are there or what they are. Simply gorgeous!
 
Dani,
That had to be a great trip for you. Love the photos.Thanks for sharing.
 
Awesome! Dani you get to go on some really great hunts thanks for taking us a long! I'm with Brandon, love Tamarack's they really are an awesome tree.
 
Dani,
Thanks for the trip,the grouse pictures brought back memories of birds we no longer have here in south eastern ohio. There are a few left in pockets but they are the exception rather than the rule. I have spoken to a few biologists but none have been able to explain what happened to our grouse population. Clear cuts have not had the results they had hoped for.
Anyway i am glad you and steve got to experience the magic of the "ruffled" grouse.
Bill.
 
Dani - Fantastic, thanks for the post, ruffed grouse hunting always leads a hunter to wonderful places that fill the senses. Looks like a Red phase, and Gray phase or Intermediate, darn fine birds and DEEeeeelicious. October goes by way to fast, but deep snow grouse hunts are fun for Grouseaholics...
 
Dani - Wow what country and it looks like some good shooting. Up here in N E you have to have ESP to shoot grouse. Always putting a tree between you and them. Are they any easier in that country which looks somewhat open ?
sarge
 
Dick,

Having never hunted grouse up in the NE I'm not really sure how to answer that. Believe me though. Some of the pictures are of somewhat open landscape. Many of the places were not. It's a good thing I'm somewhat adept at crawling over downed trees and pushing through thick cover because a good deal of the time that's what I was doing. Drake of course had no problems. Steve seemed to be able to do that without too much difficulty, but me....well I seemed to find the most difficult stuff to work through.....or the thickest trail...and I am an awful klutz so Steve got lots of great laughs at my expense. hahahha Somehow though, and don't ask me how cuz only the gods know, I was able to scratch out a bird here and there. And it's a good thing that Drake is such a dead bird dog because i"m not sure I'dve found a couple of those birds.

Drake did an excellent job. Keeping up with him wasn't too difficult in those woods. Almost all the woods we hunted were not nearly so open as what I posted pictures of.

Keeping up with him on the open hillsides in the grass....well that's a different story.....he had some jet fuel for breakfast most mornings those days we were pheasant hunting we decided...

Dani
 
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