Flushing Mutt
New member
Guys,
Like many of you I've spent a lot of time looking for grouse with zero success. Over the last 2 seasons I've put in 5 days in North Park searching the aspen/sage interface at about 8k FOE without a single flush.
This year I've heard a couple non hunters telling me about sightings in the ponderosa pine much closer to home so I decided to look there instead. After barely moving my gas guage off of full, I arrived at the trailhead expecting another nice fall walk with a gun and dogs but no shooting.
The first spot I tried looked promising but my altimeter only showed 7k feet and after a few hours there was nothing doing so I drove up the road to a higher elevation and found a trailhead.
I wound up the trail and saw a nice open field of grass amid the ponderosa pine. I walked the field edge with no luck so continued up the trail through the pine. As I reached the top of a flat knoll on an east facing slope amid some well spaced ponderosas, the dog veered off the trail. He was birdy as hell but I figured he was actually squirrely or chipmunky per usual. With the gun resting uselessly on my shoulder he flushed a giant (I assume male) blue grouse.
You all know the feeling well, whether it's pheasant or grouse or whatever, if the action is slow and you haven't flushed birds in hours or days or weeks, when that flush does finally happen, you are so startled and flustered the chances of you connecting on a tough shot are slim to none.
I swung on the bird and but the shot was well behind, and the trees were thick enough to make a follow up shot impossible. I tried to see if he landed in a tree in the distance when the knoll absolutely erupted with grouse, one after another flushed as Gunner tore through the woods, I fired and missed again. Another flush and I lined up again, pulled trigger, gun jammed, I watched helplessly as at least 20 if not 30 grouse erupted from the forest floor and flew straight down hill. Gunner continued to race around frantically, I could sense his disbelief that not a single bird was down. Sorry buddy, dad can't shoot for shit you should know this by now.
We tried to track them down again but no luck, couldn't find them in the trees or on the ground in the direction they flew. I was disappointed in my shooting but ecstatic that we'd found birds. We continued up the trail, and hunted for another few hours but it was already late in the day. Dog got birdy on multiple occasions but no flushes. As we returned down the trail past the spot of the original flush he got birdy again and put up another grouse, this time I was ready and connected on the shot. After the retrieve he was right back to tearing around the area, another flush, shot and 2nd bird down.
8500 FOE was the magic number. Red berries (serviceberry?) were everywhere in the understory. There were nice grassy aspen grove draws in the area that looked prime but no luck there. NO sage brush in the area. Only grass and what I call scrub oak, not sure if that's the right term. Birds craws were full of the red berries and what appeared to be a few digested insects I could not ID. Keep the faith gents!
Trying to post some pics but my file uploads are failing, my files are small (126k jpg, 533x400 pix) not sure what's the problem, any advise is appreciated.
Like many of you I've spent a lot of time looking for grouse with zero success. Over the last 2 seasons I've put in 5 days in North Park searching the aspen/sage interface at about 8k FOE without a single flush.
This year I've heard a couple non hunters telling me about sightings in the ponderosa pine much closer to home so I decided to look there instead. After barely moving my gas guage off of full, I arrived at the trailhead expecting another nice fall walk with a gun and dogs but no shooting.
The first spot I tried looked promising but my altimeter only showed 7k feet and after a few hours there was nothing doing so I drove up the road to a higher elevation and found a trailhead.
I wound up the trail and saw a nice open field of grass amid the ponderosa pine. I walked the field edge with no luck so continued up the trail through the pine. As I reached the top of a flat knoll on an east facing slope amid some well spaced ponderosas, the dog veered off the trail. He was birdy as hell but I figured he was actually squirrely or chipmunky per usual. With the gun resting uselessly on my shoulder he flushed a giant (I assume male) blue grouse.
You all know the feeling well, whether it's pheasant or grouse or whatever, if the action is slow and you haven't flushed birds in hours or days or weeks, when that flush does finally happen, you are so startled and flustered the chances of you connecting on a tough shot are slim to none.
I swung on the bird and but the shot was well behind, and the trees were thick enough to make a follow up shot impossible. I tried to see if he landed in a tree in the distance when the knoll absolutely erupted with grouse, one after another flushed as Gunner tore through the woods, I fired and missed again. Another flush and I lined up again, pulled trigger, gun jammed, I watched helplessly as at least 20 if not 30 grouse erupted from the forest floor and flew straight down hill. Gunner continued to race around frantically, I could sense his disbelief that not a single bird was down. Sorry buddy, dad can't shoot for shit you should know this by now.
We tried to track them down again but no luck, couldn't find them in the trees or on the ground in the direction they flew. I was disappointed in my shooting but ecstatic that we'd found birds. We continued up the trail, and hunted for another few hours but it was already late in the day. Dog got birdy on multiple occasions but no flushes. As we returned down the trail past the spot of the original flush he got birdy again and put up another grouse, this time I was ready and connected on the shot. After the retrieve he was right back to tearing around the area, another flush, shot and 2nd bird down.
8500 FOE was the magic number. Red berries (serviceberry?) were everywhere in the understory. There were nice grassy aspen grove draws in the area that looked prime but no luck there. NO sage brush in the area. Only grass and what I call scrub oak, not sure if that's the right term. Birds craws were full of the red berries and what appeared to be a few digested insects I could not ID. Keep the faith gents!
Trying to post some pics but my file uploads are failing, my files are small (126k jpg, 533x400 pix) not sure what's the problem, any advise is appreciated.
