Met up with
@Brauee20 & a former member who shall not be named over the weekend (and a couple of kick-ass kids of Grants). Due to schedules and such, it was an abbreviated grouse camp. Folks got in late Friday night, with dreams of pats running round our head. We were hitting a new area that nobody had hunted before, but had some key covers that looked really good when I scouted last week.
Obligatory photo of the tent at night:
Saturday we lit out from camp at about 9. We walked from camp, which is always nice. After a bit we put up a single grouse, and I missed a crossing shot as it rocketed low into the next zip code. We finished that walk up with 3 flushes and a porcupine in the crook of a tree, which we all agreed was a good spot for a porky to nap. After a nap and reset, we headed back out for a cover closer to some water. It's still pretty dry out so we thought we'd see if the birds were congregating in the wetter areas. On the way to the cover, we had 2 hen turkeys cross the road. We slammed on the brakes and the former member jumped out to try and bag a bird. He had them at 15 feet, but the safety was on and the click echoed across the valley. C'est la vie.
We put on about a mile walk along the creek. The dog (and the kids, and the hunters) put up 8 birds in that cover, and we didn't get a shot at any of them. Seems like the excitement got Groot out a bit too far while the suddenness of the flush caught the rest of us off guard. We walked back out after a bit over a mile, and the kids were done - so they headed back to camp to make sure the marshmallows didn't wander away. The former member and I took off down the road to scout a couple more spots and let the kids get settled in to camp. We found plenty of good spots to check out for the next time. On the way back to camp we came across the same two hens that we'd unsuccessfully stalked prior. Not wanting to let a bird in hand go, the former member leapt from the truck with his trusty 20 gauge, which shortly made a report that rang out.
A minute or two go by and he emerges from the creek bottom holding a hen, still flapping, both are soggy. Seems you can shoot a turkey on the wing with a cylinder choke and a 1 ounce load of #7.5's.
Back in camp we had a wonderful dinner of chili, mac and cheese and cinnamon roll on a stick. Whenever I'm around a 9 year old kid, I tend to think that men generally just stay about 9 regardless of age on so many levels. Especially when it comes to being patient about cinnamon roll on a stick. You really need to be patient for that. Rushing the process is just bad for the whole endeavor.
We got up early and broke camp Sunday. A very important birthday party awaited one member of the hunting party, while the dog was clearly not going to do much other than sleep after an epic day for an 8 year old dog. I scouted some covers on the way home, and a little later this week we'll check out some top-level secret spots closer to home. Showers are forecast for the weekend so we'll be watching the weather app closely.
We're about 1/2 way through the early season (9/15-11/15). We've had good success in flushes, worse than average shooting and we've been able to make a bunch of empirical knowledge and turn it into applied knowledge relative to grouse habitat, favored locations at specific instances of weather, heat, wetness, etc. The dog and I are getting a lot more consistent at finding and flushing birds, which makes the confidence level grow as fast as the Grinch's heart.
