Huntin' Grouse...

Early Friday morning I headed over to Motley, MN to meet my good buddy Kurt. We drove up to Foothills State Forest, which I call Spider Lake, cuz of the little lake in the park. I've been hunting that area off and on for 40 years. A lot of people have camped out by the lake with me and walked the woods in search of grouse. I always think of that when I go up there and try to remember everyone I've been with up there. Now it's just Kurt and me......
The bird population always varies and new cuttings sometimes take away some of my secret spots but I enjoy the solitude the area provides. After a fruitless first walk, we ran into a state forestry guy. He said the birds seemed to be scarce and hadn't seen many hunters as well. Though that wasn't too encouraging, we hit the woods again and started flushing birds. Lately the grouse have been flying in a different direction than I've been shooting but Friday two birds decided to fly the same way I was shooting. They are now in my freezer.
I love hunting grouse for a number of reasons. You don't have to pay any extra money for a stamp, they are harder than heck to hit and I love that challenge and I have virtually no competition in the woods. Most guys walk trails or hunt out of their truck or ATV. No one seems to want to push brush any more... except me. Probably why I don't have many guys to hunt with as well. The older guys haven't got the legs or strength any more and the younger guys (if they aren't talking on their cell phone), don't seem to have the time or desire. Hunting grouse the old way is a dying sport.
There's a line in that Bellamy Brothers song "The Old Hippie" that goes "Pretty soon the species will just up and fade away". Hopefully we'll go with guns blazing.....

One Down......

I had posted that I had shot over a doe last week. Later trail cam shots showed that I nicked it in the back. Though the wound looked superficial, I wanted that deer.
Yesterday morning I only hunted until 8:00. I had a slight cold and runny nose which doesn't work well with face masks. Later trail cam photos showed that this deer walked by at 8:09. 9 minutes after I left....
So, I was out at 5:30 this morning even though it doesn't get light until 7:00. I had a doe and fawn walk by in the dark and at 7:20, the one I was looking for appeared. A thru and thru double lung shot and she only went 100 yards.
Now it's time to reposition my trail cameras. No more does or even little bucks. It's time to look for a big boy.