After hunting one side of the cover with no results we circled around along the back side and Emma went on point at this tangle. As I made my way up the slope a grouse rocketed out straight away and into the sun. Elin leapt to my shoulder and I dropped one hammer and then the other..........I wish I could say that the grouse folded but it wasn't to be and I watched it fly away unscathed. I could blame the sun in my eyes or the cataract on my shooting eye that I will have removed next month for the miss but it was no doubt my lack of coordination that gave the grouse the edge it needed to survive another day.
Back at the truck a tired , bloody, but happy Emma poses with Elin.
So ends the 2010-2011 grouse season here in my Alleghenys. No grouse fell to my shots this year, the first time this has happened since I started grouse hunting back in the mid-80's. I should, I guess, be disappointed but as I look back at the past season I smile at the time spent carrying a gun and following a questing setter through these Allegheny Mountains that I love and know that I'll send the next 8 or 9 months dreaming about next season and the days I'll spend wandering through my coverts with my dog and my gun.
5 comments:
Sounds like a great hunt. Too bad the season is over.
The memory of that point makes it a fitting end to a "Ruff" season...to take the bird would have been the bonus...way to go Emma!
Emma looks whipped! Nice "End of The Season" post. Sorry to hear about the lack of birds. I thought we were about the only one's who didn't get ANY birds this year. It was bad. What grouse that are out there, have been left for seed. It is always a pleasure to exercise the dogs though, and see them get excited over birds. Next year will be better!
Still scrambling to try and fill in the remaining few days. It will be back to basement for barrel work, case coloring, woodwork, and fly tying in pretty short order. End of the bird season, boo!
Nice way to end the season, keeps you coming back for more.
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