Last Hunt

 

   "The real world is the part that doesn't go away when you stop believing in it." ~ Phillip Dick

 

Grouse season ended up here on Sunday, Jan 3.  Rowdy and I went out for a last hunt, hopeful of catching a grouse up in the warm sunshine in the trees.  We did not succeed.

 

 On the other hand, about halfway through the roughly mile loop we slogged, we found some really interesting tracks in the snow.

Snow makes even an inept tracker like me look good.  The first sign we found was this.  I think it was a crow swooping down to dust off in the snow.  I understand that winter birds eat snow to hydrate, so that may be what you see here.

 

I think this next picture is obvious.  I measured the wing span and it was roughly 2-3 feet wide.  A big bird, probably a hawk or an owl, hit the snow going fast enough to leave wing and tail impressions.  The big depression in the snow roughly where talons are is where the small mammal was hit.  I don't think the raptor ever stopped flying..... 

 

I used Photoshop to enhance that picture to clear see the outlines.

This next picture is fun for me.  Normally, grouse 'walk' on the ground alternating steps.  When the snow is light or in the sand you can see the staggered steps.  But when the snow is this deep, evidently they hop along two feet at a time.  This grouse ran out of the woodsy cover and took off on the ATV trail.  The wing span was much smaller than the raptor.  Less than a foot wide. 

 

Finally, this last picture shows grouse hop steps into a hole that the bird had dug in the snow to find nuts, seeds and plant matter.   

On that happy note, I remain,

Dad/Geoff

Winter Grouse

 "If you don't think too good, don't think too much." ~ Ted Williams

 Gentle Readers and Loved Ones,

Bear with me while I pair my youth with today.  If hunting discussions, upset you, please stop reading now.

So…almost 40 years ago, while I was stationed on Okinawa, my hobby and passion was scuba diving.  I had a nice Nikonos UW camera and got some great shots. 

In between shots; however, I was shelling.  The warm waters surrounding Okinawa were home to a lot of classically beautiful sea shells.  Despite what you may think, you don’t get undamaged sea shells while walking the surf line.  You get them while the animal still lives in them and it is using it’s mantle to build and repair them.  

 Cowry with mantle.

There’s a reason I’m telling you this.  A live shell does not look it does in the store.  It’s probably covered in sand and seaweed.  The shell likes that, it’s natural camouflage.  What I’m working my way around to is the notion that you have to use “indirect sight” to find sea shells while swimming 30’ under the sea.  You have to learn the art of look at nothing and letting your sub-conscious work on the shapes.  When you get into the zone, suddenly your brain will just scream “That’s a shell!” and sure enough when you examine a shapeless lump on a rock, you see the shell.  It’s all zen n’ stuff.

Now to connect all this blather to Winter Grouse hunting. In the fall, finding the bird is almost all totally Rowdy’s responsibility.  When the birds are on the ground in their favorite fall habitat, the dog has all the advantages to finding birds.  Sound and smell are the dog’s domain.  Your goal is to keep the dog close enough so that when he flushes the bird you are ready for it.

But come winter, the birds move into warmer and higher roosts and the human eye gains an advantage.  Especially on a warmish – 25F – day like today when there is bright sunshine beaming – well, not quite “down”, call it across into the trees.  The sun is always low.

In this weather, the Grouse spend the nights burrowed in the snow, it’s warmer for them.  But during the day, they fly up high into the hard woods and the popples looking for dead frozen buds and seeds.  And they enjoy the warmth of the sunshine.

So.. you have to employ the “indirect sight” skill I learned back on “The Rock”.  You have to walk around slowly, looking up into the trees vaguely.  Not concentrating.  Letting your subconscious see the fuzzy grouse for you. 

This worked great today.  Suddenly, there he was, 30 yards away up in a popple tree, looking at me looking at him.  He jumped off the limb about the time I got the gun mounted and I managed to get out in front of him at the third shot.

Rowdy was right on him for the retrieve.  So, we bagged a third grouse this season on the next to last day of Grouse season.  Gonna try one more time tomorrow for the ender.

 

 

On that happy note, I remain, 

Dad/Geoff