Gunning off Half Cooked

“lying low. in the bush. A baby quail passes my feet. I am reminded of a lullabye from child hood

BAMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

crackle crackle. mmmmmMMMm tastey.
pass the cheese”

“Is militiagirl a troll”

“LOL......:)”

“How come the only quail I see are the ones that explode off the ground right in front of me and scare the peewatimus outta me?”

“sounds to me like you might need to get the ol' mark 1 eyeball calibrated there bacpac”

“I don't hunt quail. I am talking about walking through the woods.”

“so am I - I will often see quail before they take off while I am hiking - they only surprise me about 75% of the time.”

“Maybe my Mark 1 eyeball has always been out of calibration. I can only recall seeing one bird on the ground before it saw me. It scared the peewatimus outta me too.”

“I think Grouse explode out of cover louder than Quail!



I would like to shoot one before I die!”

“Maybe it's cause it's Friday. Maybe it's cause Big Daddy needs a little lovin' but I thought this thread said "Gumming Off Half Cocked". LOL!”

“I've had my share of grouse explosions underfoot -- a natural heart-attack inducer -- once while in chest waders trudging uphill from a steelhead stream. Woodcock (you'll never see them first) aren't as noisy, but they go up straight like a "Bouncing Betty" mine with a helicopter whir. The only solution to such surprises would be to take a good bird dog along, but let's not get the "dogs on the trail" thing started, eh?”

“get home and make my dinner, beeeyatch!”

“I do hunt quail and grouse and ya darn rarely see a quali first and absolutely never see a grouse first. Even with good dogs a grouse will come up, sounding like a whole covey of quail, about 50 feet in front of you.
tarprat--- they're mighty tasty but there are a lot of hills between each one you get. I think I've killed about 12 in the last 10 years. They're harder than deer now.”

“I nearly stepped on a Turkey once when I was walking through chest high grass. I may have pooped myself when it took off.”

“mtnman,

Where do you hunt? and what state?

I am in Maryland... I tried Grouse hunting once in WV at Dolly Sodds Wilderness... It had just snowed and not a creature was sturing, not even a grouse or a Snowshoe... I had my brand new Ruger Red Label O/U 20 gauge and ice formed on the wood stock, thought it would crack but it didn't... I got to the edge of a Cliff and fired off 2 shells just to make my self known... there weren't any people around, so it was just for kicks... pretty good feeling too! Like the old west!

Yeeehaaaw!”

“Tarprat, you're my kind a guy. I too own a red label o/u in 20 ga. I love the thing its almost all I use (26" bbls) and I can break an average of 23 with it in skeet. I normally hunt grouse in eastern KY where I lived for years and years. I did strip mine engineering work then and had access to a lot of mine permit acerage. I still have contacts there and plan to go next week for two days combining a job with a little R&R. I have a friend there that still has a grouse dog. My father and I used to do a lot and he had the best grouse dog ( different totally in ability from any ordinary bird dog) that I had ever seen. Times have changed, the dog is gone and dad is too old to do the hills. In one day we killed 14 between 4 guys in Lawrence County, KY. No one can beat that number and I have photos to prove its not BS, that's the key. I did jump one grouse in GSMNP near CS-9 two weeks ago, no gun just backpack. Scared the pi-- out of me like usual. I did get a brief glimpse as it went through the characteristic 5 trees, enough to ID it as a hen. They are the holy grail of upland game birds.
Have a good one.”

“All I know is that they are good to eat.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....:)”

“If for some reason you ever damage a ruger, send it back. they will fix it free, pay the postage and appologize. Love the service from those people. Maybe that's why (don't tell the wife) I own ,lets just say a lot of them.”

“I piffed a grouse with my car right after I got out of high school. Broke its neck. I took it home, cleaned it, and barbecued it. That was one of the best tasting birds I've ever had.”

“always had excellent service out of ruger & s&w...partial to a 28 ga english style double myself...grouse/quail/doves out here are deadeasy ,its almost a no-brainer...are you using 4's or 3's on the grouse ?”

“I was using really good quality Game loads!

I have never broke more than 17 a round, but that's reason to keep coming back!

I think if I had a dog I could have found some grouse in the snow, but without one, all I could do is drag my feet through snow drifts and I didn't see anything move, ever!

The season ends this month in WV!”

“Grouse normally use #5s sometimes 6's. A little too much bird for my favorite 71/2.”

“I just talked to my pal and I'm going to be hunting in E. KY Thursday-Friday next week, ohhhh boyyyy. Even if I don't see one its better than being at this desk.”

“I have had male grouse puttin' on their show for the females below my treestand, quite a performance. I have a nice double 16g (sidexside) that I havent shot in years...no time to bird hunt.”