And towards the end of the trip the trees were finally beginning to change color from green to GORGEOUS so that made the snowy landscape even more beautiful.
And there were indeed grouse up that hill
And there was LOTS of food to be found up that hill
of different varieties for the grouse to choose from even
it’s so interesting to me how you can get different color phase grouse, even in the same area
We also hunted some areas near a bunch of apple trees. Emphasis on NEAR. Everytime I’ve grouse hunted out there we never find grouse in the apple trees. I have heard and read lots about how grouse love apples but we find them here
and not here
got me on the why. They were delicious apples. I wish I could’ve brought a suitcase load of the apples home.
But we did well on our walk through the area
And their ruffles are so pretty
When we opened them up though, there wasn’t a single bit of apple in em
But they cooked up so sweetly with a bunch of fresh crisp apples.
We were on an adventure though so we headed for new grounds. On the way over, we watched as they were loading up a grain barge. Looked like to me they needed to add a bit more to the front….or shovel a bit from the back to the front….
In all his time living in WA, Steve said he’d never made it to that area of WA and he sure wishes he had. It was BEAUTIFUL.
And how many people can say they can hunt in an area where you could hunt ruffled grouse in the morning and chukar in the afternoon? And leaving from the same parking lot?
The trees on the way in were just gorgeous
and there were some other beauties who were happy to show off how gorgeous they are
And Steve and him had quite a long conversation
We eventually made it to where we were going to hunt. But what’s an adventure without stopping to enjoy the scenery and see neat critters?
Because you just never know what you’re going to find when you stop
Or this pretty fella sitting in someone’s yard way up high
But hunt we did. And we had another productive hunt
Though I learned that National Forests actually do have fences running through the middle. So, I of course had to show Drake how to go under the fence when I shot a bird that flew across the fence and landed back in some thick stuff that he needed some help with.
But Steve and I did well there and were a little sad we had so little time to explore that area.
But like all ruffled grouses….they were beauties
We were enjoying grouse hunting so much we didn’t even try our hand at chukar but on the way out from grouse hunting I got to see my first flock of big horned sheep. One of the fellas was a hopeful fella, but the girls were having nothing to do with him.
and there were some little ones around
But that big boy was miiiiiighty interested in his ladies
But he just couldn’t get them to hold still for him
We left with good wishes to that big boy ….
Who woulda thunk that grouse hunting could have such diverse critters to watch
