Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game How are you doing in the 2013 bird season???

Jesse, bummer, hope he heals quickly and fully..

mtmiller Nice looking birds and fine looking dog!!

The dogs and I hit our favorite spot for the opener of sage grouse season.. Have been going there for at least 15 years..
We lucked into a huge flock first thing near a waterhole..
The old 870 and WW 5's did the rest..

Took home 7 quail and a grouse today. It was a good day in the woods with Fireball2.

You guys are making me jealous

Congrats to all!!!!

Good looking stuff Wyo. I'll be chasing boomers tomorrow. I'm excited about the cooler weather..

Hunted Michigan Grouse opener in the upper penninsula. Still very thick and green. Dogs were pointing birds but tough to get good shots. Numbers seem to be down a little, however it was pretty warm and have not really even gotten a frost yet. Woodcock opened up this past weekend and that made it a little more interesting. Between Grouse and Woodies we got some good hunting in. Need some cold weather to move in to knock down the ferns. My young shorthair is 4 yrs old. Never got into a porkie until this yr, first day out. Face full of quills and did it again 2 hours later. Unreal.

Porky's!! I have been lucky with that.. But skunks are another matter!!
We were out again this A.M. Bumped a huge flock of sage grouse.. They are pretty wise.. There must have been 30-40 birds in that group.. As we were entering the pasture, I was opening the gate, and my young golden wanted out.. She always wants out.. She ran right into the edge of the sage, and put up three grouse.. What luck.. We finally made a big circle around the area where the big flock busted us, and came in from another direction.. The wind was coming over my left shoulder when the pup made a hard left into the wind and put up 6-8 grouse.. Lucky I got two with the old 870 and WW 5's.. It was a beautiful sight to see her catch the scent, know what it was, and put up the birds.. She also made one of her better retrieves.. Good morning..

Well the Shirley basin was slim pickins. Oh well, it was a fun day. I didn't have high hopes, but I didn't want to drive all the way to fremont county though.....

This was just to keep me excited for October.

JWP,Shirley Basin used to be excellent.. DO a lot of coyote hunting up in that area, but most other game is closer to home.. It seems this year, when you locate birds, there are a bunch.. Also they do not seem to be in some of their normal spots.. that is hunting I guess.. Good luck.

Ya I checked one of the wing barrels and it only had about 15 in it. Looks like it was a down year over there. Oh well, its close to home so I figured i'd give it a shot. I'd never been over that way.

I'll actually do some scouting next year. This was a shot in the dark.

The keys when the season was earlier was sage,of course, green grass and water.. This year water seems most important.. One of my Fav. spots usually has water in an old ditch.. Little pools here and there.. This year it is bone dry.. Havent seen a bird there in 4 trips.. Blue grouse are down, and I think sage grouse are down.. Most be one of those years.. Medicine Bow used to have some decent grouse hunting, but again, I haven't hunted there except for coyotes for many, many years..

The basin had plenty of water standing just about in every ditch (but the ground was dry and dusty). I'm sure the availability of water has them spread out, plus today the wind was blowing pretty good (gusts about 30mph).

As dry as it was, and as windy as it was, the scenting conditions were pretty chitty. But like I said, this was kind of a "I don't have anything to do today" hunt. Couldn't hurt to get the pup on the ground.

This got my blood pumping, he locked up solid, he didn't even want to relocate even when I released him...I honestly think some birds roosted in that area the night before or something. Of course with the wind howling, it could've been 100yds off...who knows...made for a good pic..


Now when Partridge season starts, that's time to get serious...

I am not sure when or if I well get up for those.. I like to go the first days, since I have my buck it would be excellent.. However relatives are coming for an antelope hunt so that will make it about the 10th before I can go.. I love that bird hunting more than elk hunting.. If I don't get a general tag, I may wait and hunt my elk in Dec. but birds are still on then too!!

Very nice photo..

I have 3weeks off in a row in November

Wyo? NV? UT? ID?...really haven't decided yet.

I would nose around and check out the area in western Idaho, and eastern Ore. and Washington.. If I had that time available, I believe that is where I would go.. Lots of public land and seems like the bird hunting is there if one can find it.. Montana is one of my favorite place in the U. S., but much of it is private.. Where the other area much of it is public..

Hello W.C.H. My seasons so far has been good for what we have available. I went duck hunting on our early teal and wood duck season 2 times both times I got a limit of 2 which isn't hard.
Our dove season in September was not good. I saw 3 doves and got 1. I didn't get to go but that one time.
I did get to go shoot pigeons yesterday and killed 7 with 10 shells. I usually shoot an IMP MOD choke and I went to a mod and my average went up. I have been over choked for the past 10 years probably. I haven't got to go as much as I would like but I have had several great hunts so far.

Hope your season is safe and full of birds.

A good modified is a tough choke to beat.. I have it in my old 870 field 12 g. and also in my little 870 20 ga. Sounds like you have had some success shooting this fall.. Your dove hunting sounds like mine.. But those pigeons are the best.. Keep shooting.

We hit the sage again this A.M. Sage Grouse is only 8 days in length so I try to get out a bit each day.. Today was a winner..
As we were coming into the hunting area, two birds flew from the ridge down into the sage brush about 250 yards ahead of us.. Lucky for me the dogs didn't see them land.. We made a short half circle and came in with the sun at our backs.. The grouse watched the dogs work, until I was in good range.. When the jumped, I knocked one down with a load of 5's.. We were off to a good start.. Continued up the ridge and the dogs jumped a single, Kate actions warned me something was about to happen, and it was an easy shot with the old 870 12 ga.
We had our limit of two and headed back to the old Toyota.. Snapped a photo before loading up..
Another bird or two and we will be finished.. Have several older folks who love sage grouse.. Used to have about a dozen now only a couple.. Time has taken its toll..

Nice work and a great pic.

Was it one of those two that had the ligament slice and is the Peach on the right?
Hope she is coming along if not. If so, it looks like she is doing just fine.

Anyway, enjoying the stories and pics and hope to see more.