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Sharptail for both of us. Sage is ten years old this past September. She still covers the ground nicely. ]photobucket [/url]

Hey!!!! Way to go.

Congrats and hope it is the first of many. Flush any more? Keep it up, we need more goings on in the upland and gun dog forum.

Rained here all day.

Sorry to hear about the rain bud and thanks for the compliment.

Yeah if you see my other post in upland sub forum.

Battue, I'm going to tell you something I'm embarrassed about. I fancy myself as a pretty decent wing shooter. In 2010, I went 3 for 3. Three shots three dead ruffs. I then went to 4 for 5 shots, followed by 5 for 7. Then it went down hill a little. I ended up 7 for 14. Thats half the grouse I shot at I got. Pretty decent and the best I've ever did.

I never joined any trap leagues n or skeet clubs-zippo. Both my grandfather's and my dad and uncles were only big game hunters and my dad's dad an avid spring gobbler hunter as well. That's it. Never learned proper shotgunning techniques until my mid twenties when I met my father in law.

You see, I only ever had like 3 ringnecks in my life up until my mid twenties and the ones I got were pure luck. Nobody ever showed or told me to shoot with both eyes open. I was shooting like a rifle. And years ago I broke myself of closing an eye for rifles and pistols. I shoot everything with both eyes open and have now for almost twenty years.

I talked alot of smack to a co-worker about how easy it would be to upland hunt out here in the west because there's nothing for them to put in between you and them, like us ruff grouse hunters are accustomed to. In addition to that, the covers are way easier to navigate.

Having said all that, I missed a chip shot first thing this morning on a covey of huns. You see, these western guys don't have same obstacles we do in the east, but they have their own. First time I've ever seen a covey and caught myself pulling my cheek from the gun, checking the shot and not focusing on one bird. All three no no's.. My eyes were everywhere and I didn't notice that until I missed one out of the SECOND covey Sage put up. By that time, I had to swing back around to truck because her water was there and she needed a drink. I then decided to travel on down the road farther, because I'm totally new here and need to find some covers and boy did I. Out of the truck about 200 yards into new spot another covey took flight, but this time;I connected on a hun.

Then we meandered along aways and put up some sharptails that caught me off gaurd. I swung on them but at first glance (and being a newb at sharpies) I hesitated thinking they were hens.

I instantly observed my mistake, but didn't want to take the shot. I marked where they went and so did Sage, we beat feet over to where we saw them land and she instantly shoved one in my face and I had to shoot it out of self defense.......lol.......right at me.

At the shot some more took flight, but I was to overwhelmed anticipating the retrieve on my first Sharptail. After a thorough examination from Sage and I, we mozeed on a toopooed in search of some more.

I did miss two shots on ringnecks as well. I've never hunted with any chokes tighter than modified back home and today I went with improved modified and full. Accept for extra full on Spring gobblers. Thank god I was off today because I would have wash ragged the ones I missed. I can't help instant snap shots being accustomed to ruffs.

Once I learned to hesitate a little, they started falling from the sky. Furthermore, I'm only using some of my grouse loads--low brass, 7.5 shot 1 1/8oz.

I won a nice, high dollar box of 12 gauge(fiocchi pheasant max plus 6 shot 1 3/8) pheasant loads at a recent Mondak Pheasants Forever banquet where I joined locally. I havent used them yet. Next weekend theyre coming out for testIng purposes at same covers i was at today. I was a member back home, along with ruffed grouse society, PTA ETC. That's it for now wife is calling me. Keep her nose into the wind and Goodluck to you all

Sounds like a great day from here. And yes, Appalachian Grouse are for the most part a snap shooting game and more often than not, one where your feet are not exactly always set up for good shooting. Part of the fun of it as you know.

Give Sarge a well done head rub.

Sage is zonked

Dont forget the jaggers around your neck and multiflora rose wrapped around your arm tying it almost to your side. Then all of a sudden thunder erupts and a bird explodes into the air like a lightning bolt and you have one knee by your chin or your chin by your knee hat lost and tangled somewhere 3 feet behind you and your hands and face are bleeding......ah yes.....the pursuit of bonasa umbellus--the ultimate heart pumping gamebird. Now your living jack

Bonasa Umbellus: Not many know that.

Or perhaps even worse around here. Odocoileus Virginianus.

Love to see an "old" dog still in the game congrats to you and Sage. My Keela just started her 11th season.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FU_TuwM2Dw

I know the numbers are down but I was still filling multiple tags a year before I left Pa. I was doing it for years down home with overlapping the borders of Westmoreland county and Somerset. You see I lived right where all three counties(Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland) met. And I could literally walk from my house into whichever county I wanted to hunt in. We lived in a beautiful area back home.

Battue, talking to my buddies back home they're decent numbers yet where we hunted. I'll pm you my old spots for whitetails and grouse in the Laurel Highlands. Now my northern grouse covers are a different story--waterboarding wouldn't even work.

Fox, thank you for the compliments sir. Keela looks like a serious warming jamming waterfowler yet at 11 years young. Good for you man and congrats. She looks exactly like my in laws most recent golden Tessa. She passed last year at 16. She hunted with me til she was 13 her 14th year we'd just take her out occasionally for short hunts. Tessa was a soldier and all about hunting. She was super high strung and a maniac for fetching and anything water related

Battue, here's one that might stump ya, it does everybody else. Ephemera Guttulata found once a year on our pa trout waters usually last week of may into first week or two of June pending water temps and don't feel bad not getting that one. My college biology professor didn't know it either and his PhD was in swamp Entomology go figure. I know swamps and streams are two different beasts, but proclaiming to be a fly fisherman and biology teacher you'd think he know that one. Although I will admit I learned all those Latin names later in life myself from my FIL. Hes a walking aquatic insect encyclopedia


And the key to all that is not spewing itover your lips, but being able to identify them and matching the hatch. But that's a different story for a different forum. Cheers!

Wouldn't have the slightest clue.

The only ones I know are our PA residents. Probably an easy one for you:
Meleagris Gallopavo.

Addition: One probably has a better chance of crossing paths with a Black Bear these days in PA than a dedicated Grouse hunter with a Bird Dog. I doubt if other than my Buds I saw more than three others. And not sure I saw that many.

Actually nope brain fart. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it with turkeyI only know grouse, coyotes and a handful, ok, two handfuls of aquatic insects in Pennsylvania. I did know the whitetail though. Can't remember elk

Thanks ML41, she does upland as well, unfortunately our opportunities are limited to early season Blue Grouse and a few late season Ruffies(as our cover is almost unhuntable till the leaves are off). We do have a good California Quail pop. but I reserve those for my spaniels. Sorry didn't mean to 'hijack' your thread. good shooting to you guys.

Yeah that's a bummer actually. Problem is they get at kids in school system nowadays and plus I believe today's generation is to game orientated and lazy for upland hunting. Everybody looks for and wants instant gratification, in which, you never get grouse hunting.

I took it easy on Sage this morning, I had some errands to run so no hunting. Took a little walk this morning and I had that good stiff feeling you get from upland hunting with a jacket full of game birds. Looks like Sage is dreaming of fields full of gamebirds.
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Somethings wrong with photobucket. Above picture was supposed to be showing Sage sleeping on couch. I've tried twice now and it keeps posting that photo after I copy new one. Some type of glitch going on. Oh well.

+1 on old gundogs. IMO the older they are up until they're physically unable, the better hunter they are and the easier they are to handle. Watching a young dog you've worked with "get it" and realize what it's there for is a great experience for both you and the dog but hunting with an old dog you've owned since it was a pup is it's own reward.

Boy do you have that right 43S, I have Keela my old dog(the grandam)Babe her daughter now 7 and Calli her granddaughter just a yearold in July. Just to see the difference in their style and attitude is amazing and fun to watch. Young dogs hunt fast and hard old dogs hunt smart.
The 2nd, third and forth generations are pictured here
Grandmother

Daughter

Grandaughter

Couldn't have said it any better myself.

I remember training her day in day out and watching the light bulb in her mind turn on. She took to the training like a hot dry summer sponge tossed in a bucket of water. I can still see us training in our yard back home when she was 8 weeks old. I got so lucky that week. My father-in-law and his aging beast showed up to go hunting with me in basically our backyard. We walked from my front door and took to the woods.

It was 09:37 and I connected on a straight up and away shot and Tessa instantly fetched it and I commenced to beating feet back to the house instantly to let Sage smell that fresh bird.

My wife still laughs about it to this day. We had a female rottweiler at the time as well and Tessa both were not allowed anywhere near that bird in Sage's mouth. She couldn't even lift it, but she was trying to drag it away from the other two dogs while the whole time growling as fierce and intimataing as an 8 week pup could. You had to be there, it was hilarious.

Since then she's had dozens of grouse in her soft mouth. I did everything right with her in the beginning as far as training retrieves and producing a soft mouth on most birds. She has learned over the years on her own to be a little more firm on winged birds that she has had to run down.

My only regret is that I would have logged in writing her actual numbers from the beginning. Since 2008 Sage has had 43 Ruffed grouse (mostly bonasa umbellus Monticola and a few togata) thrown in there hear and there and we missed two seasons together. Do to a knee and the other I won't mention. Wasn't my doing I will say, or anything I could prevent. Pheasants I didn't keep track of, had I been out here I would have. I looked at those stocked birds differently. Grouse are what makes me tick. Plus she's played with more than one dove as well.

My next pooch is already in the making and I will keep a journal of everything. This one's life will consist of hunting in the west. With an occasional trip back east to hunt my old covers around camp.

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