All of my life, I've been fascinated by the high country. We've got quite a bit of it here in Kalifornia.
We do have lots of different game birds, but a few of them are very hard to hunt or even to find. Of the high country types, we have only two. The Willow Ptarmigin and the Blue Grouse.
I've always been fascinated by the Blue Grouse. I know in some states, they are abundant. But not here. Very widely distributed, but never in any significant numbers. The most lightly harvested game bird in Kalifornia I've been told.
I've talked to lots of hard core bird hunters over the years who love to hunt grouse. I've tried their ideas and tried some good looking spots. Very few of them ever had found any, let alone kill one. I didn't kill one until I retired. My partner and I got lucky and bumped into a group of them in a small, 7000 ft high meadow I had previously scouted. What a day ! He wasn't even sure what they were when he found them. He had never seen one. He luckly followed my lead and we both got birds.
I usually prowl the high country near where I live every summer. And I did so this year. Didn't see any grouse, but I did find some Mtn. Quail.
Since it's a walk in area, I choose to hunt there.
It worked. I had the whole place to myself. But, the quail eluded me. Did I mention it tends to be very thick country ?
Then, at almost the very top of the range, well within the Desolation Wilderness, I flushed at least seven Blue Grouse. and missed all of them as they drove and flew between the trees.
I saw only one of them settle in a tree. But when I attempted to stalk him, he flew at the other side and made it to cover.
The next two I found, lower down, weren't so lucky. Only the second time I've managed to take any of these birds.
So, I did it. But, more important, I've found as good a place to hunt as any I've ever heard of in this state. Best of all, nobody hunts it. Something about a five mile hike and an 1800 ft elevation change.
That's just fine with me. E
