OK, an update on the prairie grouse trip. We were hunting the Ft. Pierre National Grasslands, which are about 3.5 hours from home, so it was a long day. Being public land, it gets lots of attention from the national gun dog magazines and quite a bit of pressure from folks with those 10-dog trailers.
Anyway, we usually try to go out early when the birds are still holding for the dogs. However, I had to work the first two weekends of season, so this was my first chance.
We were reasonably successful depending on your viewpoint. I kept track of the grouse we saw, and the total in about 8 hours of hiking was 39. Saw both prairie chickens and sharptailed grouse. Only one held for one of my setters, and so I got that one (a sharpie). All the other birds were flushing wild, despite the nice day with light wind. My buddy had a covey of 8 prairie chickens pointed that flushed within 80 yards, and I had the same distance on four chickens. So, we were close to getting our mixed bag. My buddy had points on 5 pheasants (3 roosters, 2 hens) and I had a point on one rooster. So that was fun, but that season isn't open yet.
So lots of fresh air, exercise for the dogs and me, and certainly saw a reasonable number of birds this far into the season. Better than any alternative of which I can think.
Esshup, looks like nice mass on the pronghorn. Post your green score when you do it.
Ric, you've always been my Forum hunting buddy!
