jrmflintlock
45 Cal.
At last my hunting season has started! Since I drew no big Game tags, I will be happy to spend my autumn and winter chasing small Game.
The first season in Nevada that offered me any hunting opportunity was Sage Grouse! Blue grouse has been on since September 1st as well as Dove, but as you can see from the photos, there are no blue grouse or dove anywhere, so I waited for Sage grouse season to open.
After the 2.5 hour drive to where the units are open for sage grouse hunting, even though I have lots of birds 10 minutes away which are closed to hunting, I got down and loaded my 12 Gauge side by side.
Since they are rather large birds I loaded it up with 70 grains of FF and 80 grains of #5's. I let Harley, my German Shorthair, down from the jeep and started beating the brush next to a spring where I have seen birds in the past. The plan was for my father-in-law to hit another spring down the road. Harley and I worked the Hill for over an hour with No birds.
Upon returning to the Jeep we drove down to where there was another spring. I Unloaded Harley and immediately she went on point about 30 yards away!
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I pulled both hammers back and slowly eased foreword. For being such a large bird they can hide in the smallest brush. I thought she was pointing a chipmunk or something when the grass exploded and out flew a Large Sage Grouse! I swung on the massive bird and pulled the front trigger. The Hammer dropped and the 12 belched smoke! Through the cloud of smoke I saw the bird fold. It hit the ground and began to try and run.
Harley and I ran for the bird. Suddenly two more birds flew up! I raised the 12 and pulled the trigger. I tried to swing and Pull, but the gun was silent! Double triggers Dummy!! The large birds were out of range fast!!
I reached the bird and two more birds exploded from cover. This time my brain new to use the back trigger. but the birds flew over the Jeep, so the gun again stayed silent. Momma would not appreciate holes in the windshield, no matter the reason.
I tried to reload, but somehow I had lost the tip of my loading rod so I could not get the over shot cards to go down flat. With one barrel still good, we looked for the birds but they were gone.
I was hoping to have a bird to mount but the #5 did a number on the wing. So I guess Ill have to try again! Darn!!
My father-in-law got on some birds too. He smoked two so we had some meat for the pot. I had been told that Sage Grouse was not good eats, but on the contrary my wife and I thought it was quite delicious!
[/URL][/img]
The first season in Nevada that offered me any hunting opportunity was Sage Grouse! Blue grouse has been on since September 1st as well as Dove, but as you can see from the photos, there are no blue grouse or dove anywhere, so I waited for Sage grouse season to open.
After the 2.5 hour drive to where the units are open for sage grouse hunting, even though I have lots of birds 10 minutes away which are closed to hunting, I got down and loaded my 12 Gauge side by side.
Since they are rather large birds I loaded it up with 70 grains of FF and 80 grains of #5's. I let Harley, my German Shorthair, down from the jeep and started beating the brush next to a spring where I have seen birds in the past. The plan was for my father-in-law to hit another spring down the road. Harley and I worked the Hill for over an hour with No birds.
Upon returning to the Jeep we drove down to where there was another spring. I Unloaded Harley and immediately she went on point about 30 yards away!
I pulled both hammers back and slowly eased foreword. For being such a large bird they can hide in the smallest brush. I thought she was pointing a chipmunk or something when the grass exploded and out flew a Large Sage Grouse! I swung on the massive bird and pulled the front trigger. The Hammer dropped and the 12 belched smoke! Through the cloud of smoke I saw the bird fold. It hit the ground and began to try and run.
Harley and I ran for the bird. Suddenly two more birds flew up! I raised the 12 and pulled the trigger. I tried to swing and Pull, but the gun was silent! Double triggers Dummy!! The large birds were out of range fast!!
I reached the bird and two more birds exploded from cover. This time my brain new to use the back trigger. but the birds flew over the Jeep, so the gun again stayed silent. Momma would not appreciate holes in the windshield, no matter the reason.
I tried to reload, but somehow I had lost the tip of my loading rod so I could not get the over shot cards to go down flat. With one barrel still good, we looked for the birds but they were gone.
I was hoping to have a bird to mount but the #5 did a number on the wing. So I guess Ill have to try again! Darn!!
My father-in-law got on some birds too. He smoked two so we had some meat for the pot. I had been told that Sage Grouse was not good eats, but on the contrary my wife and I thought it was quite delicious!
