Grouse Hunting is Hard Work...

I learned that sage grouse hunting is a lot of hard work. You walk and walk and walk. The birds get spooked. You have to watch where they land. Then you walk some more. It is uneven territory and nothing I have ever seen before. It is dry and it is hot. We worked three abreast. Dad to the left, Mom to the right and me in the middle taking point. I will be honest...I didn't know what I was doing out there. Dad said that even Oliver, TGH didn't know what he was doing the first time but was curious for sure.

I think I was really tired from the night before. There were owl sounds. There were bird sounds. There was a pack of young coyotes that travelled the entire valley we were camped in all night long. They called to each other all night long. Something came into our camp in the middle of the night. I was curled up against Mom. I growled deep in my chest. She could hear what I heard. She just layed her hand on my side and whispered, "ssshhh." There were shot guns in the tent just in case a mountain kitty decided to come say "hi!" I didn't know this, but Mom did.

Dad said I was being a typical poodle because I would not go to the bathroom in a new environment. I guess that Mom and Dad were waiting for me to explode. Dad said that with all the walking we were going to do I wouldn't be able to hang onto "it" for too long. Without painting a graphic picture he was right.

When Dad shot his birds Mom and I worked together finding them. Mom technically found them before I did and I wanted to eat the feathers..Dad kept telling me to quit that, but I don't know, it was kind of fun!

On the way back to the truck, which was a long, long, long way away Mom and Dad decided to make their way down into a canyon to avoid a barbed wire fence. Mom told Dad she didn't think it dropped off but went across the canyon too. It did, but it was much easier to get under. There were even spots that had "hunter holes" (that is where the wire has been cut but "wired" back together so that all you have to do is unhook the wire and crawl through), but it still was barbed wire that you had to be careful of. We were on BLM land, but it is still fenced and cross fenced. We had a game cop watching us for a bit across the canyon. You don't have anything to worry about unless you are doing something wrong or outside the regs Dad said. I don't think I can get arrested for licking sage grouse or eating feathers...can I??

Anyway, I got under the barbed wire, with Mom's coaching, and looked down. Waaaay down. I plopped my butt on a rock and watched Mom and Dad move down the canyon. Mom looked back to see where I was. I was still at the top sitting on my rock. I did not want to go down the way they were going. It looked scary. Mom said to me, "Hughie, you are going to have to come down this way it is quicker." Still I sat. Mom and Dad called at the same time, "Come on Hugh!" I reluctantly gave up my perch and followed Mom down. Where she put her feet I put mine. Whew! We made it down. I then took over the lead because we were back on familiar ground and I knew the way back.

It was a good couple of days in the desert. I had all kinds of stories to tell my sister. Dad said I was very calm during the hunt and I followed Mom's instructions to the "t." He said that my spotting and retrieve will improve, but it will take getting "birds under my belt."

Ahhhh, I like the Oregon desert.....

I Am Hugh