Part three the hunting road trip with my Vizsla Dash Rip Rock. This part is mostly upland hunting Grouse. The entire photo essay starts here. http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5379960 It's a long one so I broke it up into separate pages.

Starting with Blue Grouse hunting. I typically look for closed logging roads at elevations I think I will find the birds. Blue Grouse start low and work to higher elevations as the season progresses. By hunting off the old roads I know I am not likely to bother the bowhunters if there are no vehicles parked at the gate and I can cover a lot of ground by hiking the road working on and off of it as I go. First Road, no birds, but I saw dog and human tracks so I think someone had walked it just before me.



Dash is also a fur dog. Too bad Squirrels were not in season. He treed a few on this hunt.



Then the next road, and next road, no birds.





Finally by evening after moving to the top of a mountain at a much higher elevation than I expected to find birds, I found lots of them. They were off the road in thick dark timber. Many of the trees dead from beatle damage. I bet I had 30 flushes in a couple hours. Half the birds flushing from up in trees. I got some points out of Dash, but the birds were usually on bare ground deep within the thick trees Birds would flush pretty quick. Over half the birds I heard, but never saw. I shot a few trees as birds flew through them. It was quite fun and Dash did great considering the conditions. Without the tracking collar I would not have known where he was much of the time. It worked beautifully.







Next morning after a relaxing hike in the valley around the cabin, We loaded up and headed North to Routt National Forest near Steamboat Springs. Dash was crashed hard the entire drive.



At the next cabin I met up with Chris/iliketohunt and his Vizsla Blue and hit the mountain above to look for Blue Grouse. Being a travel day, we did not have much time, so no birds were taken.Though I did chase one through the woods in a running battle getting three opportunities to shoot it, I missed or hit a tree every time, so I almost scared it to death. I brought birds with me so we had Blue Grouse Jambalaya for dinner. Friday was a goof off day to scout for the Sage Grouse opener since it was only a two day season. We met up with a local biologist for some tips and went looking.

A Moose that surprised us.



Big Moose that is





Herd of Elk on the Illinois



We tried a little Snipe Hunting, but it was tough. Because it had been a wet summer the birds were really spread out and not concentrated on the public areas we had access to. With a lot of molting ducks around distracting the dogs, we had to give it up and move on.





The roads traveled looking for Sage Grouse areas got fun a couple times and we did get kinda lost once, but did not care. Traveling the top of a ridge. The view was amazing.





We did find some good areas for the opener and even found grouse. Chris may have some good pointing pictures of Blue from Friday. We had plan A, B, C, and D for Saturday and felt good about the next mornings hunt. It took a few miles of walking Saturday. It was hard on man and beast in that sage desert The birds seemed to be good at running and relocating as the dogs aproached, prairie dogs gave my fur and feather dog Dash a hard time to the point we had to scratch one area off our plan, but the dogs did not let us down.

Chris and I had split up with our dogs to cover more ground. At the end of a long push along a ridge top edge I was nearing the end when Dash went on point next to an old prairie dog mound and I did not see anything. I tried to send him on, but he wanted to stay. Apparently I should have trusted my dog. He relocated several yards forward and next thing I know I have a big mature male Sage Grouse in my face giving me a heart attack.





That big male was alone, but there was a single big triangle shaped strip of sage left where it met short grass that I was certain held grouse since it was at the end of my push. I saw Chris headed my way and had not heard him shoot that morning. I wanted to get my grouse in the cooler asap because I wanted to have it mounted, so I left that cover for Chris. When him and Blue got there, I turned to watch and it was not long till Blue got on point. It was a sight to see as he was on a large covey. Those giant Sage Grouse just kept rising and sailing into all directions. Chris overwhelmed had not connected on the covey rise. Dash and I got down and concentrated on the flying birds to try and see where some of the birds would land, but all sailed far far away. Dash did point on two runners that had come our way, which allowed me to pick up my 2nd bird. Then Blue found another bird in the original cover and Chris connected on that one.



It was time for Blue to take a break. So we moved to our plan B spot and let Chris hunt over Dash to look for his second bird. We came to the conclusion the area had already been covered that morning by other hunters, so we called it a day.





Chris had to cut his trip short so headed home the next morning. For me to hunt Sage Grouse again I would have had to send one of mine with Chris. The possession limit was two birds. Still I went back Sunday morning for some pictures and to try some more places looking for Snipe and Dove, but no birds found.

So I decided to hit the road to hunt a State Wildlife area SW of Steamboat to look for Mountain Sharptails that I had a special permit for.







And just as the day was almost over, Dash found them.





Monday morning we hit the road for Western Kansas and got there just in time to check in the State Park Cabin and pick up a few dove on a WIHA.



After a nice breakfast...



It was Prairie Chicken time. Several Quail pointed giving a few false hopes and unfortunately out of season of course. The only Prairie Grouse found was a big football of a grouse that caught me off guard and did not receive a shot. We relocated him but it was on the edge of private land and I was not able to take the shot when it flushed.





Part 4 continued on this page:
http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/5379969

Great shots.

You can see a look of contentment on Dash's face. Great pictures!

Good lord what a trip!

wow, love seeing your trip pics. I love seeing the dogs work and glad you were able to hook up with a fellow V owner.

Really good times!!

Awesome essay and pics.

Awesome photos of hunts and nature, thanks for sharing

Great pics!!!

very nice.

Great pictures and great story. Thanks for sharing.