Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures

Posted By: Sniper John

Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 09/25/08 11:54 AM

Every year I do about a two week road trip with the Vizsla in a different direction and without much plan. I would like to share some of it, but this trip was just too long to do a day to day like the last two years trips I posted about and half of my time was spent fly fishing anyway. So here is some of my Grouse hunting spread over two and a half weeks from near the New Mexico border to the Wyoming border.

Hunting Blue Grouse "Dusky Grouse".

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 12:00 PM

I was hunting Shartptail Grouse in the next pictures, but only found Blues.

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 12:09 PM

I hunted Sage Grouse in about three counties before I found them. Not really knowing what I was doing and often finding myself in a "sea of sage" it was overwhelming at first. There are few places left to hunt Sage Grouse which is the biggest Grouse species. They will likely be protected in the future so I felt fortunate to have hunted them on this trip.

Posted By: Crazyhorse

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 12:10 PM

Excellent pictures as usual.

I have seen lots of blue grouse when elk hunting, just never really tried hunting them however.

Did manage to shoot some sharptails and greater prairie chickens in the Nebraska Sandhills.

Beautiful birds in a somber way, but strange critters to hunt.

Many Thanks for sharing the pictures with us.

Posted By: stinkbelly

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 12:15 PM

John, as always great pictures. Your picture of Blaze in the aspens with the brown fern is perfect. I hope to see that one on the opening page for THF. Some day I want to hunt grouse, but when I go to Colorado in September I am always hunting elk.

Did you keep the elk antlers?

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 12:30 PM

Then Ptarmigan. Ptarmigan are found above timberline. I did get to hunt them on my last hunt which actually was a combination hunt for Blues, Bandtail Pigeon, then Ptarmigan as we gained in elevation. Unfortunately all we saw was one Bandtail and did hunt some Marmots on the way down, but wow was it spectacular to hunt with such a backdrop.

The dot in the middle of the picture below is Blaze. The camera is level, that is the actual grade.

Chad from a Colorado hunting forum. Though I was hunting with him through other circumstances, we found we had conversed on a hunting forum before. When he heard about a Texan with a red dog coming on the hunt, he knew who I was.

Mike from the Snipe Hunters Forum and my host for this hunt. Pointing out where the mountain goats roam I think.

Other pictures of the trip will be posted in appropriate forums. So though I did not take all four Colorado Grouse, I did get to hunt all four. Can't say I did not try.

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 12:44 PM

Quote:

Excellent pictures as usual.

I have seen lots of blue grouse when elk hunting, just never really tried hunting them however.

Did manage to shoot some sharptails and greater prairie chickens in the Nebraska Sandhills.

Beautiful birds in a somber way, but strange critters to hunt.

Many Thanks for sharing the pictures with us.

Randall,
I found Blue Grouse to be the best tasting game bird I have ever eaten. White meat and BETTER than chicken. I lived off the land as much as I could on this trip and if not eating trout, I was eating Grouse. And sometimes both.

Sage Grouse though was a dark meat. The meat smelled almost identical to duck to me. Though I used it in a jambalaya pasta along with some filleted Dove and Snipe breasts, and hot sliced Brats. Thus the taste was probably disguised, I found it tasty. I stayed at a restored 1920s built Forest Service Guard Station at one point of my trip, thus the stove.

Posted By: Crazyhorse

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 01:01 PM

I had always heard that the blue grouse was the best tasting of all the grouse species, and I also beleive it is the only grouse species with white meat.

The sharptails and greater prairie chicken to me were darker than duck and Lora tried fixing it a couple of ways and gave up on the stuff.

From what saw during the years I was going to Colorado on a fairly regular basis, I feel that your hunt for the sage hens will become a thing of the past with in the next 5 years or so.

I have only seen sage grouse two times, once out side of Craig and one time just east of Douglas Pass.

Sounds like and from the pictures, looks like you had an excellent adventure.

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 01:08 PM

Quote:

John, as always great pictures. Your picture of Blaze in the aspens with the brown fern is perfect. I hope to see that one on the opening page for THF. Some day I want to hunt grouse, but when I go to Colorado in September I am always hunting elk.

Did you keep the elk antlers?

Yes, of course on the skull. That picture in the ferns is special to me. When I arrived in Colorado, everything was green. When I left Colorado everything was in Fall Colors. It all changed before my eyes. That picture is from near the Wyoming border and not far from Liver Eating Johnson's original cabin site. When I was standing in that sea of ferns having just turned gold under the Aspens, golden aspen leaves raining around me, and the scattered splash of the most perfect green spruce trees i had ever seen, I had participted in a native american ceremony just before and had an awareness of my surroundings like never before. Kind of a mental high. Honest, and no drugs involved. I was invited into something "because I said the right words". Something I respectufully will not write/post about, nor did I photograph. It was a surreal morning like something out of a movie. I can tell you about it ftf sometime.

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 01:24 PM

Quote:

From what saw during the years I was going to Colorado on a fairly regular basis, I feel that your hunt for the sage hens will become a thing of the past with in the next 5 years or so.

Sounds like and from the pictures, looks like you had an excellent adventure.

Yes, I agree, it is why it was so important to me to hunt and hopfully get to take a Sage Grouse. It seems the habitat is disappearing and I did notice places sage had been burned or removed.

And in my conversations with someone concerning the native american past of the area it was interesting in that I learned there actually was less sage in that area back in the day. There was more grassland. When we came with the cattle grazing, the cattle changed the landscape a bit by overgrazing. Now we are taking the sage back away by manipulating the land for Cattle grazing.

Posted By: Bonehead

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 02:06 PM

I can't wait for the next forum GTG so we can hear all about your travels John. You may have to write a book soon the way you are going!

I'm envious of your travels and love to live vicariously through your pictures and stories!
Thanks for sharing your excellent adventures with us!

Posted By: Crazyhorse

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 02:48 PM

Quote:

When we came with the cattle grazing, the cattle changed the landscape a bit by overgrazing. Now we are taking the sage back away by manipulating the land for Cattle grazing.

Just like the mesquite in Texas.

One year on one of the places I hunted west of Meeker, Pieance Creek Basin area, there was a large sage burn done along a few of the draws on the ranch we were hunting.

Somewhwere in all my stuff I have pictures of the burn as it was in progress. That ranch was one of the two places where I actually saw sage grouse.

Anytime anyone can get the chance to look at pictures from almost anywhere west of the Mississippi, all the way to the Rocky Mountains, nearly everything from the Gulf Of Mexico all the way into Canada, was basically a sea of grass.

The only trees and brush were in those places that fire and Prairie dogs could not get into.

I found it interesting when Lora and I visited Yellowstone and Grand teton parks the difference between the picturwes taken in the 1880's and what the same areas look like today(2000).

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 10:27 PM

A couple parks of the National forest where I hunted did have a cattle and sheep grazing going on. It looked like it may have been a Ute Indian operation. They were tended by cowboys on horseback as well as several Kuvasz dogs.

Here is one roadblock I ran into. Note the white dog in the bottom right of picture. Can't tell in the picture, but they are very large dogs. That is a Kuvasz. Interesting to me in that both that breed and the breed of my dog are very old Hungarian breeds. The Kuvasz is a livestock guard dog.

Posted By: Crazyhorse

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 10:46 PM

Where the outfitter I hunt with lives in Collbran, is right below the road going up to Vega Resivoir.

Every year when I was still hunting Bull Elk during the regular seasons, I can remember the week before first season as when they would bring the cattle and sheep down out of Grand Mesa NF and they would trail them down to Collbran on that road above Pudge's house.

Traveling around up there during thwe couple of weeks before hunteing seasons started was always an adventure as you would constantly run into herds of stock being moved off the NF.

Those pictures really make me miss those days.

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 11:14 PM

Be sure and check out my Colorado Road Trip post in the Photo section. Some pictures that did not fit in other places. Rather than miss it, I hope it to bring back memories for you.

Posted By: Crazyhorse

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 09/25/08 11:23 PM

I found it and it does bring back many memeories, mostly good, because I have seen many of those same scenes, some of them when Lora was with me.

It also brings back some sad memories of friends that I shared some of those experiences with that have passed over the ridge.

Posted By: AAR

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 09/27/08 05:45 PM

Man John, I'm glad to hear you had such a great trip

Looks like you had a full and busy trip with lots of variety! I just got back myself, think we were up there at the same time for a little overlap I believe. That ptarmigan hunting is something isn't it

Eric

Posted By: JohnWester

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 09/27/08 08:00 PM

John absolutely great as always.

Posted By: chocolatelabs

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 09/28/08 11:53 PM

where are the trout pictures.

I was in upper michigan this past weekend fishing for salmon. The where some guys hunting grouse in the woods up there. Sure looked fun. The leaves in the woods were all turning. Need to hunt grouse sometime.

did you have any idea where to start or did you just start walking and hope for the best. how did you know where to even start?

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 09/30/08 03:52 AM

Quote:

Man John, I'm glad to hear you had such a great trip Looks like you had a full and busy trip with lots of variety! I just got back myself, think we were up there at the same time for a little overlap I believe. That ptarmigan hunting is something isn't it

Eric

Yes, I think so. I heard what sounded like shotguns across the park where I was hunting sharptail/dusky grouse north east of Craig near the Wyoming border. Would not be surprised if it was y'all. I ran into no other bird hunters while hunting.

Unfortunately we did not see any Ptarmigan, but it was something being up that high. Guenella Pass BTW was actually one of the areas I would have hunted if I had not got the invitation to hunt somewhere else. Would have been something if we ran into each other. I did run into a bowhunter from Texas that duck hunts on a lake I hunt. Anyway, yep, I got the full tour of Colorado sept bird hunting and fishing. Oh and thank you sir! I believe it was from a suggestion to me from you that I should run up and try hunting Sage grouse if I am going to be in Colorado hunting Blues anyway. It was definately worth the run up there.

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 09/30/08 04:18 AM

Quote:

where are the trout pictures.

In the off topic forum. I fished about half the time considering I have been fly fishing since I was 8 years old. That link.
Colorado Trout

Quote:

I was in upper michigan this past weekend fishing for salmon. The where some guys hunting grouse in the woods up there. Sure looked fun. The leaves in the woods were all turning. Need to hunt grouse sometime.

Yes, you do. And you see so much other wildlife in the woods. I scared up a calf Elk at one point and about a mile away I heard something. It was that calf confused and following us. About that time some elk ran down a trail just barely within my sight and the calf joined them. All kinds of things like that happened that I did not post about.

Quote:

did you have any idea where to start or did you just start walking and hope for the best. how did you know where to even start?

Mostly common sense from past hunting experiences. Yes, I do have times with a new experience like that where I think to myself that I must look like an idiot, probably in the wrong place and obviously not knowing what I am doing (looking for sage grouse in that sea of sage as far as I could see in every direction as an example). Just makes it that much more rewarding those times I figure where the game is or should be and everything comes together.

Remember my pheasant hunts from two years ago. My first three days where alone. I had never hunted pheasant before, and had quite the learning curve at first. But it all came together once I put the time in on the ground.

Next year I was thinking about a post Christmas Louisiana/Texas Loop. Woodcock to Chachalaca to Blue Quail with fur and waterfowl in between those stops. Though I have hunted woodcock and blue quail before there would still be enough learning curve again to make it challenging and fun I am sure.

Posted By: chocolatelabs

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 10/03/08 12:40 AM

Have you tried to hunt for lesser prairie chicken? there is a place in the NE panhandle that is supposed to have some. Never done it myself though.

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 10/03/08 04:02 AM

Quote:

Have you tried to hunt for lesser prairie chicken? there is a place in the NE panhandle that is supposed to have some. Never done it myself though.

Yes, my first big trip, that started this annual road trip idea, included Kansas and I had picked the dates so that it would include the Prairie Chicken opener. Though we bumped some up some while Pheasant hunting, once the PC opener hit, we found none. Even spent one evening on some bluffs glassing for a flight path to hit the next day. We saw only one PC flying that evening.

I would love to hunt PC in the TX panhandle, but all is on private land. Meaning you got to know the right people or have money to get access. One year I am going to try Nebraska for the "big" trip, so I should get another shot at the PCs another day.

Posted By: El Gringo (Gary)

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 10/08/08 11:35 AM

Great pics, reminded me how badly I wish I was back in the mountains of Idaho bowhunting elk.

Posted By: boonehatch

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 10/23/08 12:30 PM

Dude, insanely nice, lived up there for 12 years, I miss wide open public hunting that actually holds birds! Good stuff here!
boone

Posted By: mule skinner

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 10/23/08 02:11 PM

Great Photos. Enjoyed your Post.

Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 10/23/08 06:53 PM

Thank you,
Glad to see people are still pulling it up. It was one of my more enjoyable bird hunting trips. I torn and confused as to what direction to travel on next years bird hunting trip. I don't think I can easily top this one.

The full trip is now here.
http://www.texastradingpost.com/Hunting/20082009.htm

Posted By: Bonehead

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting - 10/23/08 07:29 PM

I see a book called "Adventures of a Snipe Hunter" in your future John! You are truly blessed with your travels and with the way you tell us the stories both in print and through your awesome photos! You are living the life my friend!!
I can't wait to hear some more at the next THF GTG.

Posted By: boonehatch

Re: Colorado Grouse Hunting trip report with pictures - 10/23/08 07:48 PM

I know I already replied, but I looked further down the post at the other pics...wow...nice work!
boone