It's late September again (I can't believe it's here already) and that means sage grouse hunting.
This year I was excited that all of my boys would be home for this. I don't think I've ever had all the boys together for this before. Yes, we miss my daughter who isn't here but it was a great time. We had a cross country meet and a swim meet on opening day so I yanked them out of school and we all went out for our own opener yesterday. We had 10 tags, 2 dogs and 5 hunters with miles and miles of habitat to cover. I had been monitoring the birds for about a month and it had been hot and dry so I knew they were near the creeks. Of course last week it rained for 3 days and there was water everywhere so they were more spread out, but that's what boot leather is for.
I took my old dog with us even though he's not much help but the youngster really stepped up and did great.
An early departure and arrival:
It was a chilly 39 degrees but we were sweating in no time.
This was such a cool moment, one of my boys (in blue) had missed a few and was really down on himself. We had a "self talk", talk and kept on going, then a few minutes later he hit a double and two of his brothers finished their limits all in one bunch. Confidence was restored.
A well deserved rest (11 miles)
And....................dinner of sage grouse.