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Thread: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

  1. #1
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    Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    Bit of a blooper weekend. Figured I'd share it and open myself up to some jabs LOL

    Definitely not the funniest bloopers, but the most fresh for sure.

    I drove out after work on Thursday. Woke up Friday morning first light and hear a thump.

    I look outside and there's 3 grouse messing around.

    My shotgun is in the case, tucked away under some other gear. I wasn't planning on bird hunting until the drive out the next day.

    Sooo, I sip my red bull a bit watching these grouse contemplating on whether or not to bother. On one hand I figure all the hassle getting the shotgun out, they'll probably be gone anyway... and do I want to be blasting a shot gun around first light before I head into my blind? On the other hand, I wasn't sure I brought enough food for the trip, so this kinda of seems meant to be. I mean how often does this actually happen in Region 2?

    I manage to get at the shotgun case, take the shotgun out, find the trigger lock key in my pack, a couple shells in the center console. Looks like I'm all set. One of the birds seems onto me now. I open door, get out of the jeep, pop a shell in the chamber and one in the tube... clack-clack... grouse is already doing the "tall skinny stance" so I figure time is a factor. Line it up, BOOOM.... grouse pauses a second or two and flies away. I jack another one in as the second grouse flies... third one still sitting there.... BOOOM... grouse flies away. Seriously? I just missed two still targets with a 12 gauge / modified choke at just under 20 yards... probably scared every deer in the area away and nothing to show for it.

    I pack up the shotgun, grab the rifle and start hiking to my blind. On the way out of camp I notice a bunch of TP right on the deactivated trail and think of the poop thread. Next time walking through the neck high vegetation feeling defeated. Obviously I'm not going to see anything, then HUFF, thump thump... this WT doe is huffing at me, running around making a scene and getting all cranky with me. I'm waiting for her to move along so I can get by with out further commotion.

    Well this is an odd chain of events. Can't get any weirder right? I pop out one of the SD cards from my cam (got a couple cams right by the blind) and what do you know, there's a 1.5 year old antlerless buck laying the pipe in a doe from a few hours earlier right up close in front of the cam. Starting to think these deer are just messing with me.

    I thumb through the rest of the vids and start losing all hope for this "blacktail" spot. A young WT doe, a WT doe with twins, another WT doe with triplets, a blacktail doe with twins, and a BT/muley hybrid looking two with twins. No bucks since middle of August (up until then there a couple 5x5's, a couple 4x4's, 4x3, couple forkies and a spike) ... all long gone now it seems.


    Should be a nice and quiet in the valley bottom though... maybe there will be something moving. The serenity was short lived. Turns out they are working up the mountain on one side of the valley... bunch of heavy equipment and blasting. Then some trigger happy folks show up on the other side of the valley... must have heard a few hundred rounds from at least a half dozen different guns in a couple hours. I guess they really like to shoot LOL. I try to cling onto hope... maybe all the commotion around me will push something my way. I'd be happy just filming a doe from the blind at this point, coming to terms with the fact I can't find a buck in this region if my life depended on it.

    I sit in the blind as long as I can bear (not sure how I feel about this style of hunting.... I get pretty bored and enthusiasm gets low) thinking about those stupid grouse. How does someone miss grouse at less than 20 yards with a 12 gauge? I'll admit it's not the first time but this one definitely got to me the most.
    Last edited by caddisguy; 09-22-2019 at 04:14 PM.

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  3. #2
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    Re: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    Don’t worry, last year I took 5 shots at a grouse at 10 yards before the cooey jammed. Had to smack the bolt open with a hammer. Then I took 3 more shots at it before it flew away. Yes, 8 shots at one bird. I think the sound of my hunting partner falling out of the truck laughing finally scared it away.

  4. #3
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    Re: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    Quote Originally Posted by Fella View Post
    Don’t worry, last year I took 5 shots at a grouse at 10 yards before the cooey jammed. Had to smack the bolt open with a hammer. Then I took 3 more shots at it before it flew away. Yes, 8 shots at one bird. I think the sound of my hunting partner falling out of the truck laughing finally scared it away.
    LOL well I am glad it is not just me.

    Last year I had a similar incident. I drove by a grouse and stopped about 20 yards away. I grabbed a couple shells, got out the jeep... looked at the grouse and it actually looked like it was sleeping. I had all the time in the world... no pressure at all so I took my time. BOOM... nothing. BOOM nothing. I walked back to the jeep, grabbed another couple shells. BOOM okay that must have been two close for comfort. The grouse flew off to a tree on the side of the road. BOOM, then it flies away into the next time zone.

    That one didn't string quite as bad, as I'd already bagged a couple off the ground, one out of a tree and winged another one of them, so I was able to write off the misses as "there must be a bird shaped gap in my shot pattern with those shells" or that bird had some kevlar under those feathers.

  5. #4
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    Dec 2016
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    Re: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    Those things sure can be frustrating, my son just got his youth license and we went out Saturday to try and bag him his first grouse...managed to flush 5 in total but he never got to draw back once, sometimes they just flush into a tree 5ft away, other times its into the next time zone. He spent his first grouse hunt experiencing a whole lot of the latter, you win some you lose some though right?
    "You can learn more about hunting with a bow in a week than you could in a lifetime of gun hunting" - Fred Bear

  6. #5
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    Re: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    Sometimes just sometimes yu wander if bullet factory is not putting any pellets on shotty shell..?

  7. #6
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    Oct 2014
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    Re: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    Spent ten days in the alpine hunting recently. My tent was tucked away at the tree line and one morning when the sun finally came out, I literally had upwards of 8-10 grouse right around my tent. I actually haven’t seen that many together before. The grouse made it known I had put my tent in their house and continued to scare the crap out of me every time I returned to camp until the rain returned. I only had my 30-06 on me so they all got to live but when I left, I even had grouse shit on my tent fly. They won that round

  8. #7
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    Re: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    In my late teens, hunting with my dad we drove up a fsr and found a grouse sleeping in the middle of the road. I get out with the 410 and fumble around with shells long enough for the grouse to wake up and fly away. Oh well back into the truck and up the road a few hundred yards and shot my first buck. So my muck up actually turned out for the best lol

  9. #8
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    Sep 2019
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    Re: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    Great stories thanks for the laugh lol

  10. #9
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    Aug 2009
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    Re: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    I missed one with the .22 at about 8 feet the other weekend. Ultra close range, gotta account for the distance between the reticle and the muzzle!
    The only thing I like as much as trucks, is guns.

  11. #10
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    Dec 2010
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    Re: Bad day hunting better than a good day working?

    Quote Originally Posted by finngun View Post
    Sometimes just sometimes yu wander if bullet factory is not putting any pellets on shotty shell..?
    or gravity is not working for the birds.

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