Region 2 3x3 down with a bow... 3 hour stalk!

[Mosin]

Congratulations Caddisguy, that is an amazing feat to accomplish, especially in region 2. Right on!!!

[Salty]

Thanks Salty! Everything aligned somehow. I should buy a lotto ticket.

caddisgirl says hello! And we are wishing you a great season.

We'll be trying to stalk deer with a camera (freezers are all stuffed with bear and deer) and giving the birds a little heck.

I'm excited about the season. Fall is such a beauty time to be out there. I might just go look for my arrow this weekend (broadhead must have snagged and pulled out the arrow out) and maybe hang another camera. I haven't seen too many birds around there so far this season but might poke around a bit too.

Thanks! I'm starting to get a little worked up too and your thread here is helping with that Doesn't feel quite right yet so crazy dry, 30 degrees many days but the night time recovery is really kicking in nice and cool in the mornings and quite a bit of dew. Going to head out for a couple days Friday me thinks..

Birds.... WTH man, I've seen like 6 or 8 grouse all summer and Ive been camping a lot and walking quite a bit all over the place and all elevations. I'm pretty sure there's good numbers around there's tons of feed just about everywhere with all the early rain this year. Berries up the kazoo, seed crops galore. A grouse could probably make a living in 100 square feet this year. lol. Which with the heat why wouldn't they as long as they have water. I think once the fall rains come they'll be out in the open a lot more during sunny breaks in the mornings and evenings as per normal. Here's hoping. You guys have a most excellent rest of the season!

[Jack Russell]

Is the cold and wet spring a culprit for low grouse numbers this year, speaking specifically to chick survival?

[Mark-R]

Nice work CG, the part where you bed down was awesome.
I've done the scratching but will have to give this a try lol.
What a great way to cap it off with a wonderful meal.
Congrats.

[caddisguy]

Nice work CG, the part where you bed down was awesome.
I've done the scratching but will have to give this a try lol.
What a great way to cap it off with a wonderful meal.
Congrats.

In hind sight I wonder if that the scratching also helped when it came time to draw the bow. I was using the same motion to exaggerate scratching.

I felt like the bedding down part was a huge gamble. She seemed calm enough at that point I had hopes I could get away with it. However, getting down low is also a predatory move so it could have gone either way. Decided to split to difference, bed down but still be slightly obvious. The goal was to keep a low profile in case one of the bucks walked up. Turned out he was on the hill the whole time though.

[Salty]

Is the cold and wet spring a culprit for low grouse numbers this year, speaking specifically to chick survival?

Sure could be I hope not. My dog jumped a hen off her nest 3 or 4 weeks ago that's got to be a second brood. Hopefully she and her friends had at least a partially successful spring hatch too. Its hard to tell in this heat imo we'll know more soon.

[weatherby_man]

Excellent read and way to go getting the jump on a lot of us, tasty!