Well Field Marshall and I headed out again yesterday morning to try our luck again at some ditch chickens. We did fairly good for the first part of the day. Surprisingly all birds where shot off the mainlines and none where seen on the spurs and we covered a lot and I mean lot of spurs.
The first bird for Marshall to retrieve was a blue grouse, surprisingly it was in low elevation and the only blue we got that day. He had a friend with him but we couldn't coax him out.
We then came across another single ruffie, and Marshall again made the retrieve.
We then came around a corner where 3 grouse where in a huddle and broke before we got a chance at them on the road. We pushed one bird that I missed on the first shot and it landed on a branch out in front of me. He didn't evade the second shot. Well here is where we came into a situation. The bird fell and the dog ran into the bushes towards it then I heard rocks rolling and crashing to the bottom of a a ravine where there was a small creek running. I peered down the side and slid my way down to where the bird was sitting in the tree but still couldn't see where the grouse had landed. Marshall a little more steady on all four scurried down to the waters edge and eventually found the bird. It's amazing the incline a dog can climb down and up. It had to be a good 75 degree angle and a good 50 yards down. I was a bit nervous as he went down as once in a while he'd push a rock or two over the edge. I was a bit nervous that he wouldn't be able to get back up but he scaled the side with the bird in his chops and came up faster then he went down. A sigh of relief and a pat on the head for getting the bird.
The next bird we came across was a statue not 25 yards in front of the truck. He just stood there with his neck stuck out making it easier to keep the pellets out of the body. This was a young chick and soon as we moved maybe 10 yards we noticed two more running the ditch and we managed to get one of the two.
That's where I made the mistake of making the comment that if things keep going like they have we'll have our limit in no time. It was 10:30am and that was the last grouse we saw all day.
We covered a lot of spurs but no birds to be seen. We saw a small fawn around 4:00pm and then nothing until around 7:30pm when we went high to try and catch some sun to take a picture . Well sure enough Field Marshall spots a fork buck at the top of the slash we were in. Only problem is all I had was a 30-30 in the truck and we figure the deer was 275 yards away so no shots where fired. Still nice to see a legal animal.
Here is the picture of our success.
Marshall is really catching on to the grouse game, he's really starting to use his nose and knows when birds have been around and roots them out.
We had the camera on a timer and tried to get Marshall to sit for the picture but this is the farthest he got, this was the better of the 3 we managed to snap off.
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Yep, Marshall is really comming in to his own. He looks in real good shape, and on the ball. He looks a lot like the first dog in my life, Rusty - about a 110 lb Chessy. ..
Originally Posted by Salty
The dog looks chunky because he's in a half sitting position.
