Opening Day ~ Grouse Galore in Montana!

Photo By: Karen Thomason

Steve, Dan & Michael with "Happy" and 6 Grouse before 11:00 a.m.

We hit Platt's farm at 8:30 this morning and it took awhile to find a covey. Finally, "Happy" found a bunch of Grouse and pointed, looking right at us. Birds went in every direction and I hit one. Steve fired on my left and downed another. A bird flushed Michael's way and he connected. Another blew out of a tree above me and I made a lucky shot. 4 shots, 4 birds down. What a way to start things off. We headed down to the creek bottom and "Gracie" got real birdy. Steve moved in . Birds went up, shots were fired and birds came down! Steve got another bird and Mike got a shot off but missed. More flushed and Steve got his third grouse to finish his limit. Way to go Steve! 3 up and 3 down, is really good shooting! Steve is shooting a brand new Franchi 20 ga. S x S . A perfect Grouse gun. (Obviously) It got really hot by 11:00 so we headed in for lunch. Flush count was 17 with 6 shot. Best morning in many years. It was 88 degrees at noon so we napped away the afternoon and headed up the creek at 5:00 p.m. . It was still 88 degrees but we did find a covey and I got my 3rd bird and Michael got his 2nd. Total count for the day; 28 flushed and 8 in the bag! Steve and I both went 3 for 3 which is pretty darn good. Michael hit 2 in 4 shots which is darn good too. I'm patting us all on the back!! Thunder storm and rain right now. If it clears off by morning I expect cooler weather and much better scenting conditions. We are going on the north side of the river in the morning. I'm expecting another great day! DWT