Forest grouse hunt 2012

This year we didn't get any tags for the deer hunt. We tried to take the cheap route and get the leftovers when they became available in June. But on the appointed day and time there were none available for our region. So we decided to try our hand at the grouse hunt again. I'm thinking the grouse hunt will be our annual hunting/camping trip to Temple Flat from now on and if we get a deer tag then it will just be a bonus.

Kyla & Grandpa

Camping was fun as always. There is just something survivalistic (that may not be a real word) about going up into the woodsen and staying alive for the whole night. With the addition of kids it becomes a bigger adrenaline rush to keep everyone warm, fed, and breathing all night long. Plus there is nothing like acting homeless for the night!

Me & Dad went bird hunting in the morn and boy we found em! I have never got more than 2 grouse in a single hunting excursion but this time we both limited out - 4 birds each. We saw three birds on the road side when we first pulled up to elk springs. I made an attempt to be a sportsman (give them a chance to fly) but they just acted like rabbits and decided to make a run for it. Not very smart birds. Which is why we killed them all. Then we walked through the woods next to the road for a bit and a bird flew down out of  a tree right next to us. He suffered the same fate as the first ones. We sat there thinking how weird it was that birds were everywhere and walked around some more. Little did we know there was another grouse in the tree above us. He must have been freaking out after seeing his buddies go to little birdie heaven in quick fashion. We walked right under him (right in the poo-bomb zone) while he was obviously asking himself the question "Self, do I poop on them or fly? poop or fly? POOP or fly? POOP OR FLY!?". At this moment of birdie brain chaos I spotted him and helped him fly to the ground from a small dose of lead poisoning. We ended up getting 3 more fatty blue grouse to finish by 8:30AM. Gotta be a world record time.

Dad looking up at the branch where the grouse hid

When we got back to the camp we found all the women (Sara, Grandma, Molly, and Kyla) all huddle up in the trailer trying to survive a bee attack. The bees were losing their minds! Nobody got stung, but any food product (especially meat) would make the bees act like freaky flies. We were so glad to have the trailer for refuge. Me & Molly  also learned how much fun it is to not have a ceiling. You can chuck kids so much higher when there is no ceiling.

Back at the house we did some more 4 wheeling on the ATVs where I took Sara on this crazy road off to the side of Mill canyon. I'm not sure it is actually a 4 wheeler trail but we used it anyway. We went probably half a mile on the trail until it the road turned into a chipmunk trail. I thought we were going to have to back up the whole road but somehow we managed to turn around and get out of there. In the process Sara established herself as a true 4 wheelin fool. She didn't freak out, wreck, or barf. All good things.

Sara got in on the hunting action too!

PS It took me 4 tries to get blogger to save this post. Adding pictures to a post in firefox is super easy (drag & drop) but it kept dying. Internet Explorer - are you joking? Only google chrome worked (no drag and drop though).