It's chicken shootin' time

[Sonny]

Yup bird season opened Sept.1st and I got out today for a couple of hours and then the rains came.

Did get two ruffies and seen a few more but it's hard to get a bead on them when they are flying in the thick stuff.

Oh yeah everyone around here calls grouse chickens. Don't matter if they are Ruffies,Spruce,Blue,Sharptail or Sage grouse.We also have some Ptarmigan but those buggers are way high on the mountainside and to much work for this old guy.
They closed the season on Sharptails and Sage grouse years ago because their numbers were way down low.That's ok my fav is Ruffies and my wife likes the darker Spruce hens.

And I shot them with a 113 year old Remington model 1900 16 gauge.

How cool is that.

[Junk Yard Dog]

[steelbuttplate]

Thunder chicken. Its hard to get a bead on them in a clearing Sonny much less in a thicket. Good shooting.

[Longcolt44]

I hate those birds. If they were on the upside of the hill and I went high those little feathered fu**kers would show up on the low side. Then If thy were low.....nevermind, you get the idea.

[entropy]

Nice shooting Sonny! A brace of grouse and a fine shotgun; classic pic.

[Sonny]

Went out this afternoon with an old 20 gauge and got three spruce hens.

Seen three others but they were to fast for me.

Also had Mr.bear come out for a visit.I only had my iPhone camera but you can still see him.

[Longcolt44]

I hope you had some high base slugs with you. That low base would just tickle him.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Oh shit! See, I knew there would be bears, hell with the shotgun, RPG is what's needed.

[SA1911a1]

Nothing to grouse about there.

[Sonny]

I hope you had some high base slugs with you. That low base would just tickle him.

All I had was 7.5 birdshot.

[Longcolt44]

Now that I think about it. You had a bear at your shooting range and now just down the road from you when hunting. YOU HAVE A FRIGGIN STALKER!!!

[Sonny]

Lots of bears around this year.Seen four since sept 1st.

A month ago we had one come into our neighbourhood only two streets over from our place.

F&W trapped him and sent him back to the woods away from town.

[Longcolt44]

Sissy, I have Mr Bear in my living room.

Mr. Bears bullets.jpg

[Sonny]

My Mr. Bear is on the wall.

[Longcolt44]

Northern CA at Lake Shasta in the late 80,s with my Winchester 30 30.

[Sonny]

Went out today and took my Remington 870 express 28 gauge.

Got two ruffies and one spruce hen.Yes we eat the gizzards too.

On a sad note I had one get away from me and I hate when that happens.
I shot a couple of tail feathers off of him and missed with my second shot and he just kept on flying away.I'm not sure how bad he was hit but I'm thinking a coyote or lynx is going to have a free meal.

[Longcolt44]

Beats the hell out of going to the grocery store. Tripping over the kids that are running wild an shopping carts that catch you in the ankle ain't no fun. Chicken shootin' is relaxing even if you miss one or two in the process. Gizzards are good, so are livers.

[Sonny]

Went out this evening and did great.Shot my limit of 5 ruffies.

Seen about 4 others.

We were about 30 miles out from town hunting some old logging roads and on the way home we seen 15 deer.

That's great news.We had two brutal winters back to back in 2012 and 2013..The vast majority of deer died didn't survive due to the deep snow.

So I'm happy to see them make a comeback.

Seen 2 doe mule deer and the rest were doe whitetails except for 1 forkhorn buck.

[Sonny]

Went out this afternoon with a little .410 Mossberg 500 and shot four ruffies.I have to tell you tho that a little .410 is at best a 20-25 yard gun.After that the pattern just gets to thin to be effective anymore.Yes I lost two others.

I"ll give these to my brother inlaw.He likes eating them but is unable to hunt anymore due to health issues.

He'll be happy with these.

[Ironnewt]

Looks like a good time was had.