Gearing Up for Grouse Hunting

So grouse hunting starts in a week here in Washington State. This is the first day of serious hunting for me and my family. The family and I decided to take a drive around the main road in our hunting area to see if we could find anything.

We start off just before dusk, I mentally gave us enough time to get home just before dark. Of course everything goes out the window when you have a baby, and of course I did not factor in feeding time for Elsa.

We get back on the road and start seeing some rabbits.  We get through some more of the popular grouse area's without seeing anything. When we get to the paved Forrest Service road where we normally would take a left to hunt, we took a right to take us back to the main road which will take us home.

At this point my wife starts telling me how she doesn't know where we are. I told her we never come this way because there is no grouse on this part of the road.  Just as I said that we saw four Ruffed Grouse on the  side of the road next to a small stand of aspen.  My wife chimed in well I guess we will be coming this way this year.

The rest of the drive home we just saw a bunch of rabbits, more than we normally see and 4 whitetail deer(No Bucks). My prediction for this year is that it will be a good grouse season in North Central Washington. I think the spring rain held off long enough for the chicks to get big enough to withstand a heavy rain. We then had some early summer rain which would of let the berries and other food for the grouse come in nicely. Only time will tell.