Yesterday, I came upon a 20-30 acre patch of doghair popple that was bordered with spruce and fir. Looked pretty perfect for grouse, so Gus and I serpentined our way in. It was almost entirely one handing the gun (6# cashmore) and pushing aside saplings with the other. I was thinking of this thread the whole time and how fun it would be to watch Stan with his 32" barrels fighting through this...
Anyway, we came out the other side with two grouse on two flushes and three shots. Had to use the poke and shoot twice on the first bird. Anyone that thinks he is going to "sustained lead" in a popple thicket, ain't been in a popple thicket.
But that big gun would sure be good for beating off those scary coyotes (and wolves!), so there is that.
My phone tells me I covered 39.1 miles of grouse country in the 3.5 days of hunting. I'm happy to have carried the 6# Cashmore while leaving the 7.25# Greener behind. A 5.5# sidelock 16 or 20 might be even nicer - if I can find one I like as much as that Cashmore.
