At seemingly the last minute, I had a project postpone. Instead of riding a drilling rig, I will be on Lake Gaston, piloting a pontoon boat for the family for a few days next week. That will be fine for a day or two, but after that I'll be looking for other entertainments. I can go back to Mid-South Guns to see if they've added anything interesting, or I can travel to the western part of the state and explore that region. "The Last of the Mohicans" was filmed in an obscure State Park there and it looked very intriguing to me. Anybody here know what I'll find when I get there?

Chimney Rock Park is the location I'll be attempting to visit.

There are numerous filming locations for Last of the Mohicans in NC. Check https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104691/locations?ref_=tt_dt_loc for all of them.

Bruce

I just learned something here. I'd always figured Mohicans was filmed in the Northeast. I should've known it was North Carolina because the Blue Ridge has always reminded me of what Heaven must be like...Geo

If you hear any drumming out near chimney (grouse type) please share

If you hear any drumming out near chimney (grouse type) please share

Lived in Currituck for quite a few years when I was stationed in the Tidewater Area. Lake Gaston would not be my first choice to be this time of year. Then again on your way to WNC could you stop by Wake Forest and wish my mother who lives near my youngest sister there a Happy 84th Birthday for me please?

Did my twilight tour from the Navy in Asheville, lived in Arden and covered WNC. Then spent ~5 years working for a VAR after I retired. When they filmed The last of the Mohicans a lot of adds went out looking for film extras. Hard pass on that for me.

Not much in Chimney Rock, did do a golf course there with a friend a long time ago. We walked it and management was surprised and said most people use a cart. I was a LOT younger and it was a lot of up and down, did wish had a cart from what I recall. Never really cared for golf anyhow and would rather shoot golf balls by rolling them down the rib and flipping them in the air and shooting them. I can slice a golf ball as well with a shotgun as I can with a club.

Biltmore Estate seems to be the destination place everyone wants to go in WNC. Never went but everytime family came to visit they all went it was right up the road from me. $25 to visit always said if you gave me $25 a pop I'd have the largest home in the US also. I see they are up to $76 a whack now. You've got to be kidding me...

They have a sporting clays course there too but it is private from what I understand. And am sure way overpriced.

If it was me I'd keep on going West a bit and go to Cradle of Forestry in Pisgah. And up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Then again if it was me I'd skip all that and just hit the Davidson River with the fly rod. But guess now every Tom, Dick and Harry fishes it.

Wouldn't bother with Chimney Rock so much. And for that matter Asheville always was the hippy capital of the East. From what a friend said that called last week that still lives there it is even worse now. There is always a Pagans, Heathens, and witches meet up going on someplace in Asheville. Just for a reference. He grew up there and is ready to move to Eastern Tn.


Pretty sure I shot the last ruff in WNC more than 20 years ago In Transylvania County. So I moved to Mn....

There is something special about Southern Appalachian grouse, as rare as they are. And not just because most of them seem to be red phase. Good luck to you in your search for them!

I hope you're not serious. https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/ruffed-grouse

Did you kill it after this publication was released in 2019?

stan, wishin hit were true...but, sadly, cept for northern maine, grouse huntin east of michigan, is a thing of the past...

Well your a pretty smart man and didn't expect that one from you LOL. Then again those of us that hunt ruff especially in the East where thickets draw more blood from you than they do the bird when you finally flush one and shoot it are few and far inbetween anymore. Most of us understand each other. And our sick twisted humor :-) Think along the lines of Band of Brothers.

The friend that called me last week I hadn't talked to in 25 years. But we picked up where left off 25 years ago, as if it was yesterday. He hunted me down to let me know that a fellow shipmate, brother, passed away at the age of 57. Calvin was the engineman on a special boat unit and a teammate. We talked for more than an hour and a half. I normally have a hard time talking to anyone on the phone for more than 5 minutes.

We had hunted the ridges around Leicester where he grew up and actually shot a number of grouse back then, quite a few. Most sliding down the slope on your back with a poke and a hope through the Rhododendron. During our conversation I asked him how the grouse hunting was back there and he said he hadn't hunted it since I hunted it with him. Said there are houses on all those ridge tops now and no birds. Grouse are a lot like me. They don't care much for people. And habitat is shrinking fast.

They need new growth, much the same as deer, to survive. But also canopy cover for protection from birds of prey. Tree huggers have really interfered with the new growth part. Not much for bumper stickers but I do have one on the Taco in addition to the United States Navy Retired sticker.



Back to regular scheduled programming there are no grouse in Mn. either! They are all in Wisconsin where they are so numerous that they impale themselves on the antenna of your truck as you drive the roads to go hunting. Nope. No birds here....

Yeah, and someone thinks they probably killed the last wild quail east of the Mississippi River, too. But, there are still a few diehards that hunt them. They know there's not a lot like there used to be. But, they also know they didn't kill the last one.

Oh, and you're full of crap about no grouse east of Michigan. Last time I checked Pennsylvania is still east of Michigan, and I have a friend there who hunts grouse successfully every year ............ without a dog! You're evidently another one of those old farts who had rather beech and moan about "how things used to be" than get off your butt and enjoy yourself with what is there.

Do me a favor. Type your crap to someone else besides me.

Didn't understand your tongue in cheek comment, I guess. Thanks for the reply. And, btw, thanks for your service in the USN, too. I appreciate it.

Probably hard getting tickets but maybe check oot a hockey game in Raleigh.


Plenty-o turkeys, ed.


____________________________
Fookin’ Canadiens scored shorthanded.
Death to Mon…l.

turkeys everywhere...even on this fine forum...

Remember that old saying, ed…

When life gives you turkeys, make meatballs.

A timely recipe from today’s Walleye Journal.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/turkey...5bq920&reflink=article_copyURL_share


___________________________
As Stan would say…

Pennsylvania bird numbers are clearly down, but if I still lived there I'd be chasing them. Looks like I'll be checking out the trout streams in the westen end of the state. I'll be a nice break from the crowd at the reunion I'll be attending.

[Yeah, and someone thinks they probably killed the last wild quail east of the Mississippi River, too. But, there are still a few diehards that hunt them. They know there's not a lot like there used to be. But, they also know they didn't kill the last one.] Stan

I still hunt wild birds although I've sworn off kick-em-ups and crowd shooting. Five in the freezer is a good year for me. I usually reinforce my belief that they are there by trading "bob white" calls with them during Spring turkey season. This Spring the countryside was silent. We'll see...Geo

to quote rush limbaugh...

"i'm the mayor of realville"...

plus, i"m 78, with arthritic knees an shoulders...cant do hit no mo, any hows...

NC is not MN for grouse, but if you try you'll find some. The last two years I've done reasonably well on wild quail in SC. Will I cancel my trips to MN and KS, uh, no, but...

now dis is kinda cool...

https://www.centredaily.com/news/nation-world/national/article251689818.html

As someone who has been to Argentina and shot "high volume" dove twice, and have the third trip planned, but who shoots a few dove locally at every opportunity ..................... I completely understand.

There's a lot to said for just getting out there Stan!

Ed, there is the reason that commercial kick and shoot grouse hunting does not exist. They turn into chickens quickly! Many people in MN have had a "pet" grouse hanging around, albeit briefly, chicken hmmm.