doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Back to North Carolina

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....