we were still hunting our way through a really nice patch of reprod on Saturday. I had an arrow nocked and was ready for a close range shot on a deer any minute. we had jumped a few up to this point. all of a sudden a grouse hops up on a stump at about 15 yards. I thought to myself I should switch to my grouse arrow. However, he was looking right at us and started to twitch like he was gonna fly off. So I drew back and pin wheeled him! The arrow went through and through just below the breast. feathers went everywhere and we saw him fly off to the side. while I was looking for my $25 arrow (Easton FMJ with a Muzzy MX3 broadhead)450 grains of fury!, my buddy went and found the grouse. It had burried itself up to its neck in some bushes. luckily he found him and was able to ring his neck. I didn't find the arrow. Note to self...bring two cheap arrows with blunt tips for grouse when you deer hunt.
The best part about sticking this grouse is that it was my first bow kill and the first game animal I've killed since I started hunting this year!
A big thanks to my buddy for putting me on some animals yesterday and for showing me how to breast out a grouse. It was delicious!
The beast is dead!
Today wasn't a bad day either. I went back into Winston to see about finding an elk and or deer. I went back to one of my spots from last week. I walked to the corner of a marshy clear cut. When i was about 50 yards from the timber stand I saw two does (might have been yearlings) just a few yards into the timber. They were jumping around together. I nocked an arrow and clipped on my release. one of them looked at me but then just went back to messing around with the other deer. The ferns were too high in there for me to get a good enough visual to make the shot. I watched them move down a trail and I made a move and got into the timber. This place was a hell hole. it was a swampy, fern jungle, alder stand. any shot I would get in there would happen fast and would be 20 yards or less. I still hunted my way through at a snails pace and bumped a large doe. she crashed through the ferns and I didn't see her again. even though I didn't get a shot it was really nice to actually see deer while deer hunting. haha. I didn't see any elk. Just a bunch of sign.
