blue grouse in full strut

[high country]

I posted this in the upland section but figured the photo crowd might enjoy it too, not too often do I see a grouse in full strut. Second is a king sized ruffed from a recent scouting trip taken with my pistol.

[Antlershed]

Awesome picture of the one in full strut. Never seen that before.

[boneaddict]

These aren't in the photo contest because.........great shots!

[Idabooner]

For those that haven't seen them, it's fun to watch them TRAIN the hens in the spring.  We call them hooters, they make a run at the hen, of course she runs, they hoot and stop, after strutting a little they make another run-hoot-and stop. After a couple days the hen is getting it figured out, that when he hoots he will stop, by this time she will let him get fairly close.  Guess what?  This time he hooted,she stopped and he didn't, and that's why we have baby grouses.

[high country]

apparently I am ignorant of the photo contest? I guess I will have to do a bit of investigating.

[billythekidrock]

Great pictures..

Have you tried using any software to clean up the photos? I am not talking about "pixel nudging" or adding sunsets, but rather restoring the color that the camera doesn't capture properly and clearing up the "cloud" for a clearer photo.
Almost every digital image can use some cleaning via "instant" fix of some sort. Most software packages have this ability.
I ran this one through the "instant fix" in Photoshop as an example. Notice the difference.

[high country]

I did not. it was thick as pea soup whe I took the shots. I appreciate the work. I will at some point get around to cleaning them up.....just not during hunt/harvest/firewood season.

[Antlershed]

Hey Billy, how do you go about doing that in PS?

[billythekidrock]

In PS 7, once I have the photo oriented and cropped how I want it..
Click "Image" "Adjustments" "Auto Levels"
Then depending on the needs of the image I continue in "Adjustments" with "Auto Contrast" and sometimes I follow that with "Auto Color".
Then if you need more power you can go "Adjustments" "Curves" and make more adjustments there.

[BlackTail]

Those are some awesome grouse pics!!  Thanks for sharing.