We certainly had an abbreviated hunting season, being completely occupied with puppies for most of the late fall and early winter. To cap off the final days of Washington’s upland hunting season, we headed over the mountains and spent a week in the southeast corner of the state. Despite cold weather and being terribly out of form for late season hunting, we made the most of the opportunity end the season with some birds in the bag!

Feeling pretty excited about our rookie success on Dusky Grouse, we headed back over the mountains at our next available opportunity. We retraced our steps to the areas we’d found birds and focused our efforts on identifying likely habitat and resting spots.

We made it a goal this year to really focus on early season grouse hunting. With Piper being pregnant, we wanted to take advantage of as much of the September and early October hunting opportunities as possible. Here in Washington, that means forest grouse.

While Zeke (Bolt vom Coraschatten) was staying with us for breeding purposes, we took advantage of the opening of Washington’s grouse season to stretch his legs and to learn more about his hunting abilities. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to hunt behind the sire of our future litter; in addition to getting to know him in our home, I’d also get to know more about his hunting style and handling of birds.