I agree with Bob. I've hunted grouse for over 40 years now and have yet to make or even to be in the presence of any one who could shoot a grouse flushing out and down from a tree. The flight pattern resembles a heat seeking missile launch. I remember hunting in the Catskills, we entered an area that was a mix of pines and apple trees. My dog was extremely birdy and walking stiff -legged. Finally he pointed but was looking up a grouse dive bombed out of the pine tree and with my partners shot several more did the same from surrounding trees. We had as many as 10 such shots and neither of us touched one of those birds

Like Bill Murphy I find myself laughing at the stories that are so similar to mine. In December of 1974 my brother killed himself. I was living in England and Papa told me not to come home for the funeral in Kentucky, but to come to Naples, Florida in January. We did a lot of fishing and once a week we would hunt the palmetto brush for quail. The bush was up to our elbows and we couldn't see the dog. We could hear its bell and when it stopped ringing we knew the dog was on point. The first few times the dog pointed my father would run as fast as one could through the palmetto's toward the silent bell and when the birds flushed I found myself in a position where I couldn't take a shot. The light finally came on and I too would run toward the dog and got to shoot the 16 gauge CHE. The shots were no more difficult than other wild flushed quail. It was the hunting that was difficult. We couldn't see the dog. We were in the brush at six in the morning and out by nine before the rattle snakes started moving. We had a good dog though that would find the birds.

Once years ago I was stationed just down a South Carolina hedge row from a very pretty young lady who was doing a mighty fine job of killing most of the reasonable doves that came over her. She was also polite, calling out incoming birds for me. On one of her calls, well that dove was just way, way too high for me...but I swung on it and shot anyway. I swear, it took that stone cold dead- in-the-air bird neigh onto 10 seconds to fall to earth. I was absolutely amazed. She called out "great shot!" I can still see that bird falling today.

...and it's clear to see why that one was memorable...on many levels. Always nice to make a tough one with a witness.

Good story, but it would have been better if you told us tht you immediately proposed marriage to her and she reached up with her gun and dropped a screamer and said "I will."





.

Now we're in Hallmark Channel territory!:corn: (But it would be a heck-ova story!)

More than one....

My first close Grouse flush, when I could hear great....whoh!!!!

Mt first Wild Rooster coming up and bitching about my bothering him....

The one time I had two Grouse almost hanging in the sky....Finally!!!! No not yet....

All of them survived that day..... :)

Enjoyed reading through this post. Four weeks to the pheasant opener here and I’m getting antsy already. Charlie the wonder dog, like me, is starting to slow down. We will take it easy this year. I have hunted since I could walk with Dad. Since I could actually hold a firearm, I have shot at many game animals and birds over seven decades. Some I have taken home to enjoy at a family meal. Like all of us, there have been those unbelievable shots that connected and amazed and became topics of conversation for years. Someone inevitably would try to put the BS stamp on a true story but my mind has already moved on.

The question posed is the hardest shot. For me it is the “gimme” shot. I can’t count how many times this has happened but I remember the frustration of several. Always wild roosters. Dog is trying to hold the bird but bird does not cooperate. I take a step or two in direction of the dog when the rooster explodes practically under my feet. A straightaway gimme that keeps flying even after the second shot. That’s my toughest shot and the reason I will chase roosters until I can no longer walk. Cheers Jack

Jack, I hope you and your dog have many more chances, and that you can walk with Charlie for a long time to come. Good luck with your upcoming season.

I hope all of us have a few more hard shots to take... I cannot walk very far but I can sit in a chair and watch them fly by... good hunting every body...charlie