William ,That was a great story and wonderful pictures ! Did you happen to decide to have this Beautiful Trophy mounted ? I imagine with most of the guys on the forum being hunters ,most probably ,have one hunt or particular Game Bird that stands out in their mind . I have a similar tale but not with the thorns involved ! In our corner of Pa. in the mountainous areas we have huge rocks that jut out and make some very unique hunting situations ,in the Laurel Mountain area where I hunt for Ole Ruff ,it is very steep in places and very Rocky ! One morning ,Maggie and I were hunting a steep hillside with Mountain Laurel and a few Beech Nut trees ,as we came upon this huge boulder ,she went above and of course I took the easier route and went below as I came around the corner of the Huge Rock ,lo and behold she locked up above me and Mr Ruff blast out of the Laurel and nearly took my hat off ! I couldn't believe what I had just seen ,it was a Silver Phase Grouse ,the first and only I had ever seen as they usually don't live this far south ,and all I had to show for it was two smoking barrels ! Well over the next few weeks Maggie and I played this scenario out three more times with the Silver Grouse ! Then I got to thinking ,I can't hit him coming dead into my face like a bullet ,I will get him going by ,well the next hunt ,again I made sure Maggie was higher than the Huge Rock and I hurried to the lower edge and just waited ,I could hear Maggies bell tinkling above me and she was coming down on what I figured was the other side of the rock as soon as she hit the far side ,I heard the thunder of wings and here came the Silver Grouse about twenty five to thirty yards out ,flying from my right to my left and just as the Bead passed him ,I touched the trigger on my little 20 Ga. Browning Sporter Side by Side and all I saw was a huge puff of feathers and " Ole Silver " falling to earth ! Man what a beautiful Bird , I had planned too well and hit him with those 7 1/2's dead center ,I had my heart set on having him mounted but it was not possible ,I mounted his Fan to remember him by ,just like in your story a great feeling of accomplishment to connect but also sadness in knowing he was gone ! With that ,enough for that day ,I loaded Maggie and drove home !
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