First hunt with the 20 bore Sterly

[Cold Spring]

I'm beginning to think this is one of those guns that are just plain lucky. I was out for grouse again today and killed two birds. One mature and the other a bird of the year. And just after taking the first one I heard another bird drumming up a storm just down the trail but it must have spooked when I went after it. Never saw that one. Light rain on and off, very quiet walking. Again I had the #2 barrels on the Sterly, choked IC and Mod. The PA daily limit is two birds.

For any grouse hunters in the NE quadrant of PA, the crop of the one bird I dressed out was full of sweet fern, nothing else. And since the woods are full of ferns at least hereabouts, the birds must be scattered widely. I haven't found any other real food sources and even the staple wintergreen berries are scarce. Just for count, so far this season I've seen 5 birds in about 8 hours of boots on the ground.

Another cell pic.