This is Danny Suponski with his first ever ruffed grouse that was pointed at about 25 yards. There were three grouse together in a cover of old apple trees and heavy ground cover. we walked in over Grace and the birds went up. One peeled to the right, one went straight ahead and the third peeled high and left out beyond Danny. Shots were fired in all directions but Danny was the only one who connected. His bird was hit hard and went down hard but it wasn't dead. Danny and I went down the slope to where the bird went down. Suddenly a grouse flushed from about that spot and we stood there slack-jawed that his bird had taken wing after being knocked down. Oh well... that's the way it goes sometimes. We turned to walk back and join Dave and Jamie but Grace was not with us. We looked back downslope and there she was pointing where the bird had just flushed from. I called her, thinking she was picking up the scent from the departed bird but she wouldn't budge. Hmmm... we started back down to her but then she pounced on the spot and came up with Danny's first grouse... Well Done! - to both of you!!
The second picture is after she cut her rear pad on ice in the woods in January on an exercise and training mission.
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"I'm a Setter man.
Not because I think they're better than the other breeds,
but because I'm a romantic - stuck on tradition - and to me, a Setter just "belongs" in the grouse picture."
George King, "That's Ruff", 2010 - a timeless classic.
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