A satisfying day hunting!

[kneedownnate]

After recent weather being too hot to comfortably hunt, I was very happy to wake up to a very chilly morning and go through the day without it being uncomfortable at all.  I was also happy to not see another soul until the afternoon, though it woulda been nicer if I'd seen a deer before 11:30, and maybe some grouse!

That said, I had a rough few shots on pigeons this year and sent 2 soaring down into the valley presumably wounded.  One I made an effort to find since I thought he'd maybe fallen, then I noticed where he'd headed toward and since I saw he'd fixed his wings I figured he went way way down the valley.  The other cocked its wings and stopped when I shot, then turned and flew off with the rest of em.  Either way, I felt very bad knowing 2 birds I shot at may have suffered and died slowly, rather than quickly and been recovered.

Luckily, today was different.  I got into some mountain quail and dropped one right away, then coulda swore I hit another but it seemed to scoot off with the others.  Having mostly been out for grouse I only brought a couple shells for quail, so I walked the short distance to the truck to get more just in case.  Walking past where I shot at the quail I eventually saw one puffed up in a little ball under a bush and thought it was dead, so I set down my shotgun to grab it and saw its head move, reached for it and it flew off like nothing was wrong - I noted where it went and kept going down the trail. 

Made it the entire distance to the end of the trail and saw nothing, turned around and again saw the covey of quail near where I first shot at them and tried to put the sneak on em.  They moved off when I was sneaking up so I looked for the solo quail and again saw him puffed up under some brush, stepped back as far as I could and finished him off - no lost or suffering bird!

I figured they were long gone so I started making my way toward the truck, then saw they were another 100 feet or so down the trail again    Tried to get off a shot but they flew off.  I placed the dead one in the shade at the trailhead and turned in time to notice one going over the side of a hill.  They were scurrying down the ravine and up the other side, but I managed to get the last one as it flew off the log - noted where it was and made my way around to an easier way to go down to him, then decided to walk the opposing ridge just in case. 

Caught them again on the other side, again hit the last one as it flew over the ridge and could hear it thrashing and saw pine needles and dust flying up.  Made my way down there asap and couldn't find it.  My heart dropped as I looked under every bush within 30 feet after looking straight down the ridge several times.  First thing that came to mind was these were the same type of 8" tall bushes I dropped a pigeon in last year and couldn't find.  Close to giving up, I made my way a little further down the steep ridge and found it blending in at the base of a tree in plain sight, and felt so much better.  One more...

Made my way back to the log for #3.  I'd heard it thrashing for a bit after I shot it so I looked all around the trees and bushes nearby, and again felt like crap cause it seemed to be nowhere nearby.  It worked last time, so I pushed what seemed to be too far down the ridge and again found it blending in next to a tree.  All 4 accounted for!

Aside from those little stumbles it was a very peaceful day off, and as much as I dislike cleaning quail, I was stoked to be cleaning every one I killed or knew I'd injured!