For a third time my big male named Bravo locked up on point. Hoping this time to see my first sage grouse instead of the two cottontail rabbits that I had to call him off of earlier. His head was held higher his point was more intense.  
I told the others in my party that he was on point again. The  grouse flushed out of the sage brush so close to me that I could see that its beak was wide open, as if it was startled as I was.

have hunted birds in 18 states and 3 providences. Yet never laid my eyes on a sage grouse. Round trip from Michigan I would log 3482 mile round trip for a chance to bag this gizzardless grouse.

Though I can hunt right out my back door for ruff grouse and woodcock, I annually leave the convenience  of  backyard birds to meet old and new friends and their dogs for the lure of species not  found at home.

Many of my trips over the years I have targeted sharptail grouse and  prairiechickens, in some cases you wont know which bird you actually shot until the dog retrieves it to you. Both birds are very similar in size and flight, although if flushed close enough, the sharpie produces a cluck cluck sound. In areas where they both coexist  thelimit is combined, three prairie grouse is a daily limit.   Recently I read that the  Sagegrouse seasons have been close in some states, seasons shortened in others, and in 2015 the rarest grouse of the west my be listed by the USFS as a federally threatened species. The sage grouse, more so than most upland birds is locked  to it’s habitat.  Sage brush  covers 165 million acres over 11 states.  Energy exploration, grazing and agricultural development have fragmented many large tracts of sage brush. Most state and conservation groups are fighting to keep the seasons open and regulated. Because federal listing of any species can have far wider impact on states rights, from loss of revenue to financial burdens due to regulations. This possible listing also has political implications that I will not venture to understand. So, I am not really a bucket list kind of guy, but finding out that my dogs and I may not be able to pursue these grouse in the future, I made up my mind that I was going to do whatever it took too add a Sage grouse to the list of upland birds that my dogs and I have hunted together.

Normally when a bird holds for a pointing dog, the shooter has the advantage. With my two 16 gauge shells making a total of 500 pieces of #6 lead shot, the only thing that I could do  wrong is not lead the bird enough. That first sage grouse flushing only a yard from my barrel.  They are the largest of all North American grouse. And quite the opposite of  ruf’s who explode from cover so fast that one can hardly ever get used to it. This bird almost moved in slow motion, breaking thru the sage brush it reminded me of a jumbo jet taking off. It looked too big and slow to miss. My first chance at this western icon was muffed, missed, kaput.

Recently I read that the  Sage grouse seasons have been close in some states, seasons shortened in others, and in 2015 the rarest grouse of the west my be listed by the USFS as a federally threatened species. The sage grouse, more so than most upland birds is locked  to it’s habitat.  Sage brush  covers 165 million acres over 11 states.  Energy exploration, grazing and agricultural development have fragmented many large tracts of sage brush. Most state and conservation groups are fighting to keep the seasons open and regulated. Because federal listing of any species can have far wider impact on states rights, from loss of revenue to financial burdens due to regulations. This possible listing also has political implications that I will not venture to understand. So, I am not really a bucket list kind of guy, but finding out that my dogs and I may not be able to pursue these jumbogrouse in the future,and being told by some hunters that they are not good table fare I made up my mind that I was going to do whatever it took too add a Sage grouse to the list of upland birds that my dogs and I have hunted together. And prepare a great meal as well.

Thru a friend I was introduced to Ed Arnett from TRCP  Theadore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. Ed’s advise to head into south central Wyoming, was backed up by himself and a fellow TRCP coliege  Tom ?(don’t know name) joining us in our hunt.  A large and healthy population of sage grouse exist there. And with millions of acres of sage brush on both state and BLM lands, all I had to do was get there.  Or so I thought. 

I enlisted a friend from the Shenandoha Valley, who also has been known to drive thru the day and night to get his dogs into birds.  I have known Lloyd for many years but only had a couple opportunities to hunt with him. And only when I am in Virginia at my second home. We usually spend a couple hours climbing after ruff grouse in the George Washington National forest, and then the rest of the day telling stories that only traveling wingshooters don’t get bored by. Lloyd said he would leave from work and meet me in South Bend Indiana, putting him there around 4am.  Loading  his gear, guns, and ElhewsYankee Doodle Dandy, his young pointer into my truck. Heading west on I-80 we made one of our stops just east of Omaha, We stopped for fuel and to air our dogs.  My female Artie is an Alfa bitch and his male Yank thinks he should not be trifled with. This resulted in a good old fashion dog fight. Ending with Lloyd having to get some stitches in his left palm.

Pushing on to far western Nebraska, we found a motel, a drink, and another traveling wingshooter, Pat drove by himself from Indianapolis with his young Italian Bracco, that he purchased from my kennel 18 months earlier. Both Pat and Remi are brand new to hunting.  When Pat purchased her he told me that she would be a hiking companion first and birddog second. Mostly because in his home state had far more trails to walk than public land to hunt. Five months earlier he called to tell me he was striking out to hunt with  Remi in Montana and would be out west for two weeks, alone, and knowing little except what he could learn from google about his new passion. I told him if he wanted to track us down in Wyoming while we were hunting, he was welcome to join us.

Arriving in Saratoga Wyoming some 33 hours later. We  met up with Ed and Tom and set up a tent camp in Medicine Bow national forest.   That night Ed told us that a local biologist gave him some general areas to start off in. We would be hunting  an area that was known to hold sage grouse and thousands of acres to look for them in. That night we three hit our sleeping bags as excited as  children the night before Christmas. Up before light we ate a cold breakfast and followed our two new friends to the remote area. With last nights campfire stories about dogs and bird limits, , and a two bird daily limit we might have time to return to the the mountians and chase Dusky grouse!!!  Little did I know that only one afternoon would leave time for a mountain hunt. And that was because the day heated up so much the dogs were wiped out. So we gave them a few hours in the early afternoon to rest. And hunted the cooler late afternoon at higher elevations.

Finding Sage grouse can only be compared to looking for a black cat in a coal cellar. The vastness of the terrain and the fact that Sage brush and the Birds that live in it have been partners since the  retreat of the last ice age, made our task of finding them was more than challenging. In general, civilization itself is the reason sage grouse numbers have dropped from around 16 million just 100 years ago. Now estimated some where between 200 and 500 thousand in a handful of western states. If I were to have mathematically  divided the numbers of birds to the acres of sage brush, I should have stayed back in Michigan and raked leaves.

But… Traveling wingshooters are of an adventurous nature. The mere mention of birds in an area we have never been to, and we request time off from work with more planning than we give to our family vacations, kids birthdays, or even anniverseries. Off we went, in a three vehicle caravan, leaving the gavel road only to drive(very slowly) another 5 or 6 miles down a two track, crossing several cattle grates and passing cattle that looked at us with that look that always reminds me of “what the hell are you here for?” We made are way another few miles passing one other vechile parked off the trail. This did give us hope because their licence plates were local and they had a dog box in the bed.

Finally we stopped. Lloyd said he would take Yank out in a separate direction as his stitches reminded him that we were not anywhere close to medical or Vetrainaryassistance. The rest of us worked in two groups. Tom went with Ed and his two Labrador retrievers into a vast hillside of sagebrush.  Pat and I headed out with our two of our Bracco Italianos. towards some drainages that ended on the shore of a reservoir.  After couple hours all five of us met back at the trucks, birdless but not discouraged.

 We decided to drive a little further and check out another area. With a huge piece of luck the lead vehicle spotted a flock of birds near a snowfence.  Two birds peeled up a very tall hill and the rest flew out into the middle of a square mile of  shin to knee deep sagebrush.

I have learn my lesson well on SD pheasants, never chase a spooked bird. He will never let you get close. Thank goodness pheasant do not live near sagegrouse, so the sneaky imports from China never schooled the natives on how to run,fly, land and run some more.  We headed straight out  toward the horizon where the birds landed.

Luckily Bravos first  pointed sage grouse that I choked on, was dropped by Tom. Earlier Ed  warned us of the sage grouse popcorn effect. A flock of these birds seem to take off at a irregular intervals, kind of like the first few kernels of heated popcorn. As another bird took off without a feather out of place, as I reached for two more shells a third bird took off straight away. As I fumbled to load two shells, only the right barrel was loaded. Somehow I managed to pull off an Annie Oakley trick shot and a bird fell with a broken wing. Now I needed Bravo back in front to “hunt dead”  This took some minutes  After getting my first sage hen in my vest, and what was certainly a couple minutes time, another bird flushed from my left and flew directly over Ed and was dropped by Tom.  The rest of our march that day was fruitless until we switched dogs and decided to look for the two from earlier wild flushes near the snow fence. This again taught me that these birds fly, land, and simply except their new home. It was hours later when we  reachedthe area we saw the bird fly too.  Ed’s two Labradors started getting birdy just when Pat almost stepped on the bird hiding a few steps in front of him. Pat rocked this bird with one barrel as Ed anchored it with his shot.  Four sage grouse  on our first full day.Wedrove back to find Lloyd still hunting on the back side of a small reservoir. His tracking unit show that his dog had covered 21 miles. But not one encounter with a grouse.

The next day we walked even further. We felt we were doing every thing right but the birds seemed to have a different plan. We later ate at a local restaurant and met some local fishing guides that overheard our plans for sage searching. One of them who hunted nearby a few years ago asked if we had hunted near a local reservoir. Not the one we were at, but only a few miles from where we were eating!! Again we had a hard time falling asleep. Thinking we were going to wake up and get a limit with only a short drive.  We set out before shooting light with the hope of spotting a flock of birds coming into the watering hole. We staked out the two ends of this “honey hole”. When there was enough light to use binoculars we glassed the shorelines.  Once we put dogs on the ground and saw the cover close up, we realized that this sage brush was lacking in density and height. Not to waste time in marginal fields, we drove a few miles to the north, which in Wyoming is just a minimum of one or two hours away. Combine that with another 45 minute cow path drive thru 3 gates and two very slippery hillsides. We stopped the truck and tried to apply our combined knowledge of upland birds to this chameleon of the landscape.  We hunted hard. Approaching into the wind as much as we could, targeting contours of the landscape, hunting the lee side of hills. No matter what we tried, our tactics did not match the survival skills of a bird who has been living like a nomad for its entire life.

This same story repeated itself a couple more times. Not losing hope, more like resolving that if we only had more days to roam we would be more successful.  The sage grouse season was over for us this year. All agreed that if there is a season next year, we would all meet up and try it again. I never think of birds in the bag verus miles driven or days invested. For me and most dog crazy hunters. It’s the adventure that we remember the most.