Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, September 11, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
A mixed
bag of
forest
grouse
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
A ruff ed grouse counts on stillness and its camoufl age for concealment.
James Flaherty/Contributed Photo
This ruff ed grouse from the Imnaha Unit fl ushed from a tangle of vine maple in a brushy creek bottom.
GARY
LEWIS
ON THE TRAIL
D
own into the dry canyon
and past the spring where
the little stream began.
Liesl, my pudelpointer, quar-
tered back and forth. She crashed
down through the alders, through
a patch of brush then burst out
into the open. When her tail began
to fl ag, I closed the gun. She
was close to a bird and it likely
wouldn’t hold.
Like a rocket, it fl ushed out of
the tangle of vine maple, straight
down the canyon.
My gun was up, my cheek
on the wood and I saw the bird
crumple as it reached the line of
the pines. I waded into the brush,
calling the dog, feathers fl oating
down out of the limbs above me.
What had been a September
scouting trip for mule deer high in
the Imnaha Unit had turned into
a grouse hunt. That evening, back
at the cabin, I cooked up seven
grouse over a Camp Chef back-
pack stove, the skinless, boneless
meat sautéed with spinach, mush-
rooms and mozzarella.
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
A September scouting trip for mule deer or elk can turn into a grouse hunt in the Imnaha Unit.
In the morning after glassing
for deer, we hunted blue grouse
on the ridge top. The birds were
beneath tall pine trees where they
were picking for nuts in the duff .
Grouse hunts are not insignifi -
cant in my life. The fi rst time my
dad allowed me to tag along on a
hunt, it was for grouse. The fi rst
game I cooked was grouse. And if
I live my life right, maybe my last
hunt will be for grouse with an
old dog just ahead of me, holding
the birds with a rock solid point
till I can catch up.
We fi nd two types of forest
grouse in Eastern Oregon —
ruff ed grouse and blues — and it
is easy to get a mixed bag for the
hunter that knows where to look.
Ruff ed grouse are most often
found in canyons with a lot of
cover — aspens, alders, wil-
lows, vine maple, pines and fi r
trees. They like a bit of eleva-
tion change. A little bench over
a spring or a swamp can pay off
with looks at a bird or two or
three. They fl ash through the
timber, off ering brief glimpses
and a rush of wings like a
heart attack.
Blue grouse are found closer
Rejoice!
It’s hunting season
to the tops of the ridges. They
seek out patches of berry bushes
and peck out the greenery under
the spruces, the hemlock and the
tall pines.
The season for forest grouse
runs from Sept. 1 through Jan. 31.
Hunters should pack No. 7-1/2s
for ruff ed grouse and No. 6s for
blue grouse. The daily bag limit
is three of each species and nine
of each species in possession.
Hunters must leave head or one
wing attached while in the fi eld
and in transit.
Grouse hunting access is avail-
able on some private lands. Click
on https://myodfw.com/articles/
hunting-private-lands-access-hab-
itat-program for a list of private
lands. Each listing includes man-
agement unit, location, huntable
species and the access period.
Special regulations are listed for
each property and can range from
walk-in-only to motorized travel
on roads posted as open; leave the
gates like you found them.
———
Gary Lewis is the author of Bob
Nosler Born Ballistic and Fishing
Central Oregon and other titles.
Gary’s podcast is called Ballistic
Chronicles. To contact Gary, visit
www.garylewisoutdoors.com
TOM
CLAYCOMB
BASE CAMP
F
or a lot of people out there it is all
doom and gloom. School started back
up. Sleepy headed kids who have
been staying up until midnight are sud-
denly getting jerked out of bed at ungodly
hours, thrown into a car and dumped out in
front of some strange establishment called
school. If they daydream and their thoughts
drift off to their summer backpacking
and fi shing adventures, suddenly they’re
snapped back to reality by the sharp crack
of a ruler on their knuckles.
And a lot of adults didn’t escape this
tribulation transition either. Some of
them are the cruel ogres that infl ict such
pain upon the kids. Their schedules have
been disrupted, too. They’re the teachers.
They’ve cruelly been snapped out of a lull,
as well.
I have fi rsthand experience with the
above. I watch it on a daily basis. My wife
is a school teacher and my daughter is a
college kid and works part-time as a teach-
er’s aide. You’d think every year they
were 18-year-old kids getting jerked out
of a peaceful life and thrown into Marine
boot camp.
Tom Claycomb/Contributed Photo
Hunting gives you a good excuse to get in the backcountry and see the prettiest country in the world, including awesome sunsets.
See, Hunting/Page B2