Pennsylvania Game News - January 2013 - 31

would surely have received if I was hunting with my usual hunting cohorts. Topper, though, was all business, as he wanted to ﬁnd these grouse and put one in the game bag. I was really into the hunt now, not that I wasn’t before, but now I was resolute to reﬂush these grouse and bag one. It seemed as though the birds had gone off in four different directions, which might be a good thing, as we could hunt up the singles. The bird that I had concentrated on had gone straight ahead. I decided this was the bird we would pursue ﬁrst. It was about 200 yards to the open pasture, but a twisted and tangled blend of excellent cover was between me and the pasture and somewhere in it the bird had to be. Topper was out front searching with me closely at his heels. I didn’t think the bird would hold well now, so I was ready for a sudden explosion at any time. We had made our way to the hedgerow that borders the pasture without ﬁnding the bird. Topper did not pick up any scent, but I had a feeling the bird had to be close. I moved in front of a large blow down and stopped to catch my breath when the grouse exploded from the other side and headed for parts unknown. This grouse had given Topper and me the slip again, but I knew there was at least three more around. I decided to move along the hedgerow and hope that Topper would pick up more scent. We moved through a series of blow downs when, suddenly, Topper began to get birdy, real birdy, and then went on point. He broke point, though, and that tail started up again. Three times he went on solid point and three times he broke it; we had a runner. One time I caught a glimpse of the bird running, and it would have made a cock pheasant proud. The grouse ﬁnally had enough and took off out of range, leaving Topper and me tired and out of breath from the chase. Well, at least I was tired and out of breath; Topper looked ﬁne.
DECEMBER 2012

We were down to two birds from that original ﬂush. I had an idea that they had headed for the new growth, a spot that always held birds. We had to make a big loop to get there, but I knew it would be worth exploring. We reached the new growth, and for January it still held its cover well. There was a mix of tangled multiﬂora rose and young white and silver birch. Topper had penetrated about 20 yards when he slammed on the brakes in front of a patch of multiﬂora rose. Every muscle in his body was taunt, and his head was at a right angle to the rest of his body, with his tail held high. It was a classic point in every sense of the word. I hoped we didn’t have another runner and it appeared we didn’t. Topper never moved an inch. I moved in next to him and suddenly a gray whirl of feathers exploded out of the brush not two feet in front of Topper’s nose. The bird rose straight up as my double came up to my cheek. I squeezed the ﬁrst trigger as the grouse was still rising. This time feathers ﬂoated to the forest ﬂoor as the grouse banked hard right and plunged to the ground. Topper was on it in seconds and quickly delivered it to hand. A beautiful dark, gray phase grouse was in hand. I took a long time admiring my trophy. That sense of excitement and surprise ran through me. What a truly wonderful day in Penn’s Woods. The cold was a distant memory, and the memory of this hunt would last a lifetime. I told Topper it was time to head back to the truck, as we couldn’t top this experience and it was a ﬁne way to end the season. I couldn’t wait to tell all my hunting buddies the experience they had missed.
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Pennsylvania Game News - January 2013

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