It was Wednesday, mid morning, 2nd week of September. A call came into our office, Kelly Forney of Glide, Oregon, the caller asked if we would like to go on an evening grouse hunt with him. Destination was the timber covered mountains near Tiller Oregon.

He picked me up at 2pm and off we were to his favorite upland game bird hunting grounds. Along the way he shared the method of the day. Spot and Stalk. "Today we are not going to use dogs to flush out our birds. Instead we are going to look for trails and abandoned logging skid roads. When we find one, we'll park the truck and hike the trail to locate our birds. If we are lucky to see a water hole, we'll stalk up on it and usually flush a bird or two", Kelly explains.

After finding two such locations he had a nice limit of 3 Ruffed Grouse. "Upland bird hunting this time of year can be very enjoyable for both young and old", he says. "They make great table fare too." "Now let's get to a higher elevation to find some Blue Grouse." We traveled to about the 4500 ft level were we came across a covey of Quail on a similar old road. Outfitted in summer shorts, T-shirt and sneakers we hurried down the path on foot. The birds jumped, Forney let a shot off, "That's one", then rushed up the bank. Shot number two! A moment later he returned with another quail. "Well, not quit a limit of these but still over all a good day outdoors," he finished. We never found the larger Blue grouse that day. However the adventure shared, as Kelley said earlier, was indeed very enjoyable.

Written by Jeff Gillette

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Upland Game Bird Hunt