A Bird In the Bush, Now In Hand

Sitting in elk camp on opening day with two elk hung and skinned early left us with some time for goofing off.  We soon had the slingshot out and were putting some serious dents in some cans.  I was sitting at the end of the firing line and kept hearing rustling next to me.  After thinking the squirrels were playing jokes on me for several minutes, I finally saw the source of the rustling.  Not 15 feet away from me were two grouse.

The nice thing about elk season is that it overlaps with grouse season.  I quickly went and got my new/old revolver from the truck.  I walked around so that I had a good backstop, and upon the third .22 round I had ever shot from the gun I had bagged one of the grouse.  It was quickly cleaned skinned and placed in a dutch oven over a bed of veggies.

We covered it and placed coals from the campfire on top, replacing regularly for 45 minutes and dinner was served.