The Colorado dusky grouse season opened on Labor Day this year…getting out of the I-70 parking lot is an absolute nightmare as there are hordes and hordes of people in mass exodus from the mountains. I decided not to brave the crowds and waited until the following Thursday to chase grouse with the birddogs. I was fortunate to go grouse’n with a true and distinguished voting member of the Blue Grouse Hippy Clan. Kent hunted blue grouse 13 weekends in a row during the 2013 season, and the last day of the season he was in deep snow. That’s pure dedication or insanity. Blue grouse are a reverse migrator, and they spend their winter at the treeline eating pine needles.
Kent and I had been exchanging emails for some time and decided to sneak away from work for the day and run our bird dogs. Kent is a dyed-in-the-wool-Labrador-guy…he recently acquired a very nice 10 month old English pointer pup by the name of Fancy. Fancy she was & a joy to watch as the switch flipped on the grouse lights. The cover is great in grouse country although the seviceberries were limited in the areas we haunted. The weather, dogs and company were perfect.
Saturday the 6th of September was spent with my very good friend and partner in crime, Mark Kastler. Mark and I have been hunting together for 10 years or more. It was a pleasure to spend the morning with Mark. There were plenty of grouse, and we were finished by 10 am. There’s not much better than a lunch in the shade of aspens after a glorious morning of chasing grouse.
Enjoy the season and praise the All Mighty that we’ve made it to another birddog season!
Setterfeathers and see ya on the Colorado prairie
Upland Ways 
Great pictures of a fine hunt, Shawn. Thanks for your impromptu “guide services”… Mark
Being from Kansas, Ive toyed with the idea of possibly doing a blue grouse hunt in Colorado…but wouldn’t know where to start. Your story definately inspired me to look into it a bit more. Great photos.