2008 2009 Hunting Season

For my final hunt I met up with Mike again as well as Chad "New Guy 14" a member of coloradowaterfowl.com. Small world in that on the forum I had provided Chad some information I had found related to Colorado public Goose hunting. So when Mike mentioned to him about a hunt with a guy from Texas with a Vizsla; Chad knew who I was because of our previous dialog or my previous posts on coloradowaterfowl.com. Note I had been invited on a Teal hunt east of Denver by another member of Coloradowaterfowl.com, but due to having no phone service or internet access during the first half of my trip, I had no way to contact him to see if I could make it over that way. So instead it was a combination Blue Grouse, Bandtail, Ptarmigan hunt, changing target as we climbed elevation. Destination was somewhere North of Vail.

Mikes Brittany is 11 years old. I was surprised to hear this. A little hard of hearing, but still going strong.

As we neared the top, it was Ptarmigan country. Unfortunately we did not find any, but we certainly gave it an effort.

I made my way to the top of the mountain and found a jar with a pad and pen, signed it, added a rock, took some pictures, then briefly looked for Ptarmigan again on the lee side before joining the others.

Having not found the Grouse, We only saw one Bandtail Pigeon. Bushes that had attracted Bandtails were already stripped of berrys. Though some signs of Ptarmigan, as well as dogs getting birdy at times, our Ptarmigan hunt turned into a Marmot hunt. I found using my dog whistle I could easily manipulate the exact sound of a whistling Marmot and draw them out at shorter range. We each took one. Mike used his pistol!

That evening I hit I70 for Kansas where I spent the night, then I35 home to Dallas. Not a bad drive at all.

Though I did not bag all four types of Grouse, I did get to hunt all four in some spectacular backdrops.