Taylor's first grouse

Small game weekend up at Ron's is usually a pretty laid-back affair. Except for the goose hunters this year, nobody is in a hurry to get outta bed. We stay up late and drink beer, then hit the woods whenever we feel like leavin' the next day. It's a nice change of pace from the hard-huntin' group we normally are in deer and turkey seasons.

When we finally made it out of the house on Saturday, our first push was the brush lot behind Ron's house as usual. Several years back, we managed to put up and whack a pair of grouse back there, and this year we got lucky again. Matt's brother-in-law, in his first trip to Bradford County, managed to drop this young male grouse. Took him a few shots, but he got it done. We don't shoot a lot of grouse, so everyone was pretty excited. Taylor's a good kid too... he fit right in at camp and we were all happy for his harvest.

As far as I'm concerned, our state bird is one of the prettiest birds around this side of a drake wood duck. He opted not to get the bird stuffed, but kept the meat and the fan, and as an avid fly fisherman is lookin' forward to makin' some flies out of the feathers.

We got a lot of scoutin' done with the rest of our day, but Ron was the only other critter buster, linin' his game bag with five squirrel tails.

The rest of the weekend was spent eatin', drinkin', watchin' football and enjoyin' time with Ron. A very good, relaxin' weekend indeed.

Wade and Matt... Nothin' like some Lienenkugal's Summer Shandy
and a hot tub to make a 4° Sunday mornin' a little warmer.

Oh, and for your Texas gentlemen... Y'all done sold me on the Shiner. I enjoyed everything except for the Shiner Blonde, their golden lager. Reminded me of horse piss Coors Light. Everythin' else... really damn good. My favorite was the Old Time Alt, with their Black Lager and Bock runnin' a close second and third.

As always, a huge thank you to Ron for your hospitality and bein' an excellent host!