Redleaf
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Ruffed Grouse
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Homegrowngoodnes
Well-Known Member
Tricky place to get a shot with anything higher caliber than a camera!
Redleaf
Well-Known Member
This fellow came out of the bush near my house when I started my side by side. The exhaust note when it starts up is very much like the drumming sound ruffed grouse make when claiming their territory so I guess he must have thought he was being challenged. He hung around for quite a while while I took pictures. I have a great video but was not able to upload it. This picture is his full display with spread tail feathers and fluffed up neck. He strutted around putting on quite a performance. He went back into the bush so it was his lucky day as they are delicious.
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Hard to eat something after they make a personal connection. Nature is beautiful. I've let more critters walk than I can count based on nothing more than fleeting emotions. As an avid hunter I have to admit more often than not just seeing nature is more sustaining than eating it.
On ocassion...
While backpacking along the high ridges of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, I was startled more than once by a grouse jumping out at me from mottled underbrush. They are so well camouflaged that I would surely have walked on by, without noticing it. The message seemed to be, "Look at me! Not at my nest!" They never really attacked; simply put on a show. But it was always a surprise, jolting me from my backpacker trance.
Bob
Bob
HillDweller
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Beautiful bird. Used to be a lot of them around here, but not so much anymore.
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Homegrowngoodnes
Well-Known Member
I was raised in the woods basically in Pennsylvania. We grew up fishing and hunting a variety of game including grouse and pheasants, turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, and deer I have never really had a problem with thinking how beautiful something wad giving me trouble eating it. That being said Istill appreciate the wonder of nature and the sacrifice of the animal so that we may gain sustenance on the bounty of the animal's sacrifice...the circle of life.
