Written by: Stephen Faust. Union Grove, NC
A first Grouse story Growing up through the 70s and 80s hunting quail and Woodcock all across eastern North Carolina, I don’t remember my first birds. Dad was, and at 84 still is, a dog man. I got lucky growing up with someone that wanted to hunt and fish every day of the week. And we did a lot of it. Early on my favorite was the bird dogs, and seeing them point was my version of buck fever. I shot my first Grouse sometime in the late 80s while in college in western North Carolina. I really don’t remember it, it did not stand out as much of an achievement. And since phones were not as ubiquitous as they are today, I don’t have any pictures.
Now several decades later and I’m a guide for Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock. I spend many days a year in the woods, but very rarely shooting anymore. I take my excitement off excellent dog work and getting someone young started in our fabulous sport. I celebrate many first Grouse achievements every year, but most of them are with young adults or a bucket list bird for an older lady or gentleman. This season so far I have nine first Grouse. But one really stands out, and I think I was probably more excited than the young gentleman that bagged his first one over absolute perfect dog work from a young dog. it was the afternoon of their final day hunting with us in Minnesota, and as we made the turn back towards the truck, I knew we were running out of time. We had moved a bunch of Grouse, the dogs had done their job, but the young man was having difficulty connecting.
At 17 years old, he handled himself very well in the woods, and is a good representation of what a young sportsman should be. Coming up the a stretch along an old river, my three year old female, Maddie, worked a bird perfectly, which went up to the right and the other gentleman with us that day bagged that one. After a little bit of picture taking and celebration, I told young Nathan that it’s his turn now. Not very far after that, Neri, in only his second season, stopped hard. Knowing how to read my dogs, I knew he was not solid on a bird yet, and we had some relocating to do, so I got Nathan up there and told him to keep walking and ignore the dog now. I sent Neri on and let him relocate several times until after about 75 yards he said “OK it’s right there”. And it was. The bird went up low going left to right. Nathan missed it on his first shot, but kept his composure, and killed it with his second barrel. I made the dogs stand, and I went and picked up his bird, in case he wanted to get his first one mounted. Which was a beautiful gray phase with cinnamon colored ruffs, and a cinnamon colored tail band. His father was elated and said “yes, we will get that bird mounted”.
What a beautiful specimen it is! Young folks asked me all the time about guiding, and I tell them the most important thing to know if you’re ready or not is if you’re ready to take excitement from someone else’s achievements, and help build a foundation for the outdoors. When I was around 12 years old, I saw a group of five English setters and English pointers pointing a covey of quail in a classic old overgrown cemetery plot. That was over 40 years ago, and that image still burns in my mind. I hope that in 40 years, young Nathan can still see the picture in his mind of Neri pointing his first Grouse.
