Ray,

Thanks for sharing your pictures. The steep country you hunt reminds me a lot of some of my hunting areas. Steep with not a lot of cover. Harder to hunt, but it wouldn’t be as much fun if there was no challenge to it. Thanks for the pictures.

Michael.

Beautiful country! Nice shooting on the grouse as well. No reason to call your season a failure just because you didn’t punch a tag. If I looked at it that way, the last 12 years would have been a failure and massive waste of money and time. I reckon that just getting out there and being in the woods and mountains makes every trip and season a success, punching a tag is just a bonus!

How I missed this thread I don’t know, but great pics Ray. What an awesome place to hunt. 8)

Cut them down to about 2 grand, cover them with hard woods and ya got western Maryland 😆

Thanks for sharing Ray!

Great pictures Ray!!!! I like the middle one especially,with that game trail snaking along in front!

Bruce

Great looking stalking shoes in the first picture, bet that they are really quite, that is until you step into berries. You have inspired me into see that area, just had to put it on the must see list. Thanks for your posts, I have enjoyed them.

I hunted Montana for elk packed in for 2 weeks. I got into a huge 360 class herd bull the first day and spent the rest of my trip in hopes of getting him. He is still out there but I did take 7 grouse. boy did they taste good cooked over the open coals of the campfire.

Also hunted Utah high country mule deer. Yep you guessed it, I saw a huge buck the first day and hunted him hard. Each day he moved later and later until he went nocturnal. At least we shared the same haunts. Ha!

What part of Montana were you hunting for elk? Btw, daily limit on mountain grouse is either 3 or 4 birds per day, just so’s ya know 😀 Look like good eatin birds, though.

Michael.

Montana- I was up east of Hamilton, then at the end I hunted with two friends down west of the BigHole. I took the picture just before a cleaned this group of grouse. I did not kill all of the birds pictured, but had a fork in eating them. The males were a little tougher than the hens, but after eating mountan house meals for a while the grouse were sure good.

Mike,

I was merely jesting about the limit on grouse. I didn’t figure you shot all of them. What I’ve read of yours, you know what’s going on and seem like a straight shooter. Those grouse do taste good 😀 Especially fried in butter after being rolled in egg and flour.

Were you up in the Pintler Wilderness for your pack-in? I’ve never hunted down around Missoula or any of that country…always somewhere up around Kalispell, except for a couple rare exceptions. Have a good’un. Take care.

Michael.

Ha! Ha! Success is never measured in game harvested for me.
Michael- was planning to go into Pintlers, but got into some good bulls on the Salkaho side.
I learned from Barry Wensel to marinate the grouse and breasts in ranch dressing.

Mike,

I’ve been over the Skalkaho pass once, several years ago, after visiting one of the sapphire mines near Philipsburg. I’ve had many people tell me about all the elk and mule deer down in those areas, but have never made it down to check it out myself. Now, this year, I embark on a new adventure, as my wife and I will be moving to Texas sometime this year. Gonna miss Montana, but I’m hoping to be able to come back every now and again to go hunting.

Michael.