It’s June again. Apparently that’s when I start feeling like I should spend some time writing. Must have something to do with how late it stays light out here in the PNW

There was very little cargo cult hunting in 2020. Tyson’s family was once again willing to let me hunt their land out in Joyce so I was hunting in an area I knew well. Scouting was quick and easy - I knew what rubs had been in the area the year before and which ones were new. I knew what trails the deer frequented and what times of day to expect them to be coming through. From Ed & Linda (the new owners of the property in Joyce) I knew there were at least 3 bucks in the area. In some ways getting a deer this season was a matter of time. I picked a likely spot and stayed there… until I got cold.

When I was cold I stalked through the woods. I’m much too loud moving through the woods to be convinced this is a viable hunting style for me. Deer have better hearing and sense of smell than I do, and I can hear and smell myself stalking through the woods. The only real reason for me to stalk through the woods is to practice being quiet and to give me something to do to stay warm.

While out stalking for deer I encountered an animal with much, much less situational awareness than a deer: the Forest Grouse. Grouse are still wily but they are nowhere near as sneaky as deer. I ran into several of these on the Joyce property but I was only armed with a deer rifle. I also hadn’t asked for permission to hunt grouse and I wanted to check with the landowners first.

That night I asked if I could hunt grouse as well as deer. Tyson’s family love to hunt grouse. Apparently one of his uncles hunt so much grouse they can hardly eat it all. They gave me their blessing and all sorts of tips. One family friend chastised me for hunting deer without carrying a shotgun, too. He told me to ‘never go in the field without a shotgun on my back and a cougar tag in my pocket’.

The next morning a young buck encountered me in the south field. I say he encountered me because while we say each other from roughly 150 yards away, he walked towards me to investigate what I was. Because he walked straight towards me I didn’t have a clear shot until he was 30 yards away. At that point he decided to be more cautious and turned sideways, probably intending to walk away.

I took the shot. This was the first time I’ve shot an animal and been around while it died. Those are images I never expect to forget.

Because of the angle of the shot, the bullet grazed the stomach of the deer. Cleaning the deer was easy, and I’m fortunate that I was close to running water to flush everything out. I drove the deer home and processed it.

A few weeks later I came back out to Joyce to try and do some Elk hunting. I brought my .45-70 and some of my reloads and I had high hopes the herd that lives around Joyce would bed down on the property. Luck was not on my side and the 1 bull that was legal that year was already in someone’s truck bed when I arrived in Joyce.

Fortunately, it was still grouse season and I brought a shotgun. I still don’t really know anything about shotguns but it just so happens my grandfather had recently gifted me a 20 gauge / 22 WMR Savage 24J-DL. The local general store was completely out of shells except the perfect 20 gauge shells to hunt grouse with. Serendipity!

I hunted both public lands and the Joyce property largely without knowing what I was doing. I had done zero research on where grouse live, what time of day they are out, what whether they prefer, or literally anything else about the animal. I was mostly taking my gun for a walk but I managed to scare up several grouse in the process. I only took 2 shots at grouse this season, mostly because they are so much faster than I expected. One shot landed.

I learned some important lessons this season about finding my way around public lands. Most importantly I learned that I needed to have a brightly colored phone case. At one point during my expedition I dropped my phone and I spent several hours retracing my steps (and tracking my old tracks) before I was able to find it. Next year I’d be back with a blaze orange phone case.