# Dash's 2014 Bird Hunting Road Trip - Colorado



## sniper john (Jun 17, 2010)

Part 2 of my latest hunting road trip with Dash. 

After fixing up my hand as mentioned in the first part of this photo essay, I headed for Colorado. Stopped in at TPWD Taylor Lakes WMA on the way, but did not find the Dove there like last time I passed by there, so I kept on driving straight through. I wanted to check out a CO Wildlife Area I had never seen, so I made a detour to Apishapa Wildlife Area. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Almost made it, but a few miles away on a ranch road I hit bad luck.










I had a flat on the shale road, but when I started to change my right rear tire, the right front tire went flat too. I only had one spare. The road looked like this both ways. It was not a kind of road you would expect to see anyone. There were hand painted anti government signs on the road related to not selling land to the Army. Not sure what that was about.










It seems like someone is looking out for me on these road trips sometimes. A few minutes later I saw a dust cloud in the distance. Soon a Rancher with a mustache bigger than mine with his wife showed up. In a new white shirt he started taking my tires off and would not get out of my way despite my nagging insistence. They were headed to town an hour and a half away so they took my tires with them. I sent $200 cash and asked them to do anything they could for me. Gas station, tire shop, anything that could get me down the road. The owners of the land I was on checked up on me a couple times as well.

I never had any worries. The view was magnificent. There were small thunderstorm cells moving across the distant mountains and the countryside around me. It was like they would part and pass around me every time they got close to my location. I counted 5 rainbows I could see at one time. I was in a good place and not talking about my physical location. Not quite a point in time, but close. The sunset was just for me, so I took no pictures of it. But I did take these.



















Dash was running around the truck hunting on his own and I saw him go on point. I ran out, yelled a "wait", rain to the truck for my camera. Changed batteries on the run back out to Dash. Lined up the shot and POW! I think this is one of the best dog pictures I have ever taken. There had been some quail near the truck while I was working on it. I don't know if it was a flash point I stopped him on, or if a quail had left while I was running around trying to get the picture, but I could tell he had already relaxed some. I think it made the picture with him looking into the camera.










My guardian angels showed up with two used tires mounted and balanced from a tire shop. They were better tires than the ones that the shale had cut and only cost me $25 each. I later noticed on the receipt, they had driven another hour out of their way to find me some tires. They would not give me an address to send them something. And laughed at me with a "good try" comment when I said I only wanted to send them a christmas card. It is great to know there are good people in the world. I told them I would pay it forward many fold.

After sleeping in my truck I arrived at my cabin the next morning to find storms and wind. I was not going to do any hunting this day. The cabin was at 11,000 feet near the head of Elwood Pass. After I settled in I saw a man in a hoodie looking down on my cabin from the side of the mountain. He was there a long time. I wondered if he was enjoying the view of the storms rolling across the valley or if he was a mass murderer casing me out. I wondered if leatherface was going to bust in my cabin with a chainsaw and be wearing my face later. Then I saw his partner arrive pushing a bike. They were in trouble. I met them half way and found the woman with him had a bike with a stripped pedal 
and broken seat. They had been traveling from Georgia and did not have a support vehicle. It was my chance to pay it forward. I took them in, fired up the wood burning stove to get them warm. fet them real food instead of the freeze dried stuff they had. We brought the bike in the cabin and after three hours of myredneck ingenuity and Mcgiverism The bike was fixed. No way they could cross the pass in that kind of washout and winds, so informed them they were staying the night. I always meet at least one or two interesting people on my walkabouts somehow and this one was no exception. Sharing a bottle of Zackariah Harris Eggnog I was shared stories of how picking a fight with Vanilla Ice at a Taco Bell was how I met my wife, stories of paddling the Texas Water Safari, My flesh eating disease ordeal, hunting stories, and more. I was told of things such as Sled Dogging, biking across Alaska, and the Appalation Trail. Even though I did not hunt this day, it was one of my favorite day/nights of the trip.










Picture of the Cabin I stayed in. I had a wood burning stove and gas lighting, but no electric or water.


----------



## sniper john (Jun 17, 2010)

Blue Grouse hunting. I typically look for closed logging roads at elevations I think I will find the birds. Blue Grouse start low and work to higher elevations as the season progresses. By hunting off the old roads I know I am not likely to bother the bowhunters if there are no vehicles parked at the gate and I can cover a lot of ground by hiking the road working on and off of it as I go. First Road, no birds, but I saw dog and human tracks so I think someone had walked it just before me.










Dash is also a fur dog. Too bad Squirrels were not in season. He treed a few on this hunt.










Then the next road, and next road, no birds.



















Finally by evening after moving to the top of a mountain at a much higher elevation than I expected to find birds, I found lots of them. They were off the road in thick dark timber. Many of the trees dead from beatle damage. I bet I had 30 flushes in a couple hours. Half the birds flushing from up in trees. I got some points out of Dash, but the birds were usually on bare ground deep within the thick trees Birds would flush pretty quick. Over half the birds I heard, but never saw. I shot a few trees as birds flew through them. It was quite fun and Dash did great considering the conditions. Without the tracking collar I would not have known where he was much of the time. It worked beautifully.




























Next morning after a relaxing hike in the valley around the cabin, We loaded up and headed North to Routt National Forest near Steamboat Springs. Dash was crashed hard the entire drive.


__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










At the next cabin I met up with Chris/iliketohunt and his Vizsla Blue and hit the mountain above to look for Blue Grouse. Being a travel day, we did not have much time, so no birds were taken.Though I did chase one through the woods in a running battle getting three opportunities to shoot it, I missed or hit a tree every time, so I almost scared it to death. I brought birds with me so we had Blue Grouse Jambalaya for dinner. Friday was a goof off day to scout for the Sage Grouse opener since it was only a two day season. We met up with a local biologist for some tips and went looking.


----------



## sniper john (Jun 17, 2010)

A Moose that surprised us.










Big Moose that is



















Herd of Elk on the Illinois










We tried a little Snipe Hunting, but it was tough. Because it had been a wet summer the birds were really spread out and not concentrated on the public areas we had access to. With a lot of molting ducks around distracting the dogs, we had to give it up and move on.



















The roads traveled looking for Sage Grouse areas got fun a couple times and we did get kinda lost once, but did not care. Traveling the top of a ridge. The view was amazing.



















We did find some good areas for the opener and even found grouse. Chris may have some good pointing pictures of Blue from Friday. We had plan A, B, C, and D for Saturday and felt good about the next mornings hunt. It took a few miles of walking Saturday. It was hard on man and beast in that sage desert The birds seemed to be good at running and relocating as the dogs aproached, prairie dogs gave my fur and feather dog Dash a hard time to the point we had to scratch one area off our plan, but the dogs did not let us down.


----------



## sniper john (Jun 17, 2010)

Chris and I had split up with our dogs to cover more ground. At the end of a long push along a ridge top edge I was nearing the end when Dash went on point next to an old prairie dog mound and I did not see anything. I tried to send him on, but he wanted to stay. Apparently I should have trusted my dog. He relocated several yards forward and next thing I know I have a big mature male Sage Grouse in my face giving me a heart attack.



















That big male was alone, but there was a single big triangle shaped strip of sage left where it met short grass that I was certain held grouse since it was at the end of my push. I saw Chris headed my way and had not heard him shoot that morning. I wanted to get my grouse in the cooler asap because I wanted to have it mounted, so I left that cover for Chris. When him and Blue got there, I turned to watch and it was not long till Blue got on point. It was a sight to see as he was on a large covey. Those giant Sage Grouse just kept rising and sailing into all directions. Chris overwhelmed had not connected on the covey rise. Dash and I got down and concentrated on the flying birds to try and see where some of the birds would land, but all sailed far far away. Dash did point on two runners that had come our way, which allowed me to pick up my 2nd bird. Then Blue found another bird in the original cover and Chris connected on that one.










It was time for Blue to take a break. So we moved to our plan B spot and let Chris hunt over Dash to look for his second bird. We came to the conclusion the area had already been covered that morning by other hunters, so we called it a day.



















Chris had to cut his trip short so headed home the next morning. For me to hunt Sage Grouse again I would have had to send one of mine with Chris. The possession limit was two birds. Still I went back Sunday morning for some pictures and to try some more places looking for Snipe and Dove, but no birds found.


----------



## sniper john (Jun 17, 2010)

So I decided to hit the road to hunt a State Wildlife area SW of Steamboat to look for Mountain Sharptails that I had a special permit for.




























And just as the day was almost over, Dash found them.



















Then it was off to Kansas


----------



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I always look forward to your hunting posts.
You have a way of writing, that makes the adventures come alive.


----------

