September 2022 - 34
Sharp-tailed grouse can be found in southeast Wyoming and as far north as the Powder River area. (Photo by Ron Hayes)
M
y 4-year-old son is a collector. I hear this is a natural thing for children, a
way to stretch a developing mind. Rocks, sticks and pieces of bone he finds
here on the ranch, the scapula of a young deer dragged in by the guard dog,
the delicate skull of a raccoon. It's an easy thing to please this kid; I just bring him a
rock I find while out trudging the hills behind my bird dogs, and he will put it into an
old tackle box with all the other rocks from places all over this glorious land and be
content for weeks.
It occurred to me this practice of gathering,
while it may start in childhood, is most likely
one of humankind's very first acts. We climbed
up from the earth, found a good rock for
dispatching game and went hunting. Early
man no doubt had a collection of rocks for
various jobs. You don't crack a mammoth
skull with a ball-peen hammer - you need
a sledge - but you don't need a sledge for
a tasty rabbit.
34 | September 2022
In outdoor sport, the most famous
collector was the outdoor writer Jack
O'Connor who penned many a story about
his lust for accumulating big game trophies,
particularly what he termed the " grand slam "
of North American wild sheep - desert,
Rocky Mountain, Dall and Stone. When I
was a boy not much older than my son is
now, I read O'Connor with a healthy appetite
for a good adventure tale. Influenced by his
words, I found myself traveling across America
focused on game like O'Connor. Unlike the
famous author, my tool for amassing was a
20-gauge shotgun, and my quarry had wings,
not hooves, but it was accretion all the same.
Which brings us to the four species of
grouse that call Wyoming home - incredible
game birds, each with their own habits and
habitat, each with their own challenge for
the shotgunner and accompanying bird dog.
September 2022
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2022
September 2022 - 1
September 2022 - 2
September 2022 - 3
September 2022 - 4
September 2022 - 5
September 2022 - 6
September 2022 - 7
September 2022 - 8
September 2022 - 9
September 2022 - 10
September 2022 - 11
September 2022 - 12
September 2022 - 13
September 2022 - 14
September 2022 - 15
September 2022 - 16
September 2022 - 17
September 2022 - 18
September 2022 - 19
September 2022 - 20
September 2022 - 21
September 2022 - 22
September 2022 - 23
September 2022 - 24
September 2022 - 25
September 2022 - 26
September 2022 - 27
September 2022 - 28
September 2022 - 29
September 2022 - 30
September 2022 - 31
September 2022 - 32
September 2022 - 33
September 2022 - 34
September 2022 - 35
September 2022 - 36
September 2022 - 37
September 2022 - 38
September 2022 - 39
September 2022 - 40
September 2022 - 41
September 2022 - 42
September 2022 - 43
September 2022 - 44
September 2022 - 45
September 2022 - 46
September 2022 - 47
September 2022 - 48
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