Headed out of McCleary at 4am today to hit our favorite Eastern Washington grouse spot.

Started out the day seeing a coyote, then a spike elk, then some mule deer, and a bobcat. The coyote was lucky, as my scope was a bit off (5" high and 2" to the right), but we got that fixed after tightening a scope base. The bobcat was just too quick for a shot.

The boys and I snuck up on two bull elk, a 5x5 and 3x3, and got within 40 yards, but only saw about 6 elk total. Ended up seeing almost 30 deer, including a mix of 5x5's, a few 4x4's, and lots of 3x's and forkies. For once we saw more bucks than does and fawns. No turkeys.

Ryan got the first grouse of the year, and Cedar got his first retrieve, which he brought to hand! Only saw 4 grouse in one covey, and they gave us fleeting chances on two more flushes as Hunter and I chased down the remaining 3, but they gave us the slip.

Today was a great day, except for all of the people (just tooling about on quads) in the woods. Everybody was great and respectful (legal as well), but dang, I'll wait until after Labor Day to hit the woods on the next trip.

Nothing like thunder chicken to get the blood pumpin' for fall hunting season! Hope to do some elk scouting and grouse busting this month as well....