Church Mt. Report

A friend of mine had told me that his Dad use to hunt grouse up around Church Mountain north of Mt. Baker. So I decided to take a couple days and do some exploring. Got to the area late Tuesday morning and did a little driving to try and locate some places to hunt. I had never been up that way before and found it to be a beautiful place with great views of Canyon Creek and Mt. Baker. One spot that looked promising had a little spur road off one side with a nice flat camp spot so I parked the truck and took off on foot. I hiked way up one logging road (and I mean up) and by 2:30 hadn't seen anything. I figured it mustn't be that good of an area and started back to the truck. I was walking a little fast coming down and not paying attention when I rounded a corner and right in the middle of the road about 50 yrds is a bird. He must of saw me before I saw him as he was off into heavy cover before I could get my gun shouldered. I was disappointed but still excited that there were birds in the area and decided to go back to the truck, set up camp, and hunt the evening as there were two other roads with similar terrain. After setting up the truck tent and getting something to eat I figured I'd head out and hunt until dark. I didn't want to return to my original spot too soon, so I went up a different road first. After about an hour or so of seeing nothing I turned around and headed back. Having remembered my earlier mistake I kept my pace slow and came around corners more cautiously. This paid off as about half way back, as I turn a corner, here sits another bird. I was ready this time and just as he took off I shot and dropped him right on the edge of the hill. No digging through the brush looking for this bird. I did make another mistake though. Roper had told me that when you see one there most likely will be another. Well he was right. As I was standing there with the bird in one hand and my open O/U in the other, up flushes a second bird about ten ft. away from me. Anyway, I was a happy camper and hunted until dark but didn't see anything more. I got up the next morning and hunted the two roads again but had no success. I packed up camp and decided to try some other area on the way back down. One spot I tried, I came accross a bear down in a revine just foraging away on a bunch of berry and current bushes. When I first heard it I thought it was moving water but it was intermitent. When I walked up around the road and looked back over I could see part of him in the bushes. He was pretty far down and it was a steep cut so I kept on going up the road. Not more than 200 yds. I hear the same noise again coming from another cut and it sounds a lot closer to the road. So, I figured I'd leave that area for the bears and went back to the truck. Just as I headed down the canyon it started to rain and by the time I got to the Hwy. it was pouring with lots of thunder. Perfect timing. Not sure what type of grouse this is. It seems darker than the ruffed I saw hunting with Roper, so maybe a spruce or blue?

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