Snowshoe and a Grouse

There's a storm blowing in today so I decided to try to get a quick hunt in before it hit. Grouse season is open but I wanted to hit one of my favorite snowshoe hare spots. I started working through some heavy cover and about 20 minutes in jumped a cottontail. He ran forward about 5 yards and stopped. I drew my Single Six, had the hammer back and the sights just behind his eye. I was in an awkward stance and decided to move my left foot back slightly before taking the shot. Even as I was doing it I knew from past experience that a rabbit (or hare) usually won't hold long or put up with much movement from what spooked it before disappearing. Sure enough, just as I moved my left foot he vanished never to be seen again. All of that took place in just a few seconds. I blame my poor judgment on being rusty since that was my first rabbit opportunity since last winter.

I kept slowly working my way around cover and likely hiding spots and jumped a grouse. I was looking for hares but I'm not about to pass up the opportunity at a grouse so I took it. My shot was a little low, missing the head but it clipped the neck. I started circling the patch of cover the grouse was in to see if there were more. As I came around the far side I saw a snowshoe hare. Just as I saw him he broke cover, darted forward about 20 yards and stopped. I held behind the eye but could tell by his reaction that I didn't hit the brain. He was still on his feet and turning so I put a shot into the ribcage which finished him. When I checked him I saw that I had pulled my first shot and impacted in front of the eye. You can see he's starting to turn white. We've had a couple snowstorms up high so its time for them to change color.

I jumped two more snowshoes but they didn't give me a shot. Both of them disappeared and as much as I tried I couldn't locate them again. Other than my poor shooting it was a good day. I was able to enjoy a little time in the woods and brought home a couple meals.



This is the type of cover I'm hunting in. There's some thick patches. You walk by far more hares and rabbits than you actually see.

Great!

You sure had a better day then me.....

Nice way to spend the day.I mowed the grass,fun fun.

You had a lot more fun than I today. Good shootin'

That sound like it would be a lot of fun. Congrats on a great outing!

Good shooting pab1! What caliber is your single six? I really enjoy my .32 H&R single six and would love to take it on an outing like that!

Thanks guys. It was a fun trip!



Its a 22lr/22 mag. I was using the 22lr cylinder with Remington Subsonic ammo. I've seen a few posts with people using .32's. That round has to be fun to hunt and plink with!

Nice job pab1, took my single six 32 mag. for a little grouse outing saturday but it was a slow day, all I saw was a sheep herder from Peru, half a dozen chipmunks, some pine squirrels & quite a few moose tracks. I always try to bring something home even if its just a photo. Here's my single six 32 maggie & my favorite thing to take a picture of, old tree stumps.


Dick

Very nice gun Sixshot!

Nice. Not all handgun hunting is for big game.

Yep! I enjoy small game just as much!

Pab, I miss snow shoe hair hunting in CO. There was a group of us in college that hunted with black powder revolvers our two favorite game were snow shoes and grouse. That picture brings back great memories. Kudos to your success.

Nice shooting

Thanks guys!



Sounds like some fun hunts! I enjoy hunting cottontails, snowshoes and grouse with muzzleloading handguns and rifles too. I just did a post in the "Off Topic" forum about a recent snowshoe/grouse hunt using a .54 cal muzzleloader.

Nice country! Good results.