I posted a story in "Double Limits" of taking a three bird limit of ruffed grouse in Iowa and a five bird Minnesota limit of 'ruffs in the same day, over m first bird dog, a female black Lab named "Pitch". She was a great bird dog that deserved a wiser owner and hunter than I was in my youth. But she still had a pretty darn good hunting life.

I continued to hunt after "Pitch" died, and on a hunt a few years later I started out hunting in S.E. Minnesota and took the five bird limit of ruffed grouse with a few daylight hours to spare. Since it was so difficult for me to rationalize the financial setback of taking an unpaid day off work to hunt, I never returned home before dark unless I'd exhausted all legal opportunities to stay in the woods. So, I drove across the border into Iowa and continued grouse hunting.

I didn't really care about shooting more birds and really wanted to explore a public area that I had never hunted before. It was a beautiful, sunny, late fall day and there was obviously a good crop of grouse that year. Forgive me for not recalling the details but it was a long time ago. I've never been one to keep a journal so most of my misses have been forgiven by father time, but I do have a poor picture of a very tired, yet happy, younger version of myself, with a bird strap loaded with a day's take of eight ruffed grouse. God, those were the days!