The Anomaly Grouse

Jeff HornHunting Stories & Adventures

home of the anomaly grouse

Sometimes hunters and fishermen have a tendency to embellish their stories, or at least the stories grow bigger as time goes by. Who knows that the passage of time may cloud the memory which causes such delusions. More often than not we add to or take away from our experiences to make the stories more entertaining than anything malicious. With this in mind I am putting to paper the story about the “Anomaly Grouse”, as best I can recall it! Wink, wink!

The word, anomaly means, abnormal, peculiar, something different; you get the idea. When I tell about the anomaly grouse I am reminded about a fishermens tail from some time ago. These two fishermen were trying to see who could tell the biggest story. After the one had made his spill the other told about the day he was fishing below the Kentucky dam. He snagged something he thought was a turtle but when he pulled it in it was an old lantern. The other fisherman said, ‘that’s no big deal, there’s all kinds of junk in the Kentucky river”! Well said the other I started to clean it off and there was Daniel Boone’s name on it. The other fisherman had nothing to say at this point. Then the fishermen proceeded on to say “I looked a little closer and it was still lit”!

Author enjoying a grouse hunt somewhere in Michigan’s U.P.

The story of the Anomaly grouse begins in early October 2018 in the U. P. of Michigan. My hunting party decided to walk to a clear-cut some distance from the truck. As we were moving through one clear-cut to get to another my dog Ann veered way off the beaten path and into the big wood. Nearly out of hearing, I could make out that she was pointed, from the sound of her beeper collar. She was about a quarter mile, if not farther from us and not in the direction we were going. Since it was my dog I told the guys that I would go get her and catch up with them. Good deal…so off I went, and went, and went.

And went! The surprising thing to me is that each time I would stop to make sure I was going toward her, she was still pointed. When I reached her she was in an area within the big woods that was just a thicket in one spot. It looked as though a tornado had touched down in this place roughly 100 yards by 100 yards. Still pointed when I climbed into the thicket and got beside her. She was looking at a downed tree log on the ground. At this point I tapped her on the back releasing her from the point. She moved slowly toward the log, sticking her head underneath and pulling out a grouse with little effort. Getting the grouse from her I realized the grouse had one leg missing. Of course in my mind the questions start rolling.  How did this happen to this grouse? How did it survive with just one leg? How and why did the dog stay pointed for so long.

As I make my journey back to catch up with the other hunters I realize what an unusual event this is. First, and foremost, I have a one legged grouse in my coat. The dog stayed pointed far longer than anyone could have ever anticipated. The dog caught the grouse, and there was no shot to ring out. The only thing that could make the story I was about to share with my fellow hunters any more unbelievable would be to have the crutch the grouse was using to get around on!

Jeff Horn
Latest posts by Jeff Horn (see all)