Anyone who takes up bird hunting believing that it's easier and more productive that hunting big game must be supremely mistaken. Let me tell you, there might have been a time, many decades ago when that was the case. Here in Montana, big game has always been king. Birds? Well, they were an after thought for most folks. Almost no one hunted them deliberately. Nowadays, there are quite a few avid bird hunters, both in staters and out. Many have great dogs and hunt hard. As for the birds, any that survive the opening day "baptism by fire" dummy up quickly. After a few weeks of pressure they get wild as hell. Just getting within gun range is a major accomplishment.
Take for example our recent sojourn for sharp-tailed grouse. We spent two days covering a lot of country on foot, trying to locate birds and get within shooting range. When we eventually found some, they invariably flushed a hundred or more yards out. Often, they flushed nowhere near the dogs. Whethe…