I spent an afternoon last week sauntering with my shotgun through the woods. It was a windy day on the nearby prairie but in the woods it was still and calm.
White-crowned sparrows flitted in the underbrush, and yellow-bellied sapsuckers called from the oaky over-story as they flitted from trunk to trunk, but nary a grouse was to be seen; until finally one flushed toward the end of my walk through an alder swamp. But it flew away from me deeper into the alders and did not present a good shot. So my shotgun remained unfired as I made my way back to the trailhead parking lot.
While I did not get any game that afternoon, I did have an enjoyable walk. Maybe next time!
The Wildwood Glen 