Gentlemen,

Currently I am rereading my GBE book collection. As many of you know I knew George pretty well. His ideas on Grouse seasons, that had become too long are a well known opinion.
Reading his exact opinions on the seasons in WVa, he made some very seriously good points. What I now realize is that he was talking about the WVa area, and how long it stayed warm allowing many Grouse hunters to Grouse hunt till almost the end of February. He does point out that in NY and northern PA there is usually so much snow that the Grouse in those areas are hardly effected by late season gunning. On this point I do agree, late season Grouse hunting in Potter County, Pa is done by very very few Grouse hunters. GBE believed that in the 60's & 70's there were a big number of Grouse hunters, and when the surrounding states seasons closed, these Grouse hunters, came to WVa to Grouse hunt until late February.

His reasoning for shorter seasons in WVa actually do have some merit, many of us Pa Grouse hunters in the 60's & 70's after our home state Grouse season closed hunted WVa. I have to admit during this time I also saw a lot less Grouse in WVa than home in Potter County, Pa. I though this was because I did not know the mountains in WVa as well as I did my home mountains in Pa. GBE's ideas on Grouse hunting were both bad and good, his reasoning was not always biologically proven, however his actual Grouse Graphs on bird contact thru the years, do not lie. One of the reasons for his theory of too many hunters for too long a time, was developed from his actual experience of running into a lot of Grouse hunters in the 60's & 70"s compared to his earlier years of Grouse hunting. He would get very upset when we would go to one of his favorite coverts, and hunters were already there or had just been there. I can understand his feelings, it has happened to me the same way, however not in the numbers that GBE talked about. Late in the 70's GBE actually told me that he should have bought a place in Potter County, Pa however he loved where he and Kay lived and was unwilling to relocate.

I do miss GBE badly, his writing introduced the world to our Upland Shooting Life. GBE was a man like any other, however his writing on Grouse hunting was just incredible, every time I pick up one of his books, I am back home in the Grouse woods where I belong.

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Very cool. As an avid bird hunter, I badly want to hunt grouse. Living is Southern California, Valley Quail and Dove hunting is very good. Grouse- not so much... I need to get up to Montana for grouse.

PoorRichRichard,

Enjoy your Valley Quail hunting, our Pa Mountain Quail are extinct for many many years, we do have fair Dove hunting but nothing like Texas. Grouse, Woodcock and Pheasants we do have, in real decent numbers. The pheasants are mostly stock now, with a few wild birds in isolated places. If you have never read GBE's books I highly recommend them, even at the incredible over pricing of the books. The Affair with Grouse book I talked about has GBE's major thoughts on overly long WVa Grouse seasons, and his belief that there were way too many Grouse hunters from the 60's on. Recently however we have lost over 60% of the Grouse hunters GBE was writing about. Many are too old to hunt now, or have passed away. In reality we have very few Grouse hunters today, these modern Grouse hunters however move around a great deal, and still shoot a good number of Grouse.

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man