Page 26 - ISI_151_AprilMay

PAGE 26 ENTERTAINMENT IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT • APRIL // MAY 2019

Book Review: Idaho Ruffed Grouse Hunting

ANDREW MARSHALL WAYMENT, THE HISTORY PRESS, 2018

sharptailed grouse, and smaller numbers
REVIEW BY HOLLY ENDERSBY of ruffed grouse are found.
Wayment found Grouse Springs with
Hunters love a good story, and, if it’s told around a campfire, that’s his Brittany Sunny Girl one fall day and
even better. But sometimes, you can find an armchair book that brings followed this splendid dog into “The
you back into the field with friends, family, and hunting dogs. Pinch,” which dwindles to a mere game
Such it is with Idaho Ruffed Grouse Hunting: The Heartbeat of the Woods trail. But other names pepper the book
by Andrew Marshall Wayment, an addicted ruffed-grouse hunter who with fond memories of birds, glori-
makes his living as a lawyer in southeastern Idaho when he’s not fly ous days, and friendship. Names like
fishing or stalking Ol’Ruff. “Grouseketeer Ridge,” “Miracle Half
This book is not a how-to or where-to-go missive but is instead Mile,” “Hope’s Hill,” “Grouse Rock,”
a paean to the sporting heritage of western wing-shooting at its best. “the Blazing Saddle,” and others, includ-
As Wayment says, “I prefer a good story over instructional writing ing the aptly named “Outhouse Covert,”
any day.” which was at first going to be dubbed
For those of us who like to hunt, be it elk or ruffed grouse, the “The Hive” for all the grouse buzzing around that draw that his dog,
descriptions of those golden fall days spent in the field will ignite our Misty, flushed, until the author and his brother discovered on another
own favorite memories. day an outhouse quite literally in the middle of nowhere.
If you’ve hunted the same ground for years, you’ll have baptized your I would be remiss in this review if Wayment’s love of hunting
haunts with names not to be found on any map. So it is with Wayment. dogs weren’t mentioned. If you’ve ever hunted over a good dog, you
He states, “Finding and naming coverts has to be one of the most know they enhance the experience immeasurably. And for upland
fun things about upland game hunting. And the name can’t just be any bird hunting, you simply can’t separate the hunter from her dog:
name; it has to be specific to that spot, and it has to mean something.” they are a team that has a love for the hunt, making time in the fall
The same holds true for big game hunting, I will assert, having afield magical.
crawled through the Match Box, sprinted across Buck Ridge, slinked The author has hunted over a superb black Labrador retriever
through The Bog, and up The Hand. named Logan, owned by his friend Matt Lucia. He also mentions
Wayment started hunting grouse as a law student at the University another friend’s incredible chocolate lab and his brother’s field-bred
of Idaho as a means of retaining his sanity after the daily mind-numb- English cocker spaniel.
ing study of law. While Wayment has a special fondness for the American Brittany and
His first special grouse hunting places in north Idaho were dubbed, its French counterpart, the Epagneul Breton, he admits that “the best
“the Christmas Tree Farm” near Troy and “Madman Land” near grouse dog in the West is the one that makes you happy and gets it done.”
Kendrick. The author now lives in southeast Idaho, and his book So, to all you “Brush Worns” out there, you’ll thoroughly enjoy the
fondly recalls hunts in the “Grouse Spring,” a portion of “the Royal stories in Idaho Ruffed Grouse Hunting. And for those of you who don’t
McNab,” a typical sagebrush steppe landscape with wooded draws and, know what a Brush Worn is, you’d better get the book and find out! ISI
in the fall, flaming aspen groves where Huns, pheasants, numerous

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