On Grouse Hunting

Do you want to know what makes for a good day of grouse hunting? Getting up before 6 AM and hitting the road north, with one of your oldest and best friends. The miles fly by as strong, fresh, coffee ignites spirited conversations while you discuss youth, aging and the life choices you made which are spiked with both laughter and melancholy.

Hunting thunder chickens is a tough task; you don’t bait a pile and wait. You seek them out between the woods, streams, fields and shadows and rely on your most primal senses of sight and sound. If you’re lucky you get a few shots off. It you are good, you plug a few birds. But even if the best shot of the day is from your camera, it is still a great experience as mine was yesterday. 

To me, this photo illustrates a human life. It began as a seed and in its early years it grows steady and strong. The branches represent the different pathways our lives take and through this delicate cycle, the irony to me is that the oldest part of the tree provides the support to sustain the newer, always fragile life.