[Bristol-Birds] grouse, grouse, everwhere and not a note to find

From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:59:19 -0400
Sunday night I came upon a greatly-cherished piece of information in my
bird records.  I had been hunting the data for no less than two decades.
I don't know how it escaped several searches down thru the years but it
sure did.

At 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 17 November 1971, I arrived at what my
journal reports as 2 Bills Restaurant in Marion, Va to meet with one of
my excellent contacts with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland
Fisheries.  That is the modern name of the agency.  It was called a
commission rather than a department in those days.

His name was Beecher Perry who was the Smyth County Game Warden
with the agency.  I think we had a bite to eat.  I remember leaving my car
at the restaurant and taking my camera and binoculars with me to get into
his state patrol car.  We were going to have a long ride and long talk about
agency activities that day.

Beecher headed up Va. Rt. 16 towards Troutdale and we turned down into the 
Hurricane
area of the Jefferson National Forest.  We drove past Hurricane Campground
and along a narrow and rock road thru the forest. 

As we approached a turn under a canopy of trees in the bottom land we could
see a car stopped ahead in the road and two men standing out in the road 
with the doors open on either side of their car.  Of course we thought they
were up to no good.

Beecher pulled his car closer and slightly around the curve to get a better
look as we approached them.  They were maybe 200 feet from us.

Suddenly we realized that they were watching something in the roadway.
We pulled closer to get a look.

A tremendous flock of Ruffed Grouse was in the road and slowly walking
from our left to the right.

Grouse were everywhere and I had not only never seen anything like that
but I didn't know it was possible.  Beecher turned off the motor to his cruiser
and we got out and stood behind our car doors.  I had my binoculars
and was looking right at them.  They were not even a 100 feet away.

The flock began to walk across the road in a somewhat cautious manner
but did not fly. They headed into the understory.

I was counting them but then realized there was no end to this flock.  More
and more and more and more began to come out of the woods on the left
and walk into the road and proceed to the other side.

My memory, down thru the years, has been that the flock was about
90 to 100 grouse.  When the birds had all crossed, the two men told us
they had just come upon several walking out into the road and the number
kept growing and they looked up and saw us arrive.  They were not counting
but I think they indicated maybe 20 or more before we came into view.

I think I must have not wanted to take my eyes or binoculars away from
counting the flock and did not attempt to retrieve my camera from the car.

What I had lost was the date, number seen and any notation about any of
this.  However,  last night I found the times and location and date for the
schedule meeting with Beecher.  

I was an environmental/conservation/outdoors editor for the Bristol Herald
Courier at that time.  I operated under the title of Outdoors Editor.  

Today, I went to the Bristol Public Library to see if the microfilm had a copy
of anything I may have written and published in one of my columns about the
grouse.  There was no mention of the grouse or being with Beecher Perry
or being there.

However, three days later I did publish a column and also had a photo on
the outdoors page.  That photo had just been taken at Hurricane Campground,
in front of the National Forest campground sign.  A new and large box had been
place there by the Forest Service for hunters to place their trash in rather 
than
to pile it or leave it in the woods.  I had taken that photograph.  There were
comments from Area Ranger Keith Argow about the box and its purposed in
the cutlines under the photo.  I did not go to the Hurricane Campground to get
the photo.  It was just something we came upon.

The reason there was no mention of Beecher Perry in the newspaper was
because I did not want to publish anything that would reveal us having been
together that day.  He was a trusted news source who provided accurate
information. It was important to check facts with him when I needed someone
who could be an additional source.

Now I have the actual date and verification in print that I had just been at
Hurricane Campground.  

What I need now is a field note or any other good documentation of the
number of birds I counted.  I believe the numbers published here are correct.

Tonight, I searched thru more than 50 years of field notes for all the Novembers
and found a few from that month and year but did not find anything from
17 Nov 1971.  I'll continue to search.

Let's go birding . . . .

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
[Bristol-Birds] grouse, grouse, everwhere and not a note to find

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