It was a dark and dreary morning. Cold, and almost totally overcast.

Which can be a good thing if you're looking for strutting grouse.

Could see the faint glow of the setting moon in the southwest, but the dark clouds meant the grouse probably weren't strutting by moonlight all night.

Means they'll stay on the leks later in the morning.

And the clouds also mean eagles probably won't be flying, which also keeps grouse on the leks later in the morning.

'Course, clouds mean lousy light for you, too, so the grouse are hard to see. A bigger problem if you're looking for new leks, rather than checking known ones.

Like I was today.

Had two separate reports of folks finding grouse or signs of grouse in one of the gas fields. Reports from the same area. Where we have no strutting grounds mapped.

Finding new leks is more important than checking known grounds, so far into the desert we went this morning. Only 28 degrees, which was great, as the roads were frozen mud. Need to be out of here before they thaw.

And promptly got lost in the gas field. Too many new roads, and lost old roads. Wasted the first, best hour of the morning trying to find the spot where others had reported grouse.

Passed this elk:

four times.

Yeah. Four times.

Finally stopped at a gas well. They all have small identification signs, many of which give the legal location.

Yep, I was in section 28.

So drove to a low ridge, let the sisters out to run, and started glassing. And the country all looked wrong. Could not get the lay of the land to match what I remembered from the topo map.

Back to the gas well.

Section 28, alright. Range 97.

Range 97.

We're supposed to be in Range 96.

Craaap. Six miles off. Which is usually nine to ten miles by road. Finally got to the right section 28, an hour after sunrise. Searched, but with heavy clouds, lousy light, snow all over the place and being late, I found nothing.

And it was 31 degrees.

Do I risk backtracking over 30 miles of thawing, rutted gas field roads? Or head about eight miles further into the desert to hit the sands, and good roads all the way to the asphalt?

Sand, it was. And counted 20 cocks on a lek along the way.

But still, basically a wasted morning. And there are too few mornings left to waste any.

While the clouds kept it dark and dreary, there were occasional bursts of sunlight through small holes in the overcast sky: