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![["George's 73rd hunting season finds him at nearly 91 years and Kay at 91, while Manton is 6 1/2. Hunting without a gun for much of the season, he visis Little Sandy South, the Pauls' place, June's place, Roaring Creek Bridge, Charlie Seese's land, Hog Run, Livingood Road, and Muddy Creek. He drives to where he shot his first West Virginia grouse in 1939. Many of the old roads are now grown over, showing no signs of use by car, and George expresses concern that he and Kay are no longer in condition to be hunting and traversing slippery, steep hills. When he finally flushes grouse, it happens on the outing when he hunts without a gun, but he is still overjoyed at the prospect of there being grouse in the area."]](/thumb/evans_00067 "Shooting Notes")
![["This season, George has a new puppy, Becasse. It is George's 72nd season hunting grouse, and he visits the Paul place, Ezra Kelly's land, Pine Creek, Route 44, the Wilkinsons' land, and Tub Run tributaries. He hunts along with Paul Whosley and Ross Steinhauer, training Becasse to hunt with Manton and making good use of the 4-wheel-drive on slippery roads. George laments the greatly reduced grouse population in West Virginia and the generally empty coverts. He becomes sick with pneumonia in December."]](/thumb/evans_00066 "Shooting Notes")
![["In his 70th hunting season, George Bird Evans only hunts with Manton, as his dog Quest had passed away earlier in the year. He visits hunt locations including the Matthews' land, Canaan Valley, Raven Rock trail, Black Bear Thorns, Rehobeth, Balsam Run, Timberline cabins, Dolly Sods, the Poplar House, Kitzmiller Hill, Pine Creek, McClintock Ridge, and Little Sandy. George is often critical of Manton's hunting, comparing him to past dogs. Though he remarks sadly that many of his old hunting friends had passed away, he still hunts with Paul Matthews and Tom Kotay. Kay takes many photos of his hunts. George includes a couple pages of hunt data."]](/thumb/evans_00064 "Shooting Notes")
![["It is George's 69th season hunting grouse, and he is accompanied by his dogs Quest and Manton, at 9 and 2 years respectively. He visits hunt locations in and around Pisgah, the Lick Run Trail, Big Sandy Valley, the Pisgah Mountaineer Hunting Club, Enchanted Valley, Black Bear Thorns, Canaan Valley, Dolly Sods, Pine Creek, Ridge Road, Spruce Spring, and the Pauls' place. He hunts with Tom Kotay, David hall, Danny Burris, and the Stewart couple. He includes a couple of pages with tables of hunt statistics."]](/thumb/evans_00063 "Shooting Notes")
![["In this journal, George hunts with both Quest and Manton together. He finds chukkars in some covers, and remarks on the vibrant tree color and warmth of the Indian Summer. This season, he celebrates his and Kay's 62nd anniversary, and although he laments the lack of grouse game in West Virginia, he has found joy in hunting with Manton. He visits locations including the Playfort Maust place, Black Bear Thorns, Canaan Valley, the Brenda Miller house, Black Bear resort, Cortland Road, Dolly Sods, Fishers Spring, Somersville Road, Grassy Ridge, the Frazee place, the Wolf place, Deer Lake, Spruce Spring, the Paul Liston Mine, the Bishoff place, Big Sandy Ridge, and Kelly Gallows Road. George visits friends Ben and Dorothy Thompson and Mike Bitely. He finds that Manton has a bad habit of wandering off and hunting by himself, while Quest has a scare falling down a ridge steep enough to have killed him, which thankfully does not happen. At this point with the lack of game birds, hunting for George has become primarily recalling and exercise. He keeps a table of hunt statistics, noting that he has only moved 5 grouse this season in West Virginia."]](/thumb/evans_00062 "Shooting Notes")
![["In this journal, George laments that Quest's points are low-tailed, among his other bad habits picked up from being away from game too long. George fondly remembers hunting with Dixie, Shadows, Belton, and Briar in familiar covers. He experiences some difficulty with his stiff right shoulder, and experiences some increased antagonism from the public towards hunters. He meets with friends John Sylvester and Paul Rinker. He drives his Subaru to hunt in locations in and around Black Bear Thorns, Canaan Valley, Camp 70, the \"Gates,\" Lacey Thorns, the Edelman Place, Mount Storm, Cranesville Swamp, Spruce Thorns, Rifle Ridge, Mallows, Reservoir Hill Road, the Poplar House, Harriet Brymer's land, Spruce Gate, King's Bridge, Little Sandy North, Ray Guthrie's land, and the McKay Place. In each entry, he notes the weather and location. He includes tables with data for game, location, and dog."]](/thumb/evans_00060 "Shooting Notes")
![["George sadly writes that Belton is gone this season, and he misses him greatly. It is Quest's 6th hunting season, and George's 65th. He and Kay hunt in and around Little Sandy North, Sugar Loaf Mountain, the old Nemacolin Trails Shooting Preserve, the Deer Lake Game lands, Wharton Furnace, Paul Uphold's land, Charles Kelly's land, Ray Guthrie's land, the Bitely place, the McKay place, and Hunting Hills. Later in the season, George expresses concern that he can no longer accurately judge distance. He includes an organized data table of hunt statistics."]](/thumb/evans_00059 "Shooting Notes")
![["It is George's 64th season gunning grouse. This year finds George at 81 3/4 years old, while Belton is 12 1/2 and Quest is 4 1/2. Belton starts chemotherapy, and while initially he seems to be doing well, George soon realizes that he cannot hunt as he normally does, as he tires easily. George eventually makes a note of Belton's last day hunting. George, Kay, and the dogs go hunting on and around locations including Ray Guthrie's land, the hartman place, Clyde Davis' land, Canaan Valley, Mt. Storm, Rehobeth Thorns, Poplar House, Hank Mullen's land, Black Bear Woods, Hank Mallow's land, Canaan Mountain, the Corinth thorns, Paul Uphold's land, Greene County, Deer Lake, the Asa Wright house, Ray Guthrie's land, and Little Sandy North. He meets up with friends Jimmy Spiker and Mrs. Ward Crane. George refers to this year as a \"lost season,\" noting Belton's poor health and his own re-injuring of his right shoulder, which makes it impossible for him to shoot. With frustration, he writes that he moved around twenty grouse this season in West Virginia, the same number he would havemoved in the '40's and '50's in a single day. George includes a table of statistics with organized data for his hunt locations and dogs."]](/thumb/evans_00058 "Shooting Notes")
![["It is George's 63rd season at 80 years old. His dogs Belton and Quest are 11 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old, respectively. He remarks on the \"glorious\" Indian summer at the start of the season. Though he speaks disparagingly of the amount of grouse this season, he still visits locations in and around Rehobeth Thorns, Canaan Valley, Timberline, the Black Bear development, Ohiopyle, the Mitchell place, Furnace Road, Fawcett Bottom, Upper Wilkinson, Far Edelman, the Poplar House, the Deer Lake Game Lands, Cemetery Hill, Ray Guthrie's land, Charlie Seese's land, the Chorpenning place, Little Sandy, the Nicholson place, Graveyard Glade, and Chestnut Ridge. He visits with and hunts with friends including Ben Thompson, James Ramsey, Clyde and Cora Davis, Glenn McCarty, and Rob Stout. Later in the season, he fondly remembers his old dogs' Briar and Dixie's birthdays. He includes a table with information and statistics about each hunt location and dog."]](/thumb/evans_00057 "Shooting Notes")
![["This season finds dogs Belton at 10 1/2 years old and Quest at 2 1/2, while George himself is pushing 80. This season features Quest's first retrieve. Beginning his journals in New York State, George hunts in Afton, Hunt Hill, Hardback Knob, Oquagua Lake, Wheeler Road, Woodcock Corner, Jersey Hill, and Willow Court. In West Virginia and Pennsylvania, he hunts in and around Mount Storm, the Corinth dogwood cover, Poplar House, Clyde Davis' place, Rehobeth, Pigeon Roost Road, Arnold Basin, Ray Guthrie's land, AJ McMullen's place, Dinner Bell Corner, Haudershell, Paul Uphold's land, the Paul Liston Mine, the Hartman place, the Peava place, and Ft. Morris thorns. He hunts with and visits Bill McClure, Jim Nestor, Ray Smith, Rick Gyrka, and Dale Seese. He meets a descendant of his old dog, Ruff, who is mixed with what he terms \"rough blood,\" and expresses disappointment in the resulting dog. He also remarks that Quest is a great disappointment as a dog. He includes a table of statistics with numbers and information for each location and dog."]](/thumb/evans_00056 "Shooting Notes")