A thought about the black grouse... I rarely bother hunting it - 'cos it's hard and there's little benefit!

It could be made more desirable to hunt if we could use its carcass (the bones) to make fishing hooks from, hence making our own fishing poles (staff(?), cord + grouse carcass)... And when needles are introduced, the fine bird bones might be useful here too.

The grouse is the most common wild animal whose skin can be made into leather, usable for ropes.

That's a fair point... how many grouse (grice?!) do you need to make a rope?

Plural of grouse is grouse. Think of them like winged sheep. =) Anyway, one grouse = one rope.

Thanks for your reply. Is the 1 grouse = 1 rope true in 3.10-2? I've tried to make a rope by using two grouse and two snakes and still come up short... I could just be really bad at skinning, though!

The thing about the grouse though is that it's too hard to kill.

Birds are extremely delicate in real life. If you hit any real life bird with a rock or a kick (besides a turkey mind you, turkeys can take a .22 bullet to the chest and keep on running) it will have shattered bones and flop around until it's dead.

Animals vary in sizes in 3.10-2. Not necessarily all grouse have enough leather to make a rope. In addition, the amount of usable leather you get from skinning is apparently affected by the success in the skinning attempt.

Having taken part in a grouse hunt I know they're not that delicate. They weigh 2-5 kg, can be as long as 100 cm (head to tail) and are actually tough "little" buggers. Here's a pic of a Finnish black grouse:

oh yeah, and when it's their mating season they become posessed little buggers. one recently stood in the middle of a large field and made agressive gestures as i drove by on the road. the males are known to attack people who get too close to them during their crazy season.

personally i like the taste of pheasant, but these buggers i leave alone :P

that is NOT a pretty bird.

That's a male grouse in a fighting stance, which is the way they usually present themselves when encountered by a human ;)

The females look prettier and a lot less menacing, just like in most other species as well :P

you're right. The female is a nice looking specimen. But it isn't always so. Look at the mallard ducks. the males are much more attractive than the the bland looking females.