Lagopus Edit 1 Everyone

[kolemath]

I like it. concise. simple. not digging deeper than it should. 

Lagopus

Lagopus lagopus scotica, not sure what the point of latin is but i don't guess just saying 'red grouse' would make much of a difference
chuckles at shortening days. good play on the season and lethal gun shot
Winter is coming but so are the guns… yeah unless there's some contrast for 'winter,' 'guns' does work as connected by 'but' winter and guns both mean hibernation/potential death, so 'and' is better
Blat blat blat, through  heather-hushed heath, perhaps italics for the onomatopoeia ..good geography-specific language choices for sound
echoing down in the valley beneath, not a fan of doubling prepositions: 'down in' 
filling the wind with knots in air. my favorite line
Sky-line beaters  black on grey,
bent to the rain, halooing away, away? but they don't get away, right?
Lagopus lagopus scotica, maybe the latin makes sense if we're talking endangered species. it's a protected bird from what google says, but hunting's permitted so....not sure that reading works 
this will be your last day. yeah i'm for present tense or achebe's suggestion. future tense doesn't work for me. even past tense is better, on the finality of death. 

tectak
2016