Best Gun for Hunting Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock

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SwampWolf

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What's your favorite shotgun(s)/gauge(s) for hunting upland birds in heavy cover; likely being grouse ("pats" in Michigan) and woodcock (timber doodles)? My picks are a Merkel Model 147 EL, twenty gauge double, choked IC/Mod with 26 3/4" barrels and a Browning Double Auto, twelve gauge, having a 26" barrel with interchangeable chokes.
Which choke I choose to use on the Browning sometimes depends on whether I'm hunting over a pointing dog (IC) or a flushing dog (Mod) and the nature of the cover (the heavier the cover, the more open the choke).
I don't have one, but if most of my bird hunting was for woodcock it'd be a good reason to get a nifty, little 28 gauge...:)
 
I had a Stevens 311 in 16 with 20" cyl. bore that was deadly on grouse and the odd woodcock I kicked up.
 
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SwampWolf

I have always liked a shorter barreled 20 gauge pump action shotgun preferably with an Improved Cylinder choke tube. Started out with a plain barrel 20 gauge Ithaca Model 37 and now have a 22" vent rib barrel 20 gauge Winchester Model 1300. Great for upland game.
 
This is a nice 28 gauge with its scaled frame.

https://ithacagun.com/

Here's my 16 gauge Ithaca double barrel built in 1936 that I use,

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SwampWolf said:
What's your favorite shotgun(s)/gauge(s) for hunting upland birds in heavy cover; likely being grouse ("pats" in Michigan) and woodcock (timber doodles)?
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I was born (1952) and raised in Michigan until we moved to Nebraska in 1969.and your terms for those birds brought back many memories! We hunted the Northern LP in Montmorency County (Lewiston area), and I carried a Springfield Arms Chicopee Falls Mass (later bought out by Savage/Stevens) 20 gauge break-open single shot with a 26" I/C barrel. My Dad had a Federal Migratory Bird stamp for woodcock but would not buy one for me as my job was to go into the "cedar" swamps in knee-high rubber boots and kick out birds for the adults. My thumb was always on the hammer. I enjoyed every minute of it because I got to be there, even as a bird dog!

As a teen I got my fair share of pats. One time my Dad shot a couple of woodcock (with a Model 12 16 gauge 28" full choke using 7-1/2 shot), and brought them home, My Mom was disgusted as there was nothing to eat on those little guys.

For pats, I would go with a shorter barrel Rem 870 20 gauge in I/C, but I happen to be very fond of 870's so my opinion is a bit skewed. In heavy brush/timber I think a 28 is too small. I think a 28 SXS would be great for quail over a dog.

In 1969-1970 I worked at Roberts' Shooting Park setting/pulling trap/skeet, and got to shoot a variety of guns on the skeet ranges: 12, 20, 28, and .410, just so you know I am not a noob when it comes to this area of discussion.

Just rambling!

Jim
 
I would have to second ChanceMcCall's pick, I don't have one but it is on my to find and buy list. 20 gauge Remington 1100 Special Field with an I/C choke. I do have a 12 gauge 870 special field that I do love to shoot now and then. Been many years since I was able to hunt in the UP for ruffs and woodcock, my friend's parents had a cabin up near Munising.
 
kudu said:
I do have a 12 gauge 870 special field that I do love to shoot now and then. Been many years since I was able to hunt in the UP for ruffs and woodcock, my friend's parents had a cabin up near Munising.
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That 870 would be more than sufficient for this type of hunt, even using 1-1/8 oz. target loads. Munising! Pictured Rocks I miss the UP from a long time ago.
 
My American Browning Auto 5 in 20 ga. It has a poly choke so I can use it for all situations.
For pats in the thick stuff I use my Stoeger coach gun. 12 ga 18 inch barrels IC/M

BTW I live in Michigan so I know the conditions you are talking about.

IronHand
 
Upland hunting over dogs is my weakness. I still have a birddog but the quail are scarce.
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Here's a classic bird gun . LC Smith sxs 20ga bored full and modified. It was a bit too tight for shooting over dogs. I regularly made featherburgers out of quail, so i bought a little mossberg silver reserve o/u in 28ga with tubes. It is a dandy upland gun.
 
Armored farmer said:
Upland hunting over dogs is my weakness. I still have a birddog but the quail are scarce.
View attachment 779388
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Here's a classic bird gun . LC Smith sxs 20ga bored full and modified. It was a bit too tight for shooting over dogs. I regularly made featherburgers out of quail, so I bought a little mossberg silver reserve o/u in 28ga with tubes. It is a dandy upland gun.
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You old guys make this old guy smile profusely with your posts and back-in-the-day tales.

That is a nice well-used and well-treated Elsie. A friend of my Dad's had a very fancy one (I don't know the particulars) that he never shot but would always show it off, and then back in the closet it went.

I only hunted quail (bobwhite) over a dog a few times but I learned a lot. The dog would hold in back of the covey and when sent in the air would explode with birds. I learned fast to concentrate on one bird, and then we would chase down as many singles as we could. Wish I could do that again!

Around 1966 my Dad brought home two Fox Sterlingworths: a 12 gauge 30" M/F with ejectors and a 20 gauge 28" M/F with extractors. Both had double triggers and splinter fore ends, manufactured in the 30's I think.

The 12 was a very heavy gun and I did not enjoy carrying it.

I think that 20 might have weighed an ounce over 5# loaded, and it was a delight to carry all day in the field, but it was choked too tight for quail and even for rising shots on pheasants.

In 1970 I used it for a round of skeet, and did fairly well with it until it beat my shoulder and cheek so bad (even with skeet #8 loads) that I wanted to just throw it to the ground (which I didn't). 3" drop at the heel.

Thanks to all for posting and for the memories!

Jim
 
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In the early seventies, a friend from college and I hunted quail in the farmlands and meadows of western Missouri around Warrensburg with his young Pointer named Joe. Lots of quail in those parts back then. Though I've hunted for grouse and woodcock in Pennsylvania and Ohio, most of the time I hunted for pats (grouse) was in the cedar swamps and woods/fields "transitional" habitat found in much of the northern lower peninsula of Michigan.
My first taste of hunting pats was in the Mason Tract area near Grayling, Michigan, alongside the South Branch of the AuSable River, in the early sixties while I was stationed at the Wurtsmith AFB, in Oscoda. I was hunting with the same Browning Double Auto (purchased new in 1961) then as I still do. Over the years, I've hunted with different and unforgettable pointing dogs: two setters (Abby and Kate); one German Wirehair (Rufus) and now a Brittany named Lily. All of my dogs have been family members, spoiled rotten for sure but splendid companions in the woods. I doubt I'd still hunt if I wasn't trying to catch up with a dog whose legs are decades younger than mine.
For the last couple of decades, my friends and I have been hunting for pats and woodcock in the Mio/Fairview, Michigan area, not far from the Au Sable. Though I still hunt with the Double Auto (got my first and only "double" on pats with it over a point with Kate), I've used the Merkel double I got in 2000 for the most part anymore. A delightful little twenty that points quick and shoots straight.
Much has changed over the past twenty years or so and most for the worse-less birds, more years on the legs, lung and heart and beloved hunting companions have passed from this world to the next. Even Ma Deeters, an old eating/drinking/dancing establishment near Lovells we frequented for years and years burned to the ground recently. They "rebuilt" it but it ain't nearly the same.
But our guns, families, friends and memories are constants in a changing world. We are so fortunate to be citizens of this great country and we need to remind ourselves every day of our good fortune. God bless America!
Hope this bit of reminiscing earns a smile from you, expat_alaska...:)
 
Charliefrank

Ithaca model 37 featherweight in 20 gauge in mho is about the best upland bird gun going. Points great, lightweight for miles of walking and reliable as the day is long.
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Couldn't agree more with you! Started hunting grouse with a borrowed Ithaca Model 37 many years ago. Great gun for carrying a lot and a natural pointer when the birds took flight. And I still remember that oh so smooth as silk pump action!
 
SwampWolf said:
much of the northern lower peninsula of Michigan.
My first taste of hunting pats was in the Mason Tract area near Grayling, Michigan, alongside the South Branch of the AuSable River, in the early sixties while I was stationed at the Wurtsmith AFB, in Oscoda. I was hunting with the same Browning Double Auto (purchased new in 1961) then as I still do. Over the years, I've hunted with different and unforgettable pointing dogs: two setters (Abby and Kate); one German Wirehair (Rufus) and now a Brittany named Lily. All of my dogs have been family members, spoiled rotten for sure but splendid companions in the woods. I doubt I'd still hunt if I wasn't trying to catch up with a dog whose legs are decades younger than mine.
For the last couple of decades, my friends and I have been hunting for pats and woodcock in the Mio/Fairview, Michigan area, not far from the Au Sable. Though I still hunt with the Double Auto (got my first and only "double" on pats with it over a point with Kate), I've used the Merkel double I got in 2000 for the most part anymore. A delightful little twenty that points quick and shoots straight.
Much has changed over the past twenty years or so and most for the worse-less birds, more years on the legs, lung and heart and beloved hunting companions have passed from this world to the next. Even Ma Deeters, an old eating/drinking/dancing establishment near Lovells we frequented for years and years burned to the ground recently. They "rebuilt" it but it ain't nearly the same.
But our guns, families, friends and memories are constants in a changing world. We are so fortunate to be citizens of this great country and we need to remind ourselves every day of our good fortune. God bless America!
Hope this bit of reminiscing earns a smile from you, expat_alaska...:)
Click to expand...

Sir, that says it all! I cannot add a bit. I am drooling, sir! You have been there and done it. Thanks so much for the post, sir

Sorry for all of the sirs but I respect all of you good folks.
 
My vote is for a 12ga Winchester Mod-12, barrel cut to 18", with Super-X 1-1/4oz hi-velocity #8's. Standard S.Ga load for most everything, including deer at close range.... (another story, for another time!).

No personal experience except:
First hunting under the influence arrest I ever made after completing my 6mos probationary period, the hunter was using that.

It was a gloomy, misting, chilly January Sunday afternoon in s.w. Georgia. I was out making an evening patrol, stopping and listening for shots. After hearing a series of shots I moved towards them with my lights cut out, (tail, running, and brake/back up) and windows down. Driving down a remote muddy dirt road, I encountered a beat up Ford pickup parked haphazardly half on/half off the road. Visibility was about 100 yards. I parked my truck and got out. 25yds in front of the subject vehicle was an irrigation ditch with grown up vegetation on either side. It became obvious where the Hunter had gone by the deep prints in the mud. About 50yds further, I encountered the first Budweiser can, and 3-spent 12ga hulls, of aforementioned description. About that time, I heard two more shots, perhaps 200yds ahead.

I moved towards the shots walking through the gloom, looking for movement, etc. Shortly, I encountered the individual, walking the edge of the irrigation ditch, saw him raise a Bud, then toss it into the ditch, whereupon 2 woodcock flushed, and he raised the gun and fired once, whereas both birds fell! Seeing his gun was empty, I spoke to him, asking him to let me talk to him. I was 10 feet from him before he realized I was an officer. He was agreeable and cooperative. I asked him for his license. He had none. No migratory bird stamp, either. I asked what he was hunting. He just said " Burrrrrrp, jus some Sxxt burds!".
I asked how many he had. He removed his vest, and I counted 13 woodcock and 5 quail (over limit on woodcock). I asked him how many Buds he'd had: he stated, Oh, about the same as the "SxxT burds!"... with a silly grin... ( common name for woodcock, and most any other variety of song birds, or otherwise unidentified birds...gun was unplugged, too.

No ID, no license (hunting or otherwise), got him a ride to town to the SO. (Sheriff's office). Intoximeter showed a .20gm bac (limit 0.10 at that time,circa 1982). I confiscated his woodcock, cited him for no license, and hunting under influence. I did complement him on his excellent shooting, however!
Perhaps being U.I. helps to zig when the birds zag..... and not stop the swing...!

(fwiw, no way the probate judge would fine him for no permission, no federal stamp, unplugged shotgun, etc.) He did pay a fine of $25 for no license, and 6mos, suspended, for hunting U.I. and an specified contribution to the judges re-election fund... After all, he was a local, it was South Georgia, circa 1983.
 
Obviously the guy was a good shot, schnockered or not. When I was a kid my Dad would have a shot of whiskey in his grapefruit juice, and he always explained that it took the edge off the grapefruit juice. His ha-ha.

Long time ago, and I don't condone it a bit. Guns and booze at the same time is a bad thing.

Jim
 
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