Model 12 and Grouse

[TrapperReady]

I've been fortunate enough to get out grouse hunting three times in the past week. The first two times my semi-worthless dog and I put up several woodcock and a grouse or two. The woodcock, while most would have been easy shots, weren't in season. The grouse, while in season, were in such deep cover I couldn't get a shot.

Sunday, with woodcock in season, we couldn't find one. However, we did keep stumbling over grouse. Finally, we flushed one while walking along a dried creek-bed. The cover was a little more sparse and I had a decent shot.



The gun in the picture is the cheapo Model 12 16ga I picked up a couple months ago. The 2 1/2" shells with 7/8oz of #7 shot proved to be good medicine. After my second trip, I did bob about 2 1/2" off the barrel to make it a bit easier to handle in the woods, and also to get rid of the Full choke. Seemed to work like a charm, and I certainly don't mind not having a front sight.

BTW, I did use my wife's 20ga Benelli M1 on one trip. While it was very easy to carry, I found that the oversized safety was too easily knocked off "Safe".

 

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks for posting this. Wasn't it Woolner or Tapply who stated that one got a shot on every 20th grouse or so flushed?

And that pic is classic.

I forgive you for circumcising that 12. The Almighty may not...

The statement about too easy to knock off the safety illustrates the misgivings I have about jumbo safeties.

 

[huntsman]

great pic, I always considered the model 12 to be the ultimate pump gun and the grouse to be the ultimate game bird.

 

[TrapperReady]

Dave - I figure that this was #12 that took to the air over the course of the three trips. I may have been able to get one a couple days earlier, but I hesitated for a second to make sure it wasn't an out-of-season woodcock.

If the Almighty wants to give me grief about taking something off the end of the Model 12, then I'll just ask him to carry it a few hours through thickets and timber. If he doesn't agree that it's far better than a Full choke 28" barrel, then I guess I'll take my penance. However, I bet he'll agree with me.

I've got a hard choice to make in a couple days. I can either try my hand at ducks and geese, or put in another push through the area I've seen so many grouse and 'cock. If pheasants were in season right now, I'd probably just about explode trying to decide.

BTW, for those of you who haven't experienced grouse hunting... believe me when I say that you earn every bird you get. The first day out, I came out of the woods with arms scraped to bits, a bloody nose, dehydrated and exhausted. My dog was little better, except that I'd given him almost all the water, so he wasn't dehydrated. All that, and nothing in the bag. But I loved every minute of it!

 

[Dave McCracken]

Sane men and women do not enter grouse habitat unless there's a compelling reason. It's brushy, muddy, full of thorns and much of the best is found on a major slant. Sometimes we end up bleeding as much as the grouse do. But it's a fine madness indeed.

I've done little grouse hunting. There's few grouse this far south. The few I've bagged were mostly taken as targets of opportunity. But I can appreciate aerobic, dirty hunting in cover so tight it's claustrophobic and all for a few oz of protein.

I can also appreciate short barreled, fast handling shotguns for stuff like this.

And if the Almighty hunts grouse, he probably does use a short barreled shotgun and Britannys. Unless Pop's along, then it's Shorthairs....

 

[ACP230]

TrapperReady:
I've got a 16 gauge Model 12 that my Dad gave me for a high school graduation present. It's a lot more beaten up than yours and I had a Weaver Quik Point put on it back in the 1970s. It came with a Poly Choke already added and had the longer chamber.

That old Model 12 was my grouse gun for many years. It also served to take a three-point whitetail buck one fall. I still take it out for grouse every now and then.

I also tried it on steel targets a couple weeks ago. It worked well there too.

 

[anapex]

Dang I wish I knew where some grouse were in MD. I'm probably gonna have to go and get a PA out of state license now so I can go where I know grouse are.

 

[Johnpl]

Trapper-
A picture for the ages...it doesn't get any better than that!

My wife, who understands (or at least tolerates!) 99% of my idiosyncracies, cannot understand my passion for grouse hunting. I'll come home scratched, bruised, beat up, winded, and empty handed...but with
a big grin!

 

[wanderinwalker]

This is all too fun to read! Nice picture, nice bird.

My first game bird was a grouse, admittedly taken while out deer hunting. What fun! Season (grouse that is) starts here in New Hampshire Friday. I've got my eyes on a track of land recently mowed and regrown.

And then next Tuesday is ducks! This will be my first time on 'em, but it sounds like a good time as well.

Too many birds, too little time.

Good luck and good shooting everybody,
~Nate

 

[Johnpl]

Wanderinwalker:
I would NEVER dream of asking you to give up any of your special coverts... ...but could you direct me to some general birdy areas in NH?
I live in Massachusetts and plan to go up north soon. Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

[sm]

Trapper , Thanks for Sharing! What a great pic! Model 12 , hell yeah!

No Grouse down my way, but I gotta try this and some other birds someday.

I figure with some of my 'experiences' and such ....I'm crazy enough to chase birds, and get all muddy and "briar-ed" up ....makes sense to me.

 

[TrapperReady]

Steve - I have a feeling you'd like grouse a lot. If the pursuit of quail is a gentlemanly sport, the pursuit of grouse is more like a bar-fight. Even if you win, you're gonna be hurt -- but if you come out on top, the rush is like nothing else.

BTW, my semi-useless dog ups the ante a bit, since on grouse he acts like a full-blown flusher. If you don't keep up with the dog, you'll never have a chance. When he either sees or smells a bird, you can't take a second to gently remove the thorn in your arm/leg/eye, you just pull through it as fast as you can and plow along behind.

I use the marks on my arms as visual aids and reference points when describing the day's activities to my wife. "See that one there. Yeah, the one that curls around my forearm. I got that when he spooked the woodcock while we were trying to re-flush the grouse we'd seen at the big log."

 

[sm]

Trapper - I have a good time no matter what. My attitude is such that catching fish, or taking game - is a bonus.

I have come home with markings, hunting with or without a dog - with/ without a women to 'share or as ask... I got memories tho'

"semi- useless dog" - you cannot fool me one darn bit. One of these I have to get another dog....I miss some...sniff sniff ..- SD Might be a good name for a Dog.
"What is the name of your dog?
Reply - "SD"
"SD?"



Maybe SUDs would be better

True Story - Doctors kid was out front of the store with his new puppy. When asked the pup's name he replied "MD" - The lady asked " is that because your daddy is a Doctor?" The kid replied " no ma'am , MD stands for MY DOG.

 

[wanderinwalker]

Johnpl,

You're implying I actually have any special coverts! In all honesty, it has been so long since I've been out bird-hunting I can only remember one area up in Sullivan County that was awesome. And I am not sure it was in Sullivan County.

At any rate, try the North Country of Coos county. Reputedly excellent gunning up that way. Never had a chance to try it myself however.

Over in Vermont, in the Green Mountain National Forest, I put up a dozen birds during a hard-day's backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. Seems like it would be a good area to return to with proper licensing, but I don't know what the regulations are for hunting in the tract of forest. (And talk about moose tracks! Wow!)

Anyway, good luck to all,
~Nathan

 

[Dave McCracken]

"... More like a bar fight"....

TR,truer words never spoken. Greenbriar wounds are the least of it.

Anapex, there's a few in the Gatoctins, about the lowest limit of their range except for a few in Westwen MD. PA's a better choice.

sm, a local legend at PGC has one called JD. Just Dog....