Ruffed Grouse Uff Da!

[Random 8]

Just spent a Saturday chasing grouse. My wife has taken a (re) interest in bird hunting, so we decided to hunt some grouse. Also in tow was my 3 Month old GR puppy just for fun.

Found out my wife is more out of shape than she thought. Got tired early and drastically shortened our hunt. I like to put miles on the boots.

The puppy was good at following close, and I got to put him on some freshly flushed Birdy spots and let him work. He even managed to trail and flush a real, live grouse at the edge of the trail! He also "flushed" several flickers and other misc. birds, and didn't chase or jump. Sat down and marked like he's supposed to do. Training is coming along nicely there, and he appears to be naturally deer broke.

Shooting was hard as foliage is still on the trees. Only managed a couple of shots and didn't connect. Birds were running, then flushing wild. Mostly just heard them. I've shot lots of birds including most every species of psychotic waterfowl found in North America, and I'm convinced the ruffed Grouse is the hardest of all.

All in all a very nice but much too short day in the woods despite the empty game bag. Will re-visit those spots once some leaves are on the ground, as there were lots of birds about!

 

[buck460XVR]

Only managed a couple of shots and didn't connect. Birds were running, then flushing wild. Mostly just heard them.

....kinda the just of Ruffed Grouse hunting!

 

[entropy]

Just spent a Saturday chasing grouse. My wife has taken a (re) interest in bird hunting, so we decided to hunt some grouse. Also in tow was my 3 Month old GR puppy just for fun.

Found out my wife is more out of shape than she thought. Got tired early and drastically shortened our hunt. I like to put miles on the boots.

The puppy was good at following close, and I got to put him on some freshly flushed Birdy spots and let him work. He even managed to trail and flush a real, live grouse at the edge of the trail! He also "flushed" several flickers and other misc. birds, and didn't chase or jump. Sat down and marked like he's supposed to do. Training is coming along nicely there, and he appears to be naturally deer broke.

Shooting was hard as foliage is still on the trees. Only managed a couple of shots and didn't connect. Birds were running, then flushing wild. Mostly just heard them. I've shot lots of birds including most every species of psychotic waterfowl found in North America, and I'm convinced the ruffed Grouse is the hardest of all.

All in all a very nice but much too short day in the woods despite the empty game bag. Will re-visit those spots once some leaves are on the ground, as there were lots of birds about!

Never hunted woodcock, have you? Grouse are simple compared to them. Grouse fly on a linear path, woodcock don't. Every woodcock I've shot has been while grouse hunting.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I have only shot one grouse. My dad and i were small game hunting. And one landed in front of me. My dad said shoot it. It's a grouse.

 

[1KPerDay]

Sounds like a great day!

 

[Random 8]

Never hunted woodcock, have you? Grouse are simple compared to them. Grouse fly on a linear path, woodcock don't. Every woodcock I've shot has been while grouse hunting.

Sure I have. I shot at 4, got 3 on Sunday as well as a couple hayfield doves to round out a meal. Puppy also got his first water retrieve on one of them. They're usually in the tag alders along my low ditch, and while an erratic flight, they don't tend to put a large spruce or balsam between my barrel and bird. Much easier, I can at least see them!

The only easy grouse shooting I've ever had was around Neilsville. There was a large stand of cutover oak with remnant trees left for seed and blackberry thicket underneath. Was like shooting 16 yard trap all straightaways with the birds flying in the open. Even then, I had one manage to put a large tree trunk between me and the bird. Worst I ever had was on the front side of ugly weather coming in, Central WI near Mosinee. There was a small spruce plantation flanked by hundreds of acres of cutover Aspen and mixed forest. The birds were roosted 10-20 feet high in the spruces and you had to play chicken to get them to flush by standing still for awhile, then 2-5 would bust out in random directions. High house last station skeet obscured by spruce needles. There were a ton of birds, my buddy and I burnt a box + of shells and bagged 5 total, and not to fib, a couple of those were spotted in the roost and perhaps not harvested sportingly.

Edit: My bad, I was thinking of snipe that I got Sunday. I do also get woodcock in the same spot, only during migration which will be in a few weeks. Snipe can be tough also!

 

[Chuck R.]

I grew up hunting grouse and woodcock in RI and CT.

Success was often judged by the number of flushes.

When I was stationed in WA an old friend that used to be my neighbor in RI invited me to hunt grouse. So I show up at his house, with dog, wearing my upland clothes. He comes out wearing sweats and sneakers, saying he's ready to go. He then asks what I'm shooting and I told him my A.H. Fox double 20GA. He remarked that that's not very sporting.. he's got his .22LR.

It's at that point I finally caught on that something was amiss. Apparently the plan was to drive logging roads, spot a grouse in the road, stop the truck and shoot it with the .22LR. I replied that no, I was going to get the grouse into the woods and use the dog to flush it. "It's not going to work" says he.

1st attempt, the grouse did flush, right into a tree above us and sat there looking at us, as did the next 3. It took a while for me to figure out the best way to hunt them there was to hunt clear cuts where they'd get up on stumps. Then when they saw you they'd get down to run and the dog could flush them. Without any nearby trees I could at least get a shot at an airborne grouse.

 

[buck460XVR]

Never hunted woodcock, have you? Grouse are simple compared to them. Grouse fly on a linear path, woodcock don't. Every woodcock I've shot has been while grouse hunting.

I disagree. IMHO, woodcock are much easier to shoot than grouse. They hold extremely tight for pointers which makes them flush at relatively close range. They ALWAYS flush straight up and then hesitate for a split second before flying horizontal. If you wait till they hesitate, they are an easy target. Most folks try to shoot them as they flush straight up and shoot below them. Grouse on the other hand, do not hold for pointers and many times flush beyond the dog. They also tend to take a direct route thru cover if any and twist as they fly. Both birds can be challenging and a lot of fun.

 

[entropy]

I wasn't hunting with dogs, and by the time I realized what they were, they'd gone horizontal and started the flying like a butterfly thing.
Yes, grouse do like to fly into thicker cover. Yes, they are both fun birds to hunt, more if a challenge than pheasant.

 

[Chuck R.]

I disagree. IMHO, woodcock are much easier to shoot than grouse. They hold extremely tight for pointers which makes them flush at relatively close range. They ALWAYS flush straight up and then hesitate for a split second before flying horizontal. If you wait till they hesitate, they are an easy target. Most folks try to shoot them as they flush straight up and shoot below them. Grouse on the other hand, do not hold for pointers and many times flush beyond the dog. They also tend to take a direct route thru cover if any and twist as they fly. Both birds can be challenging and a lot of fun.

My experience as well. They go straight up, often under foot, then plane off and fly relatively straight. In addition they make that woodcock "noise" when they flush. We used flushing dogs and had no issues as the dogs got "birdy" we just waited for the flush. They probably hold tighter than any other bird other than maybe quail singles after the initial covey rise.

 

[.45Coltguy]

Sounds like the grouse in the MidWest are quicker witted than these grouse out West here. See 'em on dirt roads or a trail, you almost always have to toss a pine cone to get them flying! Sheese.
Now Chukar, theres an upland bird that can bring out some colorful words. Fun tho.

 

[.308 Norma]

Sounds like the grouse in the MidWest are quicker witted than these grouse out West here.

Yep, there's a good reason why many Idaho hunters refer to both spruce grouse and dusky grouse as "fool hens." They're excellent eating though, and I don't know how many of them I've snipped the heads off of with big game rifles and large bore handguns. It's legal here (during season) and all you have to do is walk up close to them, aim at their necks, and carefully squeeze the trigger. Don't shoot low - if you hit a fool hen in the breast with a .270 Winchester or a 44 Magnum, there won't be much left of it - no need to ask me how I know.
BTW, our son-in-law used to carry a Benjamin pellet pistol just for fool hens while he was deer hunting - that's legal here too.

 

[WisBorn]

I would have to say that woodcock are a little hard to shoot, do to their size and lower population. When I was really into grouse hunting 40+ years ago, I didn't spend the extra money to buy migratory bird stamps. I would only see one or two woodcock a year
My favorite grouse hunting involved hip boots. Walking to oak and aspen Islands in the marshes, of Central Wisconsin.
We would also spend a weekend in Park Falls the ruffed grouse capital. We normally shot a lot more grouse near home.

@Random 8 , thank you for sharing your hunt. It brought back good memories

 

[buck460XVR]

I would have to say that woodcock are a little hard to shoot, do to their size and lower population. When I was really into grouse hunting 40+ years ago, I didn't spend the extra money to buy migratory bird stamps. I would only see one or two woodcock a year
My favorite grouse hunting involved hip boots. Walking to oak and aspen Islands in the marshes, of Central Wisconsin.
We would also spend a weekend in Park Falls the ruffed grouse capital. We normally shot a lot more grouse near home.

@Random 8 , thank you for sharing your hunt. It brought back good memories

Sounds like you used to hunt the Meadow Valley/Norway Ridge Wildlife area or the Black River State Forest? Never have needed a stamp(state or federal) for Woodcock here in Wisconsin. Problem here is that the season many times ends before the peak of the flight comes down from Canada. Since the main food source for Woodcock is earthworms, frozen ground is what drives them south. Warm fall means they stay north longer. For example. Season ends here on Nov.6. With another warmer than average fall predicted, odds are the flight won't be down till after season closes.

 

[WisBorn]

Sounds like you used to hunt the Meadow Valley/Norway Ridge Wildlife area or the Black River State Forest? Never have needed a stamp(state or federal) for Woodcock here in Wisconsin. Problem here is that the season many times ends before the peak of the flight comes down from Canada. Since the main food source for Woodcock is earthworms, frozen ground is what drives them south. Warm fall means they stay north longer. For example. Season ends here on Nov.6. With another warmer than average fall predicted, odds are the flight won't be down till after season closes.

Thanks for correcting me. My memory failed me. I thought stamps are/were required. You just need to be HIP certified.
I truly don't have a ton of desire to hunt woodcock anymore. I ran into a group of four last year while hunting my property in Pittsville. The were moving south...
It was just fun watching them. And yes I'm to slow to catch up with them in the brush with a shotgun.

 

[Patocazador]

The farther north or the farther off the road you go, the easier the grouse hunting gets. The birds, even ruffed grouse, get more stupid.

These were taken in northern Manitoba in one day by myself and a friend.

 

[Random 8]

For anyone still following this post, decent weather finally coincided with a weekend and I got back out in the woods! Less leaves this time. Birds were still flushing wild, but managed to get a few. This one was right behind the cabin, and not taken in a manner that would make a true wingshooter proud, but it was Ole's first retrieve, so here you go.

I was after a pine squirrels with the camp .22 and Ole was "helping". I got the rodent, and then this young and dumb of the year grouse fluttered up into a nearby tree. Head shot with the .22, and Ole ran right to the mark and attempted to pick it up (the body was still too big for his little mouth). He ended up dragging it back by a wing through the brush, good doggy nonetheless. He also trailed and flushed one of the ones I shot more sportingly on the wing later in the day. He missed the mark on the retrieve, seriously undershooting the distance, but eventually searched, winded and located the bird with a little guidance. The other 2 were downed on the open trail so easy marks for his ungainly retrieves. He's grouse crazy now!