Originally Posted by Valsdad
Originally Posted by Theeck
Originally Posted by SamOlson
Walking around hoping to flush a grouse, partridge or pheasant has become my favorite type of hunting. Used to really be into whitetail and mule deer buck hunting but I gradually drifted away from that and the last few years have only hunted birds. I know guys that wouldn't waste their time looking for a bird and I know a few guys who only hunt birds.


I guess ideally a guy would have a drilling and focus on birds with the off chance of getting a shot at a big buck. That would be paradise.



But back to the original thought....

How many of you guys really anticipate upland bird hunting?


Hunting game birds was the first real hunting I ever did (other than squirrel hunting as a kid and without a license). Once I started finding ruffed grouse consistently, I became obsessed and it was the main hunting I did for years. I did hunt deer here and there but grouse was my number one focus. Unfortunately, the grouse numbers in my hunting area have declined dramatically over the last 10 years. I don't even hunt them here anymore because I don't want to put any added pressure on them.

It's a real shame. When I was a kid, we had wild pheasants, wild quail and plenty of grouse in southeastern PA. The wild quail and pheasants are long gone. We have a few grouse in the PA but in the eastern side of the state, the numbers have been really low, at least in the areas I hunt. It is depressing. It may not be totally fair but I blame the Game Commission.

Now I spend most of my hunting time chasing deer. I really miss the game birds. I think quail and pheasant are a lost cause but I really hope the grouse recover.

If I might ask, what are the reasons for blaming the Game Commission?

Never hunted in that part of PA, just up in the Big Woods of NW PA. I haven't a clue what the GC might have done over that way to cause grouse populations to decline.

They have not kept up with their grouse management plan that schedules periodic cutting. There is too much mature timber on the game lands. They seem to manage for deer and nothing else. They finally started to do more cutting but it will take several years before it becomes good cover. Some of these cuts are a long way from any decent grouse cover and may never be found by grouse. They always claim that they can't do much because 80 percent of the state is privately owned. That's a cop out in my opinion. 20 percent is enough land to make an impact.

I also think their pheasant stocking program damaged our wild pheasants. Too much inbreeding but this is just a theory. Farming practices definitely had an impact. They seemed surprised to learn that pheasant and quail had been extirpated from PA. I have to imagine that could have planted native grasses instead of filling all of their fields with field corn through the 90s and beyond.