If it's good cover they are around, just not in large numbers.
You are probably dealing with mostly older Birds and they know the game better than most of us.
Addition: Two of us hunted for 7 hours last week and he lives in Grouse country. Has good Dogs and trains other peoples Dogs pretty much year round. We had 6 solid points. One the Bird came out behind us. Another we saw leaving early. There was snow on the ground and with 4 points we saw the tell tale tracks of them getting out and gone. He has excellent hearing and the day was quiet. The Dogs locked up at least 20-30 yards from where the Grouse were sitting and most certainly didn't bump those four. They were out and gone way before we walked into the point.
They knew how to play the game.
Last edited by battue; 01/05/15.
