Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Grouse Are So Thick You Need A Dump Truck

And kudos to you Shrap!

Guess I'm just old school. I hike for grouse, following my shorthair, carrying a double gun. Shoot them on the wing only. You know, the way a sportsman does it. If they make it to a tree they get a pass.

My guess is you don't bring any grouse to bag as the only thing you shoot is your mouth off...

Looks good, tasty too.

That picture is from 10 days ago. I could have shot it in the tree instead of taking its picture, but it wouldn't be sportsmanlike. That matters to some. How you behave when nobody's watching says a lot about your character.

I did the same a couple weeks ago, just for you.

Before...




After...

Thanks for the reply, they look fabulous on a "silver" gun.

Geno

All true.

true but mountain grouse with a handgun or rifle in Montana is perfectly legal......and kicking the bird in the arse to make it fly so you can shoot it with a shotgun isnt much more sporting.....

We were loaded with them this year in north Idaho. I probably could have limited out using a rock as dumbfuk as they are.

There's more than one sporting way to take grouse. The whole idea is to harvest as much meat as possible and ensure a clean humane kill. That's the sporting ideal.

Shooting grouse with a rifle (I myself use a .22) can be very sporting as you are trying to hit a target the size of a 50 cent piece and the result is usually either a instant kill or a clean miss. Up here if the grouse flies, they're usually in the thick bush in a second and effectively screened from a direct hit of bird shot so if you intend to get any birds at all without the advantage of a bird dog, head shots with a rifle (or pistol) is a viable as well as a sporting way to do it.
You don't find it sporting - I do and apparently the hunting regs do, so we'll have to disagree on that point.

I would also much prefer a head shot grouse as opposed to a pellet ridden grouse body any day.

You must feel like a real sportsman shooting a juvenile bird on the ground. Takes a lot of skill. Congrats!!

I agree - It does take a lot of skill especially with a short barreled handgun - Good Shot!!

Debating you is like wrestling a girl. I now can see the disappointment your parents have had since you were born..

I shoot grouse because they are delicious. I will kill them with a rifle, shotgun, a rock, a stick or my bare hands if I could catch them. Your definition of "sportsmanlike" is your own,what makes you the authority? How you behave when your safely hidden behind a keyboard says a lot about your character.

If only you could make the rules for everyone.

A sportsman does not judge others for legally taking game.

He clearly wants to make rules for everyone else; firearms, hunting, and God only knows what else.

Piss on him, from a considerable height.

When in Rome....

Back here it is easier to shoot them flying, because it is not all that common to catch them sitting. Romantic tho it may be, nor does a double gun make the sportsman, pumps and autos work as well.


....do as the Romans do.


I would guess you have been known to shake a tree at least once or twice.

I just wish I had that many Birds to play the game the way I choose to play.

I'm sure you gave no though to what twist or gave two thoughts about BC. Sharpnel you could maximize that 7 shooter with some heavy VLD. LOL
Good hunting Sharp last one I took was sitting in a tree and it ate a 208 AMAX at about 60 yards.

Paddler, sometimes it's "to each their own". I kinda like the type of hunting you describe and wish I had a nice double and a good bird dog myself.

However, I personally don't believe what Shrapnel did is considered "ground sluicing". To me ground sluicing is shooting more than one bird/animal, standing in the road, with a shotgun maximizing the amount of game taken with one shot.

I personally would like to have the option for grouse in my state with my 25-20 revolver, as I would carry that while deer/elk hunting but it's not allowed due to caliber restrictions during centerfire seasons. I think it takes a high degree of skill to head shoot a grouse with a 4" bbl pistol. Not really "unsporting" in my book, But that's me.

I bow hunt with a "stick and string" longbow that weighs all of a pound with silencers on the string. I use wooden arrows with fixed broadheads. I've never taken anything with it because the shots I've been presented "I" couldn't take ethically. Do I wish to stop others from using compounds, sights, releases, range finders, and mechanical points? Do I consider that equipment "unsporting"? Not really. I do wish, from my standpoint, that more jurisdictions would go to split season for modern and primitive archery. The same goes for muzzleloaders.

Many times I wear handmade moccasins (my hands made them) or sometimes hunt barefoot depending on conditions. I wear wool and cotton (again condition related), very few synthetics in my wardrobe. Do I think it not very sportsmanlike for folks to wear the latest "Scent lok", Windstopper, Gore tex, super dooper fleece along with their scentproof knee high latest version of rubber boots? Short answer... NO.

I do hunt at times with "modern" firearms of various calibers. I'm not into "long range" hunting. Do I believe it's not "fair chase" for guys to shoot game at 500, 600 or more yards? Maybe a bit risky given the things that could happen, but not unsporting really.

A question for you, my fellow campfire attendee:

I have a pump shotgun. Is that OK to hunt grouse with? It legally holds 3 shells, should I only load two so as not to be less "sportsmanlike" than folks with double guns? Perhaps when I go pheasant, quail, chukar hunting this season I should go to the local pawn shop and pick up a single shot first? And find some 2 1/2 inch shells as those 2 3/4 or god forbid 3" ones could be seen by some as not very sporty.

I don't hunt "varmits" like prairie dogs, gophers, gray diggers, rock chucks, groundhogs and stuff but a lot of folks here do. I sometimes think it would be more "sporting" of them to stand in the middle a PD town with a sharp stick or ball bat and have them get the little f'rs like "Whack a Mole" (it would be hilarious to watch too, have you seen pics of some of these old guys? ) I don't mind if they do it the way they like to do it, it's just not something I'm going to put energy into.

I'm about done putting energy into this reply so let me close with this idea.

Perhaps to be more sporting, in the spirit of fair chase, you might consider taking to the grouse woods the next time, after canoeing in or perhaps riding on your trusty steed, dressed in a capote with a possibles bag around your shoulder (containing real black powder), while carrying a smoothbore flintlock trade gun. No dog, you would have had to eat him a week or two back as you were nearing starvation. That's some folks' idea of "sportsmanship"

Or better yet, like some "primtive" peoples hunt, naked except for a "nutsack" tied to a string around your waste while using a blowgun to harvest a spruce chicken (no I DO NOT want to see pics of any of you other old dude take me up on this!! )

I honestly hope you enjoy your fall seasons. When I manage to get some time off work later this fall, I intend to enjoy mine, in the sporting manner I see fit.

Geno

PS, Travis would have said all this with just a few letters.

PPS, now I've got less time tonight to do serious stuff on the 'fire. Like research .223 AI, Cermalube, and new cartridges based off another.