Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Meet: PADDLER

You guys are running true to form. You understand hurling lame insults makes you look bad, right?

luv2safari, what gun is that?

The grouse around here are tough if you're a sportsman. I could have shot a limit yesterday if I wanted to shoot them sitting. No thanks, I'll leave that to Shrapnel. Blues and ruffeds both are pretty good at keeping trees between you and them. Shots are quick through the trees, the blues flush wild because of the sparse cover in the pines. Sometimes I wonder if a dog helps or hurts you in those conditions. They definitely help finding downed birds, and they're amazing to watch. I wouldn't hunt without one, but they can be a double edged sword. My last bird yesterday flushed high out of a tree, heading downhill fast. I had to spin 180 degrees and hit a dropping target, which isn't easy gven my mediocre shooting skills. The first one was flushing from one tree to another, I had to run a few steps to my left to get a decent shot. I'd love a nice straightaway flushing from under my feet, but that's a rarity. Hit more trees than birds yesterday. I'll be hunting ducks tomorrow.

Yes, but the attitude presented here is that unless you use a dog, and wear tweed hats your not worthy of shooting a grouse..

I don't agree. I think they're easier to kill if you shoot them sitting, but much more difficult on the wing. Can't endorse ground swatting Doesn't matter what you wear or what you shoot, so long as you respect the resource and give them a sporting chance. The dog helps find downed birds, but I wouldn't criticize someone who hunts without one. I wear a hat and sunscreen to prevent skin cancer. Seen too much melanoma.

You really[I mean REALLY] can't be outdoors in a downpour, can you?

It's going to be clear and warm tomorrow.

luv2safari, is that a Merkel? Simpson? Don't see a crossbolt. Looks like false sideplates?

We can still hope........

I haven't taken the time to read all of this thread. However, picking up on the grouse shooting topic, I peter to take them either on the ground, or out of the trees.

I have been shooting ruffed grouse for about 40 years, with and without a dog, on the wing and on the ground, with shotguns (single shots and pumps), with .22 rifles and revolvers, with an air rifle, a few with a .30.30, and a few with my bow. They are a food source for our family of five, including 4 hunters, and we have consumed as many as 70 in a good season.

We are so in tuned to harvesting them for eating, through both concerted hunting effort and opportunity, that one time my wife drove over to my office with a dead grouse in a bag for me to dress. She picked it up after it flew into one of our picture windows and died in the yard. One time I stopped after work at a spot right before sunset and shot five in a row out of a single tree. They were so intent on eating buds that when I got done picking them all up, there were still two feeding.

What I find most rewarding nowadays is enjoying long walks in remote woods on a nice fall day, and shooting a few birds to eat. In fact I don't try anymore to shoot them on the wing when they first flush. I have gotten good at hearing and spotting them on the ground before they flush, finding them in branches or in cover after a flush, and sneaking in for a clean head shot. I really like to hear a fall drummer, time him, pinpoint his location and finally shoot him right off his log. These are always nice full grown birds. After dispersal of broods, the same logs seem to hold new drummers year after year. I keep note of them.

I don't personally care for road hunting, or riding around for them on an ATV, but know guys that like do that, which is great for them. I am not above stopping along the way to a spot to pot one standing on the side of the road. Where I hunt, it is a challenge to get them to fly anyways, other than right up into a tree.

I really don't care for attitudes among those who look down on how others choose to harvest grouse. It is all good as long as respect for the animal is there, and the meat is utilized, as there is no better food for the table than a ruffed grouse around these parts.

Dick,

I would love to take you up on that offer. It seems that we do have a lot in common as I work in a hospital ER myself. I would gladly fly my own airplane down to Salt Lame and hunt Blues with you.

I believe I could find a couple shotguns much more rare than those wop specials you are toting around. We could sashay about your favorite hunting spots and I could shoot all the grouse you miss and even whack a few on the ground for fun.

After a jolly old time in the field, we could share a few toddies before I bitch slapped you senseless...

one time i gave my ex wife a dozen Quill to cook me for dinner. she wasn't very happy when she opened the bag and they all flew up in her face..... probably one of the reasons she divorced me.

I didn't say anything about sporting or gentlemanly.
I was simply pointing out the degree of difficulty between shooting one on the road or in a tree as opposed to over a dog in thick cover.
Kill em anyway you want to (I do) but don't put words in my mouth.

I grew up in NV and hunted Blues all my life. Mostly in the Independence range up around the Blue Jacket. I've literally walked up close enough to more than one that I could have killed with my boot while Deer hunting.
Ruffs are just as dumb. they just live in thicker cover so you have to be pretty quick... Cept when they're out graveling on the logging roads...that's when most of em get shot around here.
Truth be told,,,, I get allot closer and have more opportunities on both species without a dog but since I love bird dogs I use em.
Matter of fact...even though I love eating Grouse...if I didn't have a dog I doubt that I'd bother with em.

Im sorry to hear that.

My wife would laugh her azz off with butcher knife in hand and freeze wrap on the counter.

I say again, I'm sorry to hear that...


I don't know what else to say.

i thought it was funny as hell, she got a pacemaker not to long after that. i will say all these yrs later we are on good terms.

Agreed. Nothing like watching a good dog work. My GSP does better on chukar, though. The blues flush wild more often than not. I think I might kill more without the dog, but I wouldn't have as much fun. I shoot rabbits on the ground, but just because they don't have wings.

NGAF

Paddler has some thick skin, I'll give him that. That ain't always easy on these forums.

nah he's just a douche bag.

I'm glad to hear that.
I mean that from the heart.

Run away all they want, we still take care of them.

He thinks he wins, gets people's goat.

The thread goes on and on.
But that doesn't give his kind the win.

Everybody else learns.
We laugh.
We learn.
We win.
Fugg him.