Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires .22 Set Up for Grouse

In the woods where I've hunted grouse (ruffed grouse)- MD, PA, NY, WVA- a .22 would've been considered unsporting, but legal. Probably a Western thing versus an Eastern thing. 99% of all the grouse I took a swipe at would've been impossible to nail with a .22- exploding at heart-stopping speed out of dense cover and climbing and dodging through the trees at a zillion miles per hour called for a light fast handling shotgun, not a rifled arm. The only grouse I've seen sitting still on the ground, on logs, or in trees was in the spring time when they were acting young dumb and looking to get laid (and out of season).

Grouse with a 22 is like squirrels with a shotgun........

Shoot em on the wing boys! No ground swatting allowed................

Just because you can dosent mean you should,

Agreed!

lets arrange a 24 hr campfire grouse hunt. only .22s allowed and birds must be dusted off while theyre stationary on the ground.

Good luck with that! Around where I hunt you'll be eating Milky Way bars for dinner instead of grouse if you rely on a .22.

No one I've ever known in SE Alaska hunted grouse with a shotgun. Taking heads off with a rifle was the way to roll.

what variety of grouse are they?

Not sure what Steelhead has near him, but if you've ever heard of the MeatEater show (hunting / wild game cooking show currently on Netflix) they do an episode where they go to Alaska to hunt Sooty grouse. They sit wayyyy up in trees and about the only way to hunt them is with rifles. Similar to the Ruffed or Blue grouse around here the hardest part is finding the dang things. Lots and lots of near vertical hiking up and down mountains.

Hunting grouse in New England with a .22 would get you lots of exercise but not much else. It's tough enough with a shotgun. Foolish ones are occasionally encountered during the deer season when head shots are good practice with the rifle. The caliber doesn't much matter, both 30-06 and .308 seem to work fine.

They've always been called blue grouse, albeit we always called them hooters. That said, give it a name, but I guess 'sooty' is the current name. I'm sure that will change.

Totally differnt game then ruffed grouse in MN. You can use a 22 lr, but your odds are low.

We farm kids sometimes used 22's for rare ruffed grouse targets of opportunity, but you grabbed the shotgun when you really went hunting.

Road hunters don't count.

I know, I've hunted ruffed grouse also. This thread is nothing if not proof of how strong provincialism is on the 'Fire.

You're the expert Steelhead so I will never deny your subject matter expertise on hunting across America,

We bow in your presence.

Please be careful when you sit on your Claven though.

WAY wrong.

Don't take it so personal, it wasn't meant to be. When people say it can't be done 'that way' they are talking from their Yankee grouse hunting experience. They are more than one type of grouse in north America.

Correct, you are WAY wrong. Please, give me the names of the people that I'VE known in SE Alaska, that hunted grouse and used a shotgun. Please enlighten me.

No offense taken. We Yankees take your wisdom of all North America hunting as gospel.

You are the PEZ dispenser of wisdom.

Understood, you're a fuGing idiot that basks in the glory of said idiothood.

Congrats?

I’ve shot ruffed and spruce grouse and a couple varieties of ptarmigan which are a grouse as I understand it. Rifles are my preferred method. I know a guy who shot 13 spruce hens out of one tree with a 30 carbine as a kid. My personal best was 7 and a shotgun wouldn’t have made it anything but more of a mess.

Scott County, MN has one of the greatest concentrations of ruffed grouse in North America so I would give credence to whatever one from there says. Of course that concentration is at Mid-America Taxidermy so it is a measure of actual success rather than supposition. 😭

I can't speak for much of the rest of the country but taking grouse with a 22 in northern and east central MN (and WI when it was legal) is very possible throughout the season. To be successful one needs a degree of woodcraft that is not much different than still hunting deer or squirrels. Walking logging trails keeping an eye open for movement, odd shapes in the road or in the brush and the sound of steps in the leaves or the "pert" of a bird getting nervous is the long proven means of taking grouse with a rifle. In the winter watching the tree tops for birds as they pick buds, seeds, or berries is usually more productive.

Sucess rates were similar to using dogs and higher than the typical dogless hunter walking through the woods. It was common to take two grouse a day hunting a couple hours in the morning and a couple more in the evening. Early season before the broods broke up pushed past that point as it was not uncommon to take two or more from a single brood. The numbers weren't much different in high years than low as the trails are the prime spots and always attracted birds.

It is still possible to take grouse with a 22 in MN but it is harder. The problem is not "smart birds" but the number of other people using the trails. ATV use has grown exponentially and put a real damper on walking the trails, especially between The Cities to Duluth and an hour or so around the larger communities. The traffic decreases the amount of time grouse spend on trails and the number of grouse taken by users affect the success rates in popular areas. Get on private land in that area or hunt weekdays in less accessible areas and one can have decent hunting for a time depending on the size of the property and the amount of good habitat around it. I used to shoot a handful of grouse with a pistol at my cabin in Pine Co. as opportunity arose but now would rather work the dogs on them.

I might have to return to my roots one of these days, the wife would like to phase out the dogs and travel more. If it gets to that point I'll have to dig out my old single shot 22 and brush up on my stalking skills. I just hope I can still hear by then.