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Never mind

Thanks

Never mind what? I love the bird! Some of that is the dogs who help me.

Yup ....... There's never a bad time to talk about bird hunting.

The look of a seriously dedicated grouse hunter!!

Rates a two-cool

the best ruffed grouse is a dead ruffed grouse. I don't shoot them for sport, I shoot them to eat. If I wanted to shoot birds on the wing, I shoot at ducks. If I want birds to eat, I will shoot them on a branch. Besides that, when they fall to the ground, the look spectacular and you won't get that shooting them on the wing...

Yeah...yeah...

I bet you sluice ducks in the decoys.

Miss Scarlett ? Annie sure looks like her. Jean & I are off for Cape buffalo hunting next week, Bruce.

Going to be a good season where I went this weekend, saw over 100 grouse on Friday and Saturday. Season opens Sept. 1.

On the coast or east? Gonna work more on grouse this year only problem is they aren't any around here. Son found some fairly close to Bend and going there opening day but it's still a hundred miles min.

Sometimes when you shoot them they get caught in a tree a Buck recently rubbed....






Other times you don't even need a stinking potting pistol, if you have a good Dog that is quick....

Shrapnel,

I grew up shooting grouse that way using a 22 rifle. I don't recall "wasting" a shot shell on a grouse until my teens. Late season really sharpened One's eyes as the birds were much more spooky.

I've shot more than a few with a handgun but not nearly as often as I could have. Its more of a challenge than with a rifle and probably rivals shooting grouse over a dog though the opportunities with the pistol are fewer around here

Whatever the weapon, grouse hunting is fun and they are great eating.

Shotguns work too, especially the Saiga "commie" gun. Those guns function flawlessly in case you do have to shoot at a flying bird...

New to me bird gun showed up today. Old Winchester 101 12ga. 26" IC/M. It's a little heavier than my 20 but it was a very good deal and a fine old shotgun.

I liked those 101s but they kicked the snot out of me. I kept buying them as one could get them pretty reasonably a few decades back. If I knew then what I know now regarding gun fit I probably would have kept at least a couple as I could have altered them to fit me.

Congrats on the Dog, Birds and the shotgun. 😉

Thanks Battue. Last year was her first season. She was 7 months. This year ought to be something! She’s go, go, go!

I had a SKB O/U that would make my face swell up after 2 rounds of 5 stand. Bloody near get a black eye from that thing. I switched to an older Citori with lower comb and was fine after that. This 101 is about the same, so should be fine. Find out tonight if the coastal fog clears.

Nice bird gun right there.

Ok, Ok. I was going to ask what time of day you find best to hunt Ruffed Grouse, but then I realized I'd get a bunch of smart ass answers.

I do hunt them in the thick of things and shoot them on the fly with a 20ga RBL.

I am running GSP's although they are big runners on chukar etc they tighten right up for Ruffed Grouse.

I prefer anytime after the main part of the dew dries. I don't like getting soaked and I don't think the grouse do either. They seem to move more once things dry out which gives the dogs a bit more scent to work with. Woodcock seem to be pretty active right away but with the season now opening after the grouse and a limit of only 3, there isn't much incentive to concentrate on them as one will find plenty of mud bats chasing grouse.

I find cover preferences to be related to time of day, at least loosely. Mornings and late afternoon seem to have grouse using grown over logging roads and open edges more often than midday. Midday has grouse in heavier brushy cover, often in wetter areas. If there are ripe dogwoods around they are good any time of day but especially afternoons. Other berry bushes are not as favored so I lump them in with midday covers.

I have had poor success finding ruffed grouse in conifers of any type at any time of the year outside deep winter with little snow. They just don't seem to make much use of this tree type, maybe due to the many large owls and goshawks in the area. Spruce grouse use them a lot, hence the name. They aren't as tasty as ruffs so I specifically hunt them when others are trying to add that to their list.

What part of the country are you in?

Back in the day when I carried a shotgun in my work truck, 11:00 was the witching hour for grouse along forest roads.

Edges, water streams and rivlets, larger tracks of recently cut forest-smaller tracts become containment prisons-,since they can digest cellulose, almost anything green and buddie works for food along with most forest nuts. They need grit, which again is often provided by edge cover. Snow is their friend. With their varied diet, if you find a bunch preferring something in particular, it is wise to look for more of it until they change. They are not happy in the wind, so it often moves them to the quiet places.

If bad weather is moving in they will be out almost all day until they fill up their crop to busting, then they hunker in and won't be moving much until it breaks.

Not usually early risers.

ALL RIGHT!

Thanks for the great info.

Should have my dogs on the ground Sept 8th.

Will hunt them until deer season starts on the 15th. Don't like being the woods with rifle hunters. I will then hunt sage grouse in the wide open spaces of the high desert.

Reba,

Most times you can’t pattern Ruffed Grouse. Leave them alone and they will eventually group up. One needs to acquire an eye for Grouse and sometimes you just know. If there are many, then you will eventually bump into them, by spending your time in the right covers. Have a friend who can tell a good Grouse cover while doing 30 down a dirt road and is usually right.

A good pair of legs is often ones best asset for getting into Grouse.

I have a friend that claims his Mother could spot them in the trees doing 30 down a dirt road!

He may not be bs'ing. This guy sees them often on the ground doing the same. Deer? It's uncanny.

We were in Michigan Grouse hunting and looking for new spots, doing 20 and blowing by this area because it didn't look like good cover. When he says, "Elk" Me? "Where?" So we back-up.

I missed this, Bob. Get a nasty looking old boy, then post lots of pix.

And, yep...Ms Scarlet

Are you shooting a Winlite Mdl 59??

What he said

Sometimes. Other times a Model 12 16ga, Ithaca 37 28ga, Parker Repo 20/16 combo or an original Parker 16.

Kingston’s Parker is sweet!!!!

I thought that was a 59 in the snow picture.

I love mine for later season upland hunting, when I put my 16s and 20 away.

At one time they were highly thought of by Northeastern Grouse hunters. Lightweight and quick to point.

How long are your 16ga. Parker Reproduction bbls? My Repro 20ga. came with 26” I/M and 28” M/F barrels. It’d be sweet with a pair 26” I/M 16ga. barrels.


Anymore, I find myself using the old 16 ga. Parker pictured, unless it’s really snotty, then it’s out with a little Fausti.

Sometimes I think that old Parker wants to hunt more than the dog.

How about those eyes.

The 16Ga barrels are 28's and being on the 20Ga frame balance much better than the 20's. The 16 barrels were made by Krieghoff and most of them were destroyed. I think it was because of a fire. There are a few sets out there, but not all that many.

Although all the parts are interchangeable with the originals, something intrinsic is missing. The reproductions are just not the same.

The original I have was my Fathers and is on the larger frame. The fellow who he bought if from hunted it in the old days of S.D. Pheasants. He would return home with reel film of the sky being filled with Wild Birds. That shotgun killed S.D. Pheasants by the proverbial truck load.

Anyway, if by chance I ever come across a small frame original 16Ga, I would be tempted more than a little.



Addition: Toby was a camera hound. It was hard to take a bad pic of him. Perhaps my favorite.....

Smiling here too!

Here also! The sideways glance makes it a pretty special photo, IMO.

I love dog smiles. Jenny here worked a bunch of blue grouse that day and was a happy puppy. She recently lost her right eye to squamous cell carcinoma. She's still a pretty girl in my eyes.

From here she looks like a sweet thang and it looks like she also knows how to work the crowd.

She’s a pretty girl!

My Dot was just spayed a week ago this past Friday. She’s itching to be bouncing off the walls!

Love it! Great pics, all.

I almost bought a 59 maybe 15 years ago. Kinda wish I had. Neat guns and you don’t see them all the time.

I’ve a little Spanish 16ga SxS I’m anxious to get some time with this year.

I thought the Mdl 50s were butt heavy, the 59s more so.

No doubt they are butt heavy, which is one of the reasons they are a great point and shoot shotgun in the Grouse woods. They are not much for pass shooting or the Skeet field.

Exactly my reason to shoot one in tight grouse cover. They point FAST!

Our seasons opened 10 days ago... and ruffed are increasing and spreading a great deal. We are seeing them in areas we almost never saw them previously.

That is a wonderful thing.

Yes it is...

Especially because we have six other options in the grouse woods...

It’s a Birdapooliza.

Great thread guys, beautiful birds, dogs and shotguns... Unfortunately, I have to travel far to hunt ruffs, blues are close, but ruffs are farther north, but the trip is worth it.. Very dry up there this fall.. I will be forced to miss the first week of grouse season.. First time in my life.. Drew a sheep permit, so I have to suffer it out.. Good luck to there rest of you and your fine dogs...

Sadly, a sheep tag probably is a valid excuse...



Congratulations!

And the best of luck to you.

German Shorthair and a Burgess slide action...

The Burgess used a rather unique method to chamber a round, that's for sure! I picked one uat an auction for dirt cheap as I was the only one to bid on it. I was offered too much to pass on before I was able to concoct some shells to fire. I wish I would have kept it but it did pay a quarter of tuition and some beer.

Bud with a Euro trash Renato Gamba. He got his hands on it before I could. At least the Dogs and Birds were all made in America....

A whole bunch of 1000 words:

There was a Dog on point somewhere in there....




Here along with a nasty swamp down to the right that had Birds in residence.



Edge cover.






Fruit from the same.

A barrel shortened 59 is so deadly on grouse and woodcock they should be outlawed, always use one when needing to put down birds when training a pup, the rest of the time I love a nice side by side usually a 16, have the best dogs in my lifetime(66) and no birds or prospects. sad but true.

Shhhhhh!!!! on the 59 or they may become hard to find. Probably not, because even tho they are perfect for the game, many don't think they fit the image.

There are Grouse, but one may have to travel and it is worth the effort. Especially if one has Dogs.



First Grouse for Toby when he was a pup and first Grouse for the 59 when it was like new..




A 59 and a Ithaca slumming with Euro trash at Grouse camp.

Is that a Parker? Looking like my new one is gonna be a Parker if they still have it when my money get's here!

Yes, that is a Parker and one of the nicest VH (E perhaps) you will come across.

I saw in one of your previous posts you may be getting a Parker Reproduction. A great SxS for the money, but there is something missing compared to the originals. Also, know that the color case hardening on the Repo is not the real deal and will wear off quickly with a little use, perhaps their biggest shortcoming. Again a better than good SxS made to the exact specs of the original.

don't mind the traveling used to hunt UP and Wis. U P is really down bear hunters keep me posted never flew many grouse in Wisconsin but woodcock were great, but ticks were terrible had two dogs get lymes disease. Saw a guy who is a bear hunter that offered up so info in maine went there once not impressed.

Go to the UP and normally move 15-20 Grouse per day. Last couple times we also hit the Woodcock flight and the Dogs got into just over 200 birds in 5-7 days. I'm not complaining.

As far as ticks and Lymes, we now have two choices. Take precautions and hunt or stay home. Dogs wear the collar, get a spritz of spray and a daily prophylactic dose of doxycycline.

Ticks during grouse season?
Never seen one. The dogs have collars but I can't say myself or anyone I know has found one in September through December in northern Mn.

Lucky you, but once you see the first one it will all be downhill from there

I never see them after July. I was out last weekend checking out a new grouse spot and checking my stands for bow season and didnt find one on me or the dog. In May or June they are thick. In late May I had my dog out with me and it was like they were raining from the trees. I had a white t shirt on and was covered with them. When I got back to the truck I brushed a pile of them off the dog. After the first frost they are completely gone.

Again lucky you. Doesn’t work that way here.

How late do they stick around there?

All year, they never go away. Sit down in the wood in December and you may pick them up. Look at the Dog during a January hunt and you can usually find some crawling around. Cold here slows them down, but they don’t quit.

Addition: Here sit down in the wood during September and October and you will be covered. I’ve stopped and picked 40 plus off the Dog in October. Run him a half hour and you can do it again.

Ticks such as deer and wood ticks found up here have a couple of cycles they go through in a year durning which they can be very active or dormant.

Very early they are in the larval stage and unable to access larger animals very well so they tend to use rodents, birds, reptiles and other creatures that spend time close to the ground. They then go dormant for a while and then emerge as nymphs in late spring or early summer and is what we often encounter then. Many confuse wood ticks in these two stages for deer ticks as they are so small. There are also adults which did not find a host last year and are looking for one now.

After feeding in this period, the nymphs go dormant and the adults breed and die so a lull is found. They come back in the fall as adults to feed, lay eggs, and generally die unless they do not find a host where they will hibernate until spring and try again. I have found them on me, the dogs, and hunting partners from September well into October as far north as Babbitt, MN. I watched one wood tick crawl across the rail of a stand while deer hunting outside Cloquet in 2002 or thereabouts. Unless temps stayed under 70 degrees and skies were cloudy, pretty much everyone would find some ticks on themselves during the RGS hunt in Grand Rapids, MN. I will say it has been rare to pick up a tick at the family grounds near Buyck in September but I have seen ticks on deer and moose into December and the DNR reports finding ticks much later in the year on moose in the same area so the buggers are active somewhere.

It will be interesting to see the research on how much West Nile Virus affects ruffed grouse. WNV seems to be transmitted by mosquitos rather than ticks but I am not up to date on that disease these days. I remember this concern back when WNV became a problem and wondered if research had been started as the person who first brought it to my attention left RGS for a different organization and I felt the ball was dropped. Our population peaks have not been as great as expected since then, especially in the marginal habitats, but there could be other factors more to blame.

Three weeks until grouse season opens here though I probably won't chase ruffs until woodcock also opens. Sharpies are a better tune up though I will have to drive a bit to hunt them as the closer zone opens in October now.

Yes, it is. It’s a 1906 VH, 0 Frame, 16ga.




Thank’s Battue. I feel lucky to have it.

What shells you shooting in that Parker?

Generally, 2.5” RST. It’s got 2.5” chambers, but will shoot 2.75” shells. I never thought to try until I read a bit by Barsness.

Ahh. Should have guessed 2.5 chambers.

Looking for lighter loads in 16. Don't want to beat on an older SxS. I picked up a few boxes of Federal UL that run 1oz at 1165. Wouldn't mind finding some similar loads in #5.

I picked up a couple cases of 16ga. Herter's Select field on sale last fall. The #6 load is 1oz.; the #5 load is 1-1/8.

What can I say ?

Like Shrap, we like to eat 'em too !