Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Ruffed Grouse

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.