Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Getting Ready for Bird Season????

Its official, i'll be in the mountains for the opener of blue grouse. I've never seen one in the flesh, but I've got an idea of the type of habitat they prefer.

We'll see if me and the pups can find them.....(not getting my hopes up lol, should be fun though)

Best of luck.. With these guys it is usually either feast or famine.. Haven't spent any time in the mts. this summer except for a couple trips for brookies early.. We usually kill a few some times quite a few.. Also enjoy going for ruffs in the northwest.. My sister in law is coming in Sept. so that may goof up my ruffed grouse trip, but I have lots of other tags to fill and birds to shoot.. good luck...

That's the same tale I've heard from others regarding the snowys. You're either on them, or not.

Oh well should be fun. And I have an elk tag, so it will be a hunt/scouting trip (if I don't see birds).

Re: Blue grouse- Hope you have a great time. We hunt them every year starting Sept. 1st. The ones around here are not the fool hens like may be found some places. We hunt the clear cut edges a lot, and hunt them like pheasants- lot harder to hit at times. Round count to birds taken is sometimes 'significant'...

bird season is about on us. dove starts sunday sept 1st. right now its looking good, lots of white wing and morning doves and a few ring necks coming in to the tanks morning and evening,Quail look better this year than the last 5 yrs, lots of birds and we have finished our 2nd hatch and i am seeing a lot of pairs we may get at least 1/2 a 3rd hatch.coveys are bigger this year than the years past,with 15 to 25 birds per covey, will be able to tell more after the fall shuffle,if the weather holds and we dont have any freezing rain early we should have a hell of a great quail year.my labs are ready for dove, and pointers will be ready for the oct.15th opening of quail. we are covered up with turkeys but dont hunt them much, should be a fun a productive year. rio7

Im considering going down to black gap in late December/early Jan for some desert quail. Heard anything about how they're doing over by Big Bend?

dont know about big bend country, its 8 hr drive n.w. from here.rio7

Dove opens Monday the 2nd; worked on the farm last Saturday, had 100's of birds in the sunflowers and corn. Should be a fine opening day, gonna shoot my old Belgian 16ga A-5. Good luck with your gunning gents!

We had a lot of work this summer that was supposed to happen this fall. Looks like my fall is going to be fairly clear for lots of hunting this year.

Pics of the new-to-me M100.

SuperCub, sharp little 20 ga., hope it shoots as nice as it looks..

I have the shotguns laid out, ammo, old hunting coat, ready for the morning..
I 'll use my old 37 12g. with 1 oz. loads of 5's and 1 1/8oz loads of 6's in spreaders for the first shot.
My wife will have the little 870 28 ga. with Estate 3/4oz of
7 1/2's. Good luck with dove, grouse or squirrel what ever is the game...

Ill be taking the kids out chasing the doves and blue grouse... Should be blast!!!!

Ruffies for me tomorrow!
because the bush is so dense this time of year I use a much heavier charge than normal- I usually use just a skeet load for them.
Going with a full 1 1/8 of of 5's and a stiff load of FFG in the Westley Richards hammer double.
Cat

Ours doesn't start till Oct 1.

Cat, 5's for ruffs!!!I thought I would be the only guy using that load... We don't have any here, only blues, but I usually get a few when I head north for an early deer hunt.. I try to get there 3-5 days early so I can shoot grouse for a bit.. Not sure the plan will work this year.. Maybe only a day..

You are not the only one. When I can find 5s or 6s in a 16 gauge they are a first choice for Ruffed Grouse. They penetrate. Odd to some and certainly not traditional, but they work better than well.

Toby is going to need to get a trim here shortly.

Toby is a handsome boy . . . .what breed?

English Cocker. Flushing Dog, similar to an English Springer only smaller and more color variations.

Nice dog. I just made an app't to have our old lab put down on Thursday.

Better days for her. Note the paw up on the rest. Ready to go!

Sorry Cub. Labs are cool.

Give her a good by hug from here.

Thanks .... We are going to miss this old girl. Labs are cool, but we'll never get another given the shedding. We had them on the farm as kids, but I've never seen anything shed as much as this dog.

I think the next one with be a Pudelpointer.

https://www.google.ca/#q=pudelpointer