What round do you like for grouse hunting and why?

Prefer open sites or scope?

This is a 17hmr and not a .22, but I've been using CCI gamepoints with a reflex/red-dot sight. That setup works pretty well and I try to go for head shots to save as much meat as possible. This fall I might try putting on a little 4x fixed power scope to see how that compares. Also want to try the FMJ bullets to see if those do even less damage. I wasn't thinking about grouse when I bought this rifle or I might have gone with the 22 version instead, but it is pretty accurate at grouse ranges and packs super easy!

Ammo is the most accurate round in the firearm I am using. Target velocity or standard velocity. Once that is determined I file a flat point using a Hanned tool. Very seldom is the CCI Small Game Bullet the most accurate but it all ready has the flat point. Hanned is no longer made but Reeder or Paco Kelley make a similar. tool. Firearm is dependent on what kind of trip I am on. If I specifically target grouse I use a 28 gauge shotgun and a German Shorthair Pointer. If I am on a wilderness backpacking big game trip where every ounce counts, I use a titanium S&W model 317 Kit Gun. If I am otherwise big game hunting I use a Walther PP in 22 rimfire with MMC adjustable sights.

Aspen: What rifle is that? Thanks.

Ruger MkII 6.7/8" Bbl Gov't Model w/ Leupold 4X EER scope running std velocity 22LR ammo.

X the nose of the 22LR rounds w/ a razor blade.

Head/Neck shoot grouse & ptarmigan to 75 yards.

Bobmn, it's a Chiappa Little Badger. They make them in 22lr, 22mag, and 17hmr. Inexpensive little single shot rifle that shoots quite well. I added on a barrel shroud and paracord wrapped the upper wire stock (much more comfortable that way). Weighs like 3 pounds and breaks down to 16 or 17 inches. I've packed pistols before, but I can shoot something like this so much better.

Thanks Aspen.How does it compare to a Henry Rifle? My Henry rifle weighs ,6 pounds more and is more of a pain to assemble. I get 3/4" five shot groups at 50 yards with peep sight. Thanks for the paracord idea. Going to use that idea on my Mech Tech carbine

You can kill them with rimfires, who knew.

Tweed;
Good morning to you, I hope that the week treated you okay and this finds you well.

When our girls were younger and starting out hunting they used to be pretty hard on the local grouse population, which we encouraged because it was good practice for shooting under field conditions.

The rifle was always a 1958 Brno Model 5 and it ran a few different scopes starting with an 3X El Paso Weaver, 6X Leupold Compact and finally a 4X El Paso Weaver. Of them all I'd say that the 3X was the best for head shooting grouse, but the experimenting with the 6X led us to pick up a Tasco rimfire scope with an adjustable objective for our eldest daughter's Ruger American Rimfire.

Aim point was for the base of the neck as much as possible since the head bobs around on a walking chicken, but the base remains relatively stable.

Any standard velocity match grade ammunition which shoots well in your rifle would be our choice. We ran Federal Gold Medal Match I believe it was called - was something north of $15 CDN for 50, but my goodness did the Brno like that stuff! There was very little bloodshot meat with that type of round even if the wing butts were hit on the neck shot. Much less time to clean up than any shotgun hit birds in our experience.

Hopefully that was useful information for you or someone out there. All the best to you as we head into spring.

Dwayne

Huh?

Thank you so much for the thoughtful response.

My 10 year old daughter will probably start this year and birds and small game is the best way to get kids hooked.

I have never shot a Henry, so not quite sure on that. The Chiappa is more of a survival / minimalist rifle, so simplicity and super low weight and portability are its strong points. Last time I took it out to target shoot it was pretty breezy so I only shot it at 25 yards and 50 yards. 25 yard groups were pretty much touching holes, 50 yards it was about an inch with vmax, inch and a quarter with gamepoints. Need to try that again on a dead calm day since those tiny .17 hmrs get blown around pretty good.

Aspen: Thanks for the info

Been a lot of years since I've found many grouse here so don't get to crazy about it. In Montana and Alaska grouse hunting was great. My favorite grouse gun was a Browning Double auto in 12ga. Then don the road some years I picked up a Rem 870 Special Field. Had it bored out to IC and it was a really fast gun. If I get back into it like I would like I'll use my AyA 28ga Matador, not expensive gun just handles great! I have shot a couple with it and one with my 410 AyA!

It's a joke. I've killed them with 6mm/284, 270, 30/30, 30/06, 35 Whelen and 357 but never a rimfire.

Forgot, 6.5x54MS and 223AI

I have an old Remington 514 single shot I used often for grouse. I started with the factory open sights but later had it drilled and tapped for a scope. I had a number of cheap scopes on it but my favorite was a 6-18x store brand I think may have been made by Tasco. That scope sat atop that gun for nearly two decades before replacing it with a cheap 2.5-10x BSA. I haven't shot anything but ground squirrels, starlings, and rabbits with it so far.

Other rimfires I have used have been a Marlin 39A with factory sights and a Bushnell 3-9x Legend scope, a Ruger 10/22 with 4-12x Burris, a Browning Buckmark with 2x Leupold, a couple different Ruger Single-Sixes with either 22 LR or 22 mag cylinders, and a High Standard Supermatic Trophy.

Ammo most commonly used was whatever 22 LR I had on hand. Most often it was high velocity Federal or Remington in either hollow point or round nose. Ammo choice hasn't changed much though the 10/22, Buckmark, and High Standard are fed target or standard velocity ammo more often as they do shoot that better. CCI and Eley are most often used today, back in the day it was Wolf.

At first glance, I thought the rifle was a Bronco made by Garcia back in the '60s.

First off let me say that I admire your stealth for being able to see one sitting still long enough to draw a bead on the bird. I usually blunder my way through the woods until they explode at my feet and scare the chit out of me. That said are you sure that offing one with a rifle is even legal in your state? Our DNR would hang you by the thumbs if they caught you with a grouse with a bullet hole in it. We can't use a rifle for any game bird in Wisconsin. They are just such a neat bird that it just seems fitting that they meet their end in front of a german short hair and a load of 71/2's out of a classic double.

Some states let you hunt grouse with rifles including my state of Idaho. Here is a quote from the Idaho Fish and Game website in answer to a question on whether it is legal to hunt grouse with a .22 instead of shotgun:

"Forest grouse represent an exception to the rules governing hunting of most game birds. Forest grouse may be taken legally with shot, rimfire, centerfire or muzzleloading firearms as well as with bow and arrow. Rocks and sticks are allowed for forest grouse. Unlawful are traps, snares, nets and crossbows. Air rifles and pellet guns are not legal. The reason for the liberal rules about taking forest grouse is that the birds are traditional camp food for big game hunters. Big game hunters often do not want to fire a loud firearm in their hunt area." https://idfg.idaho.gov/question/can-i-legally-use-22-shoot-forest-grouse-or-it-shotgun-only

In Montana we sluice 'em on the ground. Mountain grouse that is.

Not considered sporting where I'm from

Yep. Just white meat on the hoof..

I've only hunted mountain chicken once. Used a .22, can't remember, either Vipers or Super-X 1330's at around 9500 feet. Probably Vipers.

Got one at about 80, or maybe 150 yards away with open sights. I didn't step it off. But it was far enough away that I wasn't sure if it was a bird or a rock. And it didn't move when I missed, low I guess, on the first shot. Second shot it fell over.
It was a chest shot, and no loss of meat.

Nowadays, I'd use a scope.

I use a .22 short from a Smith & Wesson handgun ....why? seems I always see tem while deer hunting and it's the least amount of noise one can make. I tried to throw my knife at them but am not good at it.....I never hit any of them.

You really can’t compare ruffed grouse hunting in Wisconsin to ruffed grouse in Montana. The birds are totally different.

Reminds me of the one that I shot as a kid one deer season. I'd been reading Jack O'Connor stuff about how a rifle bullet crosses the line of sight twice. Once real close and the next time out where you have the rifle sighted in for. Anyway this grouse was at the real close yardage I figured, so I went for a head shot with my .30-06. Jack was wrong about the yardage thing because that bird literally exploded in a shower of feathers and bird parts. Last time that I ever tried that.

You might not have even hit it and it was just the shockwave that blew it up.

Nice one. What rifle is that?

Thats actually a 17HMR in a Rugger 77/17 VBBZ...head shots on grouse and rabbit, doesn't ruin any meat.

In some places they're so unafraid that your German shorthair would eat all of them before you could shoot any. Except for the ones in the trees of course, and nothing says sporting like sluicing some foolhens off a limb with a shotgun.

Ruger 77/22 with a 2 3/4x Redfield with a Lee dot when I used a rifle. S&W M16-4 32H&R with 90gr SWCs loaded to about 1000fps the last few times I got to go. Shot a bunch of Ptarmigan with a Stevens M15 I chopped down to 16" and carried as a camp meat gun on fly in trips in AK

The time honored method of shooting grouse in Wisconsin is with some brand of single shot 12, 16, 20, or 410 shotgun off the back of an ATV or seat of a pick up truck. Drive around looking at the side of the road for birds and then stop and pot them on the ground.

It was said, tongue in cheek, that rifles were outlawed for grouse as the potential for injury from ricochets doing this was too high. Real reason is it took more skill to hit the bird with a rifle and educated the birds regarding vehicles stopping. Truthbe told, it seemed some dog "purists" made enough noise to pass a law against taking grouse with rifles as a start towards making grounds juicing illegal. At least that was the impression I got from talking to a couple of movers and shakers for getting the first law passed.

This tactic is pretty common in MN too, we just tried to make the shooter get off the vehicle and walk a couple steps first. That law didn't work and I think it was repealed. I won't ground sluice a grouse with a shotgun but don't begrudge most of those that do. Bagging grouse with a rifle around here is often a testament to woodsmanship and skill and is on a higher scale than stalking squirrels and rabbits if one is successful more often than not. Grouse are about the only birds one can shoot with any rifle or handgun- pheasants and Huns are 22 rimfire only, no 17 or 5mm Rimfires the last I checked.

When you can get a shorthair to climb a 100 foot spruce to push out a blue grouse, give me a call.

Ah gotcha


Wow was there much left of them after that .357? Probably shot and butchered it at one time

Where I grewup, shotguns shooting shot was the only legal means of take...

Thanks Windfall. I just assumed everyone hunted them with a .22 since they're so small. I just double checked the regs and you're right....no game bird...not even grouse.

Did you make the barrel shroud ? Or, who sells them ? Very nice back pack rifle or truck gun

some consider guns not sporting. LOL

whats a double auto shotgun?

Wish I was that handy.... The shroud was made by Longshot Mfg. Found them when I was looking for a hammer extender. They have a few other accessories available for the Badger besides the shrouds. https://longshotmanufacturing.com/t/chiappa-little-badger

Up here in Canuck land, S/W-422, Ruger 22- 5 1/2" bbl, Amt 22-mag, (not recommended) coey single, ( 2 before grade school) LH rem581, one of those mini revolvers 22 short, this is all back when we could use hand guns in Canada!!!!! Now when moose hunting mostly TC break open 22 (3 1/2 lbs) Did load up some shot loads for a 38-55 once, 5gr red dot? 1/2 ear plug, shot, other 1/2 ear plug, part way into 308 die to hold plug in! Real quiet, only good for maybe 12-15yrds, made everyone giggle when it shot, I shot 2-3 bush chickens, buddies son shot 8-10 out of his Dads 375! Great with dumplings!🐾👣🐾👣

Honestly, the bullet never hit the grouse. I think it died of fright


That said, funny you should mention the 357 over the 6mm/284 or the 270

If you shoot the heads off,there ain't any meat damage.

270 shooting 110gr Barnes TSX, distance was 95 yards, give or take

The Double Auto was a line of 12 ga semiauto shotguns sold by Browning from the mid 1950s through the 1960s. As the name implies, they held only two rounds- one in the chamber and one in the magazine. They came in steel, alloy, and aluminum receivers with the names, "Standard", "Twelvette", and "Twentyweight" respectively to denote the typical weights. They were not overly popular but we're kind of neat looking.

That's cleaner than I expected. No shock to the upper part of the breast?

Got to say....at 95 yards and nailing a little grouse head...you're quite the shot.

Looks more like a pigeon Steelhead. Okay a little egocentric thinking that your grouse was our ruffed grouse and as a western dude that one is probably a western capercaillie or wood grouse. Being a birder I just checked and there are 12 different grouse species in North America.

Just shoot their heads off, no damage to the rest of the bird.

It's a blue grouse, though we called them hooters. SE Alaska

When I am elk hunting with my 338 mag. I carry a couple cast bullet loads. 220 grain round nose with 10 grains of unique. They run about 800fps and are dead on at 25yds.
Sounds like a rimfire and doesn't destroy any meat.

Grouse are some very good eating birds.

birds is birds......

That is definitely not a bird you can shoot with a pistol where I'm from.

it is if you run a commercial bird hunting operation.....

What holster do you use with that set up?

Love the grips on that pistol.

I don't need no sting-king ho'ster....

That works too!!

Tweed: I try to head/base of neck shoot the Grouse I harvest with my 22 L.R. pistols and Rifles.
I prefer the wonderful Winchester Power-Point hollow-points - both accurate and lethal.
Good luck with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

stealheed: Are you as stupid as you make yourself sound or are you just an arrogant asswhole?
You're idiotic, tiresome and worthless!
Why don't you just go back under the rock you were shat under and stay there?
Sheesh, what a completely useless piece of schitt you have become.
You have absolutely nothing worthwhile to contribute here, so phuuck off - please.
What a waste of oxygen you are.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

You're still pissed that your uncle didn't touch you inappropriately

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.

Are you upset with the title of PEZ dispenser of Wizzdom?

I thought your ego would be stroked.

(just giving you a little schat - dont take it too serious)

Thanks for your experience.

I shoot quite a few grousenand ptarmigans up here in Alaska with my 22 rifle, it’s nit really for sporting purposes as much as they are just good to eat sometimes.

My set up is a 77/22 (plastic stock, blued barrel) with a leupold vx1 rimfire 2-7x28 mounted with the factory rings, I love this gun. For bullets, it dosent make a damn bit of difference for shooting grouse, just hit them good in the head or neck so they don’t fly away. Their vitals are so small that it’s suprisingly easy to shoot them and lose them.

I have seen grouse so shot over, they flush up a 1/4 mile ahead.
I have seen grouse so unexposed, that we killed them with rocks.

Where we used to live, we had grouse on our property. My 6 year old son was too small to lift a 10/22 so I would kneel and he used my shoulder as a rest to shoot medium stupid ruffed grouse.

Same up in the Interior. Rarely are shotguns used in the villages for grouse and ptarmigan. They are used more along the road system. Last fall was the first time I shot grouse with a shotgun (.410) in years. Most of them were whacked on the ground. Ordinarily I shoot them with a .22 pistol while tooling through the woods doing other things.

And 7 are native to AK...

I don't hate any birds enough to groundswat them, but that is just my prejudice. And it is based on having groundswatted a wagonload...