Vince Pagliaroli
Well-known member
Amen to that
Grouse Hunting
- Thread starter RM Anderson
- Start date
Amen to that
RM Anderson
Well-known member
Berta, my first hunting dog, was quite a revelation when it came to grouse hunting. For years I had hunted alone and thought I knew the habits of these birds pretty well. I had no idea how much the ruffed grouse resorted to running!
RM
Last edited:
Vince Pagliaroli
Well-known member
RM
"I will tell you a very wise thing. If a man is really intelligent there's practically nothing a good dog can't teach him." The Old Man - Robert Ruark
That pretty much covers it.
VP
"I will tell you a very wise thing. If a man is really intelligent there's practically nothing a good dog can't teach him." The Old Man - Robert Ruark
That pretty much covers it.
VP
Never had a chance to hunt Ruff Grouse but did grow up following a big Gordon setter for quail. I have hunted Blue Grouse in Colorado though while Elk scouting. They just fly up in a tree and set there so no need for my SXS 28 ga just used a 22. After the hunt, cleaned the bird, beautiful meat, and put the bird in the campfire wrapped in foil with vegetables and a little water. Cooked great and when I opened the foil the bird was beautifully cooked and the vegetables were nice. Sat down and took my first bite. Tasted just like eating a well-cooked pine 2x4. Oh well. Never shot another one.
You're plainly a more patient man than I. During the years I ordered my life around Appalachian ruffs, I got pretty good at avoiding lost field time with bumping dogs, no matter how fine their loving owners' coverts might be.
don novicki
Active member
Almost 73 y/o and have yet to ever even see one here in NW Pa.. I do not have a dog so it's doubtful I'd walk the woods hoping for the best. I'd like to head North to hunt them at least once, but it seems doubtful anymore. I enjoy all of everyone's pictures and stories though. Keep em coming.
I like walking the roads too. People need to get off their fat ass and walk.
Having always had Labs, in addition to some Pointers years ago, we had our share of flushing dogs. Gunner points when the birds hold, but closes in and flushes if they run. He's as good an all around bird dog as I've ever hunted over.
Good rail hunting tides always come when you have something else that needs to be done. I think you are correct, it may be a touch early for a flight.
Purgatory
Several people mentioned they enjoyed reading of other's grouse adventures. I think Dani, Carl, Don, maybe someone else? So I'm going to try to remember to post about it sometime this season. I'll be curious to hear how others do, as this is a traditional downcycle year. The traditional cycle runs on a 10 year clock. This phenomenon has been written about since maybe the 1940's. According to proponents, the best years end in 0,1,2, and the worst are usually 5,6,7. So 2026 is no bueno. The areas I hunt exhibit some correlation to this theory IMO, but not always. While I've had great hunts on downcycle years, this one seems to be following the rules. We're seeing very few birds where we normally see then this time of year.
What I also find interesting this year is that there are absolutely no hawks around. Of any kind. No Coopers or Sharp Shinned is good news for us grouse lovers. But I can normally walk out the door of our house in CT or ME and see, or at least hear, one. Nothing. My buddies and I were talking about it last night while working on boats. Yeah, those boats.
I also notice on birdwatching sites, they say the same thing. Counts way down. So I'm wondering if the avian flu is claiming them?
What I also find interesting this year is that there are absolutely no hawks around. Of any kind. No Coopers or Sharp Shinned is good news for us grouse lovers. But I can normally walk out the door of our house in CT or ME and see, or at least hear, one. Nothing. My buddies and I were talking about it last night while working on boats. Yeah, those boats.
I also notice on birdwatching sites, they say the same thing. Counts way down. So I'm wondering if the avian flu is claiming them?
Vince Pagliaroli
Well-known member
Rick,
My best friend and hunting & fishing mentor had a saying. "I'm not a doctor but I have a lot of patience.." He taught me the value of being patient. I do my best to be and it works. Ruffs get bumped by dogs and by dogless hunters, that's all part of the deal. Most all of my Ruffed Grouse hunting was in western and north central PA, eastern Ohio, and some hunting in Ontario and out west as well.
Until the population crash there were always plenty of birds from Oct. to Feb. I missed very few days of grouse hunting with and without dogs. Now I'm in western NY and the crash happened here as well. Before I retired I bought all new grouse hunting togs from top to bottom cuz my old ones were in tatters. (I'm sure you understand). I feel like a fool. All new duds and few birds. Yet I still go and walk far, but slower now at 76.
My library contains many books on the things I love to do outdoors. Plenty of Grouse and Woodcock books that I read from cover to cover. Of all the books and printed material I ever read on Ruffed Grouse NONE is better than A Sand County Almanac, chapter 10, October - By Aldo Leopold
My you have a fine Fall enjoying what matter most to you outdoors.
Best regards
Vince
And you, as well.
Neal Haarberg
Active member
I have been toying with the idea of chasing grouse in the Cascades in SW Washington this year. Years ago I did OK in the coast range in Oregon following my lab on old logging roads and creek bottoms. I have 3 year old lab with plenty of energy and thought I might give a try again after a 20 year hiatus. The biggest problem for me will be time to go and avoiding big game hunters.... you couldn't pay me enough to be out there with my dog during rifle elk or deer season. Not many grouse hunters in the PNW. Most are shot off the road by deer hunters...
Michael McCord1
Active member
i love gated or cabled roads for this very reason. Road hunters just suck.
To get grouse or game of any kind out here In south central Idaho is just get out of your vehicle and walk. Rarely will you see anyone after a mile of hiking. I know only a few grouse hunters, most are opportunists while on other pursuits. A whole new world opens up just 1600 yards from the road.
I see grouse hunting as the gun version of dry fly fishing for trout. I have my favorite spots, my honey holes, places where I know I'll find my quarry. A big brown trout is always at the top of my list just as a ruffed would be in the grouse line. I have three places that I am fairly confident I will be able to find a ruffed and several spots off rock walls that the dry fly has to be delivered side arm and backhanded under a 7 foot overhang and drop it 5 inches off a wall, but you are about guaranteed to get an eat. Grouse hunting is very similar.
There are no crowds in where I hunted grouse, I never see boot prints or people making them. It's quiet and the pace is slow for forest grouse. The ruffs that I find are always around small trickles of water coming off the mountains. I take my time, watching and listening for slight movements of birds noticing my presence. Those spots are sacred, so valuable, so priceless, full of treasured memories and places I hope I'll be able to return to.
Blue grouse are the most prevalent of the grouse in my neck of the woods. They are beautiful in their own way, birds of the year are delicious, but remember I'm the guy who likes to eat goldeneye, so there is that. Spruce grouse are fairly uncommon anymore, occasionally we run into them fly fishing in creeks along the sawtooth mountains. Older birds remind me of eating tough chicken sautéed in turpentine.
My second favorite grouse would be sage grouse. The population is in trouble here, I have a great spot about 40 miles from the house, but they closed the hunt a year or two and then dropped the limit to one bird and that on a permit system. I feel like if the birds are in that much trouble, maybe there shouldn't be a hunt at all and I quit hunting them. Our spot was on top of a large plateau above the valley floor. Very little water other than a small reservoir that we steadfastly avoided so at least the birds weren't shot in a barrel so to speak. We had to protect the bird dog's feet, so much volcanic rock around that it would not only remove a layer of our boot soles but the dogs feet as well. A good 10 miles of hiking all over the area, occasionally kicking up small groups would yield a few birds. We would always end our hunts at a meteor crater, it was visible on satellite imagery. There were grouse around it somewhere, but there was no water in it. You just had to circle until you found the birds and shoot straight, a two bird limit would come pretty quick. We could have just gone to the crater first and had a quick limit, but I've never understood the hurry of driving 100 miles round trip, shoot a limit and drive back home. I'm never in that big of a hurry to finish out a limit. It's the only place I ever shot a full fledged tail rooster, I can still see the flush of that bird 20 years ago. Season is too early, the third week of september, even the mature birds are swallow tailed. The birds of the year are delicious, but then again there is that goldeneye thing.
I grew up in eastern Kansas on the edge of the Flint Hills. We hunted prairie chickens frequently through the fall. We had a great place there as well. It's an interesting pursuit, no walking to speak of, maybe a quarter mile to your shooting spot and a make shift blind. We would scout a few times prior to the hunt, both morning and evening and watch the birds come from the flint hills grass land across to a friends soybean field. We would make a mental note of where the birds would cross the fence into the soybeans and at what time. Until that first shot, the flight path would be the same day after day. Then it would be back to a few scouting trips to see where they were going to enter the field the next time. Most often the brood would send a sentry bird to the field. If he didn't see anything disturbing he would circle back and a few minutes later the entire bunch of 30 birds or so would follow his flight path, so would could make some adjustments in your positioning. My dad was a firm believer in not shooting the single, when you did the rest of the birds did not come across to feed.
Grouse hunting and fly fishing are my happy places, no crowds no pressure, a good place to get your thoughts in order and slow down. Duck hunting is war, it's combat, kill or be killed, but keep in mind I'm a diver hunter.
I see grouse hunting as the gun version of dry fly fishing for trout. I have my favorite spots, my honey holes, places where I know I'll find my quarry. A big brown trout is always at the top of my list just as a ruffed would be in the grouse line. I have three places that I am fairly confident I will be able to find a ruffed and several spots off rock walls that the dry fly has to be delivered side arm and backhanded under a 7 foot overhang and drop it 5 inches off a wall, but you are about guaranteed to get an eat. Grouse hunting is very similar.
There are no crowds in where I hunted grouse, I never see boot prints or people making them. It's quiet and the pace is slow for forest grouse. The ruffs that I find are always around small trickles of water coming off the mountains. I take my time, watching and listening for slight movements of birds noticing my presence. Those spots are sacred, so valuable, so priceless, full of treasured memories and places I hope I'll be able to return to.
Blue grouse are the most prevalent of the grouse in my neck of the woods. They are beautiful in their own way, birds of the year are delicious, but remember I'm the guy who likes to eat goldeneye, so there is that. Spruce grouse are fairly uncommon anymore, occasionally we run into them fly fishing in creeks along the sawtooth mountains. Older birds remind me of eating tough chicken sautéed in turpentine.
My second favorite grouse would be sage grouse. The population is in trouble here, I have a great spot about 40 miles from the house, but they closed the hunt a year or two and then dropped the limit to one bird and that on a permit system. I feel like if the birds are in that much trouble, maybe there shouldn't be a hunt at all and I quit hunting them. Our spot was on top of a large plateau above the valley floor. Very little water other than a small reservoir that we steadfastly avoided so at least the birds weren't shot in a barrel so to speak. We had to protect the bird dog's feet, so much volcanic rock around that it would not only remove a layer of our boot soles but the dogs feet as well. A good 10 miles of hiking all over the area, occasionally kicking up small groups would yield a few birds. We would always end our hunts at a meteor crater, it was visible on satellite imagery. There were grouse around it somewhere, but there was no water in it. You just had to circle until you found the birds and shoot straight, a two bird limit would come pretty quick. We could have just gone to the crater first and had a quick limit, but I've never understood the hurry of driving 100 miles round trip, shoot a limit and drive back home. I'm never in that big of a hurry to finish out a limit. It's the only place I ever shot a full fledged tail rooster, I can still see the flush of that bird 20 years ago. Season is too early, the third week of september, even the mature birds are swallow tailed. The birds of the year are delicious, but then again there is that goldeneye thing.
I grew up in eastern Kansas on the edge of the Flint Hills. We hunted prairie chickens frequently through the fall. We had a great place there as well. It's an interesting pursuit, no walking to speak of, maybe a quarter mile to your shooting spot and a make shift blind. We would scout a few times prior to the hunt, both morning and evening and watch the birds come from the flint hills grass land across to a friends soybean field. We would make a mental note of where the birds would cross the fence into the soybeans and at what time. Until that first shot, the flight path would be the same day after day. Then it would be back to a few scouting trips to see where they were going to enter the field the next time. Most often the brood would send a sentry bird to the field. If he didn't see anything disturbing he would circle back and a few minutes later the entire bunch of 30 birds or so would follow his flight path, so would could make some adjustments in your positioning. My dad was a firm believer in not shooting the single, when you did the rest of the birds did not come across to feed.
Grouse hunting and fly fishing are my happy places, no crowds no pressure, a good place to get your thoughts in order and slow down. Duck hunting is war, it's combat, kill or be killed, but keep in mind I'm a diver hunter.