Ontario Grouse outing yesterday (a.k.a. shotgun & blaze orange for sale)

Although I have mostly put energy into goose hunting so far this year, i have taken a few walks with the dog, through the woods around Peterborough County, only seen one while I had a gun in hand, the only one I have eaten ran into the bay window and broke its neck. I guess that's why they call it hunting, not killing.
 
I was out deer hunting [successfully] and encountered 63 grouse until I stopped counting in one 8 K.M. section of road, I must have jumped hundreds in the 6 days I was out.
 
i took 6 myself the rest of the 6 guys in my hunting group took about the same, no moose but lots of birds.
 
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I have taken 19 this year off one road and seen many more. That's it for me this year, no use being a pig about. Save some for the next fella and breeding stock for next year. I have some pet ones that I see when go into my back 40 to check my trail cameras. Saving them for future generations as well.
 
It's been terrible for the past several years here, wet and cold springs. Going grouse hunting lately without a dog makes for good exercise and little else. With a dog, you find the odd one. I remember in the 80's when I could limit out in less than an hour on Ruffies and practice on Sharptail anytime. It also seems that the red tailed hawk and horned owl population is increasing every year as well. They're hell on grouse.

I've eaten three grouse this year; one ruffed, one spruce and another ruffed that broke his neck when he smoked the window of my house. :D
 
It is not the best year but it is still perfectly okay if you work hard and think outside the box. This year in our sector we had to change our approach on where was the density of population.

Interesting enought in 3 day's we harvested 28 grouse for 3 hunters. On this 28 , 20 where spruce grouse and only 8 ruffed.
If we compare this to the last 6 year we have been hunting a this location this is astonishing to see that many spruce grouse.
In those past year we had an average of 16-22 grouse. On this we were lucky to harvest 2-4 spruce grouse. Every other was ruffed grouse.

That's a big change in food and environment. I noticed also a big difference in food. No red berry was in the wood in the sector that normaly have a tons of them.

But in all with hard work and more than 11 km of walk per day we had good results.
 
This has been my best year in several years. Now, I do only manage to get out a couple times a year since the area I hunt is a two hour drive away, but two weeks ago I got 4. Thats about the same as I got in the previous 3 years total. The numbers are definately up in our area, one of the guys from the neighbouring camp has pulled a dozen or so this fall.
 
Lack of success in years like this one is nature's way of getting you to change your hunting habits and visit places you would not otherwise have gone to.
 
Dirtysocks said:
I tagged out in 3 days on my bear hunt at the end of September, it was in the Temagami area, Red sqirrel rd. It will not dissapoint.
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That's exactly where we were during moose. We limited every day! I have never seen bear activities around there, did you have luck?
 
We have had three limit hunts between Sudbury and Timmins... and taken a dozen birds incidentally to other hunting pursuits... had a couple more hunts that were kinda half-limit deals... but in the areas we were hunting the numbers are clearly down.
 
Did you and her had fun?
Did you get away from everyday hustle and rush?
Did you use the trip to show her off a bit about the woods? The animals? The habitat? How the things changed since the last time you been in the area?

no day in the bush is waisted, and another thing I noticed when hunting with my brothers- the harder you try the less success you have, the moment you start enjoying what you doing things start happening
 
OP, don't sell out just yet! They seem to come and go in cycles. They're down here in MB this year. We have only got one so far and have only seen 2 other's that some wildlife creature had a meal on. Hang on, other years will be much better. You could golf in the meantime.
 
Best time to hunt them is after the leaves have fallen. At the start of the season they can be sitting 5 yards off the side of the trail and you will not see them in all the cover. I quit hunting them a number of years ago until the leaves had fallen and the majority of moose hunters had left the bush. Those last two weeks in October and first two weeks in November in my then neck of the woods were the time to go. We would see lots, there was rarely anyone else around and limits were common.

And if you are willing to venture out when it turns cold and the snow is on the ground? You can reap some HUGE rewards. Once there is 8-12 inches of snow cover and they cannot get to the little bit of green left on the ground it's upward they go. We would head out late afternoon and scan the birch tree tops. They stand out like sore thumbs on an open sky background in bare trees picking away at birch buds and on really cold still evenings of -15 or colder you can hear them breaking the frozen buds off the branches. It carries alot further than you would think and often tipped us off as to there whereabouts.

Here is a pic from a few years ago.......I have to be careful which I select, Hoytcannon may clue in to the backgrounds?! ;)



And a little more recent.......shortly before leaving Ontario. This is what I miss most about home. The bush, hunting logging roads and trails and all the fishable water......

 
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