Ruffies - season opener

straightshooter

straightshooter

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
13   0   0
Location
Edmonton
Last Saturday was season opener in our area. We covered alot of ground and didn't see much. Started thinking we got left out of the good populations being reported in other areas. Just when we thought it was going to be a brutal year, we flushed a few. Further on in the same piece of bush we came across 4 in one spot.

As always, it's impossible to tell if we found additional individuals, or whether we just kept bumping the same ones as we chased them around in the trees. When it was all over, we had 2 each.

Not the best day on record, but I believe it was the best opening day we've seen. Looks like it's going to be a fun year!! :D
 
Seems the ruffie population in the southern part of the NWT has exploded. I popped 4 in a 10min walk off the highway down in Ft. Smith 3 nights ago.
 
Yuri Orlov said:
There's a way to tell...don't miss!! :D
Click to expand...

True, but that only holds if you get a shot.

Joe-NWT said:
Seems the ruffie population in the southern part of the NWT has exploded. I popped 4 in a 10min walk off the highway down in Ft. Smith 3 nights ago.
Click to expand...

Everything I've read points to a good year pretty much everywhere. Still keeping my fingers crossed that it's for real.

We're going up for another 2 day hunt this weekend. I'll report back once we see how it went.
 
Wow!! What a weekend!! DEFINITELY, there's lots of grouse this year (in north-eastern Alberta, anyway). After the best opening day in memory last weekend, we went back this weekend to see if their numbers are really as good as we've heard. Between the two of us, we got 9 on Saturday and 6 more on Sunday.:ninja: Missed a lot more than we bagged, too, so there's plenty of good hunting left.
 
Ya.

I would have to say Grouse up in this neck of the woods arn't as good as last year. But there are still leaves on the trees here so I will have a better answer in a couple weeks.

congrats straightshooter.
 
Same here in N. Ont. I went out on Sat morning.

I road swatted 1 right off the bat, flushed and then smacked the survivor of that pair. I figured that was a good enough spot to start into th bush, walked the bush and wandered for 45 minutes to get 3 more.

Home by 10am with limit of ruffies.

Note to self: modified choke is too tight for close flushing birds.......... some real exploding pillow shots on some of them.
 
Last edited:
What are the daily and possession limits in Ontario? We're allowed 10 max in a day and 20 possession. The 10 in a day is hard to best on most days, but 20 possession comes awful fast (I've still got 12 in the freezer, just from the first two weekends).

Next week (September 29th to October 7th), we're going up for the whole week. That works out to 9 days in a row. Fortunately the sharptail season opens on October 1st. Climbing up and down the hills looking for them will no doubt dampen our ruffie bag. But, we may have ruffed grouse for dinner more than once on that trip!

gth, I know what you mean about the exploding pillow. You may have noticed that my bag over the past 2 weekends is 1 higher than what I've got in the freezer. That's because I put the whole load into one from about 15 yards away.:eek: I've never "dusted" one quite that badly before - all there was left was the head and the wings attached to the back. The sight was gruesome, even for a hunter. I usually try to shoot ahead of any birds from that range, hoping to only put one or two pellets in the head. This time I clearly "missed" (so to speak).:redface:
 
SS - looks like you folks are off to a great start :) I should have landed in Alberta when I first migrated (did not have an opportunity to do proper research :( )

Daily bag limit (Ruff and/or Spruce) in ON is five with 15 being the possession limit. Post some pics if it's no great trouble. My (personal) season starts from 12th October as I observe fast during the holy Month of Ramadan....there are no restrictions on hunting as such.....personal choice).

All the best to you throughout the season - all must agree that it is short :)
 
We get 10 ruffs AND 10 Sprucies AND 5 Blues AND 5 Sharptails and 5 ptarmigan for a 35 grouse a day limit. Throw in 6 huns and 2 pheasants and upland gunning here can be a full time occupation. My best day was in Fort Mac where I picked up 10 Sprucies, 4 ruffs, 5 sharptails and pair of ptarmigan one morning near the end of November.
 
sjemac said:
We get 10 ruffs AND 10 Sprucies AND 5 Blues AND 5 Sharptails and 5 ptarmigan for a 35 grouse a day limit. Throw in 6 huns and 2 pheasants and upland gunning here can be a full time occupation.
Click to expand...

:eek::eek:


I'd better start thinking seriously about relocating :)
 
straightshooter said:
What are the daily and possession limits in Ontario? We're allowed 10 max in a day and 20 possession. The 10 in a day is hard to best on most days, but 20 possession comes awful fast (I've still got 12 in the freezer, just from the first two weekends).
Click to expand...


Our daily limit is only 5. It could easily be split into Northern/Southern Ontario zones and have a 10 limit up north , I can shoot more birds in a day up north than most guys will flush in a season down south.

Really the posession limit doesnt bother us because we eat so many when we are out. 5 grouse cubed, battered and fried in salt/pepper and butter is the appetizers every night before supper. After 8 days of that you dont really need to many for the freezer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom