Upland chicken season

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loogin28

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The upland season starts in Manitoba Sept 8. I know it is going to be way to hot, however it is my first time out. Anyone have any tips. Thanks in advance.
 
Can't speak for Manitoba but in Ontario early season upland hunting is tough. Leaves on the trees, hot weather, mountain bikers all make for a challenging hunt and long gaps between flushes. Nonetheless, success is possible. Hunt near summer food sources, berries and such. Birds will still be scattered as long as the food is scattered/varied/abundant. Move very slowly, and listen intently. Grouse do a lot more running when the cover is thick. Hunt flushed grouse, they usually don't fly too far so long as you don't put a cloud of lead behind em. Good luck, I love upland hunting regardless of my succes rate.

Patrick
 
ahhh! im so excited for opener!! just got my new cz redhead 20g yesterday! it's a beauty!
I've only been grouse hunting once before and although it wasn't hot, it was certainly very warm. as said already, take your time walking the trails and logging roads. you'll hear them rummaging in the leaves and branches. if you're driving them as some do, do it slowly and just roll ahead. you wont hear them anymore unless you're on an electric golf cart so keep an eye on areas that have a greater contrast like rocks/small boulders. we found them tanning on them quite often last year. maybe it was just an easier contrast to distinguish them by, or maybe they love the rays. don't know and don't much care, it worked to look in these areas so ill stick to it until it no longer does :)

happy hunting!
 
Grouse do not have a big range. Take note of where you see them. They will not be far away the next time you are in that area.
 
By referring to the upland birds as, "chickens," the OP probably means sharptail grouse, as they have been traditionally called, "prairie chickens," in the prairies provinces.
Early season could be good for them. I am also betting he has access to farm hunting of them.
 
phinton81 said:
Can't speak for Manitoba but in Ontario early season upland hunting is tough. Leaves on the trees, hot weather, mountain bikers all make for a challenging hunt and long gaps between flushes. Nonetheless, success is possible. Hunt near summer food sources, berries and such. Birds will still be scattered as long as the food is scattered/varied/abundant. Move very slowly, and listen intently. Grouse do a lot more running when the cover is thick. Hunt flushed grouse, they usually don't fly too far so long as you don't put a cloud of lead behind em. Good luck, I love upland hunting regardless of my succes rate.

Patrick
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Where do you go for grouse hunting in the gta? New to grouse hunting and looking for some hunting spots nearby
 
H4831 said:
By referring to the upland birds as, "chickens," the OP probably means sharptail grouse, as they have been traditionally called, "prairie chickens," in the prairies provinces.
Early season could be good for them. I am also betting he has access to farm hunting of them.
Click to expand...

"Chicken" is a Western Canadian phrase once commonly used when refering to sharptail grouse. Most new hunters these days call ruffed grouse "chickens". Mention "chicken" to many over 50 upland bird hunnters here in the west and their eyebrows will raise...
 
Yup. Spruce, ruffed, sharptail, in Manitoba are commonly generalized into the "chicken" category. I, personally, use "chicken" interchangeably with all three.

As mentioned, they are a little tougher to spot this time of year, but walk slowly, listen carefully, and they can be found.
 
Viper989 said:
Where do you go for grouse hunting in the gta? New to grouse hunting and looking for some hunting spots nearby
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No hunting in the GTA, guaranteed!

As for my hunting spots, sorry my friend, lots of blood, sweat and tears finding my areas no reason why other hunters shouldn't have to do the same. I will suggest to get a map of crown land north of Barrie and you will be able to try different places. Good habitat can be easy to find, good populations is another story entirely. Good luck,

Patrick
 
When I small game hunt up here in N.E. Alberta boreal forest, its this game for me;
Early morning hunt for rabbits in the bush with varying degrees of success.
Mid,and late morning to noon and perhaps an hour after 12, its back to the dirt roads and trails where ruffies are often seen picking up small bits of gravel for thier gizzard. (the warmest hours of the day)
Late afternoon until as late as possible, it's back to the green jungle pushing up bunnies.
With this plan I rarely come home empty handed.

Repeat........
 
Paatz said:
I dunno, we hunt partridge over here, is that a different bird?
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Only if your hunting Huns. I've heard Ruffies being called Partridge before but most hunters tend to group Sharptails,Ruffies and Sprucies as "chickens". I even hear hunters calling Spruce Grouse "Sruce hens". The one I always get a kick out of though is,"Ruffled Grouse".
 
Saskatchewan has lots of different creatures.
As teen ager I shot jumpers in SK. When I later went to BC and asked around if there were jumpers here, they didn't know what I was talking about, and called them things whitetail deer, instead!
In SK I shot prairie chickens and partridges.
When I moved to BC and read the hunting regulations I was shocked to see it was prohibited to use a rifle on partridge. I think it was two years before I found out that by partridge they meant some other smaller bird that I had never heard of.
And they called my partridges "grouse," which were legal to shoot with my 22.
Then I found out they had prairie chickens in BC, but they called them sharptail grouse!
 
I have been scouting for a while and have several spots to try. It will be my first hunt for Ruffed Grouse. Also will be solo. Should be interesting at least. Thanks for the information everyone.
 
Listen for drumming. Its an obvious one, but its lead me directly to several birds in the past.

If the birds arent very pressured, and you flush one, immediately stop and wait a few minutes. Often they will just come right back to where the flushed from.
 
I bring my single shot 16ga with me on hunts. When the deer are bedded in the heat of the day, I prowl logging roads and get grouse when they're graveling.
 
So I went out last Sat. in eastern Manitoba. Very windy,rain was coming down. Walked alot of trails and also in the bush quite a bit. Could not hear a thing for the wind. Really thick with leaves still. Flushed one bird that was way to far away to shoot. Ran into 4 other hunters on a trail and they had not seen a thing all day either. I have some time off next week and will try again. Was still fun getting out and trying.
 
I've been out twice so far and was successful on trip number two and this is pretty darn early in the season. I scouted out some old deer hunting areas that had been written off by alot of 'old timers' up here that begrudged the nearby oil work. Well as it turns out, that area has been idle for the last two years.
In thirty minutes I had two ruffies with minimal effort. Prior engagements kept this to be a shorter upland game hunting trip.
Keep at it buddy.
 
Thanks guys I'm not giving up, will try again soon. Have acquired a GPS just a cheap one to help me get off the beaten path. We'll see if that helps. Going to try a few other spots next time. The spots I tried last Sat were spots that I scouted about 2 weeks ago and saw quite a few birds. They're there just gotta find them i guess.
 
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