Any tips for cold weather grouse

-30?
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WOW.. you're a hardy soul.

my advice ... dress for that extreme weather........ and if you're going grouse hunting ....... Enjoy it, whether you see a grouse or not.

Congrats for being so tenacious

Lucky

PS take a camera along and get some photos of the hunt ... and report back! :)
 
Heavy cover with access to the sun if it decides to put out some heat. They still have to eat so keep that in mind.
 
Last hour before dark watch the upper limbs of the birch trees. They are just starting to eat birch catkins here now.Easier if you can silhouette them against the sky.
 
Is there much snow on the ground? If so, I'd tend to follow the advice above - spot them in the trees near dusk. Aspen, willow or birch is what they like. If there's little or no snow, hunt normally, but focus on south facing areas if the sun is out. Our season just ended a week ago.. but I got one during the peak of a big snowstorm. It had been eating various buds, but mostly ferns... the only greenery left, I suppose.
 
I've never tried winter grouse hunting but my friend says to look for their tracks in the snow. I know I saw grouse tracks while deer hunting but didn't notice any grouse. Could be they were burrowed under.

Or I just might have missed them as I was focused on seeing deer.
 
Deerdr said:
Last hour before dark watch the upper limbs of the birch trees. They are just starting to eat birch catkins here now.Easier if you can silhouette them against the sky.
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I was crazy enough to take a trip north of you yesterday and only managed to see huge Moose tracks traversing a trail (BTW - that muzzle is pointed at air about 30ft away to the side with empty chambers)

 
I swore off grouse this year when I noticed their reduced numbers in my area. Biologist told me that the heavy snow we had last year combined with a late spring that was VERY wet until mid-summer pretty much decimated the grouse stocks. I have only seen 2 on my place this year and usually, by now, the ornamental crab-apple trees have 7 or 8 in them each night when I get home from work.
 
Tracks are a good way to find them.

I see lots of ruffies hanging around the base of evergreens.

Anywhere that has exposed gravel or sand, as they eat it, is great. I've got a mix of ruffies and sprucies that eat gravel regularly in my driveway, but I let them be.

Sunny hillsides.
 
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