Grouse Hunting Advice

My father described hunting them with a friend when he was a kid... One of them would stand in front of the grouse, so it would be staring at them... The other kid would sneak around back of it and throw a jacket over it! The name fool hen was well earned! :p
 
ColdOne said:
My father described hunting them with a friend when he was a kid... One of them would stand in front of the grouse, so it would be staring at them... The other kid would sneak around back of it and throw a jacket over it! The name fool hen was well earned! :p
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Ruffed Grouse and 'Fools Hens (Spruce Grouse) are two totally different 'animals'. The only thing they have in common is they are both classified as Grouse.
 
Thanks for bringing that up, Johnn. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to point that out. My daughter came home from the library with a children's book simply entitled "Grouse". Excellent reading for young and old alike (although it was written for an audience in the 6 - 10 yr. range).

The book correctly points out that there are 9 species of grouse that can be found in various parts of North America. The most commonly found are the Ruffed, Spruce, and Sharptail. Their behaviors (and the type of hunting that they imply) are markedly different.

As you said, the Spruce grouse is the one often called the "fool hen" because of its "if I stand here nice and still, nobody will see me" way of dealing with potential danger. "Prairie Chickens" are a member of the grouse family that also would rather run than fly. Suffice to say, you won't be getting too many sharptail with a .22 or any other rifle.

To be able to offer any meaningful advice, we need to know what part of the country you're hunting and, if it's not obvious, what kind of grouse inhabit the area.

SS
 
Personally, IMHO it's .410 or 20g work, with birds on the wing. Sometimes you have to convince them to get up, but it's more sporting that way, if you're hunting, rather than harvesting. It's mainly Ruffies in my neck of the woods, although there are some Spruce. The Sharptails are around here too, but they don't seem to arrive untill after the season is closed.

They'll come out to the trails or logging roads for gravel in the mornings and afternoons.
There should be some water source nearby, and often they are in a triangle created by two trails or roads intersecting at angles.
I found that when on hilly terrain, the birds usually flush downhill, but not 100% of the time, so be ready.
Ruffies in our area don't seem to move great distances. They have distinct territories, although it could be a square half mile or more. If you flush them in dense bush and don't get a shot, try an approach in from that angle of escape next time. Chances are he's still in the area. There might be several escape routes from the primary feeding ground. Keep working these. If you have one get up and away, they usually don't fly far. Perhaps 25 to 50 yards not far off the ground, and then flare up into a tree (sitting 8 to 12 feet high on a branch close to the trunk) or gliding down to the ground and then running a bit.
I also like to dress them right away, in the field.
That's the sum of my experience so far.
 
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So out of curiousity - when manitobans bait bear are they 'hunting' bear or 'shooting' bear?

Geez guys - i wish everyone'd learn to keep regional prejudiecs out of the forums. Everybody does things a little different.

I've hunted grouse with 12 gauge's, 16 gauge's, 410 and .22 . Personally, i think you'll find the 12's and 16's a little more than is needed, and if you happen to get one a little close in they leave a few more pellets than one might want (i've only used full choke, so maybe a 12 with a wider choke would do better). A little 20 would be great i think. I had less luck with the 410 but there are those who like 'em.

However - if you like the meat there's a hell of a lot to be said for the .22. A headshot grouse gives you a perfect meal, no holes at all. And for me anyway headshooting a grouse freehand at 30 - 40 yards or so is fairly challenging in and of itself. I'ts pretty easy to miss and the grouse goes bye bye - but at least if you get a hit they tend to stay down. I've clipped a few with a shotgun that i'm pretty sure i hit but not hard enough to put down. I hate that.
 
I parked the car on an old woods road one day about 4pm and soon as I took 3 steps down it - 2 ruffs lifted off. Got one shot off with the 16 gauge and thought I dusted one of them but they got away. As I walked back to the car at about 5pm - I see something fall like a rock out of a spruce tree near where I flushed the two - I must of hit it after all. :cool: Tough old bird took em an hour to figure out he was dead. :D
 
Foxer said:
Geez guys - i wish everyone'd learn to keep regional prejudiecs out of the forums. Everybody does things a little different.
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I don't think it's a regional prejudice thing, it's an important consideration in gun selection because I do recognize people do things differently. Manitoba grouse hunting, for example, covers open pasture to thick bush and logging trails, stubble fields to tundra, evergreens to bare deciduous trees, warm Sept days to cold and snowy. So we don't have just one style of grouse hunting.

If you wish to wingshoot (what I refer to as hunting as a single word label, but I should maybe call it wingshooting instead), any rifle is useless, as is a .410 for anyone but an expert.

If you wish to shoot them on the ground (what I call shooting), then a 12 gauge is overkill, but a .22 or a .410 come into their own.

Please ignore any stigma or assumptions attached to the words on which method is the right way or the sporting way. But you need to identify which harvesting style the hunter will be using. I hope I haven't preached (lately, anyway) 'You must hunt grouse MY way', but I will always say how I hunt grouse and why I hunt them that way; you can decide on your own if it's a style you wish to try. But I don't demand you do it a certain way.
 
You could throw dogs into the equation as well. I shoot the occassional ground bird but never have and never will hunt with a dog. A seasoned ruffed grouse hunter should be able to read the terrain and habitat, know distress calls, and the cadences of grouse running/walking - enough to be able to locate and have good success with these upland game birds.

Using a dog's sense of smell with a human's knowledge and technology, IMO tips the scales a little too much in the hunter's favour. Plus you'll get alot more exercise crawling throught the thickets on your own.:D
 
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I don't think it's a regional prejudice thing, it's an important consideration in gun selection because I do recognize people do things differently. Manitoba grouse hunting, for example, covers open pasture to thick bush and logging trails, stubble fields to tundra, evergreens to bare deciduous trees, warm Sept days to cold and snowy. So we don't have just one style of grouse hunting.
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Yeah, i've hunted grouse there. Or chickens i guess you'd call 'em. Only a few times with my uncle (grandad would have little to do with it, he said he'd hunt 'em more if they were ducks :) the man was a driven duck hunter). Whole different ball of wax than out here, that's for sure.

Hey, if you want to differentiate between hunting models then by all means that is an entirely fair thing to do. I mean without a doubt we do that with other game: "are you treestand hunting, spot and stalk hunting, road hunting, glassing, etc etc". And if i've 'read in' more than you meant than so be it, hey it's the net it happens.

However i'd propose to you that by differentiating between 'hunting' and 'shooting', you present the idea that folks who shoot them with a .22 aren't actually hunting grouse. And that's not in keeping with simply differentiating between methods, as it suggests those who use one tool are hunters while the others are not.

As a personal suggestion (take it as you will, milage may vary, check local dealers for details) maybe you should ask if people intend to wingshoot or groundshoot, or the like.

It's fine to suggest that one method is your favourate, or that you feel one method is more challenging or even 'sporting' in your mind - heck i got no problem saying 'if baiting were legal here, i'd still perfer to hunt bear without bait'. But we've seen SO many fights between bowhunters vs rifle, treestand vs ground, road vs stillhunting, bait vs spot and stalk, etc etc etc and everyone feels their method is morally superior to others (We even had one guy here claim that only falconers are 'real' hunters - everyone else is not. :) yeash!). We have to learn to respect ALL methods of hunting - or the anti's peck away at whoever's least popular. (hey don't get me wrong, i struggle with it sometimes too)

Anyway - like i say take it for what it is. I'd just rather see people avoid suggesting one method is 'better' than another, rather than just prefering one method over another.
 
Sorry for posting the link to your previous essay Grouse Man.

Apparently I started something.
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Don't be silly. This is a discussion. If you're afriad to start discussions, coming on a discussion board is probably fairly hazardous :)
 
Sorry for posting the link to your previous essay Grouse Man.
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I'm glad you posted the link. It was a great read, and opened an intelegent debate. In one afternoon, within 5 km, my hunting partner and I took 2 sharpies, and a selection of ruffies and spruce grouse.
All could have been taken with either a 22 or shot gun.
A dog would have worked great because there was a spruce buffer that followed the trail. If we could have put a dog on the far side of the buffer, he would have flushed or pushed a lot more birds toward us.
 
Foxer said:
Don't be silly. This is a discussion. If you're afriad to start discussions, coming on a discussion board is probably fairly hazardous :)
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Oh believe me Foxer, I'm not afraid of discussions. Just didn't know if Grouse Man appreciated me dragging his old post out of the archives and tossing it into the fray.
 
Hunter is still defined as: one who hunts game or other animals. period

I don't think our forefathers really cared about the technique in which they took game when it was more an act to fill the table then appeasing politcally correct methods. I guess hunting technique has really become diversified over the past century with the evolution and diversification of shotguns, loads, gun clubs, and vast contrasts in landscape across our country. Hunters will continue to do what they do best in order to fill their game bag and as long as it is done within the law ... and who are we to question that!?
 
Nobody has suggested that it's wrong to shoot a grouse on the ground, or that it's unethical to do so; all that's been said so far is that for some of us, it's more fun to take them on the wing.

I shoot the odd bird for dinner with a .22 or centrefire, but I wouldn't spend a day doing it. I'd gladly spend a day trying to flush them though.

And as to our forefathers and their hunting methods, I suppose that depends on where you're from. It was probably a capital crime to ground-sluice a bird on a driven-grouse shoot in England. They take their wingshooting seriously.

One question, and no offence intended to anyone; as I said, I take a few grouse on the ground: Does anyone shoot waterfowl on the ground or water? It's kind of a no-no around here, just wondering if that goes accross the country.
 
PeakXV said:
I don't think our forefathers really cared about the technique in which they took game when it was more an act to fill the table then appeasing politcally correct methods.
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...yes, and they fished with dynamite as well!:D

If the changing environment (yes, even in CANADA) puts every day more stress on our game we have to do our part to preserve the game...or "GAME Over". I don't expect many Grouse here due to a very wet spring and summer. Knock the rest with your .22 and enjoy the meal! Oh I forgot, not here of course, since shooting birds with bullets is prohibited...but who cares?:rolleyes:
One day school kids may be told about the "silly grouse" that was easy to hunt and disappeared. Books are full with those examples.

A deer has to be on it's legs and bird on it's wings. Period!
 
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This is a great thread, here in the UK unless you are poaching no birds are shot on the ground. I suspect the only difference would be punt gunning the birds on water. I suppose if it was a pest bird you could shoot them sitting or on a branch! Seems a bit unsporting. Get you thrown of a shoot here!
 
TimC said:
This is a great thread, here in the UK unless you are poaching no birds are shot on the ground. I suspect the only difference would be punt gunning the birds on water. I suppose if it was a pest bird you could shoot them sitting or on a branch! Seems a bit unsporting. Get you thrown of a shoot here!
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What is the general habitat of Grouse in the UK? Field or forested area.

My image of hunting grouse in the UK is the highlands of Scotland in open areas. I can't imagine not wing shooting in those instances.

Here in Atlantic Canada, if you don't have a blackberry bushes ripping your crotch and/or face and an 1000 alder/fir trees within a shotgun swing then your probably in the wrong cover.:)
 
In the UK Grouse are shot driven on grouse moors. Very popular and the Glorius 12th is the earliest start of season for any game bird in the UK. Basically a line of beaters (hardworking poor fellas like me) will flush the birds over the Butts where The Guns (financially secure gents and even some ladies) will take them as they scream in at 80+ mph towards them. The trick is not to brown out and aim at the mass of birds but pick a brace and use a barrel on each bird. Occaissionally the birds will be taken overhead and behind but that isnt always safe due to the pickers up (my long suffering wife) who is using dogs to hoover up the shot birds and runners. Generally a Northern counties sport as there are few moors here in the south at sufficient altitude. The guns may have loaders and up to 3 double barrelled game guns so all they do is point and pull. A gentlemans gentleman would load for him. That said it is still run like this but there are no class barriers, we even take money of the colonials from The Americas!

P.S. The Butts are generally on a reverse slope to hide them from the birds and make the beaters job safer!
 
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