Grouse

drache

drache

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Well it's getting to be that time and now this question came up with some coworkers so I figure I'd ask it here....

How do you clean your grouse? Do you do it right away or wait until later? Do you pluck them like a chicken or do the old step on the wings routine? If you do the wings routine how many times have you had the legs come off in your hands? :D

what is your prefered method and taking a grouse, rifle, shotgun, other?

What about funny or highly amusing or amazing stories of hunting these delicious little bird?
 
I clean right away by means of step on wing and pull. I discard the feathers right there and then and put the remains in a sealed bag. When retuning back to the vehicle I hope to nail a yote scrounging the remains. Have had success in the past.
 
tripod1 said:
I clean right away by means of step on wing and pull. I discard the feathers right there and then and put the remains in a sealed bag. When retuning back to the vehicle I hope to nail a yote scrounging the remains. Have had success in the past.
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That's GENIUS! Thanks for the idea! I never though to watch for the little howlers when backtracking, but I will from now on!
 
Pop & clean em on the spot, wing method while it's still warm, if you wait too long it doesn't work well. I use a shotgun so I can quickly load slugs incase I see sasquatch.

Funny stories... hmm, well I was walking to my deer stand last fall and spooked a few birds, one of them flew 40 yards and then I heard a big THUMP.. I figured the bird smaked into a tree so I start walking over to the sound. Sure enough, I find the lil fker flapping around on the ground, finished it off with my foot to not make any noise. A few days before this a grouse had flew right into the cabin window and was dispatched the same way.. these birds must be blind! :D
 
I was taught the wing method although more than a couple times I've had only drumsticks in my hands and not the breasts I like :D

As for a somewhat funny story....

I was out hunting grouse with my father and a grouse was flying about two or three feet off the ground in an angle away from me and took a shot at him. I pretty much missed although I took out the center mass of his tail feathers. there were only about two or three feathers on each side with a large gap in the middle. He hit the ground running and never did find him.

Another grouse I accidentally shot with a slug from about 10 feet away. No blood, no body, just feathers. Never made that mistake a second time.

I did have a grouse fly into the side of my house once and break it's own neck. Not a window but the wall. That was easy and a good afterschool snack.
 
An alternative is to remove the guts using a Gut Hook. Let's the body cool faster and stays cleaner, then yank the wings back at the car.

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Step and pull usually within the hour. Don't care to leave grouse remains in plain view as I don't like to advertize. Clumps of tail feathers and such are a dead ringer for good grouse trails. I even pitch my shell casings out into the bush well out of range of watchful eyes.
 
I push my thumbs down the neck opening ripping the skin, one along the front and one along the back, then I just pull them apart. You are left with the guts in one hand the wings and breast in the other, in Sask you have to leave one wing on till you get home.
 
I clean them when I get home so I have more chance to look at it until it turns into a piece of meat. I just do the wing thing. Makes great chicken fingers.
 
The above is a blue grouse (the only shot i fired last hunting season)

taken *somewhere* ;) around BC's Fraser canyon.

My preferred method to clean grouse is the step on the wings trick but occasionally one gets messy and requires the pluck method..

The bird above was so big / muscle mass that he would NOT come apart with the wing method....

Result between breast and drum sticks was one delicious pot of "Grouse Bolganese"

over egg noodles which feed 5 people for dinner...
 
When I get to go out for grouse, which is never enough, I'm a step on the wings method kind of guy.
My parents had a "pet" grouse at their place a couple of years ago - whenever they went around the maple sugar shack it was a maximum of 5 minutes until "Gracie" showed up. She would follow my Dad around, sit on the wood pile close to him, she even tried to land on his hat once. Gracie use to chase my Mom and peck at her occasionally - my Dad thought it was an old girlfriend reincarnated. They sent me some pictures of her - I'll have to see if I can find them and post them later. She was around for the better part of a year and then she just didn't show up anymore.
 
shimmer said:
When I get to go out for grouse, which is never enough, I'm a step on the wings method kind of guy.
My parents had a "pet" grouse at their place a couple of years ago - whenever they went around the maple sugar shack it was a maximum of 5 minutes until "Gracie" showed up. She would follow my Dad around, sit on the wood pile close to him, she even tried to land on his hat once. Gracie use to chase my Mom and peck at her occasionally - my Dad thought it was an old girlfriend reincarnated. They sent me some pictures of her - I'll have to see if I can find them and post them later. She was around for the better part of a year and then she just didn't show up anymore.
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mmmmmm gracie with gravie



:D
 
I even pitch my shell casings out into the bush well out of range of watchful eyes.
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Why not just drop them into your pocket, & dispose of them properly later? Property owners can't stand finding empty shell casings, & if it's crown land we should still try to keep it clean! Littering is NOT cool in any circumstance.

George
 
The step on wings method works well, if you do it right away and pull very slow. I have never had a failure.
However, I am not happy with that method. It is really too wasteful. The thighs, though not huge, are the best meat on the bird. There is also some good meet on the back.
If you are genuinely out in the bush, like camped out on a foot trip, you can get a good meal from a grouse by the following method. Cut up all parts of the skinned grouse, put it in your tea pail and fill with water, along with a bit of salt. Boil it over your fire, adding water as needed. When the meat will seperate easily from the bones, eat the broth it cooked in, as soup. One grouse makes enough for two hungry men. Later, eat the meat. One grouse makes a pretty darn good meal for two.
I shoot grouse, in the head or neck, with a 22. You can clean them immediately, with just your hands, not even a knife. Tear open the soft spot above, or below, whatever you call it, the pelvic. Clean out all the innards, including the lungs, but save the heart for a tastey, nutritious bite.
Do not seal your dressed grouse in any bag. Nothing ruins meat, or even fish, faster than being sealed in plastic, in any temperatures warmer than what your refrigerator would be. When you put your dressed grouse in a vehicle for travelling, keep the opening in his rear open. A couple of small sticks would do. The important thing is to keep the air circulating through and around it.
 
I love hunting grouse with my 20 ga. I usually just clean them when I get home and usually with the stepping on the wings method. The legs have only come off once and then I just used my fingers and knife to finish cleaning.

Here is a fun story of my first grouse ever: It was my first pass from the hospital after my stroke and I wanted to go hunting. We spent 5 hours walking on difficult terrain looking for grouse (or squirrel). We didn't see anything at all! By the time we got back to the car, I could barely move my legs ( I had just learned to walk again!). We joked that we would probably see a grouse while driving out. Well we went about 50 meters when a grouse flew across the road! We got out and flushed it away from the road and followed it. Well we lost it so we went back to the car and drove away. When we get on the main road, we drive for about 2 minutes when we hear a loud pop. we looked and there was a dust print of a grouse on the car window! We look behind us and we see a dead grouse. So we got out and cleaned it on the side of the road and brought it home! It was funny that we spent so long looking for one and in the end it was practically given to us!

The last time I went grouse hunting I got lost in the woods and as I was standing still trying to figure out where I was and what I should do I hear a faint pat pat pat sound and looked and it was a grouse walking on the wet leaves through some heavy brush. Of course I shot it, even though I was lost I wasn't about to stop hunting! I eventually figured out how to find my way to a trail I was familiar with and walked home and fried the grouse in butter!

Here is a picture of me with the grouse I shot while lost that became a tasty buttery treat after!
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Here is one of a grouse my husband (Ruffed Grouse) shot with his bow. He has shot several with his bow. There is still an arrow stuck really high in a tree at our cottage but at least it resulted in another buttery treat!
IM000758-1.jpg
 
I'm a step on the wing kind of guy. I still pull the skin down from the thighs and keep the drumsticks. I don't even use a knife with this method just my hands and a good set of shears, old tin snips actually. Works wonderful and take less than a minute per bird.

Funniest story is when I was skunked by sharptails all morning, stopped to get rid of some coffee and leaned my shotgun against a fence. All of a sudden one flushed nearby and I had time to grab my shotgun and dust the grouse. All this happened so fast I didn't even have time to put my unit away. Didn't get any on my boots though.
 
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