Hows the grouse count this year in your area?
- Thread starter Cteve
- Start date
Numbers seem way down in my little corner of the Kawarthas. Lots of miles covered, damn few birds. The area was logged about 15 years ago, and we haven't had a really good year for grouse since. I don't know what's changed, but something has.
Walked about 30 km of logging trails on this past Saturday from noon until 6:30ish pm. I saw 7 birds and managed to get 2 of them. I shot one on the ground and when I went to get it, 4 of them flew off the branch right beside me when I got close and I managed to get a 2nd one. Good times. Was west of Elk lake.
There is clearly more in my area than is apparent at the moment. Still too many leaves up to really see them well. Handful of times if I hadn't of stopped walking to really listen, I would have passed right by them. The bush, she is a thick right now! Excited for the the leaves to drop and the first snowfall to flatten out all the grass.
I blame the racoon. We have had an explosion in the coon population around here and I have noticed a big decline in the grouse and rabbit populations. The media and people from the city portray the coon as cute and cuddly, when it is really a plague. They raid nests and burrows. Enemy number 1 on my property.
cptseawolf
CGN Regular
- Location
- Saskatchewan
was out saturday and today near petawawa. Didnt see any.
Anyone have a good area near Pet?
Anyone have a good area near Pet?
last month I got 10 on a 7 day moose hunt in northern BC, over thanksgiving weekend I only managed to get one in the Princeton area... tried something new with regards to cooking it: cut breast into strips soaked in milk for 3 hours, sauteed with butter, yellow onion, shallots, lots of garlic, reduced with white wine, salt\pepper and serve. My kid loved it!
it started off as a boring day, so my best pal and I loaded up and went to the forest for a pre-hunting (deer) scouting trip and sled trail check and a grouse hunt, 3 birds with one stone. Saw a nice large doe, about a doz sites where wildlife of some sort caught grouse and had a meal, saw 3 grouse, got 1 (a white meat one) with my 20 ga sxs and the other two out-smarted me! Marked a few spots where big stones are on the trail and rolled off a couple. No downed trees, so I didn't need to fire up the chain saw. Might of had more grouse if I had gone out a few days earlier. Got many more trails to check, so I'm hoping for a few more grouse in the next while.
that's a dark meat one, what kind is it? I usually like dark meat, such as on chickens turkeys etc, but in these birds I greatly prefer the white meat birds.
