hunting grouse...

R

ruger22

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BC, sunshine coast
Guys can you offer any tips on hunting ruff grouse?

I can walk the bush and cut lines as quite as the average guy.
I seem to bust them out too early for a shot with the .22 way too often.
Always singles.
Where I go gets some of traffic but just a few hunters.

Questions...

1) Are grouse smart enough to get spooky around people?
When back in ontario 3-5 of them would sit tight a 15 meters so a guy could take 2 easy.

2) Is there main defense hearing or smell or vision?

3) Any tips on how to spot them or their favorite habitat?


thanks:)
 
Getting two is never easy(double) can be a life time achievement and a triple is really worth celebrating, specially among the purists.

In the north woods, they dont really get spooked, they just get a bit nervous and start to cluck a bit. They've prolly never seen a human and dont know if you are a threat. You have to listen for the cluck.

Main defense? Hearing and vision, they cant smell worth a darn.

Favorite habitat depends on where you are.
Any over grown cover is good, and stick to the edges of more mature bush lots, they need the gravel off road ways, to help grind up and digest their food like most birds.:)
 
I don t know about other parts of the country, but here in southern B.C. about one week after everyone starts driving down the back roads the grouse are more spooked. This is when I notice I start to have far better luck with my dogs. Also switching to a shotgun,over and under or side by sjde makes all the difference as well. As far as habitat goes,it's alders,and maples all the way with wild clover on the roads for me. My rule is the first 3 hours after sun up are the best unless it has rained then Iwill wait for 1 hour before going out.
 
Where in Alberta you at?

Upland in Southern Alberta is a different animal than in the east. There is SO MUCH (non-human) #### that wants to eat birds out here. Huns would sit tight on PEI till you stepped on them. In Taber/Lethbridge they flush at 70 to 100 yards away. Even grouse are more skittish. More predators makes them a little more willing to run away and hide. Unlike the east, their "hedge" is a few miles wide in many places.

Anyway I was in Taberish area for the weekend and we shot a 5 man possession limit of pheasants over the 3 days. My first with a home rolled black powder brass shell from my newly acquired (circa 1924) LC Smith Ideal Grade.

PICT0003.jpg
 
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bancroft ontario area they wouldnt let me get within 30 feet of them , saw 3 together but totally blew my chance and attemped to go for the fartherst one first and messed it all up. maybe next time
 
The shortest shot I've had on a Ruffie in mid-northern Alberta this year has been ~30 yards.

They seem more spooked than usual.
Could be the election?
 
Tread lightly, listen and watch carefully. I've been more patient this year and I've taken 3 ruffies so far, the closest one was maybe 20 feet to my left.
 
I'm a shotgunner, wingshooting. So I don't walk through the bush 'quietly'. Many times the flush comes when I've stopped; the bird thinks I'm stopping because I've seen it, and then it flushes. Their first line of defense is camoflage; if they see/hear us, they'll walk off to cover quietly and sit tight, or move away slowly, knowing they are extremely hard to spot. Then if we get in their discomfort zone, that's when the afterburners light.
 
In BC bluegrouse are always in the areas where mountain blueberries grow, keeping their crops full of them. Ruffed usually go for salal berries and alder cones and bugs. Spruce in most cases i've shot them had a crop of needles or various bugs. Look for these types of areas if you have any near you.
If you spook them they will fly up into a low branch of a tree, come in at an angle still hunting and looking hard for the shape not as much the color of the bird.
My wife bought me a Savage BVSS 17 HMR and ive been using it with gamepoints on shots 50 yards +, I aim for the base of the neck and its a done deal. My trusty cooey will still take em in the head easily at 25+.
If you shoot a long distance into a covey its pretty easy to get more than 1, especially since if they get spooked they just fly up into a close tree, just watch where they fly and sneak up slowly.
If you want to use a shotgun and get up close come in at angle and move very slow or use a dog for some quick action. Old grouse (big) are always more flighty than young ones.
 
Ruger22, you are doing everything right, except that you are using the wrong type of firearm. Ruffed grouse are supposed to flush wild, fast and furiously. Go find a lightweight 20 gauge, do exactly what you are doing now, but wingshoot the grouse and enjoy yourself.

1) Are grouse smart enough to get spooky around people?
Click to expand...

Yes, and coyotes, fox, hawks etc. as well.

2) Is their main defense hearing or smell or vision?
Click to expand...

None of the above. Grouse have a sixth sense which humans cannot understand. Trust me on this.

3) Any tips on how to spot them?
Click to expand...

Develop very keen eyesight and hearing.

This is another reason to wingshoot, the grouse are easier to spot when they fly.

Here's a photo from last Sunday afternoon. A nice walk in the bush, a couple of old hammer guns and two brace of ruffies. Notice the red phase birds.

hammergrouse.jpg


Sharptail
 
I shot more grouse in Alberta then I knew what to do with (almost)
At 9 o'clock like clockwork they would come out of the brush looking for some gravel.

I had a 17 HMR at the time and would clean up, one day we took 58 birds.

I have rarely flushed grouse unless hunting with dogs, ..
I am very aware when hunting, especially bu myself, and usually see them on the ground or in a tree first.

If I have a shotgun I'll flush them, but more often than not, without dogs, i'll be shooting them on the ground.

When I do wing shoot, I use a 16 gauge double barrel with 7.5 imperials.

I once shot a grouse on the wing with a Stoeger O/u Condor something or other. (I hated the gun) I had #5 winchester shell in (I hated the shells)
There was nothing to beforeof the bird after I shot it. Feathers held together by skin.

.22 or 17 HMR and try head shots. That's if your walking and looking rather than actually, "upland" hunting kinda thing...

.02 cents Canadian, and falling fast :)
 
Sharptail said:
Ruger22, you are doing everything right, except that you are using the wrong type of firearm. Ruffed grouse are supposed to flush wild, fast and furiously. Go find a lightweight 20 gauge, do exactly what you are doing now, but wingshoot the grouse and enjoy yourself.



Yes, and coyotes, fox, hawks etc. as well.



None of the above. Grouse have a sixth sense which humans cannot understand. Trust me on this.



Develop very keen eyesight and hearing.

This is another reason to wingshoot, the grouse are easier to spot when they fly.

Here's a photo from last Sunday afternoon. A nice walk in the bush, a couple of old hammer guns and two brace of ruffies. Notice the red phase birds.

hammergrouse.jpg


Sharptail
Click to expand...

I am sorry buddy, but I have to disprove a lot of this. Personally I suck with Ruffies using a .22. I use a .410 side by each and I haven't missed with it this year. However both my best friend and his uncle used a .22 this past week when we were off for moose, as their bird gun. Between the two of them they got 19 birds during the week. Longest shot was about 35 yards and shortest was under 10 yards. All were head shots.

It is easy to stalk up close on a Ruffie, depending on the weather. I find that they tend to get twitchy if the wind is much up over 4 miles an hour. I shot my birds from between 10-20 yards, also all with head shots. I got one bird with a stray pellet in the breast due to *choosing the wrong trigger you donkey* error and hitting it with the less choked barrel. Doh!

Ruffies get more twitchy the longer you stand near them with a loaded gun pointing at them. If you are quiet when you sneak up and react quickly then you'll get them most times.

I have graduated from using a 12 gauge to a 20 to a .410. Who knows after a bit more practice then I might be successful with "the big boys gun"
 
You can always try calling them. Depending on where you are in the season they might come take a look at what you're up to :)
 
Longshot said:
In some places in BC all that's required is some grain and a hammer.They are that dumb.
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I had a young ruffy follow me around while I was working on Cypress mountain and sit beside my gloves every time I put them down and then when my partner and I were sitting in the van the little guy jumped in the back of the van and had a nap. Later on in the day he was sleeping under the tire of our truck. I've never seen a dumber bird in my life.
 
do sunny days make a difference???

do sunny days make a difference in how active they are?

I assume they hide and roost on trees, motionless.

And on the ground the move about when feeding and nervous.
 
They like to sun during...sunny days. Sometimes they roost on trees, but most that I flush are under low lying branches on the ground. Look for thick pencil-finger size poplars mixed with low lying evergreens. Sometimes you'll hear them run out of the low branches before taking of.
 
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