Odd grouse behaviour when shot...

rdelliott

rdelliott

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I was out after dinners of opportunity yesterday. The grouse were really on their game; flushed eleven of them, almost all of them way, way out or behind heavy cover, where it would have been impossible to take a shot. I was beginning to wonder whether it was my aftershave or something.

Anyhow, I saw grouse number 10 in a tree about seventy meters out. And I'm pretty sure that it saw me, because it kept on moving up the tree as I got closer. Finally, as it looked like it was about to take off for a bunch of spruces, I decided to take a shot at about 40 meters.

I was shooting Win Super-X heavy game loads; number 6 shot, 1-/14 oz, 2-3/4" out of my 12-gauge 870 Super Mag; 26" barrel, Modified Choke.

This was the first time this combination failed to switch what it hit off instantly. OTOH, this was the farthest shot I'd taken at anything in the field, by a factor of two.

I was appalled to see the grouse take off, rise up in the air, and keep on rising. Instead of heading for the nearest three acres of thornbushes at low level, it seemed to be going for altitude. I'd never heard of grouse doing this.

So I racked the gun, shot again, and was rewarded by the classic puff of feathers against a clear blue sky. The grouse stopped flapping instantly, and plummeted to the ground in a very cartoonish sort of way. It landed with an loud thud about twenty meters away.

When I cleaned it, the bird proved to be quite floppy; it had a lot of broken bones. In particular, the legs were both smashed up pretty badly.

What I'm wondering is, could I have missed entirely at that range? Or did I manage to just hit it in the legs, and this is why it took off straight up?

Scratching my head here, folks; any insight welcome.
 
It may not have been rising that much - It sounds to me like it was heading more or less towards you when you popped it. If that was the case then it would appear to be going up on the wing...
It may also not have recognized you as the threat, but reacted to the shot hitting the tree. It would have heard/felt the shot below before hearing the gun at that distance. Assuming the threat was below, it may have headed for the sky to get away.
 
Skip said:
It may not have been rising that much - It sounds to me like it was heading more or less towards you when you popped it. If that was the case then it would appear to be going up on the wing...
It may also not have recognized you as the threat, but reacted to the shot hitting the tree. It would have heard/felt the shot below before hearing the gun at that distance. Assuming the threat was below, it may have headed for the sky to get away.
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It was headed somewhat towards and to my left of me. But the bird was definitely headed upwards. It was at local treetop level when I hit it, starting from about halfway that.

I was thinking something similar, to the effect that I might have hit it low, possibly in the legs, and it took off upwards to get away from the perceived direction of the injury. I'd be quite embarrassed to think that I managed to miss a sitting target at that range with a shotgun :redface: .
 
guido said:
A pellet may have hit him in the heart on the first shot. And your second smashed his legs. Partridge and sometimes pheasants react this way when shot in the heart. Don't know why.
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Yup. I did it lots of times as a kid, hunting chickens with .22 shorts. Hit them in the heart, and they go straight up, and then just 'quit',about 40' in the air. Works every time. Actually, it works that way with lots of things - I've even seen moose run flat out for 50 or 60 yards and then just fold up. Skin them out, and there's only half a heart there.
 
turkey

rdelliott said:
I was shooting Win Super-X heavy game loads; number 6 shot, 1-/14 oz, 2-3/4" out of my 12-gauge 870 Super Mag; 26" barrel, Modified Choke.

and was rewarded by the classic puff of feathers against a clear blue sky. The grouse stopped flapping instantly, and plummeted to the ground in a very cartoonish sort of way. It landed with an loud thud about twenty meters away.

it had a lot of broken bones. In particular, the legs were both smashed up pretty badly.
Click to expand...
Are you sure you have enough gun??
what do you use for Turkeys?? 458WM??
Meanea
 
Meanea said:
Are you sure you have enough gun??
what do you use for Turkeys?? 458WM??
Meanea
Click to expand...

RPG-7V, although don't tell the MNR or the Mounties: those things are vicious, and they have spurs!:dancingbanana:

Seriously, though, next year I plan on using the 870 on the turks. I got it (in the combo barrel version because I could use it on everything I could conceivably want to shoot around here.

Twelve-guage: who really needs anything smaller?
 
I have seen many grouse act as you describe when hit in the heart with a pellet or 22 bullet. This year had an amusing situation. Shot a grouse with my 22. It rose in the air just like you described and then set it's wings and glided around the corner on the woods road we were on. There were two more grouse there, which I dispatched with a shot each. We field-dressed them, and got in our pickup to just coast around the corner, but when we got about 75 yards down the road, no grouse!! Looked around for 5 mins or so, but could not tell where the grouse had gone. Drove down the road another 80 yards or so, and there it was, in the middle of the road, deader than a mackerel. An autopsy showed that it had been shot through the heart. My buddy could not believe that it could glide so far before crashing. Sometimes they just climb almost straight up and then just fold up and crash to the ground, but they can glide a fair distance once they "set" their wings. Regards, Eagleye.
 
Classic .... the grouse was "beaned" i.e, pellet in the head. (on the first shot) This has been reported literally hundreds of times. Read a little Evans, Spiller, Foster, etc. - a very common occurence in the coverts of the east.
 
Yup.

I guess that answer's my question as well! I had this very same thing happen to me with the VERY first grouse I ever shot this year :)

Very interesting and yet, amazing how far they can go being shot in the heart!
 
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