Ruffed Grouse hunting in the North East

Big Bad

Big Bad

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In the year of Our Ford Year, 8 and loving it.
I've previously posted another of these 'Project Upland' videos in the Sporting Shotguns forum here, that one mostly about woodcock, but I thought this one would be interesting for northern dwellers to see because it shows what a different and challenging bird the ruffed grouse is here in the north east where they're wary and cunning. And it's just a nice video to watch.

 
Lol - "these birds flush so fast." I'm not sure if the grouse in the Northeastern US are from a different genetic stock than in Northwestern ON, but around here the ruffies and sprucies are dumb as a sack of wet hammers. Basically, they just stand there on the trail or clearing and wait for you to shoot them. Maybe, you might pop one up out of the tall grass, and if you miss it on the wing, it'll just wait for you wherever it lands.

Occasionally though, you'll come across a wiley one, especially early in the season, and you might actually get your boots dirty going after it. Those ones are fun.

All the dog does for me, is heel on the trail and go retrieve the dead bird. His reward is a fresh, warm heart and liver, and he's one happy dog!

Good video - I like watching hunting dogs work.
 
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The behavior of grouse is directly related to the hunting pressure in that area.

I have hunted areas up north where I could have killed them by throwing a stone ..... They would just sit there on the trail and not move ...

And in my area (South-Eastern Ontario) ... where they have been hunted extensively for over a 150 years ... I am hardly able to get a shot at one ... that is how shy they are ....

Grouse learn and react to hunting pressure ... and adapt .... like most animals ...
 
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0faustus0 said:
The behavior of grouse is directly related to the hunting pressure in that area.

I have hunted areas up north where I could have killed them by throwing a stone ..... They would just sit there on the trail and not move ...

And in my area (South-Eastern Ontario) ... where they have been hunted extensively for over a 150 years ... I am hardly able to get a shot at one ... that is how shy they are ....

Grouse learn and react to hunting pressure ... and adapt .... like most animals ...
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Similar out west in the mountains but logging/vehicle traffic will make them more apt to flush as soon as they see movement on bush roads, get onto a secondary or tertiary logging road and they just stand around waiting for you to ground swat them.
 
My guess is when Ruffies get wild and jittery, it means they have been shot at a few times and lived and learned, but the silver lining here is that the competition are not good shooters.
 
Ive hunted ruffles since my earliest years of hunting so 40 years. I have hunted most in south eastern Ontario and every bird is usually well earned. However when I moose hunt theyre as dumb as it gets and can easily be killed with a sling shot! I agree hunting pressure creates smarter quarry. Birds �� n the North are definitely easily harvested compared too birds in highly hunted area.
 
Longstud said:
Ive hunted ruffles since my earliest years of hunting so 40 years. I have hunted most in south eastern Ontario and every bird is usually well earned. However when I moose hunt theyre as dumb as it gets and can easily be killed with a sling shot! I agree hunting pressure creates smarter quarry. Birds �� n the North are definitely easily harvested compared too birds in highly hunted area.
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Birds get shy up here a few weeks after opening on pressured roads and trails. Should be a good year seen lots of youngins on my travels
 
Can't wait to hunt these guys out in PEI. This is my first season hunting so I'm very excited for season open!
 
Was out in a couple of different areas in NE BC over the past couple of days.
We took 17 birds on Thursday (7 ruffies and 10 spruce hens) with the wife's Remington 1100 Sporting 28. Was a lot of fun!
We saw quite a few yesterday too, but many really small birds which we did not attempt to take. And of course, they were all pretty skittish in that area, so there were fewer opportunities, that we did not take advantage of as we were more focussed on big game in that area.
Bird numbers are good and there appears to have been a late hatch, as we did see a lot of really small birds.
Where there has been more traffic, the birds are more skittish, so may have been shot at already.
 
When I lived in Northern Ontario I could and often did hunt them over my lab with a 22. They would just pop up in the nearest branch a few feet above the dog and watch him. They would totally ignore me and I often walked up to within a few yards and popped them in the head with the 22. Back in the days when you could still walk into Canadian Tire and pick up a 50rd pack of Imperial ammunition in 22 long not just long rifle. 22 longs were perfect for grouse imo.
 
the spank said:
When I lived in Northern Ontario I could and often did hunt them over my lab with a 22. They would just pop up in the nearest branch a few feet above the dog and watch him. They would totally ignore me and I often walked up to within a few yards and popped them in the head with the 22. Back in the days when you could still walk into Canadian Tire and pick up a 50rd pack of Imperial ammunition in 22 long not just long rifle. 22 longs were perfect for grouse imo.
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I've seen them do that when out with a dog in the summer here, but only in the summer. And they for sure never ignore a human. The season opens week after next in this region, then we'll see how things stand with the year's hatch after the family flocks broke up. The main trick is to go out and move like a fox.
 
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