Ruffed Grouse Hunting

Thanks again for all the help guys! Appreciate it.

I'll PM Robinhood, and create that new thread. I figured it would be a little bit off topic, but I'd try anyways. Again, I'll post pics if I can from this weekends hunt. Hopefully I'll be successful, but time will tell. I've noticed that it's been starting to get colder and colder around here. When the season first opened, by 08h00 it would be around 15C. Now I wish it would be that warm lol. Will this have any effect on "ruffie" (see, I'm learning) habits and daily schedules?
 
Spazmo, Check out the Kingston trap and skeet club. Lots of hunters and story tellers there. Maybe you can hook-up a hunt with someone?
 
Spazmo said:
I've noticed that it's been starting to get colder and colder around here. When the season first opened, by 08h00 it would be around 15C. Now I wish it would be that warm lol. Will this have any effect on "ruffie" (see, I'm learning) habits and daily schedules?
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Certainly. Usually when a cold weather system moves in there's wind. Windy days are not the best for hunting grouse - both because they are hard to hear and because they roost longer and are less active. When they're "sitting hard", they can be very difficult to find without a dog.

However, once the wind subsides and the sun comes out, they will be extra hungry from having stayed in the trees longer. Even though it may be colder than the previous week, they will become active once the sun comes out. You'll find them on the ground feeding during the warmest part of the day. Their feathers will keep them warm even on the coldest nights, but they love to soak up the sun when they can.
 
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Photos of the dogs and a couple limits of grouse from this weekend.
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Beautiful pics! Wish I had been able to go out ... it turns out that my ride fell through, so I was left high and dry. Hopefully next weekend, but no promises.
 
Great looking dogs Ranger G. :)

I wish I could take one of my dogs grouse hunting, but there are too many trigger happy idiots in my location these days. :(
 
Went out yesterday for 4 1/2 hours. It was a fabulous day and the birds were very active. I started the day using a Fox B in 12 ga. and headed out into sharptail territory. Proving that you can never predict what will happen, I got 1 sharptail and 2 ruffies. The first picture was taken before the second ruffie, when I still had one of each.

For the evening hunt, I switched to my Lefever SXS using Gamebore black powder shells. I took 2 more ruffies with that combination (the Lefever and the birds taken with it are the subject of the second shot). Dakota the grouse machine gets to be in both pictures, since she assisted on almost every bird. You'd never be able to tell that the second picture was taken after she broke a claw. I had to call off the hunt at that point - she won't quit until she drops from loss of blood!

All in all, a great day. Gotta start cooking some birds, I've reached the possession limit on ruffies and I'm only one short on sharpies. (Sorry about the crappy pictures - it's hard to find a place to take good shots in the field. The birds are so well camoflaged that they blend in with almost any background.)

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Spazmo :

Keep at it ... those flushed will start becoming less and less alarming, you'll eventually get to know where the birds frequent and be a little more prepared for a flush, and after a while, those things taking off like they were jet-propelled will seem to just lumber up into your sight picture as you pull the trigger. Don't despair, it'll happen. In the meantime, search out and read some Spiller, Norris, Evans & Woolner (for starters). Before long you'll be lusting after a well bred pointer and good quality straight-stocked SxS in 20 or 28. !!! :D
 
What's with the 12's?? Common guys, try to be sporting! Anyone can hit a ruffie with a 12!

Nice limits ranger! I tell ya, I wish we had that many birds around here this year.
 
PGKris said:
What's with the 12's??
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Speaking only for myself, I started the season with 20's, progressed to 16's after the 3rd or 4th outing, and now I'm having some fun with old 12 gauge hammerguns and black powder pieces (the Fox B I took into the sharptail zone because I was using magnum loads and I don't dare run magnum nitro shells through 100 year old guns).

PGKris said:
Common guys, try to be sporting! Anyone can hit a ruffie with a 12!
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I imagine you meant this tongue in cheek, 'cause most people couldn't hit a hard bustin' ruffie with a punt gun.:D I do agree that 20 ga. is all that's needed, but the gauge of the shotgun is almost a non-factor compared to shot size and load. Personally, I prefer to carry the smaller gauges because both the guns and the shells are lighter. I like your wit, I just worry that hunters new to ruffie hunting will take you too seriously and think it's sub gauges or nothing. I apologise in advance if I'm being anal.
 
PGKris said:
What's with the 12's?? Common guys, try to be sporting! Anyone can hit a ruffie with a 12!

Nice limits ranger! I tell ya, I wish we had that many birds around here this year.
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12's are what we have. Sporting? Or do you mean better chance of crippling? When I connect with a flying bird, I want it dead. A light load in a 12 is every bit as sporting as a 20. Just has a better chance of killing the bird outright on impact.

Not slagging guys who hunt with 20s and 16s, they are more than enough to kill the bird in experienced hands. MOST grouse hunters however only do it once or twice a year and for them the 12 would be a better choice.
 
Habitat, habitat, habitat dictates the "right" choice for shotgun gauge .... doesn't it? If your working orchards, logging roads, &/or covert perimeters that offer easy, unobstructed flush route/trajectories - then 16/20 gauge are fine. But if the grouse "haven't come out of the woods yet" due to temperature and/or unsettled weather and you got "go in and get em" then you may well need the extra punching power/load of a 12 to bring them down through the thicker, new growth canopy.
 
I agree with PeakXV. I mostly stick to the roads and paths when I hunt grouse, but I still take my 12 because about 75% of the birds I see are off the path and close to immediate cover.

I will always remember my dad ragging on me for not using a .22 for grouse, and I will also always remember nailing my bag limit in three hours with my 870 12 ga and having to wait the whole day for him to take 2.

I also recommend shooting sporting clays whenever you get a chance. Practice starting in the dismounted ready position and getting into the mounted position after the throw. It has greatly improved my shouldering ability, without a doubt.
 
Agreed with the last 2 posters. FYI for you knoobs, it was tongue-in-cheek. I don't give a rip what anyone shoots. I find it ridiculously easy to hit ruffies with a 12ga....so I use this:

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It's a greater challenge, I've never crippled a bird, and I get to shoot more :D
 
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Me with a ruffy w/ my maverick 88 and the sun straight in my eyes. Was walking down a trail with another CGNer when he thought he heard something. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, identified the target and wham! she went down.

yeah yeah... no it wasn't a wing shoot but whatever brings the meat home as long as its legal!

Yes I did say maverick 88.

Cheap gun, not worried about scratches (as you can probably see!) its light to carry, shoulders real well for me, and almost always brings home the meat. It's nice and short for pushing brush and points true.
 
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