Will you hunt Grouse with .22LR
- Thread starter cityhunter1
- Start date
anthonyfrechette
CGN Regular
- Location
- Dryden, ON
Took my sister and her husband out this mornin, gave them each a 22 (there first time out). They did well once I stressed to shoot them in the head to save meat!!
My Dad shot many bush partridge (grouse) and Prairie Chickens with his old Tobin, using 2 3/4" Imperial Special Long Range. So did I, using the same old Tobin. Over the last 40+ years, I couldn't begin to count the chicken and partridge I've shot with a Savage 24 .22/20ga. If I shoot at a chicken a long ways off, I aim for the body. A normal .22 long rifle, not a hollow point, doesn't mess up meat, it just puts a hole through. I actually got a chicken in the air one time with my old Cooey 39. It was flying straight away.
The problem with wingshooting grouse using a centerfire rifle is that you can't be sure of a head shot, and if you nail it in the body, the grouse pretty much explodes. After this happens a few times, you stop wingshooting them with a centerfire.
So if you want to have some grouse meat for dinner, you pretty much have to shoot them on the ground, in the head.
Lot's of thick forest around Regina these days?
First one I saw killed was with a .22, was a nice shot too. I'm going out hunting tomorrow w/the boyfriend since season is finally open and I'm pretty sure we're bringing the .22 and 410 if I can sweet talk him. I just passed my course so I haven't killed anything myself yet so wish me luck, it's my turn to shoot a bird (or five)!
Only arsewipes degrade another's choice of legal hunting method.
I'm willing to bet that when it comes to birds on the wing I could outshoot most people on this forum and probably you too. I still will sometimes CHOOSE to whack a grouse on the ground or a canvasback on the water so that I can harvest the best meat possible by catching the bird's head with the edge of the pattern -- especially when they are close.
Anyhooo, if you have something positive to contribute to the topic of grouse hunting have at 'er. Otherwise,:stfun00
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Welcome to hunting. Hope you get a bird.
Myself, I love to hunt grouse with a rimfire. (Sure it is no sport shooting to shoot a grouse on the ground with a shotgun. I do it though since they taste good.) - but it is great hunting to limit yourself to only being able to shoot if you see them before they fly (for ruffed grouse anyhow - not much matter either way for spruce grouse). And since I'll be home on 24 October and coming home to a cz 17 hmr that I bought but have not met yet - it'll be rimfire and head shots only for me this year!
RG
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- Location
- Niagara Region, Ontario. For now
But it's OK to shoot every other game on the ground?
You do realize that grouse rarely fly right! Only when they are in danger, and scared! I am a humane hunter and like to take out my prey as quickly and quietly as possible, preferably before they even know Im there.
I can just see you trying to hunt deer. Spot em off in the distance, and try and get close enough to get a shot off. Then just when the moments right you scare the #### outta him causing him to start running at full speed. Then and only then do you take the shot! LOL
There isnt any room for them to fly in the bush I hunt! No open fields around here, and even if they do take off in an opening in the trees, or on the trails they just fly 10m right back into the bush anyways! A shotgun would be useless, and I dare say too easy anyways. Come check me on the trap field! Trust me I can hit them in the air just fine!
Normally, I would be wearing my $500 leather shooting jacket, my $500 hunting boots, my $100 sports underwear, and carrying my $5000 Parker Brothers Upland game side-by-side, using only all brass, imported custom-made shotshells with special Peruvian lead. But, today, seeing as I am a "chump", I was wearing a jacket that by now deceased brother-in-law gave me about thirty years ago, and shot a bird on the ground.
I shoot them wherever they are. On the ground, in the air, in a spaceship!
When I am duck hunting I always shoot them on the water (we crawl up on sea ducks otherwise you would be awfully hungry) Ever try putting out decoys in the north Atlantic where a dog can't even get out?
When I am duck hunting I always shoot them on the water (we crawl up on sea ducks otherwise you would be awfully hungry) Ever try putting out decoys in the north Atlantic where a dog can't even get out?
If your starving in the wilderness, go ahead and shoot a bird on the ground. If not, be a good sport and wingshoot. If you like shooting things on the ground, come out to the prairies and shoot some gophers.
For those that have never wingshot, a 12G with 7.5 shot will not wreck a bird. Shoot, we lose more birds from the dog getting rough than we ever do from shot up meat.
If a guy in my hunting party shoots a bird on the ground, he'll get left at home in the future. Same thing goes for taking a low shot and not watching out for the dog.
For those that have never wingshot, a 12G with 7.5 shot will not wreck a bird. Shoot, we lose more birds from the dog getting rough than we ever do from shot up meat.
If a guy in my hunting party shoots a bird on the ground, he'll get left at home in the future. Same thing goes for taking a low shot and not watching out for the dog.
