2010 Ruff Grouse hunting reports-how did you do?

[laker1]

Hunted opening day southwest of Remer-2 people going different directions we flushed a total of 6 birds and took no shots in 3 hours of steady walking in good habitat. Also a total of 8 deer ticks. heard only one other shot all that time. Observed no ducks in ponds.

[jdog]

ok day at nemadji state forest 5 hours of walking 8 flushes one bird missed 3 shots i forgot how fast those dang things are. Not too much shooting around us though

[2thepointsetters]

Its going to be a great year. Only made it out for a hour and a half with the dogs. In less than 30 minutes Buddy was on point and the first bird was in the bag shortly after. Not long after he was on point again in really thick cover. The bird busted out of the thick cover and I couldnt get the gun on my shoulder because of the brush. I took my first ever hip shot at a flying grouse and it was a success. I cant believe the bird went down. After that I had one more beautiful point with both dogs but the bird never came up. I also heard at least 5 other birds flush while I was out. It was a great day.

[walleyes4me]

Anyone been grouse hunting around Nevis or cass lake/ pennington area? We are coming up for 4 days. Just wondering how it is going.

[wdgold]

ok day at nemadji state forest 5 hours of walking 8 flushes one bird missed 3 shots i forgot how fast those dang things are. Not too much shooting around us though

Were you hunting south or north end? I Hunt up there a lot but didn't make it up Saturday.

[scoutWBL]

Made it out for a few hours on Sat east of Hinckley. Flushed 6 birds, shot at 3, bagged 1. It felt great to get back in the woods!

[Fishpondc]

2 Guys, hunted by Lake Winnie. We flushed 6, got 2.

[mixxedbagg]

My son and I walked 3 trails today but never flushed one bird. He was a bit of a motormouth though, so I'm not surprised. Either way, the weather was beautiful and I took the time to teach him some gun safety, so it was time well spent.

[Rick Reisewitz]

Two of us went out saturday morning flushed 8 birds by lunch and picked up a 3rd guy and hunted tell dark and flushed 12 more and ended up with broken egos. No birds in the vest. Most of the birds where in cover that i would never hunt or expect to flush any.

[Back2Dakota]

D atleast you are honest!! I had my 8 yo son and 9 yo nephew looking for squirrels.....didnt see a single one!!! Went by the area I deer hunt cause the dang things were all over last Nov..notta! I flushed 2 grouse- heard didnt see no shots.

[Judge Smails]

Hunting around Nevis this morning and this evening-saw 6, flushed 7. One down and one potshot. They were quick to flush and in the deep stuff.

Normally I'm seeing small broods this time of year, but all were loners except for one pair.

[Judge Smails]

Walleyes- where do you hunt around Nevis?

I'm SE, mostly hunting forest roads and Potlatch shoulders.

[Ely Lake Expert]

I wish I could of had a camera man, because some people won't believe this.

Saturday, I saw 34 birds in about 5 hours and got my 5. Today, I saw 28 birds in about 3 hours. I got 4. I could of gotten my limit again easily, but I wanted to get my last one of the air and let a couple sit in trees, never got another good air shot in the thick stuff. I surprised myself with my shooting. 6/7 out of the air and 3/3 from trees. All 3 dogs did great, even the pup. It was a very fun weekend.

pic from yesterday

[TylerS]

All these posts of many flushes and few birds in the bag had me feeling pretty good. Then "Ely Lake Expert" has to come on with that garbage. Good grief...I was ready to set my bar perty low, but not anymore.

Good work! That must have been great to see those dogs work all those birds!!

I'd love to get a couple limits in the freezer and not have to ration grouse meat until next fall! Kudos, sir.

[tybo]

Three of us hunted around Remer. We moved 30+ grouse and 10-12 woodcock between all day saturday and sunday morning. Only bagged one bird. We had a dozen or so points but the birds wouldn't hold or couldn't be seen. At one point we had my older setter and my buddies GSP both pointing a grouse and my young setter (9 mo) was backing. I wish the birds would have stuck around and let me get a little closer. That's a rare opportunity not to connect on. The dogs did a great job, the weather was about perfect and the company was second to none. Success rates should improve in a few weeks when you can actually see what you're shooting at.

[Jackpine Rob]

Hunted for about 3 hours yesterday. Saw 8, ended up with 5. 2 on the wing, with one miss on a double (grrr), one out of a tree, and two running through tangled blowdown from the '99 windstorm. Lots of wolf sign, lots of bear sign including a massive, humongous, immense bear that we were within mere feet of before the lab started barking and the bear high-tailed it into a beaver slough.

The blowdown birds are a real challenge - the dog can't work in that stuff, and those birds dart and weave behind cover, refusing to fly unless they are cornered.

After we had our birds, the dog and I hit another area just for kicks, and to see what the population looked like. Roughly 2 1/2 miles of tight cover with everything a partridge needs to survive and thrive. One flush, one deer, one cow moose bawling in the heart of the swamp - we went around her. My take - its a spotty year, with pockets of birds, and lots of dead zones.

[CRAZYEYES]

We hunted Saturday north of Orr and Sunday a little farther south around Cook. We ended up all together with 15 birds between three of us. I would guess we saw nearly 50 in the 2 days but its thick yet. We heard more of them than we saw. Cant complain about the weather though, Nice weekend to be in the woods.

[SledNeck]

went out for an hour by the house and flushed 6 or 7

got one

[Mopad]

My cousin and I hunted grouse during the day and bear hunted in the evening south of Upper Red Sat and Sun :-). We walked about 3 hours total. Ended up bagging 7. We probably flushed around a dozen.

[Matt Breuer]

We didn't get out until roughly 3pm on Sat. because I worked the night prior. We had a guy with who had never shot a sharptail, so that was mission #1. We drove roughly an hour out of the way altogether to hunt some private land I have access to. 2 minutes into the field, "Gauge is on point!". 1 shot later our goal was met. We drove another 40 minutes to start ruffed grouse hunting, hit the trails from 4:30 until 6:30, saw 6, bagged 3. Someone in our group had a few to many on Sat. night and we didn't get out until 10:30 on Sunday morning, and we hunted until dark. Moved/saw another 17 birds, bagged 5. Today we made the trek home. Great weekend up north, can't wait for the foliage to fall! Grouse quesidilla's tommorrow!

[CANOPY SAM]

Glad to hear you got the "sharptail monkey" off his back! There's a bunch of em' around this year. Should be a fun season. Not much frost in the forecast for the next week or so. Too bad, but some of the leaves are falling this morning.

Sounds like you gotta keep those guys under control, Matt.

[JRedig]

Had a great opening day with a new dog and friend who's never shot grouse. Here he is with his two birds and my setter.

We were up near Aitkin saw and heard probably 30-35 birds, only fired 8 shots, put 6 in the bag. It sure was thick and the grouse were not where I expected them to be. Time for some more bench work for Gracie, she got a little too excited a few times!

[Matt Breuer]

CANOPY, yeah, we saw a lot in the short time we were in the area. Didn't call because it was quick on Sat. and on Monday we just drove through, stopping at my folks' to drop some stuff off and say hello. Next weekend I'll be up for Goose Fest. and we should get out...

[CANOPY SAM]

I'll be out in Tofte, MN this coming weekend. Won't be around to hunt the TRF area, but probably hunting the north shore. Matt, I will be hunting around TRF mid-week next week, otherwise the weekend of Oct. 2nd is still open. The following weekend (the 9th) will find me in western ND hunting roosters.

[jdog]

wdgold i was hunting the south side i seen the most amazing site as i was driving past one of the thicker areas i seen a big bull moose in the middle of the road was not afraid at all didnt think moose were down in nemadji

[WallyGator12000]

CANOPY, I'll be out in Tofte this weekend too, taking a long weekend at the BlueFin Bay with the fam. Might see you out there! I've got a blue mercury mountaineer...hoping to see plenty of birds

[CANOPY SAM]

Wally. Are you by chance attending a wedding at the BlueFin? My nephew Josh is getting married there on Saturday. We're pulling in on Friday afternoon, and leaving Sunday afternoon.

I was thinking it would be nice to get in a little brush-busting while in the area. I'm not much for sitting around talking for hours, and the north shore ought to be beautiful right about now.

[WallyGator12000]

Sam,

We are actually not a part of the wedding, though I heard it was going on because we barely squeezed in to get some rooms. My family goes up every year to the Bluefin right around this time of year for a family reunion of sorts. I'm the same as you are though, I can only take so much talking before I need to get out and get some exercise.

Should be perfect up there in terms of fall color for a wedding, I'm sure Josh's will go very well.

Plenty of birds up that way if you are willing to get off the main path and bust some brush, I'm sure you'll enjoy the scenery while chasing them too.

Feel free to say hi if you see me in blaze, like I said I have a blue mountaineer SUV. We will be up tonight until Sunday afternoon. Here's to hoping they are wrong with all the rain forecast for the next few days...

[tybo]

I stayed at the Blufin in early August. Hiked the temperance and nearby trails with the dogs and moved a few grouse.

[Matt Breuer]

Good luck to both of you!

CANOPY, I will be up the weekend of Goose Fest., so not this, but next. I'll be there from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. Leave some time open for some walking, as I'll be flying solo with the pups. Would love to have someone to help cover some ground, and we'll get your boy his first sharp.

Anyone else jazzed for this weekend? I can't wait to lay the smack down on some timberdoodles! Tons of locals still around!