Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

2010 Ruff Grouse hunting reports-how did you do?


laker1

Recommended Posts

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 132
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • CANOPY SAM

    15

  • Matt Breuer

    13

  • tybo

    9

  • mixxedbagg

    6

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. grin Either way, the weather was beautiful and I took the time to teach him some gun safety, so it was time well spent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

grousehunting002.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

IMAG0109.jpg

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • partyonpine
      Opener and the week after were good.  Not the numbers we normally get but better quality in the East End.  Not surprised on the weights for the Auto City a.  Usually for us we only catch a few slot fish but we averaged 3 a day for 10 days.  2 overs, biggest 27 inches.     Our best luck was 12-16 feet for quality.  When we went deeper we caught more but smaller.  Bass were really starting to heat up.  For me little earlier than normal.  Found some nice Bluegills the day we went after some panfish.  Dock fishing was as many as we wanted per usual.
    • Shulsebus
      We will be up on June 8th for the week. It will be our 13th year in a row staying on the lake.  I hope the walleye are hitting the bobbers by the time that we get there. 
    • SkunkedAgain
      Those are some fine specimens. Great job
    • gimruis
      I'm quite shocked to hear that a walleye tournament is still doing a live weigh in.  Virtually every event these days around here is doing a catch, photo, and release format.   Regardless, nice work.  Congrats.
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   A great week of fishing with walleyes and saugers caught in good numbers.   The go-to presentation, again, was a jig and frozen emerald shiner.  Emerald shiners are a staple in LOW and walleyes love them.  Other minnows worked also, but emerald shiners are a favorite of anglers for good reason.   The Lighthouse Gap area, Morris Point Gap and just in front of Pine Island held nice fish in 17 - 21' of water.  Various schools of walleyes and saugers across the south shore.     A quarter ounce jig in gold, glow white, pink, orange, chartreuse, or a combo of these colors tipped with a minnow worked well again.   Some big pike and jumbo perch being caught by walleye anglers. On the Rainy River...  Some nice walleyes were caught on the river this weekend, although most anglers normally head to the lake.  12 - 15' of water is holding some nice fish.   Sturgeon fishing on the Rainy River is closed until the keep season starts up again July 1st. Up at the NW Angle...  Some nice walleyes being caught along with a mixed bag.  12 - 25 feet of water.  Points, neck down areas and bays with warming water were holding good fish this week.    The go-to presentation was a jig and minnow as on the south shore.  A mixed bag as is common around the Angle.  
    • leech~~
      Nice work!   Here's two words you hardly ever hear anyone say anymore.  "grateful and humbled"   
    • Brianf.
      RLG, thanks for the shout-out!     Jeff and I are still trying to wrap our heads around what happened this past weekend.  We are humbled and full of gratitude  for having won 'The Classic' for a second time.     We practiced through all the rain on Thurs and the wind on Friday and found six different spots holding big fish.  Fishing was good on both days with several 'overs' in our catch...but would it hold up for another day?   We didn't know.     On tourney day, we made a long run to our first spot where I lucked out on a 26.5"er on my second cast.  Jeff followed up with a thick 27" er a few minutes later, which turned out to be the big fish for the event at 7.26lbs.  We finished out our limit and weighed-in at 10:30 am for the welfare of the fish in our livewell.    There were some big weights in this event which would have won in most other years, but - for whatever reason - this was our day.  Everything just went our way.  Again, we are just super grateful and humbled by this success.  We also want to congratulate all the other anglers who did well and give a big 'thank you' to the tournament organizers who put on such a great event!  
    • SkunkedAgain
      I had a good start to the season on opener. Fishing was slow but consistent. I had four eaters in the box by lunch dragging perch raps. Crappies were biting. I haven't been up since so don't know how things have changed since then, but I'm sure the walleye continue to migrate out into the main basins.
    • redlabguy
      Let’s start this by congratulating Brianf and son for winning their second City Autoglass Walleye Classic last weekend. These guys know how to fish.  We just got to the lake for the season. Chores are almost done and I’m ready to fish.  red(new dog is more yellow)labguy
    • Jetsky
      I tried starting a 2024 Lake Vermilion Fishing Report topic but it doesn't show up on this board.   Maybe somebody else knows how to do it?
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.