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2010 Ruff Grouse hunting reports-how did you do?


laker1

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Hey Sam,

Yeah sorry we couldn't connect, but you're right there were a ton of porsches there! We didn't end up hunting that much, especially considering the weather earlier in the week and all of the leaves still up. We ended up 3 for 5 on birds. We did see a cow moose and her calf which was pretty cool, I haven't seen one up there for 5 years.

The leaves sure were beautiful too!

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I took a day off work today and spent 5 hours walking trails in SW Itasca this morning. I put on a lot of distance, but never flushed even one bird. I don't get it. Miles through good habitat, some of the trails looked "virgin" too. I've never walked that far without a flush.

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I would say we moved around 24 grouse and 10 woodock between Saturday morning, Saturday evening and Sunday morning. The grouse where in places we wouldn't have expected them. We fully expected to get up some grouse on Sat evening given the cover but not a one. We did move all of the woodcock in that cover though. We ended up with 2 grouse and three woodcock between the two of us. Also the ticks in that are were by far the worst I have ever seen. My setters were covered. I think there was a tick for about every dquare inch of dog and I have big setters. We probaly pulled hundreds off between my two setters and my buddies GSP.

We have moved lots of birds both wekeends. Around 60 grouse and 24 woodcock. CAn;'t wait for things to open up and a few hard frosts to kill the ticks.

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Tybo, the fam and I did walk all around the Temperance River hiking trails while on the North Shore. Absolutely awesome!!! Thanks for the tip. Had a great weekend.

The leaves are comin' down hard today with this Northwest wind. Gonna be prime hunting pretty quick now!

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Man...sporadic and drastically different reports! Very interesting. Some people are in bumper crops while others seem to be struggling. I'd venture that once the leaves come down, it will be a bit more consistent across the board.

As far as the ticks go: YUCK! If nothing else happens weather-wise in the next couple weeks, I pray there's at least a couple nights of good, hard frost to kill those nasty buggers. Just brought the pup in for his first round of Lyme's disease shots, so hopefully between that and Frontline he'll be covered.

Keep the reports coming! It keeps poor saps, such as myself, who are stuck hours away from good ruff hunting moderately satisfied until we can get out.

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Canopy,

Glad you enjoyed it. That was my first time there as well and really liked it also. That was up until my Canon 40D DSLR fell out of my backpack onto some rocks and screwed up my lens. Luckily I had insurance on it that covered it. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I really liked the area and Blue Fin as well.

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Hunted a Wma near Duluth on Sunday with my son and 1 of his friends. Walked for 3 and a half hours and flushed 6 . Got one ! No dog.

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Just updating my log tonight, as I haven't done so yet this year. Seems that the only bad day that I've been out so far was this past Saturday, which was also one of the most "ideal" days for ruffie hunting I can think of. Odd. In 6 hunts we've moved/seen around 50 birds this year, probably another 50+ woodcock. Cover has varied, with the pines surprising me this season. Lots of road-birds around, so the road-hunters are happy as clams. Seeing/shooting them non-stop on the way in to walking trails, and half the time again on the way out. Even took my 3 year old out for a quick road hunt and he loved seeing the birds. Easy lunch... wink

CANOPY, I will call you on Friday night when we get close. Saturday should be a good day! My dad saw 12 birds while checking baits the other day, and another 5 today I guess. I can't get to the cabin fast enough... wink

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Sounds good, Matt. I may be goose hunting Sat. and Sunday morning, but will be free for upland birds in the afternoon! Look forward to the weekend!!! laugh

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Matt, if you've got a spot open for a gun on Sunday morning, I'd be happy to lay down some sky carp with you... wink

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Sure Matt. We've got a spot for you. I've got another new friend coming up from the cities that plans on coming out as well. We should have 4 guns out there then.

I'm a little shocked that the infamous upland gunner, Matt Bruer, is up for shooting something with webbed feet! wink We're gonna have to move you over to the Waterfowl thread!

Give me a call when you get over here. I'm expecting Brad up from the cities this afternoon. Should be a great weekend!

I'm still troubled by how to dress for Sat. and Sun. morning. Walk out in warm weather-proof waterfowl gear, and walk out in Bermuda shorts and a tee??? laugh

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i hunted in Ashland cty with a buddy of mine and his pointers last weekend. Had a blast! 8 hours of hunting lots of singles but 30 grouse flushes and 19 woodcock flushes with 3 of us. I cant hit s*** with a shotgun but man did I have fun TRYING! lol We managed to knock down a few and had lots of good natured ribbing about the misses lol

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I was hunting west of Duluth on Wednesday with another buddy. We managed to flush up three, only got one shot off on the first bird. It was a swing and a miss on all three birds. later in the day we went to a new spot, as we were pulling down the trail a male came strutting out. I jumped out of the truck told the dog to stay, pulled out my 40 cal put my sights on it and squeezed out a round. To my delight he dd a flip flopped around for a few seconds the I set the dog on it. Oh did I mention it was over 60ft away, and that it almost took his head off. I got the bird in the neck I will try and post a pic.

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Oh and the reason I was using my pistol was it was on me and load as my shotgun was cased and unloaded. Didn't want the bird to get away haha.

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Matt B., my son and I did a little sharptail chasing on Sat. morning. Managed a couple birds, but we think they got out into the beans before we could find them in the CRP. Bean fields will be coming off fast this week with the warmer weather so that should help concentrate birds.

Saturday evening found us up north of Grygla, MN. Nice numbers of Ruffies up on the oak ridges. Absolutely gorgeous evening with virtually no wind, warm temps, and a good percentage of leaves down. I could've stayed out there till I keeled over dead! Managed a few ruffies for the pan, along with the two sharpies, and added five geese on Sunday morning! We'll be eating good this week. laugh

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I did pretty good over the weekend--saw lots of birds, and between a buddy and I we managed to put 13 in the freezer. We checked all of the crops and overall there was about 2/3 little light green berries, and the remaining 1/3 was thorn apples and clover.

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Hunted Saturday, had a circus of dogs going several times. Managed a pair of birds late in the day, struggled hunting new area's. Dog did great, pointed everything we shot at. Had a few chances at woodcock too.

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Moved over 50 birds on the weekend for the crew. 17 hit skillets or freezers. Dogs sucked on sharpies on Saturday, but we managed a few, but they made up for it on our land allowing me to tag a couple. Lots of road birds in between spots...

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Hunted mostly ducks and geese this weekend. I don't do that much but its fun a few times a year. We hunted goruse twice over the weekend on of the few pieces of private land we have. Only moved a few birds which is very rare for this spot. Didn't even pull the trigger. Back up to Chippewa NF for a long weekend this weekend.

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cry ARRRRGH! You guys are killing me with these reports! Next Thursday can't come soon enough. I'll have to get by with waterfowl and pheasants this weekend...ho-hum.

Those ruffs are calling my name!!! cry

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We moved 15 in a half day Friday, 33 on Saturday and another 14 Sunday morning. There definitely seems to be birds around, even more than last year. The dog only got up 3 woodcock over the weekend which was a little disapointing but I'll take the grouse action.

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Those are some big numbers boys! From what I saw on Saturday I'm not surprised. I think the roadside counts might be a little off.

Matt. You're a grouse hunting machine! Sure was fun to watch those dogs work. Wish I had 1/8th of that energy!

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I think the roadside counts might be a little off.

I second that. I only had 45 minutes to hunt Sunday and I had 8 pointed birds. I have not even been to the my normal good areas yet. (I dont think I will even get a chance with pheasant season starting) Hopefully they make it to next fall.

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2thepoint,

I have not even been to the my normal good areas yet. (I dont think I will even get a chance with pheasant season starting) Hopefully they make it to next fall.

2thepoint,

what part of the state do you do most of your pheasant hunting?

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(I dont think I will even get a chance with pheasant season starting) Hopefully they make it to next fall.

Well, if you don't mind sharing those spots, I'd be happy to hunt them for you! wink I'd hate to see a good spot go to waste grin

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Put in 4.5 hours with a rookie who is now hooked for life yesterday... he tagged his first, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and his first two woodcock yesterday. We managed 8 grouse and two woodcock. Moved 11 birds. Had the dogs track down a couple of cripples that were running which was the highlight of my day. I was skeptical because of the wind, but the birds were out and they seemed to hold TIGHT.

I think I'm taking a short break from ruffs. Need to get some brownie points back at home... wink

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2thepoint,

what part of the state do you do most of your pheasant hunting?

I am going to Ellendale NoDak this weekend and then the Willmar area when I hunt MN.

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Went out today hunted from 8:30 till 1:30 flushed 10 put 1 in the bag missed 2 still thick and they were flushing wild.

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