Late season grouse tactics

[WalleyeDrifter]

The deer hunters still have another week in the woods up here near Duluth. There's 3-4 inches of snow cover where I typically hunt. It's been a surprisingly good year for bird numbers. But now that we have the snow cover the birds become much harder for me to find. Where do you experienced grouse chasers find the late season birds? In other years I've tried hunting alder thickets, blowdowns and pines without a lot of consistent success. Any other ideas? I have noticed the birds are more active when the sun is out in the winter. I've also seen birds on exposed southern exposures when it warms up a little.

[401TE]

I'm in the same boat. I've had a great year overall, but usually struggle once the snow flies. I hope someone responds with suggestions as I'm looking forward to getting back in the woods once the orange army goes home.

[WalleyeDrifter]

I generally hunt the areas where the bird concentrations were the highest during October. If these areas have alders and pines close by, that is where I've gone during the late season hunts. But, instead of flushing many birds, I usually only see a few each day. Sometimes less than a few

[leechlake]

deer hunting the past weekend I found them generally in groups of 2-8. It was kind of weird but I only flushed a few single birds they were usually grouped. In the past I've covered ground faster just to find the birds and either luckily flush the second bird to get a good shot or to just flush them and then go and seek out where they landed which is usually 100 yards or less.

Cover ground faster to find the bird and go from there. Stinks when dog is chewing to get snow off of their pads but it's better than them sitting in the house.

[Ringbill]

I have been finding the same thing as Leechlake. During the deer season I flushed a couple groups of 3-6 birds. I found them on the edge of mature aspens and balsam firs/ 15 y.o. red pine mix. There is a younger aspen cutting very near by but they seem to be in the pines next to the mature aspens. I have found in my area that the birds start to eat the buds in the tops of mature aspens as the season progresses. Both areas that I found birds were south facing.