Grouse Reports

[Brittboy]

Spent the last four days up in Northern Wisconsin. First time up in this area for me ... probably saw/heard a couple of dozen grouse at the minimum and a handful of Woodcock, but told from friends who live there that the count is certainly down this year. We worked hard and only came home with a handful of birds for the freezer. Weather was warmer Thursday and Friday and the birds were tough to find but after a front moved through Friday evening and it cooled off, birds finally started moving and eating. The colors were spectacular and the leaves are rapidly dropping.

[TheGuy]

Hunted about 2 hours on Satuerday morning and about an hour and a half on Sunday morning. There were two of us and we ended up only seeing 2 grouse. Saw about a dozen woodcock and did get one of the grouse, we also got 4 woodcock. Going up this next weekend with 3 others and will do more hunting. Hope to see more grouse but the woodcock sure were fun.
The colors were GREAT!!!

[Matt Breuer]

Anyone who's been seeing or shooting woodcock should check into doing surveys for the Dept. of the Interior. I've been surveying for 3 years now and it's given me the opportunity to help figure out why we're loosing so many birds yearly and it has helped my grousing as well.

Now onto the reports. I've seen uproots of 35-40 birds this year and haven't limited yet. The last three days have been phenomenal, 2 tonight, one last night, 3 the night before, and two the night before that. They are starting to lose interest in the catkins and are hitting the clover heavy, as well as what drunken berries are left. Prime time is nearly here!!!

[Coach]

Hunted near Two Harbors Fri-Sun., only saw 6 and got two. It was by far the least amount of birds we have seen in 3-4 years. The weather was not the best but I talked to several other hunters and they were feeling the same way. It's like the 10 year cycle is going back down already.

[ironmike]

Just a word to the wise. I was up around the Mille Lacs area grouse hunting with my springer this weekend. I have so far picked in the 20's of ticks off the dog. They were very very small ticks and a lot of them looked like deer ticks. I am taking the dog in tomorrow for some Antibotics and a lime disease shot. You may want to wait for another good freeze before taking the dogs out in that area. Did see a few Grouse. Something in the neighborhood of 8 and many many Woodcock. So there are some birds around but beware of the Ticks and make sure the dogs have either some frontline on or a tick color. My mistake and it won't happen again.

[half2fish]

Ironmike,

I know how that feels. I have only taken my pup out twice this year and have pulled 13 ticks off. i have even found some on myself. where can i get frontline? i have heard it is great but havent tried it. Also where you hunting near mille lacs. i hunt the Mille lacs wildlife management area and snake river national forest. i havent seen any grouse yet but have shot a few squrrals for the pot.

[Matt Breuer]

We must be lucky with the cooler temps. for ticks, I haven't seen any on the dogs since opener. I have GSP's though, so the hair isn't as easily accessible.

My bro and I took the day off yesterday and saw 17, got 9, one short. Today he saw 4 and got none. It'll only get better from here.

[BDR]

Geez Matt what are you hunting at the Grouse breeding pen? Those numbers your seeing and putting up are pretty awesome. Thats the trip we should be trying to plan.

[Matt Breuer]

Come on up, we're on prime land and it's darn near prime time. I'm open this weekend and down South for pheasants next. Shoot me an e-mail!

Also a side note, I'm out every day, that's why I'm seeing so many birds!! If I could only shoot all that I see! We've been having trouble with runners this year, they don't wanna flush or hold, just run to beat the ban. Reason probably being we're not seeing many juveniles, mostly smart 'dults.

[Riverratpete]

MAN..I put on at least 10 miles worth of walking and brush bustin last weekend in my deer huntng range and never saw or heard a one..don't know where they went, deer hunt in prime grouse area too..aspen, mixed hard woods, swamp, etc. don't know if the weather had something to do with it or not, nornmally see a couple by shear accident.

[Harmonica Bear]

Ironmike, yeah, the Mille Lacs and Snake River areas have got to be the worst areas for ticks. In all my years of bird hunting those areas, I am flat out amazed at the number of ticks (deer ticks especially) that my dog picks up when I hunt there, no matter what time of season! The once a month drops like Frontline are a must. Contact your vet.

half2fish, If you are hunting those areas you should be running into a few grouse right about now. And for the time being, lots of woodcock.

HB

[T-ProGuy]

Last weekend I was hunting with a group of about 8 of my buddies...all in all, for three days of hunting, we probably flushed about 80 birds. One group (two guys) alone flushed over 40 birds in the McGregor area on Thursday afternoon, but due to some exceptionally poor shoting, only bagged 3 birds. The rest of the birds were flushed in the Cloquet area. VERY jumpy birds...most took off running when you approached or flushed 60-80 yards ahead. We totalled 18 birds for the group over the course of the three days. Going up to the Crosslake area tonight, hopefully the hunting is good.

[ironmike]

Took the dog into the vet yesterday and actually found one on her while we were there. It was a deer tick and I believe the majority were. I took the better safe than sorry route and got her on Antibiotics now. Hopefully there will be no issue. Man I hope a good frost or freeze comes soon and kills those suckers off. Good luck to all in there Grouse chasing. T-Proguy you hit the mother load it sounds like. That would be too much fun. I know the hitting problem though. They sometimes seem bionic!!!

[ccarlson]

Ironmike,

I'm surprised your vet put your dog on an antibiotic without signs of Lymes. I live near Nisswa and I have pulled litterally hundreds of deer ticks off my dog this year and every year and he has never had Lymes. I do get the vaccination for him which isn't always foolproof but I've never had a problem with it. He's also always on

Frontline but it only really lasts a few weeks effectively.

Also, to the other posts, Deer ticks thrive in cooler conditions. I always see the first deer tick of the year within 2 days of snow melt on my lawn, then they die down for mid summer and the traditional ticks take over, then the deer ticks make a come back in September through November until snow covers the ground.

Both my kids have had Lymes but never my dog! Imagine that.

Dogs are like people though. If you give them antibiotics uneccesarily, it will not work as well for them when they need it later. Watch for symptons, do a test, then put him on antibiotics if positive. Obviously our vets up here in Deer Tick Thick Crow Wing County are less in a hurry to dole out antibiotics since they see deer ticks on dogs every day.

Good luck and I hope he doesn't get Lymes or Erlichiosis.

ccarlson

PS> My grouse have been running way more than normal too.

[TheGuy]

Hey T-ProGuy, I was in the Cross lake area this last weekend. Hunted hard for two days with 4 guys. We hunted is some areas that have always held birds even on years like this year and did not do well. We saw one grouse.

Do you hunt that area every year? I've been hunting in the area for grouse and woodcock for about 15 years. My parents have a cabin on a small lake in the area.

[T-ProGuy]

The Guy...

I just got back from the Crosslake area a couple hours ago...the grouse hunting was pretty good, especially considering the fact that we only hunted for a few hours each morning, then I spent the afternoons bowhunting while the wife went shopping. My wife and I saw about 12-14 birds and bagged 7. We got one on Thursday, 5 on Friday, one on Saturday and none today. We saw birds everyday, but Friday was by far the best. I also spent some time bowhunting on Friday evening...missed an opportunity on a 130-140 class 8 pointer...must have been buck fever or something. As soon as I saw the antlers, I started rushing things...he busted me while I was drawing my bow. He was only 7 yards away! What lake are you on??? We are on W. Fox.

[TheGuy]

T-ProGuy-

Sounds like you had a good weekend bowhunting and you found some birds. We are on Velvet. Send me an email, I would like to chat about the area a little and maybe exchange some info. timothy dot just at eaglegl dot com

[Matt Breuer]

Had meetings today in Deer River all day, so I jonted over to Swatara to hit some familiar trails, saw and bagged one, then headed to see my folks and hunt the evening near Aitkin, saw another, bagged another. Good day at work...

Around the Bemidji area I simply haven't been out due to the rain, I'm sure today would have been phenomenal! Did go out Fri. and didn't see a bird!

[protrapper]

Went out other night saw 5 got 3. Can see good in woods now with leaves gone. Still the population is way down.

[Matt Breuer]

Protrapper, good day!

I was out for an hour tonight and saw four, bagged two. I will be out all day tomorrow with the dog, will report.

A side question: what phase has been the mainstay in your bag this year? I shot my first brown tonight, everything else has been gray phase. Also, not a lot of young birds around, I think the rain put a kabosh on this years broods in the Spring, anyone else noticing this?

[T-ProGuy]

Of the birds I have shot myself (over a dozen) almost all have been brown phase birds. I have only seen maybe 4-5 grey phase birds all year long, including birds I have flushed and birds I have shot. Have seen a fair amount of young/juvenile birds, but not as many as usual.

[Matt Breuer]

What region of the state are you hunting? This is interesting!

[T-ProGuy]

I mostly hunt the Brainerd / Crosslake area, but have put in some time around Cloquet, Hackensack and Big Fork. Have been encountering pretty much the same phase birds everywhere.

[Matt Breuer]

It's odd that the small geographical change can make that much difference. Warmer climates are how the browns and reds are produced. I've only shot one red in my life, and I think I only shoot maybe 3-5 brown phased birds a year. Oddly enough, I think they are all from the Aitkin / Brainerd / Mille Lacs / Crosby area.

[JMR]

Interesting, same thing for me. We grouse hunt around 3 major areas; Mora, Cloquet and the North Shore. The only place i've ever shot a brown is in Mora. They're almost always brown there. I have always wondered why. Thanks for the explination.

Joel

[T-ProGuy]

This may sound comletely ridiculous, but I ALWAYS find brown phase birds in areas that have some sort of conifers/pine trees, regardless of which region I am hunting. I cannot remember the last time I saw or shot a grey phase bird around pines.

[Matt Breuer]

All of the spots I hunt are somewhat coniferous, for the most part when the leaves fall grouse roost soley in the pines. It's all based on climate to my knowledge. That's why a lot of juvenile birds are brown the first year, they haven't experienced cool temps.

[T-ProGuy]

The theory you present seems legitimate...I am not disupting what you say, but can you possibly shed some light on what temps/climate have to do with feather color? It's a pretty tough question...maybe not even answerable, it just would be interesting to know. You know...just another useless fact to drop on the buddies up at the hunting shack.

[Matt Breuer]

I know it's legitimate, but I can't prove it other than through literature, I can only validly confirm the red phase, in New York, Maine, states of that nature, the birds are roughly something like 80% red phase, and the rest are nearly all brown. It's warmer there. Here, we have more grey phased birds, but I don't understand why the birds near the middle of the state are brown phased for the most part. In conclusion, I have no clue why, and I think it's extremely interesting!! We should compile information, do you keep log books? I would love to match ours up. I keep color, sex, and date / autumn status, and location.

[Matt Breuer]

Another weird thing, I have shot many many birds near Roseau, MN, near the border, and many of them were brown phased.