Huntin Grouse with a .22

[BIG ISLAND DUDE]

What do ya think? I dont have a shot gun available right now but I do have my trusty ruger.

[jbdragon17]

Be berry berry quiet!

[BDR]

Don't think I would want to be anywhere near the woods with someone swinging and shooting a rifle at flushing birds.

Hopefully you intend on groundswatting.

[leechlake]

I think it violates one of the ten commandments of shooting. "know your backstop" With a .22 you have too much potential range and you could never know what's behind where you're shooting all the time. My vote is no.

[TV BOY]

unless you use bird shot...not many pellets in a .22round.

[subzero]

I agree with BDR you better be ground swatting them, then the backstop issue is no more or less than deer hunting from ground level. Even less because you are shooting down into the earth. Still not in favor of it.

[captkev]

I'm not shure what to say?...?

I hunt with the rule, If it don't fly it don't get shot at.

I had a hard time keeping my dad from groundswatting a couple of roosters last fall phes-hunting. the way I see it, if the bird don't flush and somehow mannages to out smart the dog tracking it, Its earned its right to pleasure me another day. I've had Grouse sit in the top of a tree and we could'nt shake them loose or scare them with sticks, those birds lived to see another day.

I've got an old single shot 12ga. that I might part with if I knew it would maybe change your thought of ever groundswatting another bird.

[riverrat56]

If it is legal and you intend on shooting them on the ground I say go for it. You need to be skilled hunter to find a grouse and then get to a shooting position to make a quick kill with a single projectile, I feel it would be more or just as sporting as shotgunning and flushing them.

[BIG ISLAND DUDE]

Riverrat,

Thats what I was thinking.

Would shooting bird shot out of my .22 mess up the rifeling on my gun?

[rubber duck]

No it wont mess up your gun but .22 birdshot has a range of

10 - 15 ft any further out good luck knocking a grouse down.

[metrojoe]

Heck, you could probably pick up a single shot for $100.00 give or take. I like having the second shot for pheasants but it's rare, for me anyways, to squeeze off a second on grouse.

[snowman678]

Last fall I was on a goose/duck hunting trip in Canada, and while visiting w/ the game warden up there, he said thats how most people up there hunt them. Get close enough to shoot them in the head w/ a .22. I don't see any problem with it as long as you know your background it's no different than hunting squirrels/rabbits w/ a .22 in my opinion.

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Just find one standing on the ground or in a tree. Forget that .22 shot stuff. It's a joke. As far as safely shooting in the air for a sitting grouse is no different than shooting squirrels. As long as your in big country shoot away. Shooting at them flying would be useless and rather childish. I see your from Marcel. That's definitely grouse country. Go get em.

[JEV]

Shoot away. I've picked off plenty of grouse with a .22. It's the same as hunting any other small game. Take your time, know what your back drop is, and be safe. I've made it a habit to try and shoot them in the head as to make it a little more challenging. That at least makes it a little more fair.

JEV

[captkev]

I was just stateing my own personal rules and guidelines, I never said you could'nt do it. To tell you the truth, when I was in high school, I could'nt hit the broad side of a barn, standing inside it with a shot gun. I did everything right handed and did'nt find out till later that I was left eye domminat, but I was deadly with my .22cal Marlin/Bolt with a 3X9X40mm scope. I remember shooting pennys off a board at 50 yards with it, so I shot 100's of phesants with it. them CCI stingers took out many Fox too. Now that I can shoot a shotgun left handed, and do fair that way, say 28-36 on sporting clays, I dont shoot birds unless they fly now, I dont need the meat in my freezer, and I don't find it very sporting anymore to shoot birds on the ground or in a tree, I'm not out there to KILL, I'm out there for the enjoyment, and I find that in shooting birds on the fly. So if your hungry for grouse as I was for phesants as a kidd, by all means, bust out the .22cal

[GoodToGo]

I used to do a lot of .22 hunting for rabbits and grouse. I agree, there is plenty of sportsmanship in moving slow and quiet through the woods, then making a head shot on a grouse from 30 yards.

[setterguy]

As long as its legal and you're doing it safely, shoot away.

[greenman]

Tell us all were you will be and what dates so I can be at least 5 miles away from you. As a MN Firearms Safety Instructor I'd fail a kid if he said that was how he was going to hunt grouse. #1 If it gets up you'll probably shoot at it anyway and there's not enough time to judge the backstop distance you'ld need. #2 I find it unethical, I know it might not be illegal. Buy cheap 12 guage shotgun with a short barrel and do the right thing.

[TimR]

You'd fail a kid? That's disappointing.

What's the difference (safety wise) between what he proposes, and hunting squirrels with a .22?

[wh1stler]

Quote:

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#1 If it gets up you'll probably shoot at it anyway...

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Good to see you have faith in your fellow man.

How about you tell us which are your firearms safety classes so we don't send our kids there? Keep them at least 5 miles away...ya know...just in case you decide to capitalize on an opportunity to do something stupid.

Geez....

Wh1stler

[BIG ISLAND DUDE]

Well, I went out yesterday evening(how bout that wind) and I got one, he was sitting in the middle of an old loggin' road about 25 yds out and I hit him below the neck kinda did a little damage to some of the meat but not to bad. I like creamed grouse over toast so a pretty piece of meat isnt to important to me. I did flush one other but I had no shot. Im going back out today.

As far as where ill be and when Ill be there.

Where-- MINNESOTA

When-- September through January.

I may even do a little bass fishin on big island, so you may want to watch out for that to.

Thanks everyone for your opinions you did help me decide whether or not to use my .22

[fishlakeman]

In my opinion, there is no sportier way of hunting Grouse than to walk though very stealth like trying to get them on the ground. There is a huge difference shooting a grouse on the ground in the middle of the trail, compared to walking through the middle of the woods and spotting one under a tree and trying to get a clean shot before it flushes. I've grouse hunted all my life and find it most satisfying when I'm doing this and flush one, and then track to where it landed and try to sneak up on it and pop it on the ground. It is very difficult to do this, as I may take 30 minutes to track one grouse. Keep going with your .22, and just be smart of your backdrop, and you'll be fine.

[koochiching]

Quote:

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In my opinion, there is no sportier way of hunting Grouse than to walk though very stealth like trying to get them on the ground. There is a huge difference shooting a grouse on the ground in the middle of the trail, compared to walking through the middle of the woods and spotting one under a tree and trying to get a clean shot before it flushes. I've grouse hunted all my life and find it most satisfying when I'm doing this and flush one, and then track to where it landed and try to sneak up on it and pop it on the ground. It is very difficult to do this, as I may take 30 minutes to track one grouse. Keep going with your .22, and just be smart of your backdrop, and you'll be fine.

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Hey, fishlakeman, I'm with you on this one...

Stalking a flushed grouse has got to be the ultimate bird hunting experience. Quickly moving to a spot near where the flushed bird has gone down, then freezing and listening for the bird's nervous clucking or the sound of the bird moving through the leaves on the ground... Slooowly working your way towards the sounds, until you finally can discern the shadowy outline of the bird sneaking away from you...

I'm often crawling on my hands and knees, seeking a firing lane so I can take a shot...

Sometimes, I can imitate the nervous clucking sound, and the bird will actually answer me...

I consider this experience to be the essence of hunting ruffed grouse... If you don't know what we're talking about, I feel sorry for you...

fishlakeman, may all your birds flush to higher ground, so you don't have to crawl through standing water...

Good hunting...

kooch

[BDR]

Congrats on getting a bird BID. It never occured to me that you could get .22 in birdshot. My first thoughts were only of fast flushing birds. Shooting at a grounded grouse would be no different than shooting at a squirrel.

[The Grebe]

I always thought that the pelletized .22 shot was more for snakes, and things like rats in the barn at close range? I don't think those things go very far?

[captkev]

22cal. bird shot, should be called mouse shot!

I was going to butcher some pen-raised Phesants for a game feed once, and the last 10 birds in a 100ft X 50ft flight pen were running circles around me. So I went to the house and got the 22. I had picked up some "bird shot" for shooting mice in the barn. That stuff would'nt kill a phesant at 15 feet.(shooting them in the head) I got the job done, but I had to switch to regular 22 bullets. That evening I decided to open one of those shells up, the bb's are about 1/2 the size of 6 shot bb's, or maybe smaller like 14 or 16 shot. It looked like dark sand. I'm shure it looses velocity realy fast. Works on mice at 15ft.

[riverrat56]

I believe that .22 bird shot is 12 shot, but I could be wrong, either way, on anything other than rats or mice, it is pretty much worthless.

[art]

Greenman, you say you would fail a kid just because he "say's" he's going to hunt grouse that way. I'm with the others, I won't be signing my kid up for your class. It's no different than hunting rabbits or squirrels. Heck as for stalking them, it's great sport and then actually getting the shot off right is tough. But it's ok to stalk deer and shoot them with a rifle. So it's just a different game species you're stalking. It's a harder target in my opinion. I do it once in awhile. It's tough and when you are able to sneak up on them or pick them out of all the brush and leaf litter for a shot, it's quite rewarding and just as tasty in the pot. Never shoot at one on the fly with a rifle, however. It's pretty pointless and dangerous.

[Rosalita]

Firearm safety instructors are crucial volunteers in Minnesota. However, it is not their place to instill their elitist views on our children concerning a perfectly legal activity. I would confront and/or seek to remove from his or her position such an instructor if they dared fail my child for following a legal and ethical activity – yes, ethical. Do we spook a deer into running before shooting it? Do we force a turkey to fly or run before shooting it? There is no difference between these simple answers to these questions and the issue of shooting grouse on the ground. There is absolutely nothing wrong with placing your sights of your 22 or bead of your shotgun on a grouse’s head as long as your background is safe. A clean quick kill (for you elitists out there, a “harvest”) is the goal once you decide to take an animal. There is nothing wrong with keeping your teeth fillings by avoiding chewing shot embedded in the breast.

If you like using your dog to hunt grouse and prefer to shoot them flying, there is nothing wrong with that either. Have a ball; no one has a problem with it. Of course, it is never wise to shoot anything on the ground with a dog involved. Developing an elitist attitude concerning others following a legal activity is fine as well; after all, it is a free country. Force-feeding such views unto the children of others is wrong.

Try to sneak up on a grouse through heavy aspen reproduction sometime to shoot it in the head. It is no easy task! I hunt in some of the best grouse country in this state, and absolutely everyone (from the small town I grew up in to people I have known from the cities) have no problems shooting them before they fly. In fact, it is rare to even see a hunting dog being used for grouse hunting. New hunters, watch out for people spewing their elitist propaganda at you; read and follow the regulations and develop your own techniques.

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Applause.