grouse

[Guest]

anybody else excited for deer season to be over so we can get back in the grouse woods.

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Yes. A little bit. Although enough snow makes me lean towards sledding and good ice towards ice fishing.

[CASTnBLAST]

Amen to that!For the last two weekends I've been watching the kids so my wife could deer hunt since like alot of people,it's the only hunting she does.Can't complain though(to her anyway),I'm either chasing pheasants or grouse every weekend untill the snows too deep or the seasons closed.Can't wait to get out tommorrow, going stir crazy and it's amazing how fast the dogs put on weight when they don't hunt for a few weeks.

[WAG416]

I cant wait to get back out again, I felt so horrible after I went out rifle hunting opening morning and my 5 mo old lab jumped into the pickup anticipating a day of ruffy hunting, I was heartborken to tell her "sorry, not for another 9 days"

[Jiffy]

I have not done much grouse hunting after deer season. Is there anything different to look for and do?

[Quackaddict9]

go bowhunting?

[Jiffy]

Are you asking if I went bowhunting?

[Quackaddict9]

Quote:

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Is there anything different to look for and do?

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go bowhunting? which I meant bowhunting? as something else to do than grouse hunting... sorry for the confusion

[WAG416]

Dont really know if its any different for anyone else. I pretty much hunt the same cover in the winter as I do in the fall, only in the winter the swamps edges within close range of food become more of a focus because there is more cover and less wind.

A fool hen outsmarted me on thanksgiving, flushed on the edge of the spruce grove right as I was walking out of the woods, wasnt ready for him. I got a shot off and watched him sail away into the swamp, I then wished him a Happy Thanksgiving, maybe come Christmas he wont be so lucky.

[Jiffy]

Ah gotcha! No I don't bow hunt but I have thought about it. I was just asking if the grouse behaved differntly. I usually just quit hunting after deer season and wait for ice fishing. This year I would like to look for a few grouse. I didn't get out grouse hunting much this fall. Kids are still young so it is tough to get out much. I love every minute with my kids, but sometimes I could go for a little less teletubbies and a little more grousing! Thanks for the info WAG416.

[woodview]

Mostly hit the same sort of cover. This time of the year it seems there's a better chance of flushing one near the lone pine in an aspen woods if you find one. Slopes that are facing the sun seem a bit better as the birds can catch some rays and food sources other than aspen buds aren't as likely to be covered by snow. Watch for tracks as well - lets you know where they are and while I don't do it very often, I'll occassionally track a bird if the tracks look fresh (can be pretty fun). Seems I have more birds come out of the trees during the late season as well. A small pine woods during a snow can actually hold good numbers of birds plus the occassional hare if you're interested in them.

For me personally I think the biggest difference is I walk more trails since there's not many who grouse hunt late season. Birds aren't getting pushed off the trails as much - earlier in the season I all but ignore the trails and bust my own trail into the really thick stuff. Another thing, the birds will typically be in stands that are more mature since the aspen buds end up being just about the only thing they eat once the snow's covering everything (probably why I've had more of them come out of the trees then)

p.s. it's been a few years since this has happened to me but when there's a decent amount of snow on the ground I've had them come busting out of a snowdrift from right under me. Seems to be a bigger shock to the system when there's snow on the ground and you can see everything so well in the immediate area that you're 'certain' there's no bird nearby. Coolest 'whitewash' I've ever gotten - the ones I remember as a kid weren't nearly as fun, at least the ones I was on the receiving end of.