What's your poison for grouse?

[tonymiller7]

10/22 22lr

 
And just to be sporting the rule is head shots only at anything under 50 yards.

[Dave Workman]

LOOKS LIKE THE 20 edged out everybody...except for .22s and arrows.   

Well, less than a month to go.  I'm already working out my kinks...at my age, I've got plenty of them! ...and am rarin' to hit it hard on the opener. Drat that it opens on Labor Day Monday.  Ah, but the following weekend....

DEATH TO GROUSE!

(Is that un-American?)

With the big fires, I sure hope at least SOME good grouse country is being spared.   Now's the time to be buying a box of clays and putting them to work.  I already shot up a bunch, with hunting buddy Glockster.  We've got a couple of spots to visit. 

Good luck to all and thanks for participating in the poll.  Stay safe out there!

[Don Fischer]

So, another question I would like to see Dave ask: How many of you hunt grouse with a trained dog and only shoot them on the wing? It is a hell of a good time.

Without a dog I wouldn't hunt birds at all! Squirt and Bodie haven't had much experience with them and Stormy not much with anything!

[BOWHUNTER45]

Couple more weeks and it is a free for all ...Bear hunting - deer hunting - elk hunting and grouse hunting ...How in the heck did it get here so dang fast    I am excited to get my NEW DOG out on some grouse ..they seem to be thick this year 

[87Ford]

I take my Lab grouse hunting on occasion.  He prefers roosters, but he's never opposed to chasing grouse..

[BiggLuke]

Couple more weeks and it is a free for all ...Bear hunting - deer hunting - elk hunting and grouse hunting ...How in the heck did it get here so dang fast    I am excited to get my NEW DOG out on some grouse ..they seem to be thick this year 

...You forgot rabbit and dove   

[hunterrcc]

Chicken stock, onions, grouse cubed in pieces, chantrel mushrooms, salt & pepper, johnnys, garlic.  Sautee until cooked thicken with flour and stir in a little Soy sauce.  Serve over brown rice or noodles.  Super good with fresh venison or elk too! 

[BigGoonTuna]

i shoot all my grouse on the wing(i've never seen one standing still unless i've been in my truck, and outside the season).  would love to have a dog, to maybe point out some of those birds flushing out of sight.

[gundogr]

Fausti 20
REM 11-87 Upland Special 20

[madmack76]

Kent fast steel is deadly in the .20 gauge.

[Dave Workman]

Yes, I hunt 'em with a dog, in the good years. Problem is it's been 5 years since I've seen good grouse numbers. Here's a couple of pictures from 2009:

Nice photos..
See, a lot of this depends upon where you hunt. Grouse are cyclic in a way. I think they are in pretty good shape in a lot of spots, and you might not find them where you used to simply because someone else found them first.

Years ago, I did a map story on one of my honey holes. That's what I get paid for, not for keeping secrets.  A week later I was back and not a bird to be seen, but I ran into a guy who told me about the four guys who read the story, showed up with a couple of dogs and shot the hell out of the grouse.  That's good and bad because it's almost genocide.

Another time I ran into a guy who killed 14 grouse out of one good area in one season.  For the next couple of years, there wasn't a bird to be seen. Then last year they bounced back real good.  This past month, a forest fire burned their habitat.

The birds survived presumably, but they will be found elsewhere.

My advantage is age. I've been around a long time and found A LOT of good grouse areas; places I can try and bring home birds.  I will do that again starting next week.

When I retire...if that day ever comes...I'm going to load up my camping gear and spend days wandering the slopes, just hunting grouse, enjoying the solitude and the silence, and maybe some company from new friends and old I run into along the way. 

In the meantime...don't kill 'em all. Reserve that for coyotes. 

[huntingaddiction]

My grouse spot has an aggressive lion in it and I refuse to take my dog up there until I have killed that lion!

[Dave Workman]

My grouse spot has an aggressive lion in it and I refuse to take my dog up there until I have killed that lion!

Good luck with that. I suspect there are more mountain lions in this state than the WDFW says. One good reason for mule deer problems bouncing back from the problem they had a couple of years ago.

[huntingaddiction]

I have seen him both times I have been up there.  And I think you're right.

[Dave Workman]

I have seen him both times I have been up there.  And I think you're right.

Well, ahem, I am typically right.    



Some say even Far Right.....