Who's Scouting for Grouse already?

[Dave Workman]

Who is scouting already for grouse?
What are your strategies?

Your replies might help me make an entertaining column in Northwest Sportsman for June.  (I'm already on the prowl while cutting firewood...so don't feel like you might be jumping the gun.. Broods ought to start showing up over the next several weeks, and definitely should be showing up in June and July.)

[Onewhohikes]

Hooters or Drummers?

[Dave Workman]

Hooters or Drummers?

Both. Or either.

I'm looking for some anecdotal strategies I can weave into the narrative, something a bit different, and a little bit of fun.

[Bigshooter]

Haven't seen a family of grouse yet this year.  I've been out 6 or 8 times now.  And I think I have seen 3 adults.  I think the wet cool June might have hammered the chicks.  But maybe we get lucky with a late hatch.  Fingers are crossed.

[Tracker0721]

I don’t scout, I make a memory mark or drop a pin on OnX where I find coveys. Some guy a long time ago told me grouse don’t actually “flock” up. If they’re in a covey it’s because that spot attracted them all to gather there. Good food, pebbles, something. Dunno if it’s true but hunting without a dog and hiking in I usually get over a couple dozen by revisiting those spots.

Last year just driving the dirt roads to go scouting we’d seen quite a few hens with broods and we’ve seen none this year.

[mburrows]

Come to think of it I havent seen any hens with chicks either but in another area close by (3-5 miles) the chukar and quail family units seem to be thriving.

[TheStovePipeKid]

We flushed a few in June while cruising the backroads of a National Forest. Had my father in law and son headed to do some recreational shooting. They flushed from the same spot on the way back down the road. I had the old itch in my trigger finger but couldn't scratch it.

[huntingaddiction]

People scout for grouse?  I shoot my fair share with a bow every year.

[Dave Workman]

Join the conversation:
https://www.facebook.com/dave.workman.1804/posts/10219826932377041


NOTE: Now is the time to start watching the ads for specials on shotgun shells. I just did a piece in TheGunMag.com talking about 7 1/2 shot, and I'll be doing another upland bird hunting story sometime soon over there.

You've got all of August to break out the shotgun, CLEAN IT THOROUGHLY and get out to the range and hone your skills by shooting clay targets.

Grouse are out there plotting against us!  We've got to attack first.   

[predatorpro]

People scout for grouse?  I shoot my fair share with a bow every year.

I thought the same thing! Lol

[vandeman17]

I think its more that they scout for me so that they can find which way I hike in to my hunting spots. That way they can perch right about eye level in a spot I won't see so that they can flush at the most opportune time and scare the hell out of me. I often think I can hear them laughing as the land a few trees away.

[Onewhohikes]

Well at least their not shooting your deer for you

[jrebel]

I wouldn't say I scout for them, but I have seen a couple broods on the property.  Looks like it could be a good year for them despite all the rain we had this spring. 

[WapitiTalk1]

Ran into a hen and a large fuzzy chick on a very high ridge road in Idaho over the weekend.  I stopped my quad immediately (didn't want to make a sandwich out of the fuzz head; its not season and I didn't have any bread anyway).  The juvenile scurried immediately up into the huckleberry brush (per her last lesson in quad/human avoidance training) but mom burned rubber down the road like she'd just been told there was a big sale in the hen department at GrouseMart.  Left her little one to fend for itself and was on her way.  I putted the quad down around the corner and she still went another 75 yards on the road before bailing.  She won't get many votes for mom of the year, that's for sure.   

[hawks33]

Cant say I scout for them, but I've come across several new broods of chicks this year on the wetside. More than normal, birds look real healthy.  Had 3 on a short section of FS road last week. I do find them in the same areas during the season as I do this time of year. Good luck!