Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!

[T-Bone]

To be honest, I've found grouse to be "where you find them". Yes, hunt NE WA or wherever, but grouse can appear absent in one ideal appearing area and then in abundance in a near identical cover situation miles away.

[blacktail luv]

I didn't realise people actually "hunted grouse.  All I have ever done is drive the mountain roads in the evenings, I thought that is what everyone did.  One road in particular is amazing.  It is about a ten mile loop that starts off in the valley and works up to a few thousand feet.  Down low around the creeks there are tons of ruffs and up high there is big timber and it is steep as hell and there are always blues.  Best road I have ever hunted, so i won't give up its location, but if we do "hunt" them we walk the creeks with the dogs, tougher to get that way though. .  I guess I could tell you it is in skamania county, that is pretty vague.

[Dave Workman]

I have hunted grouse for years. It's good for ya. Hiking back in the hills away from the roads, working alder thickets, trekking around vine maples, crabapples, huckleberry fields up higher; scenery, shooting and solitude.

I have lost count of the number of fool hens I've sacked over the years, but every one of them was a challenge.  Good eats, too!

I've shot a few of them in the head with .22 rifles and pistols, too. I just acquired a like-new but used (vintage 1963) Ruger semi-auto pistol in .22 LR and it is dead bang accurate.

Dusting off the 20-gauge S/S double to work out the kinks, too. Counting down the weeks, then the days.

Season opens on a Tuesday. I will not be in the office!   

[ing]

To be honest, I've found grouse to be "where you find them".

I agree.  Every year I find grouse in different places.  I've hunted the same area for years and its never the same.  Bird numbers seem to fluctuate drastically from year to year, but we manage to do alright.  I kill mostley blues.  We find ruffs every now and then and I've killed a spruce once.  I'd have to say that grouse are my favorite bird to hunt.  As for where we hunt... east side of the state, high elevations wherever we find berries and water.

[Da stump]

I can remember hunting grouse out of colville when Teacherman was about 9 or ten years old.  We came across a covey of them and I stopped the jeep and we got out.  We where using 22's and we both nailed one.  All of a sudden one came out of the brush and under the jeep.  In a flash Teacherman is on his belly trying to get a shot.  I'm yelling don't shot, picturing flat tires or worse. Thankfully the darned bird ran up the bank and poised at the top and was added to the pot by a well aimed shot by my son still on the ground.

[NW-GSP]

I hunt them with my german shorthair pointer, where I hunt them is a different story

[Dave Workman]

I have never hunted grouse over a dog. Hunted pheasants and chukar over a dog.
I guess that I've been spoiled shooting dumb blue grouse out on open hillsides off abandoned logging grades and skid roads.

I know there is a certain element that really sneers at hunters who bonk 'em in the head with a .22 or ground-sluices them, but for a guaranteed dinner, sometimes that's what you gotta do.

[NW-GSP]

I have never hunted grouse over a dog. Hunted pheasants and chukar over a dog.
I guess that I've been spoiled shooting dumb blue grouse out on open hillsides off abandoned logging grades and skid roads.

I know there is a certain element that really sneers at hunters who bonk 'em in the head with a .22 or ground-sluices them, but for a guaranteed dinner, sometimes that's what you gotta do.

I agree that sometimes it is what you gotta do. I have done the same thing with roosters that refuse to flush and just keep running ( it gets old chasing the same rooster for a couple hundred yards)

[ing]

I have never hunted grouse over a dog. Hunted pheasants and chukar over a dog.
I guess that I've been spoiled shooting dumb blue grouse out on open hillsides off abandoned logging grades and skid roads.

I know there is a certain element that really sneers at hunters who bonk 'em in the head with a .22 or ground-sluices them, but for a guaranteed dinner, sometimes that's what you gotta do.

I agree that sometimes it is what you gotta do. I have done the same thing with roosters that refuse to flush and just keep running ( it gets old chasing the same rooster for a couple hundred yards)

Yeah, no kidding.  I've shot my fair share of ducks off the water also.  My moto: if you have a chance at making a clean kill take it.  Who cares if the bird is flying or not

[Dave Workman]

Along this thread, there's a great snapshot of some grouse chicks.
http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7976067


See how many you can find.

[NW-GSP]

I have never hunted grouse over a dog. Hunted pheasants and chukar over a dog.
I guess that I've been spoiled shooting dumb blue grouse out on open hillsides off abandoned logging grades and skid roads.

I know there is a certain element that really sneers at hunters who bonk 'em in the head with a .22 or ground-sluices them, but for a guaranteed dinner, sometimes that's what you gotta do.

I agree that sometimes it is what you gotta do. I have done the same thing with roosters that refuse to flush and just keep running ( it gets old chasing the same rooster for a couple hundred yards)

Yeah, no kidding.  I've shot my fair share of ducks off the water also.  My moto: if you have a chance at making a clean kill take it.  Who cares if the bird is flying or not

It all depend on what you think is ethical, I have alot of respect for people that truly hunt with good ethics

[bobcat]

I would not shoot at ducks on the water because it is a low odds shot. Chances are the duck will get up and fly away unless it's close enough to get a few hits in the head. Otherwise you're just shooting it in the back and it will just fly away and die later.

[ing]

I would not shoot at ducks on the water because it is a low odds shot. Chances are the duck will get up and fly away unless it's close enough to get a few hits in the head. Otherwise you're just shooting it in the back and it will just fly away and die later.

They were all head shots.  all while jump shooting.

[Da stump]

  If I can make a good clean kill i'll do it.

[oneezreiter]

I think the clean kill is the important part.  As long as it is fast and you are confident in the shot I thinkeither way is fine.