Where to find grouse?

[bonneylakebowman]

Hey guys I am looking to try grouse hunting this year but dont really know where to look for them.  I'm not askin for any ones honey holes or anything just wondering what habitat to start looking for to find grouse.  I live in bonney lake and have some areas close to home to hunt but I just dont know where to start looking for them.

[gasman]

drive the logging roads.

[boonerboy]

lots of berries, cover and water.

[TangoU]

PM sent.

[whitey]

Get out of the truck.
They are where they are.
Get a good dog and follow there nose.
Good Luck..

[runamuk]

I haven't seen a single grouse this year in the forest near my home and usually I do.  I went to where I always see grouse and saw none there as well in some areas I think they are a bit scarcer this year due to all the rain early in summer....

but I have found I see grouse where I see bears wherever there is some cover and berries just my observation.

[bigtex]

I haven't seen a single grouse this year in the forest near my home and usually I do.  I went to where I always see grouse and saw none there as well in some areas I think they are a bit scarcer this year due to all the rain early in summer....

but I have found I see grouse where I see bears wherever there is some cover and berries just my observation.

A lot of the birds I have been seeing are small, almost as if the hatch was later this year then normal. Most I have been seeing I wouldn't even shoot.

[bonneylakebowman]

ok thanks so i guess i just need to find some berries.  someone told me to hunt stands of aspen and birch. Has anyone had luck doing that?

[ribka]

right here

Saw him yesterday. Would not fly away. Ended up not shooting him.

[Ray]

I saw a few out yesterday. They seem to be found in a lot of places. Some good recommendations above. On hiking trails above or at treeline is one of my favorite spots to find them. Usually that's where I spook them while bear hunting... is in a meadow or on a hillside sparsely littered with small pine trees. Look for the head in the grass or bushes. Depending on the terrain and tactics you may have to develop an eye for them. Other times they are right there. One of the best things is that if you miss you can usually follow up.

[jeepster]

can anybody verify "get as high as you can"? thats what an old time once told me, so ive always hunted 4000'+ up in the almost alpine areas

[ratherhunt]

I like to hunt them in dark thick forests with my lab , but I see them alto on old logging roads right after a rain.

[bobcat]

can anybody verify "get as high as you can"? thats what an old time once told me, so ive always hunted 4000'+ up in the almost alpine areas

For blue grouse, yes, that would be a good rule.

[swanny]

right here

Saw him yesterday. Would not fly away. Ended up not shooting him.

It's amazing how many of them don't fly away. I was hiking a trail in the Olympics one day with my dog we ended up seeing three of them on the trail that day. Even with the dog, they just stood there and watched. They had no intentions of flying away at all.

[PolarBear]

Old gravel roads right after a rain or fog.

[400out]

they are where I am when I don't have a gun 

[Forrestrover]

they are where I am when I don't have a gun 

  Ha! Ha! I know that story!

[jeepster]

i spent 3 days up at mt baker hikin, drivin, working the dog... saw one bird, out of shotgun range... but that was it... 

only thing i saw were a couple robins, a ton of squirrels, and probably the biggest rabbit (hare?) ive ever seen and... oh yeah and one grouse.... needless to say it was alot of fun seeing my dog on his first official hunt... but it would have been alot nicer to have a nice grouse dinner..... my regular spots did not produce...... i was east of glacier the entire time... was i too high cuz of the rain? would love some input... could somebody pm me a suggestion of a spot where i would have a good chance of comming home with sometihng?

[bobcat]

This is a bad year for grouse, at least in the areas I've been spending my time. I haven't even bothered to hunt grouse, there just aren't any. I think I've seen two all summer, and I've been out a lot, scouting for deer. I should have seen hundreds by now, with all the time I've spent in the woods.

[BigGoonTuna]

i've hardly been out.  the old road i did most of my hunting on got sprayed with herbicide and it killed of all the good forage, and the "grouse alley" i found on rayonier land got locked up about a month back(and it's about 6 or 7 miles in)

[gasman]

We seen more grous ethis year then aver before. Saw several a day but was only to make one kill with the shot gun and lost a arrow on another.

It seams to me that we seen all our birds on the edge of the old growth forest areas, and what i would call "sub alpine" areas. None in the repods or clear cuts, except on the edge of the of the old growth.

[Green Horn]

Went out yesterday. Drove up and down logging roads and did a lot of hiking(4 hours). i didnt see a single thing . Just as I was driving back down the mountain I saw one scamper along the road. My buddy blasted it and we had dinner! Just when you dont expect to find em they're right in front of you.

[birdslayer]

I live in buckley bonny lake, get up to wilkason drive the main logging roads until you get to some of the overgrown spur roads then get out and walk about 1/2 to 1 mile if you don,t see anything go to the next and start again, sometimes I won't start hunting till I see one wile driving

[shedcrazy]

saw 9 birds today, took two nice blues up high and a huge ruffed low

[Greg30-06]

they are where I am when I don't have a gun 

I was at work one time a few years back and saw a grouse.  Of course I didnt have a gun, but I snuck up to it and was able to cut its throat with my pocket knife.  Cut my thumb in the process as well.   Something I will always remember.   

[chevysquid]

Slicing the thoats of grouce!  WTF

[shedcrazy]

:

Slicing the thoats of grouce!  WTF

    WTF

[whitey]

they are where I am when I don't have a gun 

I was at work one time a few years back and saw a grouse.  Of course I didnt have a gun, but I snuck up to it and was able to cut its throat with my pocket knife.  Cut my thumb in the process as well.   Something I will always remember.   

 

Why not just ring its neck..

[Greg30-06]

Because I had a knife!!!

[Ellensburg]

they are where I am when I don't have a gun 

I was at work one time a few years back and saw a grouse.  Of course I didnt have a gun, but I snuck up to it and was able to cut its throat with my pocket knife.  Cut my thumb in the process as well.   Something I will always remember.   

I CALL BS. WHERE ARE THE KILL PICS

[Greg30-06]

Sorry dont have any pics that was back in 2004.   It really happend but i would understand your scepticism.  However everyone knows that they are about the dumbest animals on earth.

[ICEMAN]

I thought you were only allowed to kill a grouse with a shotgun, rifle or bow?

[fisheral87]

I've been running into the smart ones this year. They can be very cunning birds. And if not cunning, at least well educated. You do find them where they are, just enjoy the walk and you will find them.

[Buckmark]

I've been running into the smart ones this year. They can be very cunning birds. And if not cunning, at least well educated. You do find them where they are, just enjoy the walk and you will find them.

I cannot believe you used the words "Smart, Cunning, and well Educated" to describe grouse.......

[Greg30-06]

I've been running into the smart ones this year. They can be very cunning birds. And if not cunning, at least well educated. You do find them where they are, just enjoy the walk and you will find them.

I cannot believe you used the words "Smart, Cunning, and well Educated" to describe grouse.......

 

[bobcat]

Most places I've hunted grouse they are very challenging to hunt. They don't just sit there and let a person shoot them. But the dumbest ones I've ever seen were in the Pasayten Wilderness. I don't think they had ever seen a human before. They probably figured we weren't any more danger to them than a deer was.

[halflife65]

Greg30-06 isn't fibbing.  I saw him right after his grouse hunt and got a picture of it.  I have no idea why he is so muddy.