Who's Scouting for Grouse already?

[Dave Workman]

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

I thought the same thing! Lol

Well, goody for you two. I like to take a drive along some of my familiar logging roads just to see if I can spot broods through the summer. Grouse don't generally travel too far from where they're born without good reason, at least not in my experience. If I see birds in the summer, they're often pretty much in the same neighborhoods on the opener.

[Lucky1]

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.

I think she was trying to lure/lead you away from her baby.

[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.

I think she was trying to lure/lead you away from her baby.

No, she was going shopping. Had that look in her eye 

[Lucky1]

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.

I think she was trying to lure/lead you away from her baby.

No, she was going shopping. Had that look in her eye 

I know that look! 

[sawyer]

I just went on a long walk on an abandon road grade today in a productive forest in hopes of flushing a brood. Today availed me no flushes. Several times this summer I went on drives on familiar and new to me logging roads, and saw a good amount of grouse.

On fathers day I took my dad to a stream for some trout fishing, and then took him on a walk down one of my favorite grouse filled trails and we flushed up a group of 4 grouse.

I am fortunate to work in the woods 40 hours a week. I decided to take the long way off the mountain and flushed a mother grouse and her 5 chicks out of a clear cut and into the timber. My trigger finger is itchy and I cant wait to get out and hunt!!!

Hoping to find some Blue grouse this season, where I hunt in lower elevation forests its all ruffed. Gonna do some ridge hikes to find blues hopefully.

[BLDtraLR]

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

I thought the same thing! Lol
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Make that 3    And we eat pretty well in september lol

[Dave Workman]

Make that 3    And we eat pretty well in september lol

Hey, where was that photo taken? That sure looks like familiar country in the background.  Nice job!

[HillHound]

I’ve been seeing a ton of grouse. 6 to 10 at a time. Unfortunately while I’ve been Bear Hunting I’ve been hearing an awful lot of random single 22 and shotgun blasts from some of the open gravel roads down in the bottoms. I’m really hoping people aren’t cheating and getting an early start and shooting them before I get a chance on September 1.

[fly-by]

Went out yesterday evening to scout last year's go-to spot around 3000 ft and saw none. Hopefully things change by 9/1 but plan to start scouting some new areas just in case.

[Dave Workman]

Went out yesterday evening to scout last year's go-to spot around 3000 ft and saw none. Hopefully things change by 9/1 but plan to start scouting some new areas just in case.

Good idea. Grouse can be cyclic. Some of my favorite haunts of the past seem like they've been shot out the last few years. gonna head a bit farther north this fall.

[jrebel]

While bear hunting a few days ago, I counted over a dozen grouse.  Most were big blues.  It looks like it could be a good year.   

[Tracker0721]

We’ve got a long drive up a mountain to the current house we’re building and we’ve seen about 5 grouse a morning so September 1st we’ve got a bet on who gets the most before we start that day. Also found tons of blues scouting for bucks and bear. The turkeys and quail had a late second hatch around here, lotta few week old birds running about but the grouse seem to be grown

[hungster44]

I am very new to grouse and upland birds in general. However I have been into pheasants with my GSP and would love to get into grouse. I have heard of just driving the fire roads, but any tips or tricks in spotting them would be great.

I haven't found any yet while driving. What do you look for? What do you listen for? Thank you for all the help!

[joe_dumy]

Find some gated roads and walk them. Pick the ones that are not used that much. I prefer ones at the bottoms. Creeks ponds and swamps are all good to walk around. Have a GPS on your dog so you can find him. Usually he will be on point on the other side of a bunch of blackberries and devils club. Grouse like cover and food. The cover has to allow them to fly up out of danger so the really thick stuff is not all that hot. And in big trees the food is not all that plentiful. They like gravel so you will see them on the roads filling there crops. Grouse can be found anywhere and will make a liar out of anyone that says they know them. I would say the eastside of the mountains they are more plentiful. Good luck and have fun learning. Once your dog figures it out and you start finding them they are a great challenging game bird. Unless you just drive around shooting them of the road. Fun but no where the same as getting one off a pointed dog.

[Onewhohikes]

Or you can go to the high country to hunt the Blue grouse where there isn't the blackberries or brush mentioned earlier.