collapse

Advertisement


Author Topic: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!  (Read 18482 times)

Offline T-Bone

  • Non-Hunting Topics
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Apr 2007
  • Posts: 615
  • Location: Rockford, WA
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #30 on: June 19, 2009, 04:24:43 PM »
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. :dunno:
" America will never be destroyed from outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

                                                      Abraham Lincoln

Offline blacktail luv

  • Non-Hunting Topics
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2008
  • Posts: 543
  • Location: White Salmon
  • Shed Hunting Fool
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #31 on: June 19, 2009, 11:30:41 PM »
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. ;)

Offline Dave Workman

  • Forum Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Aug 2008
  • Posts: 2925
  • Location: In the woods, by the big tree
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #32 on: June 20, 2009, 07:09:10 AM »
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!   ;)
"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted." - D.H. Lawrence

Offline ing

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Feb 2009
  • Posts: 599
  • Location: WA
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #33 on: June 22, 2009, 07:16:19 AM »
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.

Offline Da stump

  • Site Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Mar 2009
  • Posts: 572
  • Location: Chattaroy
  • Give me a good book and a gun, that's all I need.
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #34 on: June 22, 2009, 08:55:02 AM »
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. :yike:
I've slowed down enough in my old age to finally let the game catch up to me

Offline NW-GSP

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Apr 2009
  • Posts: 2727
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #35 on: June 22, 2009, 01:10:16 PM »
I hunt them with my german shorthair pointer, where I hunt them is a different story

Offline Dave Workman

  • Forum Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Aug 2008
  • Posts: 2925
  • Location: In the woods, by the big tree
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #36 on: June 22, 2009, 06:49:02 PM »
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.

"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted." - D.H. Lawrence

Offline NW-GSP

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Apr 2009
  • Posts: 2727
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #37 on: June 22, 2009, 09:21:46 PM »
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)

Offline ing

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Feb 2009
  • Posts: 599
  • Location: WA
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #38 on: June 22, 2009, 10:28:51 PM »
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

Offline Dave Workman

  • Forum Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Aug 2008
  • Posts: 2925
  • Location: In the woods, by the big tree
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #39 on: June 23, 2009, 07:25:37 PM »
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.
"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted." - D.H. Lawrence

Offline NW-GSP

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Frontiersman
  • *****
  • Join Date: Apr 2009
  • Posts: 2727
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #40 on: June 23, 2009, 08:51:22 PM »
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

Offline bobcat

  • Global Moderator
  • Trade Count: (+14)
  • Legend
  • *****
  • Join Date: Mar 2007
  • Posts: 38900
  • Location: Rochester
    • robert68
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #41 on: June 23, 2009, 09:06:33 PM »
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.

Offline ing

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Feb 2009
  • Posts: 599
  • Location: WA
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #42 on: June 23, 2009, 11:24:57 PM »
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.

Offline Da stump

  • Site Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Mar 2009
  • Posts: 572
  • Location: Chattaroy
  • Give me a good book and a gun, that's all I need.
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #43 on: June 24, 2009, 06:44:31 AM »
  If I can make a good clean kill i'll do it. :hunter:
I've slowed down enough in my old age to finally let the game catch up to me

Offline oneezreiter

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Oct 2008
  • Posts: 792
  • Location: Renner SD
Re: Yet Another Grouse Thread! YIPPEEEE!!!!!
« Reply #44 on: June 24, 2009, 06:56:06 AM »
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.  :twocents:
Of all the branches of men in the forces there is none which shows more devotion and faces grimmer perils than the submariners." 

Sir Winston Churchill

 


* Advertisement

* Recent Topics

SB 5444 signed by Inslee on 03/26 Takes Effect on 06/06/24 by pianoman9701
[Today at 08:57:54 AM]


Walked a cougar down by 2MANY
[Today at 08:56:26 AM]


Springer 2024 Columbia River by WSU
[Today at 08:31:10 AM]


Average by lhrbull
[Today at 07:31:56 AM]


Let’s see your best Washington buck by Pathfinder101
[Today at 07:22:11 AM]


CVA optima V2 LR tapped hole for front sight by Remdawg
[Today at 07:09:22 AM]


Bearpaw Season - Spring 2024 by duckmen1
[Today at 06:52:09 AM]


Which 12” boat trailer tires? by timberhunter
[Yesterday at 08:22:18 PM]


Lowest power 22 round? by JakeLand
[Yesterday at 08:06:13 PM]


1x scopes vs open sights by JakeLand
[Yesterday at 07:29:35 PM]

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal