After a few months of running my dogs I have come to realization that any hunting area worth my time and gas money for grouse hunting is about 3.5 hours drive for me to hunt marginal OR grouse populations. This seems kind of silly since one of the largest successful grouse hunting counties in the country is only 4 hours drive from me in WA.
A few questions for you guys up in WA who know anything about that area. Are the national forest logging roads accessible/huntable? Any issues with the locals, mostly concerned about stumbling on somebodies meth/grow site.
Any other information would be greatly appreciated.
Posted: 8/25/2014 7:24:23 AM EDT
[#1]
Which county would that be?
Posted: 8/25/2014 7:52:56 AM EDT
[#2]
Chelan/Douglas/Okanogan, grouse everywhere. We saw some the size of chickens last season - of course I saw them when I had only a .270 with me.
Posted: 8/25/2014 8:05:46 AM EDT
[#3]
Quote History
Quoted: Which county would that be?
View Quote
Okankogan
Posted: 8/25/2014 10:03:06 AM EDT
[#4]
Lots of federal and state forest land over there. Pretty easy to find them. Biggest issue this year though is forest fires. There may be some road closures related to the Carlton Complex fire, the one that burned 256,000 acres.
Posted: 8/25/2014 6:19:21 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote History
Quoted: Lots of federal and state forest land over there. Pretty easy to find them. Biggest issue this year though is forest fires. There may be some road closures related to the Carlton Complex fire, the one that burned 256,000 acres.
View Quote
The double edge sword of grouse hunting. The grouse need the forest fires for the cover they thrive in. So this years and probably next years numbers/habitat will be decreases but for the next 10-15 years that burn area will hold more grouse than a person can shake a stick at.