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Posted: 10/6/2004 7:45:04 PM EDT
[#1]
You mean those sharp tailed rockets with wings?
I wish I had time to chase those things around. I'm having trouble getting out after deer. I won't have any real free time until rut; so that's where my hopes are. |
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Posted: 10/7/2004 12:45:25 AM EDT
[#2]
I plan on getting up to Hayward in 2 weeks to give it a go. Going to go in the area I deer hunt, and scout around/ grouse hunt. I love it how you can be sneaking around the woods, being careful not to step on twigs and such, only to flush a bunch of grouse who make more noise than a steel trashcan being thrown down a flight of stairs.
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Posted: 10/7/2004 12:48:09 AM EDT
[#3]
I killed lots of birds in Wisconsin, 95% of them never made it off the ground. Good memories.
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Posted: 10/7/2004 6:16:32 AM EDT
[#4]
I got 3 on Monday. Got out for an hour and a half, flushed a few birds and made some awesome shots. I hit one while running thru the woods behind it, trying to get a clear shot. And yes, it was flying.
 Got a great dog  and I am carrying my new shotgun. Benelli M1 Super90 20ga in Advantage camo. Swe-e-et!
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Posted: 10/9/2004 1:51:52 PM EDT
[#5]
Made it out today for a few hours. Got one. Crossing shot at 35 yds. Bead came up on it just before it crossed behind a cluster of dense pine...follow throughhhh...blam! I could tell I hit it but it didn't look like a hard kill so I ran up on it. Gone. Shit. My dog caught up with it 30yds down the side of the hill. heheheh. She loves making the kill on runners
 Gorgeous day. Almost too nice for hunting. Warm and dry. But the birds were all up on the high ground. Very strange. Time to clean my bird and give Brit some treats.
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Posted: 10/9/2004 3:07:15 PM EDT
[#6]
i just got back from the brule river forest. flushed 3 birds but i didn't see any of them. my dumb dog walked too far ahead and flushed them before i could get near the area. still a great day, very nice weather.
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Posted: 10/9/2004 3:33:30 PM EDT
[#7]
My dog and I flushed 5 or 6 today. Didn't see much of 'em though and I consider myself lucky to have gotten one today. I'm running right about 50% for the year, so far, and think I'm up to about 10 birds so far. You need a training collar for your dog. Works wonders, but I had some trouble reining my dog in today also. She hadn't been hunting since Mon and she was plenty wound up. Worked out fine though, just beautiful today. Don't get any better... |
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Posted: 10/9/2004 3:42:13 PM EDT
[#8]
usually she stays close enough. i havn't trained her at all for hunting. she does good enough for me. i'm not quick enough to even get shots off at least half the time i flush them. but it's still a great time.
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Posted: 10/9/2004 3:58:44 PM EDT
[#9]
Alot of people think the training collars are inhumane. Nothing could be further from the truth and you only have to have one for a couple of days to realize that. Dog quickly understands what you are trying to get across if you use it properly and that prevents a whole lot of frustration on both your parts. I have one that will give her a tone before it shocks her so the shock is only if she doesn't listen. I would never have a dog again without one. Don't know how old you are but it took me alot of years hunting grouse to get good at it. I have really become a helluva shot. For the most part I would say that the "conventional wisdom" about how to hunt grouse is oftentimes bullshit. Got my own way of going about it and I do pretty good. Last year I had a streak where I got 11 birds with 12 shells.  I did what you are doing though. Just kept going out until I had 'em figured. Then I was finally able to get a dog and she has helped ALOT. She's 6 and I got her right when the grouse peaked. Her first day hunting was the ultimate grouse hunt. My brother and I must ahve flushed 60 birds that day. Anyhow, I got 8 birds the year before and 45-50 that year. What a difference a dog makes. And she just lives for it. Keeps me going, though, as she won't allow me to sit on my ass if I'm home
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Posted: 10/9/2004 4:01:26 PM EDT
[#10]
I used to grouse hunt year 'round when I was a young boy. My dog and I would leave in the morning walking the old logging roads and knock down a grouse or two on the way to Indian Creek, where we would do a lil trout fishing.
Sometimes we (Maggie and I) would start a fire along the shore and cook the grouse breast while watching the fishing pole. If we were real lucky we would have a fish and a couple birds to bring home at the end of the day. I used a Savage .22lr over/ 20ga under. If you missed with the .22 you could try to wing them with the 20ga. 99% of the grouse I took were on the ground..never was good at taking targets on the move. I don't get out for grouse nowdays and my hunting companion is long gone....But what great memories come to mind when anyone mentions grouse. MT |
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Posted: 10/9/2004 4:05:43 PM EDT
[#11]
i have no problem with training collars. i worked at a vet clinic so i know they're okay. i'm 25, this is only my 4th year hunting them. so far i only get 1-2 birds a season. i havn't had a succesful flying shot yet. all the birds i've shot were on the ground or sitting in trees.
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Posted: 10/9/2004 4:05:52 PM EDT
[#12]
Sounds like great days, MT Pockets.
I rarely get a ground shot. Different habitat, I suppose. I notice that even in different parts of thsi state there is variation on their behavior. There really is something about grouse hunting.... |
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Posted: 10/9/2004 4:07:23 PM EDT
[#13]
You need to shoot some clay pigeons. Then go out. |
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Posted: 10/9/2004 4:14:06 PM EDT
[#14]
drjarhead
I was hunting mostly the edge of the abandoned roads and every once in awhile I would see one in a tree. If I was real lucky I would get a Blue Grouse (much larger bird). This was in Western Washington where you are always in the trees...when I was a kid I always wondered what it was like to hunt the fields of the Mid-West. Thanks for letting me share. MT |
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Posted: 10/9/2004 4:20:59 PM EDT
[#15]
Loved your story. Not fields here. Pretty dense forest covers almost everything here and there are no grouse in the fields that dominate the southern part of the state. Ruffed Grouse live in the thickest parts of the forest for the most part. Mostly where there is dense younger growth in low areas. I live near Eagle River if you want to check it out on a map. Hills, lakes and forest dominate the area with much of the area being National Forest. That's where I hunt. today I just walked down the road from my house and into the National Forest. Put in about 10 miles over rolling hills thru the forest. I guess I got my excercise today. I have noticed that you have quite a few grouse species in your part of the country. Makes me envious. |
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Posted: 10/9/2004 4:35:36 PM EDT
[#16]
I will look up your area on the map. I have been to every State West of the Mississippi (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) I guess I better plan on checking out the other side of the U.S.A. before too long. I know I am missing out on some beautiful country. MT |
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Posted: 10/9/2004 9:37:47 PM EDT
[#17]
no fields here either. i'm northwest of drjarhead. i'm right on the western tip of lk superior.
i've had mornings where i've flushed a ton of birds but the woods were so thick that you only see them for a second or two. NE MN has good grouse hunting too, but since they raised the nonresident sm game license (around $80 now) i haven't bought one. too bad, i really like hunting up there. i've seen a few moose too! |
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Posted: 10/10/2004 5:20:13 AM EDT
[#18]
I am hearing that the grouse population is picking up over there in MN. Is that true? My understanding is the the population changes move from west to east. |
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Posted: 10/10/2004 7:54:45 AM EDT
[#19]
not sure how the population is in MN, i havn't hunted there since 02'. i saw birds everytime except once last year in brule.
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Posted: 10/11/2004 1:16:35 PM EDT
[#20]
+3
I don't know how it get any more beautiful in the woods. Incredible. Better than I've seen it for years. Miller Time
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Posted: 10/13/2004 10:44:27 AM EDT
[#21]
Anybody want a guest for a weekend grouse hunt? I haven't ever tried it. Would like to though! I love pheasant hunting, but it's just not like it used to be around here anymore.
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Posted: 10/16/2004 12:18:49 PM EDT
[#22]
flushed 7 birds, saw 2 deer and almost shot a big owl. we only got a shot at one of the birds and didn't get it. what a great morning even though it was snowing.
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Posted: 10/18/2004 3:04:25 PM EDT
[#23]
Just one today. Flushed 6 but they weren't sitting tight at all today. Boy, was my dog worked up. After going to that carbine course my dog didn't see me for 2 days and she was really wound up to get out and run. To add insult to injury I was wearing my hunting camo when I got home. I got the "treatment". What a mutt. But she ran, and ran, and ran today and I got one shot.
The carbine course was a blast. 
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Posted: 10/23/2004 1:38:15 PM EDT
[#24]
flushed 3 or 4 today. shot one finally but we couldn't find it. guess i should have brought the dog this time. seeing a lot more deer sign on the trails too.
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Posted: 10/23/2004 5:59:10 PM EDT
[#25]
Had to work today but I got a couple more last week. Weather sucked today anyway but should be nice next week. I'll be off a couple of days
My dog is really running. I'm trying to get reined in a little but damn. I was jogging in places one day last week just to have chance. She's in great shape now and I've cut her time running back a little. Setters are all heart and lungs and damn things can run forever when they're in shape. She sure is a good dog. |
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Posted: 10/28/2004 8:54:10 PM EDT
[#26]
I just moved back to Wisconsin, and could not resist this thread. I still have family up north and have alot of memories of Northern WI grouse hunting in the 80's and 90's. I heard the cycle is still down, but it is now on the upswing. However, I also heard that the population is taking a beating from the introduction of Martins and Fishers? Have you heard of this being a factor now? I have family that still logs up in Vilas county, and they said that they only saw a Fisher once, but thats it.
Anyways, I will never forget grouse hunting in the late 1980's in Price county!!!!!! We had at least 30-40 flushes a day. This is no joke. It was a combination of prime habitat from the downbust that cleared the forest, prime brooding weather, and a peak in the grouse cyce! Absolutly unforgettable. I just hope the DNR didn't screw up with the introduction of Fishers etc. - what a preventable tragedy if it is true. |
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Posted: 10/29/2004 12:42:51 PM EDT
[#27]
i don't think the population is too bad. it was really down in MN a couple seasons ago and that's when i started going to WI more often. i flush birds almost everytime i go out in the Brule river area. 30-40 flushes a day would be great... the first year i went i remember flushing around 20 birds a day (in MN).
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Posted: 10/29/2004 12:50:07 PM EDT
[#28]
I sure am enjoying keeping up on your Hometown Grouse Hunting Thread.
And I am from Washington! MT
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Posted: 10/29/2004 1:08:31 PM EDT
[#29]
I don't hunt grouse any more now that I live in MN, but the newspaper reports are inconclusive. Theoretically the numbers are supposed to be up, but there have been so many leaves on the trees that they've been impossible to see, at least according to the newspaper. I used to really enjoy hunting grouse in southwestern WI. My favorite time was after Christmas until the season closed. |
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Posted: 10/29/2004 11:07:19 PM EDT
[#30]
i've heard some decent reports from MN. a friend of mine flushed 19 birds on his last outing.
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