Deer River MN - Early October Grouse Hunt 2014

I’ve rented a cabin near Grand Rapids, MN for the month of October with the goal of chasing ruffed grouse for as many days as possible.  I am planning on hunting Every Thur - Sunday and an additional week right after mid-month.  I’ll be driving back to the Twin Cities each Sunday evening and then heading north on either Wed evening or early Thursday morning depending upon the weather.

I got back home from a work trip at about 12:30 am Thursday and hit the snooze a few times in the morning.  By the time I wrapped up a few things it was about 10:30 before we hit the road.  After checking into the cabin and unloading a few items we hit the woods at about 4.  There wasn’t much wind at all and fortunately the rain had stopped as we were ready to hit the woods.

Tina got the call first.  At 12 1/2 years old she has plenty of experience but is starting to show the miles.  20 minutes after starting she went on point.  Unfortunately I walked past the bird and when it got up I didn’t even get a shot off.  We were almost to the turnaround when she locked up again.  This time it was a straight away shot and I was able to connect.  On the way back we hit an area that is a bit lower than the rest and got 2 woodcock points and I was able to take one.

After a quick snack I let Tasha have her chance.  A short way into the trail she took off running hard and bumped a grouse.  I had a left to right passing shot but did not connect.  I was a bit worried as the blasting through birds was something she did all too frequently on grouse last year.  We hit a number of side trails but didn’t move any more birds until we got closer to the start of the trail.  She had 2 nice points on woodcock that I again was not able to finish off for her.  It was nice to see her hold her points on the woodcock as she had not pointed any last year.  On the last stretch before we got back to the truck she locked up hard along the edge of a field.  I started to walk up the side and a grouse broke too far out for me to get a good shot.

In 3 hours of hunting we moved 4 grouse and 4 woodcock taking 1 of each.

Friday October 3rd - Read about Friday's Hunt and see the pics

How To Miss A Ruffed Grouse Shot - Video

I went 0 for 8 on quality shot opportunities this day.

I was able to recover over the next two days but am still missing some easy ones.  The previous couple of weekends I was hitting some of the tougher shots.

Grand Rapids / Deer River MN area.

Ruffed Grouse Hunt - Lake Winnie Winnibigoshish MN - Deer River MN - 10/25/2013

10/25/2013

The pendulum swung the other way today.  I saw lots of birds but could not hit one.

We ended up going to our second choice.  The same pickup has been in our number one choice the past 3 weekends.  The nice thing is that he usually leaves by 2 o’clock so we can park there for late afternoon hunt.

Within 50 yards of leaving the car I saw a grouse flush wild about 20 yards in the woods.  After a short walk we got to a wide spot in the trail and I was thinking "this is such a good looking spot but I’ve never seen a grouse here"  just then Tasha bumped one and it came flying at me.  I missed a shot while it was flying at me and then one while it was flying away.  If the GoPro was working right I should have a good video of “how to miss a grouse”.   A little farther up the trail I saw a bird flush, as we approached the area Tasha went on point.  I figured she was pointing the one that flew.  Again the phrase “ always trust your dog” proved true.  As I was walking up and thinking that there was nothing there any longer up came another bird and another miss was tallied.

On our 90 minute hunt we moved 7 grouse, 3 of which were pointed by Tasha, none of which did I connect on.

I swapped dogs hoping that Tina could turn the tide.  We hunted for 2.5 hrs and moved 9 grouse and one woodcock.  I shot at 3 of the grouse and the woodcock and missed all of them.  At one spot Tina went on point and I saw something run in front of her.  I was thinking it was a rabbit as she likes to point them and we’ve seen a number of them here.  I walked towards her and a grouse got up low and straight in front of her.  I held off of shooting as I didn’t want to hit her.

On our way out we bumped into a couple of hunters.  One of them was wearing the same hat as I was.  It was a for the kennel, Northwoods Bird Dogs that both of my active dogs are out of.  We chatted a bit and one of them was a guide that works out of the same lodge that Jerry, the trainer / breeder, guides out of.  The grouse woods can be a small place sometimes.

We moved to a different parking spot in the same area and I gave Tasha another run.  She got 2 more points and just to keep everything on the same track I didn’t hit either one.  I did have one take off from about 10 feet up a tree.  This is the second week in a row that this has happened.  Neither time did it seem like it was close to roosting time.

5 hours hunting.  19 birds moved.  18 grouse 1 woodcock.  8 shots taken.  No hits.

I’m switching guns and hats tomorrow.  I mean it couldn’t be me that is the issue...

Deer River - Grand Rapids MN Grouse and Woodcock Hunt Oct 13 2013

4 Grouse and 1 Woodcock

Sunday October 13th 2013

The dogs and I were back in the Deer River area to try our luck at finding some more grouse.  It had been a long drive the day before to get there.  We had started Saturday by heading up to Willmar, MN to talk with a farm owner about getting access to his land to try some pheasant hunting.  He agreed and we spent just over an hour making a quick pass to see if we could get a rooster.  All the corn was still up and it was starting to rain so we pulled the plug and made the drive to Deer River.

We went to what has become our favorite spot in the area.  There was already an ATV parked in the spot that we like to start out at.  It is a large area so we drove to a secondary parking area.  Tasha got the call to be the first one to hunt.  At 17 months old I am just wanting to get her into birds.  I’m hoping that she will handle them well when she finds them but I won’t get bent out of shape if we get more bumps than points.

After about 5 min she started to get birdy and a grouse broke from the cover.  I fumbled with the safety but didn’t get the shot off.  While I was cursing myself another bird got up and was away before I could get on it... We approached an area that is a bit lower and wetter than the other cover.  Tasha made a nice flash point on a woodcock and I was able to take it on the second shot.  On the way out Tasha bumped another grouse.  I wasn’t upset as we were working with the wind and as soon as she scented it she spun to point and the bird got up.  It was a little bit farther out than I am comfortable shooting so I passed on it.

Our second spot is an area that Marge ( my setter who we put down this spring at 17 1/2 ) had good luck hunting at 16 years old.  It was a shorter trail and she usually was able to get a good point in the first couple of hundred yard or so.  Tina got to hunt this one.  We worked the trail that we normally do but then were able to check out a new cut.  As we hit one spot I was saying to myself “ how can there not be a bird here “ and sure enough Tina locked up and I was able to take it with a single shot.

The third spot is another small area.  This is my third season hunting this area and we have always seen a bird here but have never taken one.  I was hoping that Tasha would break the streak and we could take a bird.  We worked the trail out and then bushwhacked it back.  She moved well through the woods and was working the cover but we didn’t move a bird.

For the last hunt of the day we returned to the first spot and were able to park in the spot that we wanted to start out.  About 20 minutes into the hunt Tina made a nice point a ways into the cover.  As I started to move up towards her the bird came charging out and I made a quick right to left swing and took a shot.  I didn’t see the bird go down but it did look like it maybe bobbed a bit.  We went in and looked around a fair amount and didn’t see anything and as we started to walk out I happened to look down and it was tucked into some brush.  It had gone an amount farther after my shot than I had thought.  As we neared the turnaround on the trail Tina made another nice point and I was able to take it on a straight away shot.

On the way out she made another point and I walked past her a good distance to try to trap the bird between us.  As I walked in Tina held steady but I didn’t move a bird.  As I got right next to her a bird broke a good 25-30 yards behind me.  I hadn’t gone quite far enough up the trail before cutting in.  About 5 minutes later she went on point again so I went even farther up the trail this time hoping to not have a repeat.  I got to within 5 or 6 feet of her and started to think it might be a woodcock holding tight and then right between us was the grouse.  I could have thumped it with my barrel.  I finally got it to flush but didn’t hit it until the second shot.

We ended up taking another grouse on the way out.  It was a nice flush and a easier shot but I’ll take an easy one as I know most are not that way.

For the day we moved 13 grouse and 8 woodcock.  As far as shooting I went 4/6 for grouse but only 1/5 on woodcock.

Another Hunter Beat Us To Some Prime Cover

Grand Rapids - Deer River MN 2013 Ruffed Grouse Hunt 2nd Weekend

Tasha and Tina with our first grouse of 2013

Friday Sept 20th

The weather forecast was for clearing in the afternoon but driving in rain all the way from Forest Lake, Mn to Grand Rapids, Mn wasn’t too encouraging.  The clouds started to break as I arrived in Deer River and my mood improved.  I met up with my hunting buddy Tony.  

We hit an area that I’ve had good luck at for a few years.  I put my new setter, Tasha, down to give her a chance to get on some wild birds.  Tony went down a different trail to work his two dogs.  We worked the area for about and hour and didn’t move any birds.   Tasha did get birdy a few times and gave me 2 or 3 unproductive points.  Even though we didn’t see anything I was happy with the way she was working the cover.  When we got back to the trucks I asked Tony if he had gotten anything as I heard a couple of shots.  He said that 3 had flushed wild ahead of him on the trail but that he hadn’t gotten them.  As a bonus though one of his dogs did roll in a dead skunk that was on the trail...  I’ll be skipping that area this year.

We continued to work our way around the Winnie area and found lots of good looking areas but no birds.  It started to drizzle as we hunted the last area and as we were walking out I had two grouse flush from under some pine trees.  I didn’t get off any shots but it nice to actually hear something.

Saturday Sept 21st

It was going to be just me and the dogs today as Tony decided to hunt closer to his cabin. 

If the lower bird counts were going to be keeping hunters out of the woods this year you wouldn’t know it by how many vehicles were on the forest roads this morning.

We started on the trail that we left off at the previous evening.  The cover was wet with the previous evening’s rain.  The area had the right cover and we hunted even farther down the trail than the day before.  Unlike the day before we didn’t move any birds.  We continued hunt some of the areas northwest of Lake Winnie but still were not having any luck.  We stopped in Black Duck for a late lunch and decided to head to a different area.

Our next spot was an area the my first dog, Marge, had good luck hunting in her 15th season.  I put Tasha down hoping that somehow Marge would have passed some of her mojo to us and that I’d be able to get Tasha her first bird.  The area looked even better than before as there had been a new trail cut through some birdy looking cover.  Tasha worked the cover well but still we were not able to get a point.

At the last spot I hunted my 11 year old setter, Tina, by herself.  One of the reasons that we added Tasha to the family is so that I wouldn’t have to hunt Tina all day long.  She would do it if I let her but she does better if I don’t run her into the ground.  I also switched guns to my 16ga in the hopes of changing our luck.  This area was where we had started yesterday but I decided to enter it from a different point.  The path we took was a newer cut path and a bit tougher to follow but it still looked good.  About five minutes into the hunt Tina locked up solid.  As I moved forward the grouse got up from right in the middle of the trail.  It was an easy shot that I actually connected on.  It was a young bird.  It felt good to finally harvest one.  As we moved along the trail she went on point ten minutes later.  I could see the bird on the ground about 10 yards into some thick cover.  I moved past the bird and then angled into the woods to get the flush.  It held longer than I thought it would and when it flushed I lucked out as I was in a spot where I could actually get my gun up and get a shot off.  Tina went and stood by the downed bird.  She doesn’t always like to retrieve but will usually go to the bird if she sees it fall.

We got two more flushes but no more shots.  After returning to the truck I started to feel the effects of getting caught in the cool drizzle from the night before.  I fed the dogs back at the motel while I cleaned up and got all of my gear into the truck.  I decided to pull the plug a day early.  It turned out to be a good move as by the time I got back to the Twin Cities I was coming down with the chills.

Additional notes:

When I first started hunting I didn’t like using bells as I don’t care for the extra noise in the woods but this year I’ve been using them a lot more often.  I am finding that with a young dog and the thick cover that it just makes it easier to keep track of them and I end up using the beeper a lot less often.

Bigfork - Deer River MN Grouse and Woodcock Hunt

10/6/2012

Tony, Quetico and a Bigfork MN Grouse

The weather in the Grand Rapids, Mn area was supposed to be wet snow on Friday so I decided to head up early on Saturday morning.  I met my buddy Tony and his dog Quetico in Deer River and we decided to head up to Bigfork to try an area that we’ve had good luck with in the past.  This area can be entered from two different roads so we thought that we’d try parking one vehicle and then driving to the other side and hunting our way back to the first vehicle.  This way if we got into birds we could always hunt out and back and if the birds were scarce we could bail at the first vehicle, swing back to the second and then head to a new spot.

We put the two dogs on the ground and started down the trail.  It looked to be a good morning for a hunt as there were still spots of snow on the ground.  Within the first 5 minutes we got a wild flush and didn’t get a shot off.  The trail comes to an intersection with two side trails and if you go forward you hit a clear cut that has started to have islands of growth.  It the past few years these islands and the edges of the field have held good numbers of birds.  We worked the area pretty thoroughly and did not move a bird so we headed down one of the side trails towards the parked car.

As we hit the main loop on the lower portion of the trail the dogs started to get more excited.  They started to work an area of newer growth when you could hear them slow their search.  Tony went into the area to check on the search when a grouse got up in front of Quetico ( Tony’s GSP ) and he was able to drop the bird.  We kept moving along the trail to an area that was an awesome hotspot in 2009 and 2010.  There is a large beaver pond along one side and a small pond on the other.  In ’09 and ’10 I’m certain I moved multiple birds in this small area every time that I hit it.  Tina started to get excited first as I’m guessing that she remembered all of the birds that we had seen there in the past.  We were close to the end of this area when the dogs started to tighten up their casts and narrowed their search to some softer ground.  A lone woodcock decided to make its escape and I was able to bring it down and put it into the game bag.

We finished up this trail and decided it wasn’t worth hunting our way back so we loaded up the one vehicle, swung back for Tony’s truck and decided to head to an area close to Deer River that I had excellent hunting a number of times last year.

The dogs worked the cover well but we only moved on woodcock and we didn’t take a shot at it.  I found it odd that we didn’t move any other birds from this area.  As we were leaving I did notice that the cabin across the road had 3 or 4 trucks at it with lots of guys wearing blaze orange and I don’t recall seeing any vehicles at it last year.

Even though we didn’t move a lot of birds it was still a great day to be in the woods with the dogs.

Tina and I with our Bigfork MN Woodcock

Grouse Hunting With The Boys Bigfork and Deer River MN

Friday October 7th 2011

Tina With Deer River, Mn Grouse and Woodcock

We got a bit of a late start as we decided to make breakfast and eat at the cabin.  We decided to start with an area near Bigfork, MN.  When we arrived at the location there was a pop-up camper parked by the forest road.  This area receives a fair number of hunters but has been decent in the past even when there were other hunters.  Tony unloaded his two GSPs.  Quetico was starting his second hunting season and Stone is now 12 years old.  I started out with Tina.  As we worked down the trail a little Brit came shooting out of the woods.  It’s owner wasn’t too far down the trail, in shorts and a short sleeve shirt.  We guessed he wasn’t doing too much off trail hunting...  He told us that his buddy was by a beaver pond working a one year old GSP.  We later heard a dog yelping quite loudly.  It sounded like the owner had just figured out how to work an ecollar.  From the dog’s response he was creating a future client for an actual dog trainer...

We hit the turnaround with only moving one bird.  This same weekend last year we were moving 20+ birds in the same amount of time on the same trail.  We started to hear some rumbling off in the distance.  We picked up the pace on the way back to the trucks and didn’t move any birds.  We made it to the vehicles just as the rain started.  After lunch and rest at a bar/grill in Big Fork we started to work to the west and south.

We ended up just north of Deer River at an area that I had tried a few times in the past.  With three hunters and three dogs it was clear that we weren’t going to sneak up on any birds.  A short way down the trail Tina started to get birdy and locked up.  I swung up the trail and moved in towards her.  She stayed staunch.  I could see her eyes looking just off to her left and I moved that way.  Up came a woodcock and I decided to try take it as a reward for her hard work.  I missed, but saw where it landed and released Tina and made our way in that direction.  She made another nice point and I didn’t miss this time.

We made it to an area with some younger pine trees and Tina started to work off the trail so I decided to bushwhack it a bit.  Tina was working to the trail and then off to my side.  She started to slow and was getting ready to point when I heard a flush at the same time Mark called out.  The grouse came my way and I was able to connect on a going away shot.  Tina made a nice retrieve.

We ended up back at the truck without moving any more birds.  We decided a totally new area ( new to us anyway ) was in order for the following day.

On the way back Tina either bit her tongue or it got poked by a stick and was bleeding all over her front.  She looked a mess but I think was mostly tired.

Tina All Bloody

After riding home and getting washed up in the lake she was all set for her dinner and some sleep before the next day.

Ruffed Grouse Hunt - Deer River, MN Day 2

Tina and Her Deer River Mn Grouse

October 2nd, 2011

Saturday night was a long night as the dogs had drank so much water during the day that they kept having to go outside.  They woke me up at 11:30, 12:45, 1:30, and 4:30.  After the 4:30 wake up I put their training collars on them and they stayed quite.  Too quite it turned out as I ended up sleeping until 9 am.  That ruled out the longer drive to try some new areas that I had mapped out as it was already starting to get warm out.  so I decided to retry some of the areas from the day before to see if they still looked good.

The first spot that we went to was the walking trail area.  Tina and I started by walking a different section of the trail system.  After 30 minutes she hadn’t really gotten birdy at all we turned around and headed back to the section that we walked on Saturday.  Within 10 minutes she locked up solid and I was able to connect on a nice crossing shot.  We walked a while longer and didn’t move any other birds.

Next it was Marge’s turn to see if the forest road with the older growth would produce another bird.  We worked the trail a fair amount and while she did get a little birdy in a few spots we didn’t have any success actually moving one.  After getting back to the truck I got out Fergie and took her for a walk.  She can’t see but she still loves getting out in the woods and sniffing the air.

Tina and I then took a chance on the first spot that we had hunted yesterday.  The temperature was over 70 so it was a good last spot to try.  We went down the trail next to the clear cut and it still looked promising but it was just so dry it was hard to know if the scenting was decent at all.  We ended up going through the new growth to get back to the truck and she did make a nice point but it was so thick I couldn’t get into a good shooting position when I did flush the grouse.

Even though we cut the day short we did put one bird in the bag, confirmed that two spots were still a good bet, and ruled out another.

Ruffed Grouse Hunt Deer River, MN Day One

Saturday October 1 2011

Typical Cover For The Deer River MN Area

We left Mpls / St. Paul in the morning and made the three hour drive north.  After stopping at our rented cabin to drop off some gear and supplies we headed to the woods.  I decided to start out by trying some brand new areas to hunt.  I had purchased some maps that were created using Google Earth to show clear cuts and trails.  I loaded the gps info into the Garmin and we were on our way to just north of Deer River, MN.  The first area was two sets of small clear cuts with a small foot trail along one side of them.  As we worked the trail we came to some older growth and moved just a little ways into the new growth and turned back towards the vehicle.  About half way back we got a wild flush and moved towards where it looked like it set down.  Tina was working the scent but we did not make contact again.  It looked like a good enough area and with moving a bird in the 30 minute walk it has made the list to try again.


Spot number two ended up being a forest road that bordered an area that looked to be an older cut over area.  I was skeptical of it’s bird potential but we were there and it looked like easy enough walking for the 15 year old setter Marge.  This turned into and out and back affair but on the way back Marge made a nice point on a young bird and I was able to drop it.  Another 30 minute walk and another bird moved.  This area looked older than I would like but since we got a bird I added it to the try again list. 


Area number three turned out to be a MN Hunter Walking Trail.  There were no other vehicles there and with it hitting 60 degrees we decided to give it a chance.  There ended up being a number of different trails within the system.  We took the trail that looked like it went through the younger looking area.  It was hot and dusty.  The Northern MN area has been pretty dry after a wet and cool spring.  Tina was working a good pattern through the cover and after about 20 minutes and a few non-productive points she had one nailed and I got off a decent shot and connected.  We were able to repeat the pattern on the back side of the loop and collected another one for the game bag.


We made a stab at a fourth new area that also looked good but didn’t move a bird.  It was getting a bit later in the day so we went to our old standby in the Big Fork area.  In the first 40 minutes we moved 10 birds, got off 2 shots and didn’t connect on anything.  In the last 90 minutes we only moved one bird.


All in all it was a good start to the day with three birds in the bag and four new areas to try again.