Best Places to Hunt Ruffed Grouse in New Hampshire

 

By RuffedGrouse.com staff

New Hampshire offers excellent opportunities for Ruffed Grouse hunting, particularly in the northern and central regions where forests provide ideal habitat. Here are some of the top spots:

 

1. Great North Woods (Coös County)

• The best grouse hunting in New Hampshire is often found in Coös County, which includes Pittsburg, Dixville Notch, and the Connecticut Lakes Region.
• Look for young aspen stands, alder thickets, and overgrown logging roads.

2. White Mountain National Forest

• Covering over 750,000 acres, this vast public land offers diverse terrain, from regenerating timber cuts to mixed hardwood forests.
• Focus on areas with thick understory, particularly near river bottoms and logging roads.

3. Connecticut River Valley

• This area offers a mix of farmland and young forest, creating ideal grouse habitat.
• Check Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) such as the Mascoma River WMA and Pondicherry WMA.

4. Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region

• WMAs and state forests like Pillsbury State Park provide excellent public land opportunities.
• Focus on edges of clear cuts and old orchards.

5. Lakes Region (Belknap & Carroll Counties)

• While more developed, pockets of young forests in conservation areas and state parks hold grouse.
• Look at areas near Squam Lake and the Ossipee Mountain region.

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Tips for Successful Ruffed Grouse Hunting

1. Focus on Habitat

• Ruffed Grouse thrive in young forests, especially areas with aspen, birch, and mixed hardwoods.
• Look for overgrown logging roads, alder swamps, and abandoned farms with thick cover.

2. Hunt the Edges

• Grouse are often found along habitat transitions—where hardwoods meet conifers or young cuts meet mature forest.
• Walk along edges of logging cuts, streambeds, and old stone walls.

3. Go Slow & Listen

• Walk at a slow pace, pausing frequently. Grouse often flush when you stop.
• Listen for drumming males or the rustling of birds moving in the underbrush.

4. Use a Well-Trained Dog

• A pointing or flushing dog can greatly improve your success rate by locating birds in thick cover.
• Springer Spaniels, English Setters, and German Shorthaired Pointers are excellent choices.

5. Time Your Hunts

• Early morning and late afternoon are prime times when birds are feeding.
• Midseason hunts (late October through November) offer great action as birds transition to winter cover.

6. Be Ready for Fast Flushes

• Grouse flush unpredictably and fast, often in thick cover.
• Keep your shotgun at the ready and be prepared to snap-shoot.
• A 20-gauge or 16-gauge with improved cylinder or modified choke works well.

7. Use the Right Ammunition

• No. 7.5 or No. 6 shot is ideal for grouse hunting, providing enough power without excessive meat damage.

8. Adjust for Weather Conditions

• On warm days, birds stick to shaded, moist cover.
• On cold, clear days, they may be found near sunlit openings feeding on buds.

By targeting prime habitats, moving methodically, and adjusting to conditions, you’ll improve your chances of bagging Ruffed Grouse in New Hampshire. Good luck and happy hunting!

Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock Hunting in New Hampshire - Live for October Video

Join Northeast Regional Director of the Ruffed Grouse Society Joe Levesque as he mentors owner of ANR Design Alex Costa on his first hunting adventure. Along with friend Zach Hein the head to the north woods of New Hampshire as they hunt ruffed grouse and American woodcock. This film explores the camp culture of New England, the future of hunting, and the critical conservation issues that the Ruffed Grouse Society pursues.

New England 2017 Forecast for the upcoming Grouse and Woodcock bird hunting season

• Outdoors Dave Sartwell

Upland bird hunters will be getting some good news — and bad news — about the fall 2017 bird populations throughout New England. This past winter the ruffed grouse fared well, while the migrating woodcock flew straight into the blizzards of March. Let’s start with the woodcock. It’s important to understand the biology of these long-beaked birds.

Woodcock are the first ground-nesting bird to migrate north from their wintering grounds in the southern United States. They often arrive in late February or early March, looking for earthworms, grubs and other little crawlers that exist just below the ground surface. Usually, the ground is just warming at that time of year. They find their food sources on those sunny side-hill slopes or spring seeps that lose the first snows of winter. In one of the many miracles of nature, if there isn’t enough food to provide the energy necessary to produce eggs, they’ll maintain their body weight and delay reproduction. Earlier this year, however, they flew into New England just as we were experiencing a hard cold, followed by a large dump of snow. These new arrivals could not find enough food to eat to stay alive, and many perished in the cold. We haven’t had those conditions since the spring of 2007, when several snow storms in late March and April covered the Northeast. The only good news is that woodcock do not fly north in flocks; they are individual birds that move at their own calling. Because of that, some would have arrived later in the spring and taken a different route to get here. It’s still to early to tell the full extent of the decline this year, but everyone agrees there were less singing males in the spring woods — and there will be less young birds available this fall. Ruffed grouse populations have fared much better. Biologists are reporting that we should see normal to above-normal amounts of birds in the woods, depending on location. This grouse is one of the most widely distributed birds in North America, with the ruffed grouse being one of the smaller of the 10 different species. It’s almost impossible to tell an adult male from an adult female without examining the internal organs. The male tail feathers are often longer than those of the female, but aren’t a reliable indicator. There are two predominant color phases: red and grey. The birds in our region are mostly grey. Ruffed grouse populations have been tied to the amount of farmland under production. They love the logged-over areas, where the berry bushes and other food sources pop up when the forest canopy has been removed. Grouse numbers this fall will be steady or a little higher than usual. Grouse have pretty good mechanisms for surviving our winters: they just bury in, create their own cave under the snow, and wait for the storms to blow over. They also eat a wide variety of foods, which makes them more adaptable to weather problems. For example, in the winter they eat dead flower buds or the dried catkins of birch and cherry trees. After they hatch, the chicks feed mainly off a variety of bugs that are high in protein, which allows them to grow rapidly.

The woodcock season will open in Massachusetts Oct. 4, with ruffed grouse season opening Oct. 14. Both will open simultaneously in New Hampshire (Oct. 1) and Maine (Oct. 2). Read the full GloucesterTimes article

Free Workshop on Woodcock and Ruffed Grouse Hunting - New Hampshire

Get set for the fall grouse and woodcock season at a free workshop on Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock Hunting on Saturday, August 9, 2014, from 9 a.m. to noon at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Owl Brook Hunter Education Center in Holderness. Pre-registration is required. To sign up, call 603-536-3954.

The session will be led by grouse hunting enthusiasts/hunter education instructors Sean Williamson and Dan Keleher. Also Andrew Weik, the Northeast biologist for the Ruffed Grouse Society, will give a presentation on ruffed grouse and woodcock and their habitat needs.

The workshop covers the basic skills needed for the pursuit of these challenging birds. Participants also will learn about grouse behavior, hunting safety issues, hunting with or without dogs, gaining permission to hunt/landowner relations, clothing choices, shotgun and ammunition options, creature comforts for an enjoyable hunt and recipes for grouse.

Grouse hunting season in New Hampshire opens October 1 and runs through December 31, with a daily bag limit of four birds. Woodcock season opens October 1 and runs through November 14. To learn more about small game hunting in New Hampshire, visit 

http://www.huntnh.com/Hunting/Hunt_species/hunt_small_game.htm.

For more information about the Owl Brook Hunter Education Center, and directions to the center, visit http://www.huntnh.com/Hunting/hunter_ed_center.htm.

Educational activities at Fish and Game’s Owl Brook Hunter Education Center are funded by the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Program, supported by your purchase of firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department works in partnership with the public to conserve manage and protect the state’s fish, wildlife and marine resources and their habitats. Visit http://www.huntnh.com.

Read the original article

Free Workshop on Woodcock and Ruffed Grouse Hunting - New Hampshire - 8/17/2013

Get set for the fall grouse and woodcock season at a free workshop on Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock Hunting on Saturday, August 17, 2013, from 9 a.m. to noon at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's Owl Brook Hunter Education Center in Holderness. Pre-registration is required. To sign up, call 603-536-3954. 

The workshop covers the basic skills needed for the pursuit of these challenging birds. Participants also will learn about grouse behavior, hunting safety issues, hunting with or without dogs, gaining permission to hunt/landowner relations, clothing choices, shotgun and ammunition options, creature comforts for an enjoyable hunt and recipes for grouse. 

The session will be led by grouse hunting enthusiasts/Hunter Education instructors Sean Williamson and Dan Keleher. In addition, Andrew Weik, the Northeast biologist for the Ruffed Grouse Society, will give a presentation on ruffed grouse and woodcock and their habitat needs. 

Grouse hunting season in New Hampshire opens October 1 and runs through December 31, with a daily bag limit of four birds. Woodcock season opens October 1 and runs through November 14. To learn more about small game hunting in New Hampshire, visit http://www.huntnh.com/Hunting/Hunt_species/hunt_small_game.htm. 

For more information about the Owl Brook Hunter Education Center, and directions to the center, visit http://www.huntnh.com/Hunting/hunter_ed_center.htm. 

Educational activities at Fish and Game's Owl Brook Hunter Education Center are funded by the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Program, supported by your purchase of firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment. 

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department works in partnership with the public to conserve manage and protect the state's fish, wildlife and marine resources and their habitats. Visit http://www.huntnh.com.