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.

PA State forest roads open, Ruffed Grouse Society hunt

State Forest Roads Open. Hunters heading into Pennsylvania's state-owned will find additional roads open in 18 of the 20 state forest districts, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. "More than 400 miles of state forest roads normally open only for administrative use will be available to hunters in state forestlands this year," DCNR Bureau of Forestry Director Daniel Devlin said. "We hope to improve accessibility while promoting hunting where it is needed to benefit forest regeneration and the overall ecosystem." 

More than 3,000 miles of state forest roadways are open during the state's main archery season, which opens Saturday, Oct. 5, and closes Nov. 16. They will continue to stay open through the rest of the hunting seasons until January 2014. "Whether their quarry is deer, bear or turkey, hunters in our state forests will find more than 90 percent of that land now is within one-half mile of an open road," said Devlin. Hunters traveling to some northcentral areas of the state are reminded some hunting areas and travel routes may be impacted by Marcellus Shale-related activities. Some state forest roads may be temporarily closed during drilling operations or other peak periods of heavy use to reduce potential safety hazards. To avoid potential conflicts on state forest roads during times of high public use, DCNR will attempt to limit or restrict truck traffic at the outset of major hunting and fishing seasons. Some state forest roads will be opened only for the second week of the traditional rifle season because they cannot withstand the expected heavy traffic of the first week. Two- or three-month long openings will be in effect only where there is minimal threat of damage or deterioration to road surfaces or forest surroundings. A complete listing of open roads, effective dates and district office telephone numbers can be found on the DCNR website.

Ruffed Grouse Society Hunt. The Ruffed Grouse Society, based in Coraopolis, has scheduled its fifth annual Upland Bird Hunt within the Pennsylvania Wilds Region of Pennsylvania for Oct. 31-Nov. 2. Reservations are $350 per hunter and $175 for a youth hunter or non-hunting guest. With limited availability, the base of operation will be the Red Fern Inn, Kersey, which is central to thousands of acres of public hunting land, including the Allegheny National Forest, several State Game Lands and State Forest lands. A Pennsylvania resident or non-resident hunting license is required. The UBH adventure includes two days of hunting with a huntsman Nov 1-2 and a "Meet the Artist" program featuring a number of recognized wildlife artist and carvers. For more information, visit the RGC website.

Read the rest of the PennLive article

Shake-N-Bake Grouse - Video Recipe

Cook What You Catch; this weeks episode features Shake-N-Bake Grouse, a simple, fast, tasty recipe!

For More Wild Game Recipes Please Visit WildGameandFishRecipes.com

MN 2013 Hunting season kicks off despite low ruffed grouse numbers

Posted by: Nate Kruse

License? Check.

Coffee? Check.

Camouflage jacket and duck call? Check.

With the start of the waterfowl hunting season last weekend, turkey season opening this weekend, and the ruffed grouse and deer archery seasons already on the go, UMD hunters are making checklists and waking up early for the hunt.

Already, senior Justin Grossinger has a fridge full of Canada geese, wood ducks and ruffed grouse. He and his dad got three geese the weekend opener of early goose season, Sept. 1, and have been feasting ever since.

“I cooked them up and they were phenomenal,” Grossinger said. “Put a little seasoning on there. Some butter. So good.”

The grouse in his fridge, however, are not freshly harvested, but leftovers from a successful season last fall. This year’s grouse hunt has proved unproductive so far not only for Grossinger, but for junior Jon Dordal as well.

“It was tough because there’s a lot of undergrowth still,” Dordal said about his grouse hunt. “The woods are really thick.”

Once the undergrowth vegetation in the forests dies off for the winter, it will be a lot easier for hunters to spot the well-camouflaged grouse before they take off flying and it’s too late to shoot.

Although the winterkill will work in favor of hunters, the low numbers of grouse will not. The Minnesota DNR’s spring ruffed grouse drum count fell by 10 percent from last year’s, meaning that the bird population is in a decline. The drum count refers to the number of male grouse mating calls observed in the spring.

The decline, however, is part of the natural cycle for grouse, which peaks every 10 years regardless of environmental impacts. Given that the last peak was in 2009, the lowered population is expected.

Grossinger, who is aware of the declining population cycle, isn’t discouraged from hunting the bird.

“Hopefully, I’ll just get out and see a couple here and there,” he said. “I’m happy to walk eight miles and see two birds. I’m fine with that.”

For him, hunting is less about the kill and more about enjoying the outdoors.

“A lot of the trails in this area are beautiful,” he said. “You hike around the woods. See if you see anything. If not, hey, you got some exercise and it was beautiful out. Even in the rain, it’s still fun.”

Grossinger walks the public Wildlife Management Area trails (WMAs) by Island Lake with his Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun in search of coveys of grouse.

The last time he went out for grouse, two weekends ago, he stumbled upon a ten-point buck instead.

“If I’d had a bow, I’d have seen a grouse—it’s just how it goes,” he said and laughed.

Read the rest of the UMD Statesman article

Upland Bird Hunting of Woodcock & Grouse in Maine 2011 - Video

Our yearly video of Upland Bird Hunting in Maine, with my Small Munsterlander Amsel vom Gamskar.

For More Bird Hunting Videos Visit BirdHunterTV.com