Interest in bird dogs was planted as a seed in Rodger Lundell when he saw his first grouse flush at age five. From the mid-1940s to present, grouse and woodcock hunting has served as his major diversion on a year-round basis, hunting in season and developing his English setters, which includes continuous conditioning. A Lifetime of Grouse and Woodcock Hunting celebrates the great joy of spending time in the outdoors and hunting wildlife, especially with English setters.
Written By: Blane Klemek
Minnesota is home to four native grouse species—ruffed grouse, spruce grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, and greater prairie chicken. All four occupy distinct habitats with some overlap occurring, particularly between ruffed grouse and spruce grouse and between sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chickens. The former pair are considered “forest grouse” whereas the latter pair are considered “prairie grouse.”
The most widely recognized and observed species of the four birds is the ruffed grouse. Most abundant in the north half of the state, “ruffies” are so named for the black collar of feathers located on the birds’ necks. Males erect their ruffs and fan their tails during courtship displays, giving them an impressive and handsome appearance.
All grouse belong to a group of birds collectively referred to as “gallinaceous” birds, or those birds belonging to the avian order Galliformes. You’ll recognize many other closely related gallinaceous species, too. Among them are wild turkey, ring-necked pheasant, and northern bobwhite. And all share basic body types and certain behaviors. If you think of grouse and other gallinaceous species as chicken-like birds, you’d be right!
One of the most interesting behaviors that grouse share with one another has to do with how they thermoregulate their bodies. Put another way, in the manner they stay warm in the winter during the coldest days and nights and when stormy weather occurs. Grouse engage in a unique roosting behavior that takes full advantage of the insulative qualities that snow provides.
Somehow eons ago grouse figured out that burrowing into snow provided superior protection from inclement weather and predators. Indeed, inside the confines of a snow roost can be as much as 50 degrees warmer than the outside ambient temperature, not to mention the snow roost providing grouse complete protection from dangerous wind chill.
This is from a couple of years ago. We were hunting north of Deer River MN
Focus Outdoors National Hunt MN Ruffed Grouse Hunting with RGS Video
Grouse hunters are always chasing the next great shotgun
A low electronic hum created an ambient sound that complemented a smell that was a mix of what I could only guess was steel, gun oil, and concrete well aged in this fluorescent-lit room hidden in the back of a parking lot. The industrial metal door thumped shut like we were barricading ourselves from a zombie apocalypse. A Purdey over-under leaned against a dusty workbench to my immediate right, the surfaces filled with what seemed like a disastrous maze of tools, parts, and who knows what else, that with the slightest touch could send piles cascading to the ground like an avalanche just waiting for a tipping point. Stephen Hutton of Britannia Sporting Arms, AKA “Doc,” spoke with a thick English accent in slow, deliberate precision to Gregg Elliot, a gun writer, and double gun connoisseur.
Without delay, we soon huddled over one of Gregg’s original Fox A Grades, disassembled next to the newer Savage Fox A Grade. As I snapped pictures, Doc spoke. “Would you like me to take it down further?”
It was no shock what we would find. Despite their similar names, these guns are not the same. The modern version is a rendition of the Connecticut RBL made more in commemoration of the original A Grade in name and looks but not mechanics. Gregg took careful time to show me the inner tooled workings of the original shotgun. You could see the markings of chisels and faint memories of a fine American craftsman long gone.
On the surface, when a grouse hunter walks out of the woods, side-by-side in hand, grouse dog in tow, bell jingling around a modern GPS collar, it does not look much different than 100 years ago. Yet innovation is at every corner in the modern age. New technical fabrics, more durable and practical boots, even the advancement of electronics have infiltrated this timeless pursuit. It is an exciting time to be a hunter. Yet a paradox exists in the double guns we carry. The introduction of the Anson and Deeley action by Westley Richards in England, or more commonly referred to as the boxlock, was invented in 1875 and as Elliot wrote in the article The Insult That Conquered the World, “If you’ve ever fired a side-by-side or over-under, there’s a 99.9 percent chance your hands have touched one of Westley Richards’s patents.”
This was not the first time I found myself looking over Elliot’s shoulder learning the ins and outs of the double gun. We had traveled to Italy together the year before where we spent a few days touring the Beretta factory. This is where the paradox began to reveal itself to me. As we looked at a 3-D printer and a perfect digital rendition of the inside of an actual gun barrel right before our eyes, I realized there was no bounds to how precise a double gun could be.
