Ok,
Is anybody doing any good this year on grouse?
Went out yesterday, Ohio all day carried my little 28 flushed zero no dog two of us hunting. Buddy stated coming at you! as I scanned the skyline through the brush just to have Mr. Rabbit run past me.

I run into a few everytime I go out ,seen three this morning ,missed one ,bagged one in an hours walk ....not getting out as much as I would like though

I had a good day today in PA. Bella, my Setter , and I moved 9 birds in three hours. I got #1 and # 9 missing one in between. We got soaked to bone but it was worth it. Up until today the weather has been dry and windy, causing the birds to be a little crazy , flushing far out. Today they acted as they should.
terc

Our's is closed for a couple more days.
Over all so far, I'd say it's been very good.


I'll black powder them all through December.

Terc
What part of PA? been thinking of a weekend trip into PA just to chase some birds, Ohio grouse population is pretty much none existence.

no more grouse...no more misfires...

lost both due to too many turkeys...

Turkeys?
Are you talking the one that gobble or the man looking type?

Nice looking gun CZapper. What make? Black powder load details please? I have been using more black powder loads lately and they work well and are great fun.

It's a graded Tobin. Made in Canada.
I actually use it rather than let it languish in a safe somewhere.
My favorite blackpowder load is a fibre wad load from Gamebore. I have a couple cases left, and I shoot them primarily when specimen hunting, or in the late season through either an Ithaca Crass, or Syracuse Arms Co. double.

I actually wear breeks, and a gilet when doing so.

I haven't been out recently. However, I was hunting some deer on our property this past Tuesday and jumped 3 ruffies. A couple of them flew off and startled the cr%p out of me. The other just slowly strutted off into the brush.

Only hunted grouse two and a half days with Brotherman Wingshooter. We did respectably and shot twelve.

Saturday morning I was sitting watching a multi deer trail intersection by some ancient apple trees which had dropped nearly all of their fruit. The moon was setting in the west but the sun had not risen yet... it was just about legal shooting light for the deer I was waiting for. In ten minutes seven grouse flew in from various angles to alight in and under those apple trees - one even landed in the branches above my head in the spruce I was sitting under. If I had my Parker instead of my Ruger .270 I probably would have only seen deer... ain't that the way?

Tough times in Downeast Maine, our spring weather patterns have changed, the past two years have been extremely wet early on, its put a hurtin on the grouse. I run a dog for woodcock and we have always put up a dozen or so grouse in search of our query, this year none!

I annually spent a week in my old stomping grounds and moved a ton of 'em this year. It's nice to see that the area still holds a lot of partridge, sad to see that the timber company that owns the land seems to know where my favorite coverts are when they decide to re-log though... I lost three covers this year,(😠) which is disappointing to say the least after driving 15 hours to get there.

I was in central ME (SW of Moosehead Lake) in mid-October and the grouse numbers were low, due to some bizarre weather the preceding week or so. We had shots at two (one did end up in my vest), which was much fewer than the number of WC we moved. Some friends were in the same general area a week or two later and reported better grouse numbers.

Pretty gun!

OWD

People are not taught to hunt ruffed grouse using the same techniques modern fishermen use. But in a lake, different times of year, the fish are in different places, different times of day they are in different places. Different times of day their behavior is different. Weather plays a role.
Use your brain to eliminate the parts of the lake that are dead water.

Think of the forest as square lakes. Use topography like a lake bottom map. Eliminate dead water.

It's weird, because we expect to fish as I described, yet we refuse to teach hunting that way.

Thanks - it is not exactly a 16 gauge Boss OU, but it makes do.

Ha. It looks more like a 20g Woodward ...

OWD

Doverham very nice a-10, been looking at them hard. What barrel length is on your baby

don't go shorter than 28" in the grouse woods you either have a shot or you don't. and that extra couple inches is worth its weight in gold for your swing..

My go to grouse gun for over 30 years has been my AYA xxvbl 12 gauge with 25 inch barrel. I love that gun. Grouse hated it.

I love my 26" gun. It is a twelve gauge though. Maybe short and fat works as well as long and thin.
terc

The secret to killing many grouse is 1 3/8oz #9's at 1300fps. Through a model 59 cylinder bored.

What is the secret for eating them after that treatment?

Best,
Ted

"What is the secret for eating them after that treatment?"

That hood thingy they use when eating Ortolan so nobody has to watch you spit a bunch of shot out at the dinner table. Gross.

That was tongue in cheek. Two of the most prolific (big numbers) grouse killers in print used those ingredients, even if separately. I just merged them. (Woolner and Prawdzik)

Comfort and style are more important to me. You can only eat so many, and wholesale killing for bragging rights doesn't interest me.

Thanks. 29" with a solid rib and fixed chokes.

I kinda knew it was tongue in cheek. Mine was, too. I haven't found a satisfactory use for #9 shot, off of a skeet field, anyway.
I quit hunting with the guys who declare war on the birds in the fall, and aren't satisfied unless the freezer has a body count of fifty birds, or more.
I sure enjoy the walk. A brace at the end is nice, but, not necessary.

Best,
Ted

Michigan has no provisions for subsistence living in our game laws. So, I am mindful of possession limits. I shoot all the time, so if I don't mix up my quarry's, I end up with a freezer full of trouble. Possession limits provide a framework within which to practice enjoying, rather than just killing.

Then there's the matter of preparation. We live modern lives, so I don't feel like game processing, and cooking from scratch every day. Sometimes, I just want to be served.

I know people that have had complaints lodged against them, and they've had to sit there and count perch and walleye fillets in front of warrant serving police.

That's not me.

This dish looked good, but wasn't. Tart cherries are not complementary to ruffed grouse.