doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ruffed Grouse without a dog?

A case of "Point Special" in the back seat and a 22 out the window has kill a truck load of grouse, it hurt back then(1960's) to see them hunted that way and it still does.

I hunted many years with a friend without a dog, one would stay on the trail and the other about 20 yards into the brush, surprisingly most birds flew towards the trail turned and flew down the trail in the open., we still hunt that way with dogs, one in the brush with the dog and one on the trail hitting the other side of the trail on the way back. My two best dogs were an AWS and a close working GWHP. I'm looking at a EC or AWS for my next dog, the old GWHP's hips are shot he actually hurts more than me and he still will go until he can't walk any longer, in fact his upland days are over and he just does a couple of retrieves duck hunting now and then has to have heavy doses of anti-inflammatory drugs for a few days before he can go again.

I hunt grouse without a dog all the time. Hunted every Saturday as a kid with my dad. We still hunt the same way. We spread apart 75 yards or so and work the thickets very slow. Stopping every 20 yards or so. That is when most flushes happen. The birds will let you walk right by but when you stop it makes them nervous and they take flight. If a bird goes up one of us usually get a shot. If it flushes wide we watch where it lands and circle it back to the other hunter. In my area I'm not sure there any any grouse that would allow them to be printed by a dog. I've always had labs so I use one sometimes when hunting. Usually bigger cover where the dog will hunt between both of us. My dog hunts close.

Ted, you're in my club. Im 58 with a 12-year old. School events and Boyscouts are interesting as I'm the age of the parents of many of the teachers and Scoutmasters.

I'm not too worried about my prospects, and, I actually like to work. I am VERY worried about the 9 year old's prospects. Ever read anything by the University of Connecticut's Peter Turchin on "elite overproduction"? How about "Rise of the Robots" by Martin Ford?

Check out the article "Robot Envy" by Andrew Stuttaford in this months National Review.

The future ain't what it used to be.


Best,
Ted

I know what you are talking about, Lloyd. At a recent ice cream social, it was clear my wife and I were the oldest parents in the group, and a younger neighbor with 8 (yes, EIGHT kids) 6 of them girls, asked me how I would handle a rather adult situation that had involved one of her girls.

I told her she was my hero, not the other way around, and I deferred to her skill set, which, had to be broader, by far, on kids, then my own was. Even if I was much older.

Then I was quietly very happy I just had one boy.

Best,
Ted

Lloyd, Ted......I'm in the same boat. Turned 58 this month and my boy turns 12 in October. Keeps me young! 😁

George, you ain't quiting, you just changin' direction. I plan on changing direction in about 18 months, more or less. A 72 year-old lawyer I know has a second family with teenagers and he claims he "screwed himself out of retirement." A familiar refrain, apparently Gil

Wise move, Teddy- giving advice or such scenarios is always risky, bad enough if you were their father instead of a senior citizen neighbor. Whatever 'adult" situation involved her daughter, a woman's counsel is the only appropriate one for a teen-aged gal. When our daughters were getting into their "terrible teen" years, their mother became their best friend, and their father (me) taught them how to drive a stick shift and tie both a proper square knot and a bowline as well. Whatever trauma they might have shared with their mother back then must have been resolved, as they are all happily married (no divorces) with our grandchildren for Mae and I to enjoy- God's plan, IMO.

I agree with one of the earlier posts that hunting pressure is a big factor in determining how much distance the birds keep between themselves and the hunter.

Back in the 1950s there was a study done by the Wisconsin (I think) DNR in which they determined that the most effective way to hunt grouse was one gun/one dog, followed by one gun only. After that were all the permutations of multiples, but the lesson was to keep the hunting party simple and small.