Interesting loads used in 1898 in, I presume the east! I think it would be safe to say in this area a 22 cal probably accounted for a majority of the harvested grouse! A shotgun was used for waterfowl hunting during that era, in this area.
In the late 19th century, there would have been far less "recreational" grouse and woodcock hunting pretty much everywhere other than the Northeast. The huge forests of the Upper Midwest were still being logged off at that time. And it wasn't until that happened and a lot of young successional forest replaced mature forest that grouse populations really took off. Access for people other than those hunting close to home would have also been difficult for those living anywhere other than the quite sparsely populated North Woods back in those days. Things did change, especially after WWI with the popularity of North Woods resorts etc, when even the mobsters from Chicago and the Twin Cities came on vacation. But grouse hunting in the Upper Midwest in those days was likely quite similar to what happened in the Far West: People shooting birds for the pot. Maybe some market hunting, in areas where the hunters had good access to transportation (railroads) to get their birds to big city markets.
Last edited by L. Brown; 04/05/18 08:23 AM.
