Hunting 1st time for Grouse....This Girl Needs Advise!!

[hunting-princess]

Hi all, I will be Grouse hunting for the first time! I am a girly-girl and only shot a gun for the first time in many, many years this past weekend. I will be hunting with a 410 that my brother and 3 male cousins used when they started out hunting.

I will be hunting with an experience hunter, however I would like some advise on the whole hunting experience before I go out. Hunting from a woman's perspective would be helpful.

Thank you
hunting.princess@yahoo.com

[Bobby Bass]

When you miss, just keep saying over and over " I need a bigger gun" 

[thunderpout]

Hey hunting princess... You should have a lot of fun... Expect the unexpected,(they are gonna startle you when taking to wing) Make sure ya have good, light weight boots, and get a thin pair of gloves to ward off brush... batting gloves work great as they're thin enough to feel the gun yet thick enough to keep the thorns and brush at bay.  and theyre way cheaper than buying shooting gloves...Are ya hunting with dogs?  If so watching and reading your dog is very important... they'll tell you when birds are near by their actions, depending on what kind of a dog pointing or flushing breed they do different things, but the first indicator is their tail will twitch or start flicking, and the dogs pattern will change.  If youre not using dogs, listening and watching for movement is key as they are perfectly camoflauged in the woods, I always seem to see a grouses eyes first.  Grouse hunting is by far my favorite thing to do, depending where you go, the places where grouse live are most often very beautiful areas in the forest.  Where are you going?  Im heading up north this week to chase grouse with my english setter, Drummer, and cant wait!  Its gonna be perfect weather this week... :happy1  let us know how ya do, and good luck!

[Bobby Bass]

Ok, a 410 is a nice light weight little shotgun and in the hands of an experienced hunter does take down a lot of birds. Depending on where you hunt the leaves are starting to come down. My advice is when your first bird gets up it will startle you, it does everyone. Don't wait for a shot to improve, they seldom do.  Take the first shot you have, while you wait for a better shot the bird is zipping away from you.  After you shoot, reload, many a bird will be followed by a second bird or even a third with in seconds of you shooting. If you are hunting with a dog, trust the dog. Keep your eyes moving, don't just look down the trail, look to both sides and check trees. Pause often, many times a bird or birds will sit tight and let you walk right on by. By stopping you make them nervous and they take flight. If you kick up a bird try and follow it's flight, This time of the year birds will fly 50 to 60 yards and put down again. Walk towards the flight and pause, keep your eyes looking up in the trees, have your gun at ready. Good odds you will get a better shot at a bird taking flight there then on the ground.

Enjoy your hunt and enjoy your partner, be safe and bring a camera.

[thunderpout]

Bobby, gotta comend you on the reload right after the first shot/pause often advise, thats right on... (although sometimes I swear the birds know when your reloading ) thats really good advise, I can tell you belong to the "society of brush worn grouse hunters"... Princess, when Bobby said one bird could be followed by another or three, he aint joshin ya... thats the expect the unexpected part I mentioned... I've had up to a half a dozen, one at a time go off in different directions... and another good one Bobby was the take your shot when ya have it deal.... grouse are very good at puttin stuff between you and them so ya dont get a shot... unlike other birds, they dont allways just fly away from ya... Ive had em fly straight at me, takin my hat off... but yeah, takin a quick poke usually is all you have time for unless ya happen into some "uneducated" young birds... sometimes you dont even get the stock to the shoulder...  I guess all the above is what makes it all so fun, go have a bunch!

[Cody Gruchow]

bring plenty of shells and shoot till you hit them but on a serious note both what bobby bass and thunderpout said is right on the money.

[Grute Man]

I'd say if you can get a 20 gauge then you'd have a much bigger pattern.  The 410 is pretty small but I know you gotta use what you got.

If you're not hunting with a dog don't walk through too fast.  Listen for little clicking/clucking noises.  And as you walk, do a sudden stop every once in a while.  I can't tell you how many I've kicked up like that.

Oh yeah, they do make a big noise when they get up to fly so be ready to be startled.

Have fun.  Its a rush.  Oh yeah, Welcome to MNO.   

GRUTE 

[huntr42]

Princess the first and foremost thing to remember is you are going to miss birds,I cut my teeth on grouse up in the nashwauk area,and find grouse to be the toughest bird to hit overall.they are noisy as hell when they get up and even now make my heart miss a beat the thing is everyone misses and most miss a lot so dont let it throw you just reload(fast) and move on to the next one, also when you do connect just puff out your chest and act like you do that all the time and its no big thing (you will drive your hunting partner nuts)
              good luck with your new sport
               

[kenhuntin]

When you are afoot in the grouse woods always be expecting a bird.It seems as soon as you let your senses down one busts out fom underneath you. Look... in the trees and the bush for the shape. Listen... intently for the peep. And for the the sound that that those three toed little buggers make in the dried leaves. Most activity is in the afternoon. Aspen stands usually hold birds. If you can put the sneak on one aim just above the head. there is no shame in harvesting a bird on the ground. You are a good stalker and ruin no meat with a head shot.

[thunderpout]

Ken... some of us can get the head shot when they're in the air... (not me)  Did anyone get out this weekend?  I got out a bit between workin on deer stands... lots of cover still up.  lets just say I heard more grouse then I saw ... Drummer didnt have problems seein em though... next time.....

[Bobby Bass]

A ground pounder!!! back in the day when there were birds, ya never pounded one on the ground  of course those were the days when walking into coveys of 10-12 birds were not uncommon and dogs got tired from bring birds back to ya. I saw a stat that said the average MN grouse hunter only bags 5 birds for the SEASON..  I hate thinking thoses days were my "Good ole days" 

[thunderpout]

Yeah, there's no ground pounding for me, especially when dogs are involved in the hunt, like to give em a fair chance, at least a good jump off the ground... I hope yer wrong about the good ole days, but I dont think you are Bobby... 

[Bobby Bass]

Ya the good ole days when shooting was something you had to learn. We would see so many birds get up that we had to develope a different shooting style. Being young and not having a lot of money for shells we quickly learned how to get the most out of our shots.

If two birds got up at the same time we would simply shoot at the bird on the left and then jerk the gun quickly to the right. This would make the shot spread leaving the barrel go from left to right allowing us to take two birds at the same time.. Much more effect then just shooting a second shot.  Of course you had to be quick in order to do this..

[kenhuntin]

I never hunted grouse with a dog. Mostly because I see no profit from a dog in the grouse woods. Just kinda still hunt them quiet and slow and enjoy the trees and rocks and deer tracks and such. Ground pounding is the best way to make use of the whole bird. And not kill trees. I liken it to shooting a running deer. I do not shoot unless I can down the animal. Winter is tough enough on them without having to heal a wound.

[hunting-princess]

Thanks All for your input and tips. Had my Hunting "Buddy" read them as well. He was also impressed by them...(I think he got an idea or two from your post )

11 days and counting until the big hunt 

We will not be hunting with a dog, however I am trying to get him to get a Hunting Dog - at this point he is not budging....

[Bobby Bass]

Hunting over a good grouse dog is hard to beat, If you have never done it you are missing a lot of birds. I have been lucky enough to have owned a few good grouse dogs and also have hunted over several pairs of dogs. Several years ago I owned a English Springer and a Black Lab. The Springer had a great nose and the lab was a work horse of a retriever. Between the three of us we did very well in the woods where others saw no birds. I now hunt over two of the sons of that pair. A good mix of both traits. Like anything you have to invest time and Bud and Barney are both over eight now and not to much fools them. Dog with a hunter is the best combo in the woods but a single hunter is right behind in seeing birds. We are in the woods till firearms season and then we return after everyone is out of the woods and hunt till the end of the season. We don't ground pound or shoot treed birds. We shoot them on the wing, maybe because we see a lot of birds and that is the old school way..

[thunderpout]

Amen Bobby...   Toughest time I had grouse hunting was after putting down two different setters.... or when a puppy wasnt quite ready to go out....  those times I would force myself to go out, but it just wasnt as fun.  I liken it to ice fishing without a depth finder/sonar unit.... but its one of those things I guess where you didnt know that you were missing it till ya used em deals... never used dogs to grouse hunt growing up, but now it aint the same for me with out a dog.... but I know what Ken's sayin about that stealth factor, stalking, pausing & listening for the clucks & purrs when doin it solo... I know its a bit tougher to pick the suttle things up as well with dogs sometimes, but if ya have a close working, foot hunting dog(and maybe a bit more mature, slower dog) you kind of get the best of both worlds, so to speak...

[Bobby Bass]

The only time I don't take a dog is after a new snow and a sunny day. I love to find a grouse track and then run them down so to speak. Dog can't do that for ya. A fun way to hunt birds in the winter

[kenhuntin]

Princess, Walk slow and observe and I guarantee you will be into more Grouse than three men with dogs. Pheasants on the other hand are whole different story. Thunder and Bobby are experienced vets. Its just that they have to justify the thousands of $ spent on the animals the rest of the year. Now Do not get riled you guys I honestly respect and admire all of your knowledge and opinions and am very fond of what you state here on M.N.O. but this one you will not win. And Also Princess If you get get to meet Bobby Bass and Thunderpout they are two of the finest people you will ever run into.
                                     

[Bobby Bass]

Princess, Walk slow and observe and I guarantee you will be into more Grouse than three men with dogs. Pheasants on the other hand are whole different story. Thunder and Bobby are experienced vets. Its just that they have to justify the thousands of $ spent on the animals the rest of the year. Now Do not get riled you guys I honestly respect and admire all of your knowledge and opinions and am very fond of what you state here on M.N.O. but this one you will not win. And Also Princess If you get get to meet Bobby Bass and Thunderpout they are two of the finest people you will ever run into.
                                     

I agree, but you don't hunt grouse like you hunt pheasants. One or two hunters and one or two dogs will out hunt a single  hunter. Just going to kick up more birds.   As for the thousands spent on hunting dogs my Bud and Barney are looking at me wondering where all that money is going becasue they are not seeing it! Just one of those " got to walk in my shoes debates" Princess I hope ya see some birds and at least get a shot off....

[thunderpout]

Ken, no arguements here... Hunting the way a person likes is the best way for that person... end of story.  But three guys, a handful of dogs, bells, beepers, whistles and all the yelling and commotion commin thru the woods aint grouse hunting to me... sounds more like pheasent hunting.  It may sound selfish or something worse, but I dont like hunting  grouse with more than one other person, and I actually would rather do it solo, but with my dog... problem is it gets reeeal quiet at camp at night, and the conversation with a bird dog is pretty limited! (Birds & Food..) I think there's positives for both hunting grouse with and without dogs... with out em,  you are probably gonna sneak up on some birds that would have taken cover if they heard ya commin busting in whistles blaring, yellin at yer dog or partener, bur you're also gonna miss lots of bird walkin by, never seein em, never knowing they were there.  With a decent close working, foot hunting dog, you're gonna get more chances at birds... not necessarily more birds in the bag, but more chances.  The better the dog, and the closer he works with you in those thick, dense coverts, the more chances and birds you'll get... if you're hunting a far ranging dog, or an undisaplined flushing breed, you may be better off hunting grouse solo or without a dog.  I actually get more satisfication reading and watchin my dog do his work he was born to do than shootin birds... Its not so much justifying the costs of having a bird dog as it is having a plan come together and work for ya... But either way, with or without dogs, if youre up north in some forest, away from the hubub and humanity that we all deal with, in the grouses element... man it just doesnt get any better. For me any ways.... Bobby, yeah the winter grouse hunting can be  awesome... Ive gone many times up north late season, using snowshoes, without dogs,(usually too much snow...) followin tracks and lookin for their snowroosts... man, talk about potential heartattack... when grouse explode out of the snow deadened silence... its too much fun to be legal... sometimes I wish the season would start in October and go later into the winter!

[hunting-princess]

Grouse Hunting Update 

Had lot's of Fun! Saw about 4 grouse - but didn't get one 

Overall the hunting experience was great. Of course I was not told how to properly hunt while on an ATV. Stop machine, turn off machine, take key, get gun off rack, load gun (three shells), walk slowly and quietly towards grouse, aim and then shoot, follow grouse into woods if missed or it runs.......

I will be getting another chance to hunt, this time with my daughter and grandpa on his land up north, maybe hunt for deer...however I will need to get a bigger gun, I have been told the 410 is not big enough for a deer hunt 

Thanks a lot for all your advise and encouragement
Hunting Princess 

[BiggA]

I know people who have hunted deer with a 410. Just have to take close shots.

[wischunter08]

I always have my 410, 20 gauge, and 16 gauge with me while grouse hunting.  A 410 isnt as bad as what some people make it out to be.  Now picture this, I'm about 5' 7" 210 lbs. (not exactly a little guy)  and like i said I hunt with a 410, but not a regular old 410.  Its a youth model.....a tiny little gun, me and the guys call it the pea shooter.  They aren't bad guns, killed my some 30 birds last year.