Time for some late season grouse hunting.....

[thunderpout]

Time to get some more grouse hunting in... post deer hunting style (tighter chokes, heavier shot, warmer clothes..... & snowshoes?)  I cant get it in this weekend, but thinking about the following weekend if the weather is ok..... anyone know what the snow depth is like in the Walker/Park Rapids/Bemidji area?  Even better, if anyone is up there this weekend let me know what its like..... Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

[corny13]

So where do you look for late season Ruffed grouse?  Are they in the same habitat as Oct..poplars?  Or do you look for them in thicker cover like pines/cedar?  Have never hunted them late..
Thanks

[Bobby Bass]

Head for the swamps. With these snowy sunless days they will be along the swamp edges and hunkered down in the cedars to. If you don't have a dog this is a good time to just find a track and follow it. Make sure you stop often and check out the trees for birds.

We are up over 25 inches of snowfall this season so far with maybe half of that on the ground after tonights snow. 

[thunderpout]

Yep, trees are good this time of year, grouse like to roost in them and under them....pine stands make good cover/shelter..... like Bobby said, swamp edges... thats where alot of the choke cherries and cranberry bushes are.  Also always look to the sunny side of banks, hills, brush piles etc... grouse love to sun themselves this time of year.... and yeah, when we get the snow, tracking them is fun, especially if they flush out of the snow(they snow roost when it gets cold and the snow is deep and fresh...) that'll get the heart pumping if the trekking thru the snow doesnt!

[corny13]

Thanks for the tips will get over to minnesota one of these days to try late season grouse hunting...

[JohnWester]

please don't screw up any muzzleloader guys out there, like me.

[thunderpout]

John.... ya just gotta wave your arms around every now and then so the birds dont hang out by your stand.

[Outdoors Junkie]

During the rifle season this year (by Upper Red Lake) I kicked up a half dozen grouse everyday I was out deer hunting.  One morning I had 9-10 of them fly down from where they were roosting and land with in 5 yards of me.  I kept real still and one at a time they flew down (it was preety cool).  There is definitely more of them around this year.

[Bobby Bass]

A lot of fair weather bird hunters never step back into the woods after deer season and never get to hunt the winter birds that covey back up. Yup, if all you ever get to see is singles and doubles with a rare three bird flush you will have a heart attack the first time you walk into a covey of birds along the edge of a swamp. If the sun ever does come out an excellent place is any kind of a depression out of the wind with sun. I may only get lucky a few times a season finding the right conditions but when you get 10 or 12 birds to get up around you in a minute or so it is something that will last a lifetime in the old memory bank.

Trouble is I am so old I have memories of busting coveys like that three or four times on the same outing. Not something you see often now but they are still there this time of year. We got 10-12 inches of powder last night so when the sun comes out later this week I will be out looking at a few good spots.

[thunderpout]

Junkie.... that's the grouse hunter that hunts deer's dilema.... kind of like murphy's law... seeing grouse when you dont have a shotgun.... usually happens while in the deer stand, when I used to bowhunt, I'd always have a flu-flu arrow with a judo tip in my quiver for them grouse that would harass you thinking they were safe because you were a deer hunter....   Aint no stealthy way to go about it if ya want to be silent when rifle hunting.... except if you brought a wrist rocket or a blowdart gun maybe.....(a buddy of mine always brought a wrist rocket with him when elk hunting out west cause he'd see blue grouse all the time...) Isnt it funny how they never act the same when one is actually out grouse hunting.... Me and my buddies have often said we should just sit in a stand wearing full blaze orange to hunt grouse.... play on their curiosity and let them come to you!   I dont know if that would work... for very long anyways, I think they'd figure it out pretty quick...    Personally, I think the best time to grouse hunt is right around those few weeks when we deer hunt.... that three weeks I cant grouse hunt!   I dont like going when all the leaves are up and its too warm for your dog... late season is fun, but if the snow's too deep, it's tough on dogs, and it can be interesting at times shooting with snowshoes..... gotta practice that while shooting sporting clays in the summer.....