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Grouse durring the deer season.


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Anyone hunt grouse durring deer season? I will stay away from opening weekend. Even the 2nd weekend but by mid week of week 2 I will usually venture out. It does make me a little nervous, and here's why. A couple weeks ago after a grouse hunt north of Mora my partners and I stopped in for a bite at popular stop by Knife lake. We were minding our buiseness when some guy asked us what we were doing. We told him we were up hunting some grouse. He asked how we did and we replied fine but it was all because of the dogs. Then he proceeds to tell us how he hates dogs and if you can't hunt grouse without a dog you shouldn't hunt them at all. He then tops that off with if I see a dog in the woods durring deer season I shoot him!! I had been sitting not adding anything to the coversation untill this point...but that's all I could take! I jumped in to inform him that bird season doesn't close just because deer season is open, and if you shoot someones hunting dog while they are in the woods hunting it you will be in violaion of the law.. He then tries to tell me that "his boys" up ther would do nothing about it. Steam was coming out of my ears at this point and it was all I could do to not lash out loudly even violently.. I bit my tounge and told him to read his regulation book.. Then he jumped in with if that's a law it must be a new one..I said new or not it's the law.... Then I was done talking to this guy...But that's what worries me about deer season. I hope for all our sakes this guy is in the extreme minority.. I don't think it's fair that us bird hunters should feel fear for our dogs lives just to go do a little grouse hunting. Anyway good luck everyone and be safe and remember deer hunters us bird guys have the right to be out there as well...uplander

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I'm a hound guy so I run into this all the time. A lot of guys talk tough but they don't back it up.

Its legal to hunt deer and moose here in Ontario with dogs and you would be suprized at the number of people who think that is morally wrong. I've had to have the local game warden talk to a few and it shuts them up pretty quick when they find out that they could lose thier liscense for threating this. We have an anti-hunter harresment law here.

Dogs running deer aren't going to hurt the deer any this time of year--late winter and deep snow is a different story. Even then many CO's are reluctant to shoot someone's pet for running deer.

Liability issue's you know.

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Put an orange brush vest on your dog and go hunting. You have just as much right to be there as anyone else. Grouse hunting is still good and still going. I am a deer hunter, but I am also a grouse hunter. With any amount of luck I will be back out with the O/U after the rifle season.

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I am a grouse hunter and deer hunter. You have many more weekends to grouse hunt then we have to deer hunt. If you are going through the woods with dogs, it can drive the deer out which would anger me too. Some guys put a lot of time building stands and scouting etc.,to see a dog while deer hunting would anger me, why not take two weeks off from grouse hunting so deer hunters can have their time in the woods. You are definetly taking a risk bringing your dogs into public land during deer season.

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2 weeks is a long time to take off and after deer season the weather starts to factor in. I'm also not talking about hunting the weekends. I prefer to hunt mid week. Also the grouse hunting just started to get good with all the leaves off and now you expect us to take 2 weeks off. I can understand your point but for guys that don't hunt deer that is asking alot. It once again boils down to if you hunt public land you must remember it is public land and you scouting and building a deer stand on a piece of it does not give you squatters rights to it for 2 weeks

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The best day for me has always been the Friday before Opener. I hit it like it's my last day on earth have filled out the last 4 years.

I run into many hunters camping along the trails on tat Friday and they seem to act like I'm trespassing on their domain and ruining their upcoming hunt.

A two week deer hunt has turned into a 3 week hunt. Some areas have an early hunt too.

Leaves don't come down until around the 12th of October so our season is not really that long.

I live in the Bemidji refuge and since hunting has opened there I feel threatened by neighbors hunting their 5-10 acre parcel.

Don't worry, I'll stay out of the woods and my dog will be in the basement.

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I look at it this way. I hunt both deer and grouse. I even trap and duck hunt.

My point is that even though I own a GSP and have the "right" to pursue all those within seasons, it comes down to common sense.

Is a guy on stand day in and day out going to get [PoorWordUsage] when you come tromping down his way and scare the deer out of the area? 9 out of 10 times.

Is it legal for me to set snares in the north country for coyotes and bobcats before all the grouse hunters vacate the woods for the year? Yes.

Are all these legal things necessarily smart or ethical? Not in my book.

Have a little patience and maturity. Don't start [PoorWordUsage] matches and claiming to your "rights". Hunter's not caring about other huntes is plain self destructive and stupid. If your on public land don't be a jerk.

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Stay out of the woods so you don't anger some deer hunters?? I think people have to realize that the public spaces we are provided are to be used for multi-use activities. These range from riding ATV's to bird watching. Everyone needs to make space for everyone's choice of activities. To think that people should stay out of the woods during deer hunting is inappropriate. What about bow season....don't make them mad!! Oh, let's not forget about the muzzle loader season.....god forbid we interfere with them.

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No, I do not hunt grouse during the deer season. I am a dedicated rifle hunter during those three weekends that I have. I see no difference in some grouse hunter pushing a few deer around the woods than the guys I see out walking with their rifles trying to jump deer the first hour into the season.

I am a multi-use advocate though. I bow hunt, rifle hunt, waterfowl hunt, grouse hunt, ATV, snowmobile, fish just about any finned creature that will bite my line and have spent just about the last 45 of 52 weekends in the woods and on the water and trails. If I got mad at every Jo that pushed his way too close to me in the woods or waters I would have a breakdown every other weekend. I just choose to make peace with myself and hope that the state does not impose any more restrictions on my choices and seasons.

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...stay away from opening weekend. Even the 2nd weekend but by mid week of week 2...

Do you really see many deer hunters the middle of week 2 where you are? I am usually hunting deer during the middle of week 2. Hardly ever see anyone! I would be glad to see a grouse hunter wake up the woods during the middle of the day...mornings and evening maybe not so much. If I feel like doing some grousen with my dogs during the middle of week 2 I will make sure to have some orange on them and try to hunt away from deer hunters, even if it means I hunt some new areas or areas that may not be ideal grouse habitat.

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I try not to hunt grouse during deer season, but I usually can't wait 2 weeks, so I get out a bit. I usually leave the dogs behind however, because if some (not nice deer hunter) shot one of my dogs I'd be going to jail! I'd rather leave that possibility out...

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Hunt in Wisconsin. Deer not open yet.

If the trail head is open, go chase grouse.

If trucks are parked at the trail head, move on. Respect they were there first.

That is one of the generic problems with MN public land, hunters do not respect the space of others.

If you crowd a group of deer hunters you may get what you fear the most. Why risk it?

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Yeah if there are trucks there its not even worth the risk youre taking. you should just move on till you find a place where you wont be shot at especially if you have dogs. You could also talk to some private land owners who dont deer hunt they probably wont have a problem with you being there.

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Jameson, No I don't and as brittman said I wont hunt an area I think has deer hunters in it. If I see a truck I avoid those areas. If you want to tell me where you'll be I will be happy to grouse hunt around you and liven up those woods..lol good luck...uplander

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I'll be getting some grouse hunting in this weekend. I havne't had a chance to get up north and this will be my first time in grouse country this fall. I'll also be looking to get a deer and maybe scratch out some waterfowl too. I've got 4-5 days to decide what I want to do.

It's public land open to everyone, and at this point I don't have an upland dog, so if I'm covered in blaze orange and helping move deer through, I figure what's the trouble?

There is a lot of testosterone that flies around in bar room talk and whatnot, but how many stories of incidents have you seen in the news? I think it's played up worse than it really is...there is plenty of land for all of us to get a chance to hunt.

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Man its scary to hear about all the crazy stories about greedy, unethical, and trigger-happy deer hunters. No thank you to being near any of that [PoorWordUsage].

I head way north and boat across a lake and hike in a ways to do my deer hunting... and for what its worth, I usually take a few 7 1/2 shells to go along with my slugs, because I always see grouse walking out of my stand mid-day...

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I already posted a response to the original question.

Now a response to the other responses....

Hunter harrasment goes both ways. If a guy wants to grouse hunt public land durring deer season MORE POWER TO HIM!!!!

Go Pheasant hunting to!!! Both seasons are open! If they freak out tell them to take a hike, then tell them you will call the C.O. for them if it is a problem. The world does not revolve around the whitetail! When will people figure this out!

It is attitudes like those expressed here that make others look at the rifle/firearms deer hunter as an uneducated weekend warrior. Just a bunch of drunken clowns.

Some of us only get a few weekends a year or days a fall to hunt. Those days have value. If someone decides to use one of those valuable days to hunt an open season, that happens to differ from what others are doing, then they should do it. OWN IT. Makes a guy want to leave the dog home, put the revolver in the holster and shoot grouse and deer out from under the dill hole's. But half of the hunting is about the dog's. No one is going to shoot your dog if you are hunting over it. Like I said, put a vest on it, and stay close to it.

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I own 80 acres and its posted "no trespassing." I also never let my dogs roam off my property. I still don't feel safe letting them outside during daylight hours. From previous years of experience, trespassing signs are rarely respected during deer season, so the dogs only go outside supervised or in their kennels.

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I will hunt pheasants but not grouse because I don't trust deer hunters either. I have conversations with people all the time that still think it's OK to shoot a dog during the season despite what the regs say (see page 28). My take on it is this - IF you don't like grouse hunters in the woods then let the DNR know and ask them to change the rules. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut. If you want more time to hunt deer take up archery.

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It's called ethics....stay out of public land with your dogs at least the opening weekend. After that, you should find plenty of room to hunt without getting in the way. Why take the chance of 1. putting your dog in harm 2. making some hunter very angry at you etc... To me this is a no brainer!

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