More questions about hunting ruffs and woodcock.

[JJK]

1. If a bird wild flushes, and no shots are fired do you go after it?

2. When you shoot and miss do you go after it?

3. Will the hunting pressure die off a bit when duck season starts.

4. Is Sunday a poor day to hunt in pressured areas?

[CANOPY SAM]

1) Absolutely. If they're not shot at, or haven't been shot at previously, they don't usually fly to far.

2) Depends on how high up in the canopy they fly. If they get up there a pretty high they might go quite a ways and be hard to find, and flush wild again. It's always worth a try though!

3) Hunting pressure will increase when the leaves come down. You'll probably have the woods to yourself after regular firearms deer season is done.

4) Any day is a good day to hunt! Just don't gauge your success by how many you put in the vest. To me, success is just a great day in the woods, and I'm still upright and breathing when I come back out!

Good questions!

[mixxedbagg]

Quote:

1. If a bird wild flushes, and no shots are fired do you go after it?

2. When you shoot and miss do you go after it?

3. Will the hunting pressure die off a bit when duck season starts.

4. Is Sunday a poor day to hunt in pressured areas?

I don't have the years of experience a lot of these guys have, but I'll give you my thoughts:

1. Yes....if I saw it. If the cover is thick and I only heard the bird, I don't bother anymore because I almost never locate it. I'm hunting w/o dog.

2. I'll give it a try, especially if it's been slow anyway, but I haven't had a lot of luck getting close to a very spooked bird again.

3. I hate dealing with pressured areas. I don't know if it dies off when duck season starts, but I can tell you that it dies off a lot just after deer season. A lot of people have given up on camping and cabins by then and a lot of guys have had their fill of shooting stuff for the season. So I like to go out in very late November / early December. You often have snow to show you tracks and you might be able to see birds picking buds up in trees. Plus, after that first snow, hares are easy to find while you're out there. You just have to keep your hands warm.

4. I personally find that all days are poor in pressured areas...like the Blandin trails south of Grand Rapids. Lots of road and ATV hunting and usually some guys running dogs. I find that I do better as a walker going just north to little FS hiking trails that aren't necessary Grade A habitat but without the blaze orange circus. But to answer your question, I went to a traditionally pressured area today (Monday) and still encountered a lot of hunters and saw no birds.

[Lunker]

1.Yes, unless I can't pinpoint where it went down.

2. See #1

3.Not really, though I don't feel like grouse hunting pressure is anything like it used to be.

4.Hunt whenever you can!

[Matt Breuer]

3.Not really, though I don't feel like grouse hunting pressure is anything like it used to be.

Really? I see twice the hunters as I did in '90's.

Above answers are all great.

[CarlWBL]

1 & 2. I shot at 1 grouse this weekend and it didn't fly far. I went in after it with my GSP and we never saw it again. It was very fun though just to feel the anticipation if it was still around.

3 & 4. First weekend it was busy, last Sunday in same area, not very busy. Hunting pressure is sporatic. I love hunting Sunday mornings.

[jjz]

Good tatic for pressured areas is to use it to your advantage. Generally trail walkers and ATVs push the birds off these areas, they dont go far however. What works for me is to loop way off the trail and work the heavy cover towards the trail. It seems the birds will stay ahead of the dogs till they get close to trail, then they try to hide I think they dont want to cross the trail. Last year I shot 5 birds in 25 minutes doing this and think it would work for others.

[Basseyes]

1. Yes if I see the general area it dives into. If I'm in good cover I just keep working the cover in the direction of the bird if it's convenient. Cover is more important than where the bird went to me. There's a lot of birds you will go by if you concentrate going in search of that one bird. Some birds hop only a short distance for many reasons. Those are the ones you can re work but they'll know you are there and be a bit edgy with a tendency to flush wild or avoid you using the cover to their advantage.

2. Never assume you missed and yes most shots I follow up on. Saturday had a bird I knew I had the shot in the general direction of with no sign of a hit. Followed it up and one of the dogs brought the bird back a couple hundred yards in the direction of the flight path. That wasn't the first time that's happened. Shooting 7-9's though an open choke you have a ton of pellets in each shell. Two to three shots fired sprays a lot of pellets in a wide path.

3. Hard to say. It changes in different areas year to year. If you don't like pressure hunting grouse find areas that don't allow wheelers or have few driving access roads or trails. Then get as far off trails as you can. Bring water, power bars, a good compass, matches and a space blanket. I've had to spend the night in the grouse woods for getting way to far in way to late so watch your timing. Best way to get away from grouse hunting pressure is to keep walking.

4. Yes. But I still do it. If you can't find un pressured areas the best advice is to just keep walking and lower your expectations.

[CANOPY SAM]

Yep, Carl. I'm 44 yrs. old, and my heart still races like a cheetah whenever I'm stalking up on a bird that I watched glide back to the ground. Scares the pants off me even when I know it's there!

[JJK]

I went in after a wild flush, and that bird wasn't having it. Knew we were comming and flushed again, so I let it go. I feel like if these birds are hunted a few days in a row and flush wildly, they will be really hard to bag. I'm still undecided on how to handle these birds. Think I'll try to get out more during the middle of the week.

Thanks for your thoughts and ideas.

[pulleye16]

1) Yes- with my observations, grouse do not fly to far and can be kicked up a few times.

2) Yes- same as above and sometimes you'll even find a dead bird...like others have said, ALWAYS investigate after a shoot.

3) Yes- some bird hunters will be going after duck then grouse...I've also seen a decline in grouse hunting over the years. Opener always seems to get hit hard the most though

4) Never a bad day to hunt. Get off the trail, go early and stop frequently.

[JJK]

I can believe that there is less pressure in general. But I wonder if the state forests close to metro are seenig more folks. Hunting in general has changed and guys seem to be spending less time in field. They are not heading up north as much either, and may choose to stay closer to home. That could be why Matt believes there is less pressure. I don't have years logged in the forests close to the metro. I can only go by what I've seen last year and 1 outing this season. Maybe there are less hunters in those areas as well. Or ruffs just behave this way, and I have to learn how to handle them.