Grouse Population

[JJK]

What areas of the state have the best birds numbers?

I'm planning a trip for the weekend after Thanksgiving and have no idea where to go. I've been hunting around McGrath and have seen a few birds. A bit north west of Moose Lake is the furthest I've traveled. I'd like to get my pup on a lot more birds, so any advice will help.

[Judge Smails]

I like the Gunflint Trail and southwest towards the iron range.

A lot of public land up there- if you need help finding some, your best bet is to pick up a PRIM from the MN Bookstore (or order off of DNR HSOforum), or refer to the DNR recreation tools and state forest maps.

[mixxedbagg]

When I've been out, it seems like the Finland area, Koochiching County, and far northeast Itasca County have all had pretty good numbers. I was in the Chippewa National Forest yesterday around Tower Lake on the Beltrami/Itasca line and it was quite slow. I flushed 10 in an entire day of walking and took 3 birds. All were quite small.

Sadly, it should have been 4. I shot a bird flying into some cover and saw it drop. The cover was thick and I could not find the bird in over 30 minutes of gridding the area. I really don't know if it just fell in the perfect spot to leave the dead bird hidden or if it was not a clean kill and the bird was able to run a ways before I could get to it. I felt awful as it was the first bird I had ever been unable to recover.