Anybody seeing grouse out there

[laker1]

The ATV group is hurting their own image and where it says non-motorized and still go they say by action they don't care about anybody else but themselves. In this case throw the book at them.

[laker1]

Was up by Cass lake today and walked for 5 hours and seen only 2 birds. Talked to others and they all say slower than last year. Maybe we need some cold weather. Today was first day this fall deer ticks were abundant for me.

[Matt Breuer]

Been very lucky on the ticks myself. Saturday was the first day we found a few in an outing. I had my wife, 4 year old, and 16 month old along and we road hunted for 40 minutes. Saw 7, bagged 3. Was a great day to be out. First really calm and mild day I've had the chance to hunt, and it was short and on the roads. Bummer. Hopefully this weekend the wind lays down and some birds fall...

Musk Mil, I too like woodcock and doves cooked medium to medium rare with some seasonings. Ducks... maybe woodies and mally's, anything else needs bacon!

[CNCMike]

Heading out today, despite the 15-20 mph winds... Only figures it is my second opportunity to hunt grouse and the wind will be howling. First chance was 10-15 mph winds and then it rained. Still flushed 9 grouse, shot 3 and flushed and downed one doodle that day.

Hopefully the sun and lack of leaves will benefit me a bit in my quest today.

[reinhard1]

heading up north this morning to the deer stands and i'll be watching for grouse, so i will report when i get back. hopefully get a little hunting in. good luck.

[laker1]

Be interesting what you find? Awful quite out there on the Grouse scene?

[CNCMike]

I managed to get 5 yesterday. Flushed about 15 total but I hunted from 8am till nearly dark. Wind was definitely a factor as was the surprising amount of people in the woods. No matter how back country the area was I found others out there trying their hand at some ruffies.

What I found interesting was that the majority of shooting I heard in the grouse woods was in the morning, however the vast majority of birds I saw were late afternoon.

All in all, a successful day of hunting for me, but I put in some serious time and a lot of miles of walking. Some days I wish I had a dog, yesterday was one of those days... Seemed like the wind was keeping the birds holding tight. Perhaps a decent dog would have pointed up a few I didn't see.

[tacklejunkie]

My youngest son went out this morning and got 4. They flushed about 25.

All at Canosia WMA

Said with the leaves down they are easier to find. I'm heading out this afternoon and will report back

[reinhard1]

just returned from the deer stand area north of Duluth. very windy of course. not good for deer and nothing else i'm guessing. driving north near our stands i seen one partridge fly accross the road. we flushed one woodcock in the woods by our stands.

two days and the woods were vacant of life. no squirels, mice, birds, deer, not even a crow. i have seen this before, but only on very windy days. a week earlier my brother seen some deer and partridge so, i can blame it on the wind. good luck.

[Stringerless!]

25 at Canosia. Lol.

[tacklejunkie]

25 at Canosia. Lol.

I thought he was exaggerating a bit but they got four. I went out and flushed three, shot none

[laportian]

I went west of Cass Lake in the Chippewa on Saturday afternoon. Me and my daughter walked in to a not so good looking area and in the one grousy patch we walked we flushed two. Shot one. Next time I will scout out a little better. Seems like we walked thru way too mature forests too be very productive.

[titelines]

Went out Sat and Sunday. Saw a couple fox, some decent bucks, lots of does, eagles and a wolf. Oh yeah, flushed 8 grouse and ended up with two.

Morning was most productive, and I had the woods to myself for a few hours. Once winds kicked up they went to cover. Had to burrow into the woods and hit some recently scouted "secret" spots as the crowds appeared after 10:00.

[FishGuru]

I have a newbie question, do you guys use .22 rifles or shotguns for grouse? or which is better?

[CNCMike]

Shotguns... I use a 20ga or 12ga with 7 1/2 birdshot myself. 95% of all birds I shoot are flying, and a shotgun offers the best chance of a knockdown. Shooting a flying grouse with a 22 is FAR beyond my ability.

I like the 20ga because it is lighter and easier to carry in the woods, but my 12 was my grandfathers gun so it just makes me happy to use it often

[FishGuru]

LOL... I'm very new to this sport and also a very bad shot, so maybe I'll leave the .22 at home. Thanks...

[lovebigbluegills]

The wind finally died down a little, so I think I'll take the afternoon off and go see what I can find. I'll post a report in the morning.

[DanH]

Hunted N of GR last week for 5 days. On the windy days had to go deep off the trails to find birds. The bone dry conditions were a big factor when deciding where to hunt. My insecurities got the best of me so I carried that A5 light-12 rather than my 20 ga. Walked about 8 miles each day -most of that bushwacking. Not bad considering the averaged age of our 3 man party is North of 65. Flush 14 Grouse and 2 Woodcock. Bagged 2 Grouse and 1 Woodcock.

[CNCMike]

Seems like the harder we work for em, the better they taste! That's a lot of miles through the bush Dan, young or old!

Looks like I will get in the woods again Friday. Wind should be null and it will be 46 degree and mostly sunny. Just about perfect conditions, IMO.

I believe I will have to try somewhere between Outing and Longville this time... Used to be some solid areas over that way, yet it's close enough for me to gt my daughter at 7pm without having to get out of the woods early!

FishGuru, good call!

Looking forward to more reports guys! Ill post Satrday Morning about my Friday hunt.

[wdgold]

Saw 3 Monday up by Bruno,didn't get any. We didn't do a lot of walking and it was windy, should of pounded the woods more off the trails. Seems like in the past we see more birds when we go later in the week like a Thursday or Fri. before the weekend traffic.

[Matt Breuer]

I was up north for support for my dad who had some ticker work done in Friday. Sat. he was home and feeling okay, so when he napped, I hunted. Saw close to 100 sharptail over the weekend, bagged 1. Spent some time duck/goose hunting as well. Got home Sunday and worked the ruffy woods over hard on Monday. Saw 10, bagged 2 for 2 guys. Today I woke up and it was sunny and calm, so I packed up the dogs and hit the woods for 2.5 hours before getting ready for work. Man the calm days make a huge difference. After 5 days of wind, and some rain and snow, the birds were cooperating. Had 5 shooter points in 2.5 hours, bagged a limit and a bonus rabbit. Birds were almost all doubled up, which was odd. Still have my streak of not shooting a juvenile bird alive... of over 25 birds this season, I haven't seen a single baby!

[laker1]

Just to let you know,I was south of Longville today and deer ticks are getting worse. Most I seen this year,which up to now they have been lower than I have seen in 10 years. Need some very cold weather,they are tough. Seen 3 grouse in 4 hours.

[tybo]

Matt,

Nice! I will be back up this weekend while the woods are still safe for us with dogs. Sounds like you are having a decent season. That's alot of sharpies. Why only one, couldn't get close?

Tye

[Matt Breuer]

Matt,

Nice! I will be back up this weekend while the woods are still safe for us with dogs. Sounds like you are having a decent season. That's alot of sharpies. Why only one, couldn't get close?

Tye

Gauge locked up on the first bunch, and by the time I was on them every bird they flew over erupted. Not to mention the first bunch got up low and Nelly was running down the thistle line after them, birds getting up like mad as she blew by. She pretty much screwed up that field, which held most of the birds I saw...

[CNCMike]

Flushed well over 30 grouse yesterday. Most were well ahead of me or back in the brush/heavy cover.

True to form the vast majority were right on edges and lines between forest types... Aspen/oak/evergreen lines, swamp/aspen/evergreen edges

managed a limit by days end, but it was some serious work and a lot of heavy cover, bushwacking, to do so. I think I could have managed small trails and old logging roads with nearly the same result, but it isn't my style and the nice weather brought out a lot of people so I avoided them by staying deep in the brush.

The birds are still out there, but it does seem that they are fewer than 2009, which my memory and notes show was about the peak of the cycle.