Anyone Hunt Grouse Up North??

[Maverick41]

I was wondering if there was anyone on here who hunts grouse up north near Thief River Falls? Our group had a poor season last year and was wondering if anyone has any hot spots up here? Hopefully this year will be better.

[WAG416]

Maverick-We should take a trip to Paradis cabin. He invites us every year. We should take him up on that.

Going back to the topic at hand. I would like to know if anyone can go out and have no trouble harvesting 5 birds a day.

They say more grouse are bagged in MN than anywhere else, but I always hear people say that 20 grouse a year is a good number of birds. Well, I hunted at least once a week(sometimes twice) all through small game season and that just don't seem like a lot of birds if you think about it.

My best day was 4, and with a couple of 3 bird days, that means I don't see alot those other times I hunt. Just like fishing I dont expect to fill out every time nor do I expect to shoot one every time. But for the amount of land we have to hunt here, We may hit the same woods but twice a year at the most.

WAG

[cyberamish]

I hunt up in the NE part of the state and even though the birds are still rebounding I managed 9 birds for two outings last year. We have always enjoyed pretty good results in our area as it doesn't see much pressure (other than the usual guys on ATV's who never leave the logging roads.

[hanson]

mav & WAG,

My brother hunts up around that area. He lives in Crookston and hunts alot of the management areas in that area.

He's not a social bird hunter. He likes to hunt alone and doesn't have a dog. He'll do a lot of walking and stalking. He really doesn't like to get out until there is snow on the ground so he can figure out where they are at. He'll hunt right up to the end of Dec.

15 birds a season isn't out of the question for him. I'm not sure if he's ever stopped to count though. I'll have to ask him next time.

We also used to hunt as a family around the Fourtown area. I'm sure you guys have been there too.

[WAG416]

I feel lost when I hunt alone or with out a dog. But I spose people all hunt different ways.

The furthest East I have ever hunted Birds was Holt, We seem to not venture far. Pretty much stick the center of Marshall County.

WAG

[Blaze]

WAG/Mav - I grew up in TRF and hunted alot around Nelson Slough area and just east of Holt too. My Jr. & Sr. years of high school, a friend and I used to go out after school and pick up 3-5 birds a day and managed to do that 2-3 times a week. His freezer was so full we had to quit for a while! I know those years were at the top of the cycle('89-'90).

There's lots of public land to be had up there - take advantage of it! I live in the Cities now and it's ridiculous trying to find decent hunting spots that haven't already been hit by someone else the same day.

[Maverick41]

Blaze, It's good to hear that there are more of us on here. So you have hunted the same haunts as me and Wags. I love hunting the slough. Where abouts did you hunt by Holt, any names we would recognize? Yeah the ruffy hunting wasn't good up here last year. But this spring has been a lot better than last year I think and hopefully we will get a better hatch for both the ruffys and sharptails.

[setterguy]

Mav - I haven't hunted up towards you in a couple years, but have in the past..when the numbers are low as they are now I usually stick a little closer to home. Consistently getting five birds a day is quite a feat, and appetite. The key to finding and shooting more grouse is first and foremost a good dog. A true grouse dog will find you birds that you would have never found on your own. When I hunt, I usually have my limit pointed. Now how many of those I actually bag is a different story. Doing some scouting and keeping a journal as to times, places, that you see birds will help you determine why birds are in certian places at different times of the year. Good luck.

[charliepete2]

I spend a majority of my time pheasant hunting, but I still manage quite a few weekends a year hunting grouse all over the state. I'd say that taking 15 birds a year in Minnesota is no big deal, but when you talk to guys out East there jaws will hit the floor at the number. There is a newsletter for a group called the Loyal Order Of Grouse Hunters. They collect statistics from their membership nation wide which is made up of grouse hunters. The vast majority of hunters got less than 5 grouse a year. There is a local outdoor novelist who is pretty much a grouse only guy with good dogs. He said that in his best season during the upswing he took 100 grouse. That's a lot of grouse eating to keep legal with the DNR.

Minnesota and Wisconsin are grouse heaven compared to many other places in the country. On a good day in an up year I've flushed more birds in day than some hard core hunters in other parts of the country will see all year. Shooting what you see is another matter. I keep good records on my hunting and while I'm taking over 90% of the pheasants I shoot at, my grouse shooting is more like 35%.

I'm hoping for an upturn in the cycle this year, but with this cold wet spring I'm not going to hold my breath.

[WAG416]

I sure hope most of the grouse have hatched before these water levels have risen. I was fooled into believing it was gonna be dryer spring than last but I was mistaken. 3 days of sunlight since Ice-out isn't going to help these birds much. Darnit anyways.

WAG

[koochiching]

Quote:

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I was wondering if there was anyone on here who hunts grouse up north near Thief River Falls?

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Maverick,

I've been hunting a bit to the east of you, in Lake of the Woods and Koochiching Counties, for many years. About 20 years ago, I think I got as far west as Greenbush, but most of the time I hunt in the Pine Island State Forest just to the east of the Red Lakes.

If you're looking for a contentious, bigoted group of elitist would-be grouse hunters, you should visit the Shooting Sportsmen Forums.

I also hope there wasn't too much rain this spring, and the hatch survives through the summer. Couldn't get much worse than it's been the past few years, but we should be through the bottom of the cycle...

k

[1tofish]

It's not looking good for the young birds this spring. I have a cabin between Grygla and Fourtown. We've been getting 3+" rainfalls almost twice a week. I got stuck on the lawn mower in our front yard. We were wet all of last fall, so there is not a lot of room for more water. Didn't see a lot of birds last year, but with the wet conditions couldn't get back into some of my honey holes. I'm not expecting a great fall this year, hopefully I'm wrong.

Anybody know when the drumming reports come out?

[Blaze]

Maybe we need a hybrid duck/grouse bird to handle these wet springs. We could call them Malfies - half mallard, half ruffie. Whaddya think? "Yeah, we got a limit of malfies along the popple edges this weekend"

Mav - we basically hunted public land around Agassiz for birds back then and there was another chunk of state land that I can't recall the name of (I could find it if I went back there though!) that was always good for a couple flushes a day too. My aunt & uncle have 80 acres just east of Nelson slough bordering more state land where we deer hunt and I usually see as many birds there as I do deer...at least during deer season. When hunting birds, I see 3x as many deer as grouse!

[Quackaddict9]

1tofish- I see that you are from TRF...Would you happen to know Bill and Julie Olson?.. they also have a cabin about 5 miles south of Fourtown