Grouse Report 10-30

[Shack]

Well got out again tonight for about an hour. Flushed four and got one. I wished I had taken a half day and got out like Uplander and jbdragon17. Ticks are not as bad, but are still very bad. I reapplied tick stuff to dogs last week and they had way less ticks this week!

This grouse is one of the biggest birds I have ever shot. Wing span was 23-24” and the tail fan is huge. I also found a baseball size clump of clover and I think aspen or poplar sprouts. Give you an idea what to look for! I got Halloween on Wednesday, but I might take off Thursday or half day and get back out! It sucks when you cram a trip into 1 ½ hours.

Also CO's are out in force! They had wheelers all over the place. There wheelers are decked out to the max. I figure they are scouting for deer opener! They are every where on those wheelers! Just wait untill one of the CO rolls up on your Deer Stand and says hi!

This is a large amount of what I found inside of grouse! There was alot more that fell on ground!

Here is the mean spread!

I found this little guy on the side of the road!

[jbdragon17]

Great pics. I missed one that looked like a NFL sized football a couple weeks ago! Good to see you connected on a real dandy.

[Shack]

I had gotten this bird 15 minutes before leaving! I tell ya, my oldest dog after the retrieve of this bird (again in water pool) started getting more birdie than at any moment during the hunt! It sounds sappy, but I could tell she did not want to leave after getting a grouse in her mouth!

I am going to start bring grouse wings again and let her sniff and hold them before hunting! Not for a smell thing, but a spruces her energy type thing! I can tell when my dogs get bored! You have to command more and its like making my kid do something he has lost interest in and then BANG, the action begins!

[Tippman]

Those crop contents look like what I was finding in my birds... anything green and quite the mixture!

[Shack]

There was a ton of this inside of this bird.

More than I have seen in any other bird I have shot.

I was up late tonight, because of Holloween! I am going to try to get out on Thurs. or at least Friday for some more grouse action, before gun season starts.

I do like hunting for grouse more in late Nov. and Dec. anyways. Its just a three week delay and I will find other things to do.

[palisade1kid]

What a monster bird.

That tail is huge.

Good luck on your bird hunting Shackbash.

[Shack]

Thanks CK !

You as well.