So who's going grousin'

[Harmonica Bear]

Haven't heard much chatter with the season just around the corner. Sounds like Gus the Dog and I will have the woods all to ourselves! Who is all headed to the thickets and woods?

I'll be around and about the Mille lacs area. I can't wait even with the heavy foilage, heat and ticks.

[Shack]

Good luck!

I will give a month before I start to think about going into the woods

[EpicAdventure]

Let us know how you do. I expect I won't make it out for Grouse until mid October.

[uplander]

Too busy this weekend plus temps in the high 60's are never good on the pooch..Go get em!..I hope to be getting out soon ...uplander

[tybo]

I'll be just east of Mille lacs. Leaving Friday morning to scout a few new areas. I am so jacked up it's my pups second year so I can't wait to see how he hunts this year.

[Harmonica Bear]

I'll be in the same area with my two year old as well. If you see a red blazer and setter I should be near by, stop and say hi.

[cribbageboy]

I'm hittin' the state land just east of Grand Rapids. Looks like the weather should be good on sun. Highs might not even hit 60. No pooch, just me and some buddies. Went out scouting earlier this week. Saw a couple of birds on the side of the road. Foliage should start to deteriate by the end of the month depending on where your at. Let us all know how you hunters that do hit the woods this do this weekend.

[Jackpine Rob]

Jr. and I will be up in the Boundary Waters, with the canoe and a couple of packs and our trusty 20 gauges. Our habit is to make a wide loop, hitting portages, old logging trails and resort sites, hoping to bag a bird as we get in our cardio workout for the day.

[tybo]

I'll be looking for you Harmonica Bear. Good luck to all.

[dhuth]

I'll be north of Grand Rapids for the weekend fighting the leaves and ticks.

[cribbageboy]

Don't know about you guys, but just took a peek at the radar, and the entire state of MN looks like it might be getting a nice soaking. Even when it does quit raining, all of the foliage will still be nice and wet. Too bad it had to be like this on opener. Looks like sunday might not be the driest day either.

[SledNeck]

My 10 year old popped one right away this morning. Seen quite a few but they disappeared into the green abyss.

[SportFishin']

Hi there,

Went out this morning here in South Central Montana and bagged 2 Sharptails & 6 Huns. Was a cool dry morning until the rains moved in at about 11am.

The Huns are covied up in the coulees and draws, but are starting to show signs of being pressured as they won't sit tight very long for the pointers. Same goes for the Sharpies they are covied up in the sage & grasses outside and on top of the coulees and also showing signs of being pressured.

In the heat of the day Huns can be found loafing in the shade under brush in the draws and scratching for ants around ant mounds.

Good luck

Chris

[RussC]

I got rained out, steady drizzle all day that soaked everything. We cruised the forest roads for a while a GPS'd some spots to go back to then headed down to Reeds.

[Kingofmuskie]

I went out yesterday morning before the rain, got two birds, saw about 10. You haven't lived till you've taken 3 untrained non-hunting dogs for a walk in the woods looking for grouse...pure entertainment!!!

[BDUBER]

Great opening morning on the Sawbill. Not too many hunters out. Perfect.

[tybo]

There were three of us up near Mora. I shot my first grouse over a point from my Dog Haze. He's pointed grouse before I just haven't managed to hit any until yesterday. We hunted Saturday morning, evening and again Sunday morning. We got 4 grouse, all young birds. We saw quite a few grouse but there is just a little too much green to get a lot of shooting in. We saw a ton of woodcock. You could sit in a chair and pass shoot the Woodcock in the evening where we hunt. It's pretty cool watching them dive into the alders all around us.

[Harmonica Bear]

I hunted Saturday until the rains came and Sunday until the rains came again, about noon-ish both days. Lots of moisture out there that’s for sure. Lots of birds, too.

My stats have extremes:

Birds heard: 20+

Birds in the bag: 0

The numbers for birds seen, actual shots, bumps, flushes, points, falls, sticks in the eye, where the heck am I’s, etc. all fall somewhere in-between.

Gus the Dog lost total control Saturday mid-morning (I forgot to turn the collar on), when he blew it on group of 7. I heard him bump them one at a time about a second apart. He then turned into crazed out, spastic, bug-eyed wild monster that only closely resembled a dog name Gus. Oh my, what an adventure… Just crazy! Words like "hunt together" or "teamwork" would not be used to desribe that particular moment between man and dog. I don’t think he’s ever run into that many birds all grouped up like that. That much scent just drove him insane! Anyway, he settled down after awhile with some persuasion and he hunted ok. He held an awesome point on two yesterday in the rain, in some real nasty cover. Unfortunately his masters shooting prowess was less than admirable…

All in all, it was great to be back out and look forward to a great season.

I think the wet weather kept the birds off the trails and the edges. Almost all came way off the beaten path in transitions from alders to a mix of pine, spruce and poplar.

Oh yeah, I'm glad everybody stayed home. Nobody appeared to be out hunting, pretty much had the woods to myself. Very unusual for opener.

[tybo]

I know the feeling, Haze went crazy after a wild flush from two birds. He usually gets pretty pumped but there's something about Grouse scent that makes him an out of control one-who-thinks-I-am-silly. It's wonderful to see that much desire for birds but at the same time it's rather uncomfortable feeling you have no control.

[Neighbor_guy]

No hunting for me this weekend. To much rain to venture out with my little girl.

I did get some disapline work with the dog. As well as getting the shot gun cleaned and ready to go. Might be doves and deer for a couple more weekends yet.

Good luck to all. Keep the stories comming.

[Mr. Walleye]

Me and my dad had an exellent opener... would like to post some pics... but don't know how.. help please...???

[grousehunterMN]

Made it out Saturday and today (Superior National Forest)... We saw two birds on Saturday and shot one (Spruce grouse). I saw 8 more birds today and didn't get any. Only two separate shooting opportunities which went terrible and the rest were birds heard or too much cover. Good to see the birds out there and hear some success stories. I still have high expectations for the rest of the year. Now if only we could kill that green!

[pumper317]

My dad and i went out this weekend while cleaning up our stuff at the family cabin. Considering the weather we did pretty darn good up north of nashwauk. We flushed 25-30 birds and got 7. My pup just got back from training, and let me tell you so far it was worth every penny. She flushed a nice little cuvy about 200 yards into our trip, and didn't stop until we left.

All birds were this years hatch, some with almost full tails, but most with barely enough to write home about. Some buddies and i are headed back up in two weeks for a last hurah at the cabin, and hopefully birds in the freezer.

Good luck every one.

[Matt Breuer]

We drove up to the cabin near Roseau on Friday night with smiles resembling those of children in anticipation of Saturday's opener. I crawled into bed around 1 am looking out at clear skies, hoping the rain would stay away.... nope!

The rain made for rather poor hunting and chilly moments throughout the day, the leaves made walking tough, and seeing/shooting near impossible. The dogs were great, we got 3 beautiful points early Sat., but by the time we figured out where the dogs were, the birds would flush and the frustrated barks would follow... My male GSP had a bird on lock-down for probably 3 minutes before I finally found my way to him through the thick brush, just in time for the bird to bust out without me even knowing which direction it headed. He looked and me, and just barked, like he was telling me I was an one-who-thinks-I-am-silly. It was entertaining. The rain did quit for about 45 mins. and we did manage two nice ruffs.

We also hunted sharpies for a few hours, and did see 2 huns and 4 sharps, one solo and a covey of youngsters 3 deep. I managed to get a decent flush on one of the sharpies and knocked 'er down. Dog didn't like bringing that one back after a rough morning of watching birds fly away....

Worst weekend I've ever had for numbers, but I saw 3 of the most beautiful points a guy could ask for, and we bagged 3 beautiful birds. It's always good getting the first one's out of the way!

tybo, sorry I haven't e-mailed for awhile, you'll get a reply this week... Glad you got Haze out!

For the gent wanting to get pics up, go to one of the picture forums and read up, or someone would surely post them for you if you e-mailed them...

Good luck all, shoot straight!

[BDR]

My male GSP had a bird on lock-down for probably 3 minutes before I finally found my way to him through the thick brush, just in time for the bird to bust out without me even knowing which direction it headed. He looked and me, and just barked, like he was telling me I was an one-who-thinks-I-am-silly. It was entertaining.

Good dog!You know that look well? Lol Hope to get together soon.

Thanks for the laugh.