Wonder if any of you guys see many grouse while stillhunting deer? Ever get any shots? Personnally I have not but mainly because there are few grouse where I hunt deer. Had seen woodcock though! Just curious!
Thanks Charlie
I thumped a blue grouse out here in CO while sneakin' around scouting for mulies. Back home in MI they always scare the crap outta me taking off no matter how sneaky I think I'm being.
Big difference between ruffs and blues...
In the midwest, the ruffs stay on roost until well after sun up, so there's a chance to catch one sitting still. They startle you every bit as much as a woodcock. I know they kinda like coming to the sound of chain saws. Free bugs!
I have walked right up on them while still hunting. Never took a shot because I was not wanting to screw up my deer hunting. As it turns out I should have taken a crack at all the ones I have seen...lol!
I always carry a blunt for grouse and average about a shot per day of hunting.
I do see them all the time wile in the bush... Need to shoot at them more often!
I normally expect to eat at least one grouse dinner during a week of elk hunting.
MAP
All the time while elk and deer huting. They make a dinner. I think I have one old picture of a blue.
(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii51/rburtis1/imag0005.jpg)
yep me too...if i dont have a meal or two during my elk hunting trip im gona be a couple meals short...takes atleast 4 birds to feed two of us one meal with other fixens...
we let the rest go for next year and give the wolves something to eat besides elk, deer & moose loins!!!
If grouse weighed 500 pounds, I would completely give up on elk! They are fun to hunt as an add on to elk hunting, and are a tasty treat. I have shot a bunch of them over the years.
Lots of spruce grouse out west. Also killed a few ruffed grouse in the western states and in my home state.
Charlie,
Since you're from Ada MI, you're looking at the famed eastern skittish ruffed grouse. I've never bagged one with a bow in this area (northwest lower MI) but have come close in the Upper Peninsula where sometimes they're a little less skittish (but not much). Out west in Montana and Colorado I've bagged blues and ruffed with the bow on the ground. But as Don Thomas recently wrote, the ruffed grouse out there and here may as well be a different species.
Ruffs, Blues, and Spruce. Never met a grouse I didn't like. I've been after bugling bull elk and run into grouse and stop and shoot the grouse. Sometime you need to read about Rusty and my adventures in Idaho back in 05 and 06. It was a riot.
Mike
Most of the grouse I have killed have been while still hunting for deer and elk. Great way to hunt them.
Have enjoyed many great grouse meals during my annual elk trips to Colorado. Always purchase a small game liscense in addition to my elk tag.
DB
havent seen one in several seasons but i used to have a blast chasing them...love to hunt them
I intend to get one with my bow.
I have snuck up on several, and missed one in Colorado last fall.
Killed 1 last year and that's all I seen. Heard a few though
Tastes like chicken.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6687482953_48bf990fc9.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6687493907_7ffc96cf3c.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6687483163_413ab09813.jpg)
we have grouse in Colo and the deer/elk season over lap. I always have a grouse arrow in my quiver. UM BBQed brushed in butter and garlic...
(http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/ti-guy/009.jpg)
I was hunting moose last fall when this one presented in front of me...
QuoteTastes like chicken.
All the ones I've eaten taste like Pine Trees and Sage Grouse taste like Sage Brush.
:confused:
I see lots of grouse while elk hunting in Montana.
Here's a few that made themselves available for dinner.
(http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww98/rlbruski/DSCN1007.jpg)
Here's the Blue I thumped this past season...
(http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/l502/MrDwood/DSCN1106.jpg)
(http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/l502/MrDwood/DSCN1104.jpg)
Missed one on my moose hunt up North. Most around here don't sit long enough to get a shot at.
QuoteOriginally posted by MikeW:
QuoteTastes like chicken.
All the ones I've eaten taste like Pine Trees and Sage Grouse taste like Sage Brush.
:confused: [/b]
The grouse you get must have bad genes.