The Dusky Grouse, Blue Grouse, or "fools hen" makes a habit of setting still on a spruce tree limb thinking it is hidden (it sometimes is) I connected with two of these with a Post War 22lr caliber PPK. Wasnt much of a shot at 10yds but quite fun!

Roadkill,
Mr. Ptarmigan would have probably survived if Hugh hadn't skinned and gutted him.

Damn,that was hard. Here I go again. Years back folks had a quail farm, city hunters would come out and enjoy the sport. One season a group called to make reservations, all was in order but when they showed up to start the hunt the guide didn't have any dogs. Questioning him, he said that Grandpa would do the pointing & retrieving. He had been feeling pretty worthless and wanted to contribute so he thought he'd be able to do as well as any dog. The hunters were apprehensive, but soon found out that Grandpa was real good. He could spot the birds very well, flushed them and then never lost one. At the end of the hunt everyone was happy. Few weeks later the same group called gain, wanted to hunt and specifically asked for Grandpa again. The reply was "he's no longer with us".
Silence. "Condolences are in order, but he seemed so healthy". Reply: " He did real well for a while but started running rabbits and we had to shoot him".

rk

9.5 for Roadkills adventure (Funny). 9.5 for George's adventure (Enchanting Girl). Do we have a tie or are there more stories coming?

As a youth of 16, the sport of quail hunting was very much the passion in my life, as few men have ever known. In the autumn of that year my cousin, Albert, who was about the same age as me, from Alabama came to our farm for the Thanksgiving holiday and we decided to spend the morning shooting a few birds.
The most productive covey cover in those parts was on a small farm belonging to Dillon Woodard, a neighbor very well near eighty years old. We drove up the long dirt road to his house, stopped at the barn, and while I got out of the truck to ask Mr. Woodard for permission to hunt, Albert checked on our birddogs in the dog crates.
Dillon Woodard, while sitting at the kitchen table, gladly consented to letting me and my cousin hunt the creek bottom and plum thickets for quail, if I would do him a favor..."Wes," he said, "my old mule, George, is deathly sick and needs to be put down. If you will please put old George out of his misery, you can hunt all this season." I solemnly assured him that the deed would be done immediately and he said that later in the morning he would drag old George to the barn with the tractor.
Walking back to the truck, I decided that I would have a little fun with my cousin Albert, and started working up quite a fierce display of temper as I approached the truck, kicking dirt, cursing and spitting all along the way. I bailed into the driver's seat, slammed the door and I spun the tires when heading down out of the drive toward the country road.
"The nerve of that old man! After all the favors that I have done for him, all the work that I have helped him with! And now he refuses to let me hunt for a few quail on his place! Damn that makes me mad." Half way down Mr. Woodard's drive I spotted George, the mule, and slammed on the brakes. "That old man is not going to get away with that! Just watch this, Albert." I fetched a rifle from the rack on the back window of the truck, stuck it out of the window, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
Old George fell like a ton of bricks.
As the smoke cleared from the barrel of the rifle, there were the reports of two additional shots. Bang! Bang!
"What the hell?! What are you doing, Albert?!"
"That old man made you so mad with his ill treatment of you," said Albert, "that it made me mad as hell too and I just shot two of his cows!".

<img border="0" alt="[hiha]" title="" src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" /> Where do you get these stories Wes? I laughed so hard I could barely breathe! <img border="0" alt="[typing]" title="" src="graemlins/yltype.gif" />

Wes,

That story was great, I passed it around the office. And how did you explain the two dead cows to the old man?

I just got back from some grouse hunting in Northern Michigan. It is supposed to be a down year in the grouse cycle but I kicked up about 10-12. But I only got a bead on three. The rest I just heard go off. The grouse were pretty well scattered and there were lots of leaves on the trees. I may have gotten all three but I only found one of them. I blasted into the tree leaves on the two that I couldn't find. I don't have a dog. While I lose some birds, I find that I learn more about the birds habits by just walking around looking for crab apple and other berry bushes. I often hear what I call the click! click! boom! of the birds taking off. Thats the sound I hear as the grouse hit the ground with their wings just as they take off and the initial sound of them in flight as they scare the dickens out of me.

As a pheasant hunter who was trained by his dad to never shoot hen pheasants, I find that I often hesitate on flying grouse while I look for the ring on a pheasants neck. I have a Stevens Hump Back 12 gauge that I never use on grouse because I only get one shot anyway. I use my old dependable Kresge single shot 12 gauge instead. Its a lot lighter.

Yes, grouse don't run much, but they run good enough to run to the other side of the brush or tree before they flush. In a thick crab apple or other berry bush, I try to shoot them just before they run to the other side of the bush and flush. I find most of my birds that way.

Without a dog, I find that I have to do just the opposite on grouse then what I do on pheasant. I take bigger zig zag swings and try to be a lot slower and quieter. You gotta sneak up on grouse or they will flush out of range. Wet brush is good because you make less noise. Snow covered ground is best because you can look further and see the grouse as they began to panic. On pheasants, you have to make the most noise that you can to scare them into trying to sit tight or they will run. Every so often you have to stop and be perfectly silent with pheasant so that the ones that sit tight will get scared and flush.

Right now I am sitting here wondering the best way to cook the one bird that I got. I think that I will try to boil the breast in onion soup.
Big Norm

Seaaon it well and wrap it in several strips of bacon, use tooth picks to hold them in place, then bake with onions and carrots.

rk

RK,
sounds good. I have often been told that wrapping game in bacon and then baking is great. But I am a bit like Tom A in that I am sometimes too impatient for even a microwave. Michigan State Univ (my Alma Mater) is on the tube this weekend and so are the Detroit Lions against Dallas. Gotta help the coaches out so I won't have time to watch the oven. I am going back up to northern lower Michigan next Thursday and there won't be as many leaves on the trees. Maybe this time I will get more birds. Maybe there will be some snow so maybe I can get some big snowshoe rabbits too. They had three inches last week but it vanished quickly. I'm not that happy with my opening day spot for rifle deer hunting (Nov. 15th) so I have to do some more scouting. I got totally shut out last season on both grouse and deer and my freezer is empty. My motorhome is still loaded and raring to go. I just need to pack some warmer cloths and some good smoked Polish kalbasa.
Big Norm

Hello,

A great thanks to all for the interest in this hunting topic.....Back from some very successfull Grouse Hunting trips !! Got some of those Tetras du Canada too !! Now will be time for some nice meals with friends, sharing hunting memories...and talking Lugers too !!

PIC is from the last morning we hunted. Came to a crossroad with small woods on the left...Made a pass, well a couple of passes...and caught 7 of'em !!

I have to say that I'm a happy hunter !!

Mark :D

http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/Amen.jpg

Hey Kid, good show, congratulations on a nice hunt!! Is the Tetras du Canada also called a Spruce Grouse? If it has a solid orangish band just above the tips of the tail feathers, it's what is known, in Minnesota, as a Spruce Grouse.

:) <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

Mark, what is your shotgun? (I'm guessing a Winchester but that's purely a guess.) What chokes are you using? Just curious.