Grouse and Woodcock Shooting

[Ruff Hunter]

I grew up in CT and VT where I hunted grouse and woodcock every chance I got. I now live in Idaho, which is thick with ruffed grouse, as well as blue, spruce and some sage grouse in the south east. Sadly, woodcock do not live this far west, and I do miss them every Fall. Equally sadly, grouse get no respect as a game bird out here. Because they are so plentiful, they are too easy to bag, and are commonly disparaged as "road chickens". Everyone but me it seems simply drives the loggging roads in pickups and four wheelers, and shoots them on the ground. Many bag limits are filled with 22 rifles. I have had to stop my truck more times than I can recount to keep from running over a mature ruff that just wouldn't give the road. Many guys I know, who plink dozens of grouse off the back roads with 410s each year, were actually astonished to learn that some of us shoot at them on the wing. They always thought that if a bird flushed, it had gotten away. The thought of shooting at a flying grouse never occured to them! Needless to say, they can't comprehend why I take a dog and hike through thick brush to shoot flushing grouse. If anybody else in my county does that too, I have yet to hear of it. Amazingly, these ruffs are the exact same species of wily, wild flushing grouse that I hunted in CT and VT, and once they do take to the wing, they are just as challenging to hit. But from the way they act on the gravel roads, you'd never believe it. The larger spruce and blue grouse, which inhabit higher elevations, are even dumber. If you bother to flush one of them up, they usually just land on a tree limb ten feet above you and sit there clucking. I won't even tell you how many times I stood there throwing sticks and rocks to get one to flush out of the tree for a sporting shot. The underrated grouse in Idaho have to be seen to be believed. In a high bird number year, one can easily see 20 or more in an hour of driving gravel roads on a rainy day.
Here's a pic of my deceased old lab Hoss on his last hunt, with a couple grouse taken behind my cabin. My apologies for not using a Parker that day. I like to make it challenging with a 28 gauge, and I don't yet have a Parker in that gauge.

[charlie cleveland]

very good storey...i wish we had more gamebirds in ole miss... the quail have really whisled a lot this year been several years since ive heard many a whisleling... charlie

[Ruff Hunter]

Glad to hear that it might be a good quail year down in ole Miss.

The western mountain states like Idaho get the outdoor press for big game species like elk and mule deer. But the real untold story out here is the diversity of wild game birds. On the same hunt, one can conceiveably bag wild pheasants, California quail, grouse, huns, doves, chukar, turkey and waterfowl. Several years ago I was lucky enough to accumulate a mixed bag of wild pheasants, huns, quail and ruffed grouse in one hunt. It made for quite a photo, but unfortunately, that was before my days with digital cameras and Parkers. I hope to repeat that experience this Fall with a Parker DHE.

[Ruff Hunter]

We just had one of the wettest Junes on record. Our rivers are currently at flood stage. We've never seen so much rain this late in the summer. Unfortunately, all these down-pours spells another bad upland bird hatch this year. Has anyone experienced a good nesting season in their part of the country this year?

[Larry the Gun Guy]

"The western mountain states like Idaho get the outdoor press for big game species like elk and mule deer. But the real untold story out here is the diversity of wild game birds. On the same hunt, one can conceiveably bag wild pheasants, California quail, grouse, huns, doves, chukar, turkey and waterfowl. Several years ago I was lucky enough to accumulate a mixed bag of wild pheasants, huns, quail and ruffed grouse in one hunt. It made for quite a photo, but unfortunately, that was before my days with digital cameras and Parkers. I hope to repeat that experience this Fall with a Parker DHE"

Don't take this wrong, but that's why the bird hunting in Idaho is so good...we DON'T TALK about it.

[Dean Romig]

Folks who have spent a bit of time in Northern New Hampshire this year are reporting many large healthy broods in flight already.