Ruffed Grouse in Maine’s WMD 5

[Dean Romig]

Our experience while moose hunting WMD 5 for the past week is that grouse numbers are way down. We saw only 15 in 6 days and we saw six Spruce Grouse.





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[Stephen Hodges]

I guess with the wet spring we all experienced here in Northern New England that is not surprising.

[Alfred Houde]

Did you take a Moose?

[Dean Romig]

Yes Alfred. We took a 425 lb. 1 1/2 year old spike. Had the tenderloins last night. :clap:





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[Chris Pope]

I love to encounter spruce grouse. Reportedly, Ruffed grouse numbers here in northern NH are way down.

[edgarspencer]

A guide friend in Greenville texted me last night and said they shot 8 grouse and 10 woodcock yesterday. Two ways to look at that: Either he knows where to look, or there are none left.

[Dean Romig]

Not hard to do when most natives of the North Woods ground swat them.
I'm not saying that is wrong and certainly the law allows it... but it sure is a lot easier to bag your limit I'm told.

And I am NIOT suggesting your guide friend would support that.





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[edgarspencer]

Heater Hunters rarely spend $600 a day for a Maine Professional Guide, and Professional Guides don't feed, train and hunt 4-6 dogs for those people. They work pretty hard to put a hunter on pointed and flushed birds.
If you want to shoot birds in the road, all you need is a pickup truck with a full tank of gas and a case of beer.

[Daniel Carter]

A ground shot from the window of a truck gets you 6 oz's of meat. A pointer trained and worked by you self, and a bird shot on the wing gives you 6oz's of meat and the satisfaction of the dog's work, a shot well made and a trophy of a memory.

Please do not tell me it is a dirt poor man trying to feed his family. He burns enough gas to buy 10 lbs of chicken and if he is so poor how did he afford that $50,000 pickup. He is a lazy man who will not play fair if he can cheat.George Evans refers to them as a common avicide.

Sorry if i offend some here but my son had to pick pellets out of his leg from a road hunter who sped off when hollered at him after he shot out the window at a grouse our setter had pointed. He wanted that bird so badly he never saw the white setter 15 feet away or the 2 orange vested hunters behind the dog

[Dean Romig]

Yup, I know that Edgar. I was making reference to those with a shotgun, an pickup truck and a case of beer. And we've all seen that if we've spent any time up there.
I'm not casting stones - just stating the the facts.

Once again, it's not illegal and as far as personal preference goes it's not even unethical, except to those of us who wouldn't take grouse that way.





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[Dean Romig]

A ground shot from the window of a truck gets you 6 oz's of meat. A pointer trained and worked by you self, and a bird shot on the wing gives you 6oz's of meat and the satisfaction of the dog's work, a shot well made and a trophy of a memory.

Please do not tell me it is a dirt poor man trying to feed his family. He burns enough gas to buy 10 lbs of chicken and if he is so poor how did he afford that $50,000 pickup. He is a lazy man who will not play fair if he can cheat.George Evans refers to them as a common avicide.

Sorry if i offend some here but my son had to pick pellets out of his leg from a road hunter who sped off when hollered at him after he shot out the window at a grouse our setter had pointed. He wanted that bird so badly he never saw the white setter 15 feet away or the 2 orange vested hunters behind the dog

That's a whole 'nother topic Daniel. Shooting from a vehicle is entirely illegal and unethical.
But it is the common man's way of grouse hunting in that back country of Maine and several other states. It's the way it's always been done there. It's tradition...

My very first grouse hunt in my Vermont was with my mentor, grandfather figure and the Fire Chief of St. Johnsbury, VT.
He took me out grouse hunting in his Jeep when I was twelve of so.
I wrote about it in Parker Pages many years ago in "A Boy's First Partridge".


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[edgarspencer]

It's somewhat mystifying why you even brought up road hunters, since the thread was about grouse numbers. I merely remarked that a Professional Maine guide put hunters successfully on eight grouse, and ten woodcock, which are very unlikely to be shot in a road.

[Dean Romig]

It's somewhat mystifying why you even brought up road hunters, since the thread was about grouse numbers. I merely remarked that a Professional Maine guide put hunters successfully on eight grouse, and ten woodcock, which are very unlikely to be shot in a road.


I only brought it up because there seemed to be the question there, at least in my mind Edgar.

We do go round and round on things, don't we...

I'm not trying to be contentious, just so you know.





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[Stephen Hodges]

As a kid growing up in New a Hampshire it was a Sunday afternoon tradition in October to ride the back roads and bird hunt with my family. Whoever saw the bird first, which was usually sitting on a stone wall, got to exit the car and take the shot. I killed many grouse that way. We would go home and my mother would cook the birds for dinner. Great memories. Would I do that today? No, but still I recognize the tradition and do not frown on it. There are plenty of birds, and no one owns the “correct” way to hunt them. Sorry, JMHO

[edgarspencer]

I only brought it up because there seemed to be the question there (where?), at least in my mind Edgar.
The mind is a terrible thing to waste........., or loose
We do go round and round on things, don't we...

I'm not trying to be contentious, just so you know.What else are we supposed to do in our waning years?

[Dean Romig]

:rotf::corn::whistle:





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[Andrew Sacco]

TWO THINGS:

One, the fact that a batch of birds were ground swatted merely means there are birds, so there's that and that's not bad.

Two, from what I WAS TOLD and I could be wrong, and this was by a guide: "Try to get road hunting outlawed and try to change it and the state of Maine and the locals might try to change the laws to make out of state hunters jump through more hoops, such as requiring a guide or making the license very very expensive. It's easy and open access but you have to deal with the way things are, don't like it, go to another state." So I'm not sure if that's true or not, but don't piss in the locals cheerios, they own the bowl and the milk I guess. Reminds me of NYC people over running the Catskill rivers, they spawned the drift boat plaque and I will they'd just all leave. We don't want that in Maine is sort of what he was saying. Outsiders can't dictated what the locals do or you'll be sorry.

[John Taddeo]

I am Headed to Eustice (Stratton) tomorrow for a week with the Ruffed one... Good weather and enough birds to keep the dogs on their game is all that one can ask for...

[Ira Whitten]

I may be up along the Maine-NH border in the next couple weeks. I will post a report and some pictures if/when I get up there. It’s a weather and work dependent trip.

[Dan Steingraber]

I just left northern New Hampshire and some flight birds are already in. Made for an exciting last 2 days.

[Daryl Corona]

I just left northern New Hampshire and some flight birds are already in. Made for an exciting last 2 days.

Exciting??? For you or the birds?:)

[Dan Steingraber]

Exciting??? For you or the birds?:)

I’m assuming for both. I know the dogs sure had a blast and a very high percentage of birds escaped unscathed, 😂😂🤷*♂️