Shot size for mid season Grouse
 

Hi. Wondered what most use for grouse? Right barrel, left barrel? Shot size - 28 gauge, 2 1/2 chambers. Mid season.

Thanks

What kind of grouse (sage, ruffed, spruce, sharptail, driven [Red] grouse ? Also what choke in what barrel ? All "need to knows" for the trophy bird.

Sorry - Good question, my mistake

IC and Mod.

The King - Ruffed Grouse.

For Ruffed grouse shooting out of a 28 ga. IC & Mod I have used 3/4 oz. #7.5 in the IC barrel and #6s in the MOD barrel. Where I hunt (upstate NY) the leaves are still quite dense up through the middle of October and I like 6s for a second shot to punch through the leaf canopy (usually after missing the first shot!). ( A couple of times I have actually hit the second barrel just as a bird disappeared behind a dense overhanging canopy and killed the bird on that shot)

I think if you have a decent dog a 28 ga. is fine for Ruffed grouse; I don't have dogs anymore and have gone exclusively to a wide-open bored 16 ga. (SK/IC) as my go-to grouse gun. They are light and easy to handle and carry through the woods and are lightning fast getting on the bird. I shoot standard velocity loads in both barrels; the cover we hunt is very dense and shots are usually at close range (15-20 yds.). We stay away from the high brass stuff; to me a grouse is as fragile a bird as a dove or a woodcock: only a few pellets usually prove lethal. Good luck and good hunting!

I've had great success with 7&1/2's on every grouse species I've hunted including sage grouse.

For The King, regardless of gauge, I shoot #8 shot until the leaves are off then I might switch to 7.5 in my tighter choked barrel.





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Thx for the responses. RST only makes 7, 7.5, 8 and smaller in the 2 1/2 28 gauge. They make 6 shot loads in 2 3/4. All my 28s are chambered 2 1/2. Really wanted to try grouse with 28 this year and wanted others feedback. I’ve always used 16 or 20 gauge in the past.

I use #8 shot in my 28 ga. almost exclusively for grouse and woodcock until the leaves are down.

I use #8 shot in my 20's and 16's also.

I go to #7 1/2 in the tighter choked barrels in all my guns in the late season.





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OK thanks. Just wanted to make sure I am good with no 6s.

Anyone use the Brush wad shells from RST? I guess a bit of a spreader effect?

Prairie Birds (Sharptail, Sage and Pheasant) I use RST # 7 in both barrels early season, late season switch to # 6 in left barrel.
Quail # 8 right barrel and 7 1/2 in left barrel.
Same combination in all gauge.

For Sharptails I use 6's because shots can be relatively long. I never use my 28 bore on them since I don't use anything larger than 7 1/2 in this gun. It doesn't handle 6's all that well. Because of the potential for longer range shots, I always considered sharptails and huns as 16 or 12 bore birds.

For ruffed grouse with the 28 bore, I use 3/4 oz loads of #9 early in the season and #8's later in the season. In my coverts, which are very thick even in the winter, long shots rarely occur and when they do, I don't shoot.

Ruffed grouse can be successfully hunted without a dog, but I would quit bird hunting if I didn't have a well trained (professionally) bird dog. It just wouldn't be the same for me without a canine companion.

Like Dean and Tom, for ruffed grouse I like smaller shot in the early season, especially in the right barrel, and 7 1/2s in the left. Later, I'll use 7 1/2s in both barrels. If I go after late January Iowa river bluff birds or Appalachian ruffs in February, I may slip a number 7 in the left barrel (and make sure it's copper plated). My go-to grouse 28s have open (right) and tight (left) chokes.

for grouse put me down as another 8's in the right and 7 1/2 in the left
(8's in both if its a woodcock spot that rarely shows me a grouse)

if and when I get a good second barrel shot at this mythical bird, I like the slight extra weight in the shot size because by then the bird is out there.

the season is rushing up on us. I just had the pup down in the Finger Lakes running him on a friend's quail - some nice points, still not completely steady to flush but he is not yet 9 month and had a late start with the hot summer. a crash course this next week - season starts a week from tomorrow - and the training grounds are on the way home from several of my covers - so tune ups are likely

the leaves are changing fast - told my daughter (aka training assistant) that I might not have to shoot as many of them down this year.

just waiting to see if the long dry spell will depopulate many of my woodcock spots - they are going to need diamond bits to get into some of this ground

I think the combination of 8's in the right barrel and 7 1/2's in the left is a sound choice for general ruffed grouse shooting, although I use 9's in both barrels. But it really comes down to the thickness of the cover and the average range of the shots. I hunt ruffed grouse in Sasketechawan incidental to my sharptail and hun shooting. The wooded cover surrounding the sharptail fields contains many grouse although you have to walk longer for a shot than you do in my home coverts in NY. They are not concentrated as the NY birds are. The shots are typically longer and I simply use my modified and full guns using my sharptail loads of 1200 fps and 1 1/4 oz. of #6 shot. It works well for me although if I was just hunting the ruffed grouse I would probably use 7 1/2's. It all depends on the cover and average distance the birds are taken.