Grouse and Woodcock Shooting

[Wild Skies]

I received the following in an e-mail, found it interesting and thought youse might find it interesting, too.

PDJ Pass Along Email


Grouse and Woodcock Shooting

By Steve Smith
If you've spent any time at all in the grouse and woodcock covers, you have likely figured out that woodcock are easier to hit than ruffed grouse. But how much easier?

Ken Szabo from Ohio runs a nifty little outfit called The Loyal Order of Dedicated Grouse Hunters. He puts out a newsy monthly newsletter called Grouse Tales and sells some nice products as well. (I'm pretty sure Ken doesn’t remember me, but we met at a RGS banquet in Ohio more than 30 years ago.)

Every year, he asks his members to keep a log of their grouse-hunting success: days and hours hunted, flushes, flushes per hour, type of dog and shotgun used, percentage of flushes they were able to get shots at, and how many of those shots bagged a bird. This year, he also asked for the number of woodcock flushes, flushes shot at, and successful shots, too.

The percentages of flushed grouse that the cooperators got shots at came out close to the group's long-term average for grouse = 24.9 percent. For woodcock, the same group got shots at 32.27 percent, which you would expect because woodcock are generally in sight longer and are less likely to flush wild. But shooting success? For grouse it was 33.98 percent, but woodcock a whopping 55.99 percent. And remember, though woodcock lie better and fly slower, the majority of woodcock shooting takes place while the leaves are still up, while grouse, not being migratory, are hunted well into the fall when visibility is better.

Of course, as you can imagine, this gang can shoot. But if their success rates can be applied to grouse and woodcock hunters nationwide, you have to flush four grouse to get a shot at one, then you’ll hit one of three you shoot at. That means it takes a dozen grouse in the air to produce one bird in the oven.

For woodcock, you get a shot at one in three. I would have thought that number would be higher, but a number of the cooperators had very low woodcock shot-at numbers – one fellow flushed 123 woodcock and shot at none (there’s a purist for you); another flushed 70 and shot at eight, killing six – that had to be a guy working a pup. With a shooting success rate better than one bird for two shells, it would take only six woodcock up to bring one down – just about twice the grouse success.

Just an FYI: A quick glance through the data shows that those hunting with flushing dogs did about the same as those with pointing breeds on either bird.

[OH Osthaus]

"That means it takes a dozen grouse in the air to produce one bird in the oven."

seems I have seen the one out of a dozen as a statistic shown in a couple other sudies of journals kept by grouse hunters.

[charlie cleveland]

these grouse must be some challenge to hunt and shoot...what gauge of shotgun and ammo do you grouse hunters deem the best..and this may be a dumb question to some but is a woodcock and a snipe the same birds...we have snipe in miss. but for sure no grouse...if these grouse are harder to hit than a big phezant then they truly are a worthy opponet... charlie

[Dean Romig]

I wonder if there are statistics on hunter flushes and success rates for those who don't hunt with dogs?

Charlie, you can only compare pheasant hunting with grouse hunting if you're hunting pheasant in 25 ft. tall cornstalks and the pheasants stay below the the tops of the corn while zig-zagging through it at 40 m.p.h.

[Wild Skies]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

... is a woodcock and a snipe the same birds...we have snipe in miss. but for sure no grouse... charlie

Charlie, woodcock and snipe are two different game birds. As you know snipe are found in wet marshy areas, whereas the habitat of woodcock is generally damp woodlands and tag alders. A Woodcocks diet is nearly 100% earthworms, they probe with their prehensile beak into the soil for their meals. Here's a pic I took the other day of a Woodcock hen, she was on a blacktop road, probably had a nest nearby and let me approach within a couple of feet before flushing and flying off to just the other side of the road.

[OH Osthaus]

There is a shot of a lifetime

[Wild Skies]

Originally Posted by charlie cleveland

...what gauge of shotgun and ammo do you grouse hunters deem the best...charlie

For both ruffed grouse and woodcock my preferred gun is a 28-ga. DHE Parker Reproduction choked IC/M. The country we hunt them in is pretty thick, it is not unusual to have to carry the gun in one hand while pushing branches and trees out of the way in order to get through, so a light well-balanced gun is preferred for all day carrying. I typically shoot 3/4 oz. of #7 1/2's as it doesn't take much to bring them down, the real challenge is getting a good shot off. Here's a pic of the type of habitat that we find Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock in in the Lake States. The 2nd pic is of my English Setter Winston, stopping to point another Woodcock while retrieving a Woodcock. Unfortunately, I missed the shot on the 2nd bird--darn it!

[Dean Romig]

Vermont, NH and Maine cover is similar...



.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Charlie, you can only compare pheasant hunting with grouse hunting if you're hunting pheasant in 25 ft. tall cornstalks and the pheasants stay below the the tops of the corn while zig-zagging through it at 40 m.p.h.

oh if it were only so easy

Finger Lakes cover





Charlie - to determine if you are in the right cover, unload your gun and lean it against a tree. Put both hands down to your side, and fall over backwards. If you hit the ground - its not thick enough

[Double Play]

Originally Posted by Rick Losey

Put both hands down to your side, and fall over backwards. If you hit the ground - its not thick enough

I think Charlie is going to stick with pheasant hunting.