Grouse season opens tomorrow!

[Guy Miner]

My son and I will be up in the hills tomorrow, with the dog, looking for grouse! I'm actually a lot more excited about that, than I am about bear hunting this year. We've got plenty of bear skins hanging around the house...

Been working the dog a bit, we will see how he does tomorrow. Taking two shotguns, a double barrel 20 ga SKB/Ithaca and a 12 ga Beretta.





Will likely have a .45 Colt and a .44 mag along with, just in case we bump into a bear that needs shooting. I'd hate to ruin a good bird hunt though, by inflicting a big ol' dead bear into the mix.

Guy

 

[truck driver]

Use to love hunting Grouse, but now they are far and few between with the land being developed and habitat lost.
But meat is where you find it. :mrgreen:

 

[Vince]

Guy,

Great looking dog.
Let me know how he does.

Vince

 

[LD375]

Go get em Guy!..Man, grouse is my favourite pal!..Makes a nice sauce for some excellent Italian pasta, my favourite

Lou

 

[6mm Remington]

Good luck, ours opens soon here as well. I was out today cutting some firewood and getting a potential campsite all ready for archery/bear/grouse season to open. I had our cocker spaniel with me and our newest member who is a year old now and hopefully she will hunt like crazy. She's Hazel and she is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever. She's a duck and goose dog but I'm going to take her with me and see how she does on grouse. Who knows. Just great to be out there again.

 

[Guy Miner]

Dang, I didn't even think about using my bow... Could do... Been doing a little practice. Enough to hit a grouse at modest range. Huh.

Maybe later in the week.

Guy

 

[Oldtrader3]

Dove season opens this week in many states as well. I also used to hunt grouse a great deal with my dad in Maine and Quebec. He was a hard core grouse hunter and kept me on my toes if I wanted to shoot any birds while hunting with him. I use a 20 gauge Beretta 687 for all bird hunting now. I sold (4) shotguns a few years ago and do not hunt waterfowl any more. The 20 gauge O/U works well for all upland bird shooting.

 

[Guy Miner]

Not a grouse in the house! Or in the forest this morning. All my favorite spots, some where I'd seen grouse recently... Came up dry.

We did find:
A bear hunter. He was amused at the bird dog & bird hunters finding him.
A big mama mulie and her nearly grown "fawn." The young one would have filled a small freezer just fine.
A gut pile...
A set of huge tracks! I'm thinking moose...



Dog knows the Jeep is a good place to be. Can always find treats, water and somebody willing to call him a good boy there. He likes the Jeep. That's deliberate.


No grouse, but one heck of a good day afield.

Guy

 

[DrMike]

That is a great photo spread, Guy. We saw two large coveys of ruffed grouse yesterday and none today. I had a grouse gun along in case we found a covey. I think Noah and I will be going out deliberately looking for ruffies shortly. He is actually partial to blue grouse and sharptails. However, blue grouse are generally found in the mountains and sharptail limits are somewhat restricted. Ruffed grouse are plentiful throughout the region, so we see many more ruffies during our hunts unless we travel into the mountains. Good luck on filling the freezer with your limit of grouse.

 

[lefty315]

Well Guy, it has to beat working!! I took my girls out on the West side of Mt Rainier in the National forest this morning. Youngest daughter missed a blue grouse sitting on a stump with the 22. It flew straight up into the tree so we moved in to see where it went. About then the ground erupted and 6 more took off. Of course the little shotgun was in the jeep and not in my hands. Still a pretty fun day with the girls. That was the first game my youngest has ever taken a shot at.