Grouse Reports ! ! !

Let us know where youre finding the birds, what were the conditions, what type of terrain.

Lets here some good dog stories as well.

Can we attach pictures in this forum now?

GraceonPoint;

I've experienced the same thing in years passed.  Birds holding fine, then a couple inches of snow and they seem to flush wild.  I've had them get up way the heck out when we were walking in on the logging trails.  I think they feel exposed with those initial snow falls.  I guess the other thing it tells you is how good their hearing is that they jump 75+ yards out when they hear you approach.  It probably also says a lot about how many we probably walk past in the earlier season.

My brother in law got up to Mercer for a long weekend.  Found birds that were still coveyed in groups of 5-6 down around Vilas County in a new cover we found last year.  Managed to bag a first grouse for his new Griff.   

I don't know what other guys are experiencing but since we got the snow the birds have been beyond skittish.    Don't know if its the accumulation of hunting pressure or lack of ground cover now.   

One of my better days 2 shots and 2 kills done by noon.
One of the birds had a crop packed like a baloon the size of my fist no wonder he flew so slow.  Crop had catkins and what looked like lightning bugs. Its winter up here with a few inches of snow so how he got so many bugs to eat maybe found a nest of hibernators. 

Sunday hunt with Ellie, gray phase.   Monday with her daughter Birdie, red phase 

Hunted NE WI and found 4 woodcock in two days. The majority have left.  Found lots of grouse though.  

Out today in East Central.MN. Plenty of woodcock around. 

Wild rice soup is my go to for pheasant and grouse!, wrap the pheasant in bacon grill it, then shred and add to creamy wild rice soup.

Birdy, no way I could grind up grouse meat its too good but that's an interesting idea for woodcock.  For woodcock I typically put in a crockpot, shread it and add it to homemade red beans and rice with some smoked sausage.  

Grouse I debone, and brine the fillets for about 1- 1 1/2 hrs, dont brine too long or it will make the meat rubbery.  Bread in plain flour and deep fry until the fillets stop bubbling vigorously.  The brine flavors the meat so you dont need to season the flour.

The brine is 2 oz of salt and 2 oz brown sugar packed add 4 cups of water,  I normally mix 2 cups of hot water first so the salt and sugar dissolve better than 2 cups of cold water.  Then I add some lemon juice, garlic and crushed red pepper and black pepper.   This brine works great on chicken/turkey and thick sliced pork chops, length of time varies if the poultry is on the bone or boneless.  1" and up chops normally brine about 4 hrs.

Not a hunting report per se but I was wondering about favorite recipes you guys have for your grouse and woodcock.  I have a chili recipe that I came up with years ago.  I think it's pretty good.  I even entered it into our town chili cookout to help fund raise for the high school football team.  43 people entered and my recipe won the cook off and received almost a third of all the votes!  People were shocked when they learned that I used ground grouse, woodcock and pheasant in the recipe.  I make it every year with the birds I froze from the previous season.  We take it up  north to grouse camp and make a few dinners out of it.

I also love cooking up the fresh birds with some garlic, herbs, butter, cognac and mushrooms.  Can't beat that after trudging many miles through the woods with the dogs.

What's your favorite?    

I was surprised to have the dog point one on Sunday.  I let it fly away.

Pretty much moved out of hayward area

Does anyone know if woodcock are still hanging around northern Wisconsin or have they migrated?  Freezing temps forecasted for this weekend.  Not sure if we should make the trip north.

Finished our week long hunt in NC and NE Wisconsin. Found a fair number of birds but not as good as last year. Ended up with 136 flushes of grouse and woodcock. Weather was more rainy this year than last. Found most birds in 9-12 year old cuts. A little younger than last year. I don’t believe the main woodcock flight has come down yet but still saw a fair number of flight birds. Grouse numbers for us were comparable to last year. Lots of miles walked and good times with life long friends. Can’t beat that. 

Birdy, yes had birds flushing. numbers seem to be down a bit from past few years but still good action and good to be out busting brush.

dont get me wrong there is still deer up north, they all seem to be hanging out by the lakeside cabins and within city limits. 

River. 

Did you have birds flushing?  I’ve been watching the weather up north in Mercer and it looks great today but probably a lot of rain the remainder of the week. 

Do you think the wolves are chasing the deer south?  About eight years ago, I noticed few deer in and around Mercer and Manitowish Waters. One of the local guys said he thought the wolves killed and chased the deer out. I also saw little to no wolf sign. The deer seemed to rebound a couple of years later and we had to drive 20 miles an hour around the flowage to avoid hitting the dozens of deer we encountered.

I hope they rebound. Don’t know if wolves are the issue but that was a theory I heard.