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?

Ive done terrible shooting this year and today was a classic miss of another gimme. 3 shots down a wide open logging trail and all missed.  In the 2 years previous I would take too much time to aim and shoot and not get off a meaningful shot.  

Now this year is just the opposite where I  just point and shoot. I am probably shooting too high and behind. BUT ITS CALLED A SCATTERGUN FOR A REASON  .  

Thats awesome!  gorgeous dogs

The Bearded ladies had an exceptional hunt 

I agree with the ATV/UTV’s. They irritate the daylights out of me. The county land around me has basically turned into a racetrack for them. They run around locked gates, over berms, and are a ridiculous hazard on county highways. 

At least by me, they arrived on the landscape in huge numbers in 2020 when the north woods population exploded. Money and credit came easy for lots of people, and so came all the obnoxious toys. 

On the bright side, the way our economy is headed you’ll probably see a lot of these up for sale soon. 

Graceonpoint I couldn't agree more. 

Last weekend in Marinette county I could hear a ton of them going in one direction on a trail in the distance.  It seemed like a convoy that went on for a crazy long time.  As I hunted my way toward that trail and get near it I heard a some coming back the other way on the trail.  When I got in sight of the trail I saw a bunch go by and after a while I thought jeez how many are there?  So I started counting after quite a few had already passed.  I sh$t you not I counted another 108 all in one pack.  All revving engines, breaking the back tires loose, swerving around and tearing up the trail.

I guess they have an equal right to be there and it's great for the tavern owners.  

Anyone else annoyed by all the ATV/UTV traffic?  I hunt primarily Sawyer and Washburn counties its like being in a Mad Max movie some days, those dang RZRs can absolutely fly.  I'm not sure what the laws are but it appears to be the wild west.  I know gates don't seem to matter or an obvious bird hunter parked at the gate.  People just head on in.  

Had a good day Saturday despite some wet and cold weather… ended up with 3 birds

When we hunted a couple weeks ago we found berries in 2 of 5 grouse harvested. A lot of areas we hunted did have those berries however. Not a ton but they were available. Most grouse were seen/heard under some type of spruce trees. 

River_chaser:

That might be wintergreen. We found a huge plot of it in a new cover a couple of weeks ago. Grouse love it. I hunted the cover hard and bagged two birds loaded with the red berries. Bright red. 

2 birds this week, big healthy birds too.  Both birds had red berrys in the crop.  Are those called hackberrys?  Plenty of bright red berries growing this year.

What are you guys finding in the crops?

I decided to go deer hunting and hunt with my friends on public land. I found a gentleman hunting my tree. He said he’d be gone by tomorrow morning. So I grabbed my shotgun and went back to where I flushed grouse. I ran into a woodcock minutes from getting out of my truck. It flushed out into the open and I took a shot. I bagged by first woodcock.

WWYH. 

Cool report. I agree on the number of birds seen. We flushed a good number of birds. Better than last year or 2020. Also explored some new cover including an amazing clear cut I have driven past dozens of times the last 15 years or so. I kept driving past thinking nothing would be there. Finally backed the truck in and it was loaded with birds and the cover only got better the farther we went in!  Found another great spot right out our back door that I never knew existed. Locked into the GPS for the next trip. Half the fun of this trip was scouting new cover and putting new guys on birds. And I got a lot of training time with my pup.  I live for this time of year!

Late report from last week in NC and NE counties. 

Hunted hard from the 15th-22nd. We had 4 dogs we could rotate in and out. First few days weather wasn’t great but temperatures were. Bird numbers were outstanding. Flushed a total of 210 birds during the week. Our grouse shooting was terrible. Only got 5. We did end up with a fair number of woodcock for the week. We found the majority of our birds in 10-12 year old cuts. Had a few places where birds were in slightly older cuts. Lots of hunters but we were able to hunt places we felt were not touched a bunch. We put on a ton of miles but it was well worth it. 

Already looking forward to next years week and still have a long weekend in November to chase some pheasants in another state. 

woodcock are plentiful around here in central wi. presently

I'm hunting in the NW part of the state I cant say they've been super thick they're was a little pulse of birds that moved down with the bad weather a week or so ago but they didn't stick around long.   The ground is so dry the birds are going to move on through quickly.