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?

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.       

Woodcock were in pretty thick in Vilas and Iron two weeks ago. I think they got the heck out of town when the weather rolled in around the 14th through the 18th. After last Monday, we didn’t move more than six through Friday. 

Any of you guys care to share your observations or opinions on where we are on the woodcock migration in the northern tier of the state, say north of highway 8? Are they through there already or are more to come ya think? I haven’t been out in a couple weeks cuz my dog went lame on me and I had to do a regimen of carprofin pills to get him back to normal. Hoping to go late this week and hoping I didn’t miss out on the little buggers.

Feeling bummed out that I have to return to work tomorrow after a great week grouse hunting up north. This trip I focused on helping a couple of my buddies get their first bird. One did and the other didn’t. the one who did hasn’t stopped talking about it since Friday. We can all relate. 

I really enjoyed working with my pup Abigail. This is her second real season on grouse. She pointed and held her birds well and she stayed steady to shot which was awesome. She got injured Thursday morning which required a trip to the vet in Minocqua and rest the remainder of the trip but she is doing great. 

Lots of birds around this year. Very nice to see. Had a good number of flushes although not a lot of shooting. However, I managed to shoot the largest grouse I’ve ever seen on Thursday.  Great big male that had flushed from behind a brush pile the day before and happened to be right back in the same spot the next day.  Huge bird. 

Great trip. Decent weather. Hope to eek out a few more days before the holidays hit. 

Was up this weekend,  Roy flushed a dozen,  surprisingly I got 2. Should've had another that was a gimme.  Beautiful time and weather for the end of October. He's tired and happy. 

Hunted vilas county for 2 hours yesterday morning.  Had 11 grouse flushes, no shots on them though.  They were all in pines along swampy areas.  Managed 1 woodcock.

First year grouse hunter here.  I've been hunting near our cabin in Vilas county with my english setter Sage most weekends.  She's a bit over a year old, and it has been an absolute blast watching her figure everything out.  I tried training with pigeon and quail, but she showed very little interest in them.  Got her on some wild birds the first weekend of the season, and she went nuts.  Her first few times out she would just charge right in and flush the birds well out of range.  Now she is figuring it out and has slowed down a bunch.  She holds a point so nicely, and has impressed me with her tracking abilities on running birds.  Enough about the pup, here's the report from this past weekend.  Saturday we had woodcock everywhere, and a half a dozen grouse.  Sunday there wasn't a woodcock to be found, but we did find a good number of grouse.  Will be back up there this weekend for the last time until gun deer season.  

Hunted north of Minocqua yesterday in the heavy snow. It was pretty but not productive. Pup pointed one bird for a long time but it flushed into pines and I had no shot. Flushed 13 this morning and had a shot at one and missed. Abby pointed a group of six. Five flushed one after the other as I moved in to where she was. The sixth flushed out of a tree four feet over my head.  Frustrating but I was really happy she held tight when those birds flushed. Headed back out this afternoon. Snow is melting fast and it looks like we timed the leaf drop because they are coming down like a blizzard. Pretty cool. 

Got up north with buddies early afternoon. Very wet with snow. Hunted about 1.5 hrs. Flushed 4 grouse and 9 woodcock in the walk. Came home with 5 woodcock. Most of the birds came in younger cuts. Be back out tomorrow.

Great day in the far Northwoods, snow flurries on and off most of the day… 3 flushes, 3 misses… my dog did a good job, my shooting not so great… back out tomorrow!

I drove up on a guy in the UP years ago who was filling up the back of his truck with plants. Middle of nowhere. He jumped in his truck when I drove by and hauled azz outta there.  Its out there

Theres been a few busts for growing reefer on public land over the years.  The most recent in my memory is near Marinette and another south of Shawano.  

I have never seen evidence of pot being grown on the public lands I hunt in NW WI.  I grew up in KY it was pretty easy to spot besides a cleared out area typically you would see 5 gal buckets, tarps and miracle grow laying around.   Pot growers down there always harvested before the first frost, we stayed out of the woods during Sept when folks were either harvesting or protecting their patches.  

Hunterandhound:

I was watching that. Looks nasty. Maybe knocks some leaves off.  Next week looks really good though.

150class:

Interesting point. Not out of the realm of possibility but something haven’t considered. I’ve never found weed in the woods but I’m sure it’s out there. 

Probably growing pot back in the woods and making sure you werent headed to that area