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Joined: 12 Mar 2012 Posts: 684 Location: Ontario

Dale, I hope you are able to continue to use it for many years. I wouldn't sell it if I were you. I have had more than one offer for mine and it's not even a 16!!

And I do know Gil is first in line. I'm betting a gator or Eastern Diamondback takes him out first. LOL

Here is a pretty good looking Coggie I saw for sale at Hill Rod & Gun. A 16 bore and it looks like it would make a fine grouse gun for some lucky soul.

If anyone has interest you can find it at

http://www.hillrodandgun.com/invent.php

Good Hunting,
Mike

As an aside, the only thing I don't like about grouse hunting is the patience it requires. After I set out the grouse decoys and hunker down in the bushes with my setter curled up at my feet, it seems like a very long wait before any grouse fly by. But when they do, I'm ready with my 2lb 16ga sxs! I probably should work on my grouse calling too...

So, what are your favorite grouse calls and/or decoys?

Joined: 12 Mar 2012 Posts: 684 Location: Ontario

Dale, Mike, love the pics of those guns.
If I may go astray a bit.
I have hunted quail with two flushing Labs, not unusual in itself, but the Labs were field trial dogs and very good at hand signals. I would send the dogs on either side of some good uphill cover and ask them to work the area between me and them, which flushed the birds in my direction. Pass shooting quail! Very Happy

Joined: 22 Jan 2015 Posts: 345

A slingshot makes a decent grouse getter. Choked full-open, round slugs usually work best, but a palm full of clean 00 river pebbles ain't bad either.

Joined: 30 Jun 2015 Posts: 43 Location: Mississippi

I wish I could hunt grouse. You guys make me jealous. All we have in my area are doves in winter, and we're lucky to see those. But something tells me I would be hunting grouse with my old Savage.

Joined: 15 Jul 2012 Posts: 127 Location: Golden, Colorado

I remember someone made grouse calls, because I used one as a kid...maybe an outfit like Primos. They try to make every call possible. Anyone else out there recall this?
You can also attract a hen or a territorial male by pounding on a log with a cheap pair of drumsticks...turkey works best.

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1380 Location: Denver, Colorado

As a gallinaceous species (i.e., "chicken-like") Ruffed Grouse do make sounds occasionally. There is a "putt" alarm call that I sometimes mistake (generally to my regret!) for the very similar sound of a red squirrel, and on rare occasions, a chicken-like mewling sound that I interpret as irritation as they attempt to walk away from you in thick cover, and, finally, the almost ringing, pinging, chirp that they make as they are thundering away in full flight. Drumming is a uniquely singular sound that is made with their cupped wings. I can't imagine that pounding on something will closely imitate that.

However, most of the time they are dead silent, since they tend to last longer that way. They can even fly in silent mode when they want to. I suspect that this is how they fly most of the time.

About 70 days to go now.......

Joined: 06 Sep 2007 Posts: 154 Location: Kentucky

Haven't killed a grouse in years but all of the few I've killed fell to a 16 ga 870 w a modified choke. Why.? It was the only gun I had at the time.

Joined: 25 Feb 2008 Posts: 34 Location: ohio 44442

The grouse gun must fit properly, point and swing natural. The shooter must hear and see very good and be quick on the draw. I like 1 oz of 7.5# shot from a 16ga. gun. Todays shells are so good that no choke is best till late season. I am a setter man and hunt grouse with a vintage SXS....Light O frame 16ga Parker guns are my first choice followed by A.H. Fox. I also like the modern Parker reproduction that was made by Tom Skeuse back in the late 80-s I have a repro 16 that is double triggers choked Q1/Q2...it works well. I own a Ithica ICD 4-E 20/16 combo that makes a real nice bird gun as well. Last season I hunted a 1922 VH-16 with 26" barrels 6lbs-1oz choked .007/.026 Its one of those guns that do not miss! Must let the bird get out a ways...if you center one too close don't plan to eat it! This year I have acquired a DHE-16 that was made in 1912 Its a light 1 frame that comes in at 6lbs-4oz. 26" properly cut back from 28" and is perfectly choked for grouse hunting. .000/.003 My Gordon setter will be 4 years and 10 months this October and we have several hunts on our plate. A first time trip to Wisconsin for a week of grouse, a few trips back to potter county P.A. and back to Kansas for wild quail and roosters. My rooster gun is a Parker repro 16 that has collected wild roosters at 50 yards or better like clock work...love that gun! I shoot Fiocchi HV 5# from that 6lb-4oz repro. The left barrel has .031 of choke or X-full for 16ga. Our best year in Kansas was 2011. The drought of 2012 hit the plains hard, we only got 6 roosters for three hunter in 6 days!, it was bad!!! This will be a first trip back to Kansas and hope its much better now. The reports are mixed but know we will have a good time how ever it turns out. We do get into some wild quail that is so special now days. Few people get to hunt wild quail anymore. Remember a 16 kills like a 12 but carries like a 20...(-: Thanks all SXS ohio