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Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1377 Location: Denver, Colorado

Saw this gang of birds last Tuesday in Minnesota.

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For some reason, my photo-editor won't let me crop and resize. I've got a great shot of the hen in a tree next to the road.

And these birds are? Hard to tell much from the photo.

Dale

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

Did they yield right of way?

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1377 Location: Denver, Colorado

Dale:

Those are ruffed grouse. A hen and at least four sub-adults (not chicks, as they
could and did fly). She went down the road to distract me from her babies.

Better pix.

[URL=http://s135.photobucket.com/user/lamiii/media/hirez1%203.jpg.html]

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I told her I'd be back in about 2 months.

Lloyd3,
Now that is a great sight to behold.

Good Hunting and leave some seed stock,
Mike

Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2168 Location: Florida

Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2168 Location: Florida

double post:D Very Happy

Guest

Lloyd, thanks! Seeing grouse always does my heart good. Those northwoods get in your blood....hard to describe to non-grouse hunters.

Member Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1257 Location: Nebraska

In the northwoods, wouldn't there be a .22 rifle barrel sticking out along the fender?

Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 219 Location: Sussex Wisconsin

they are so much easier to hit that way.... Wink

...I mean its all a matter of priorities ...we shoot turkeys on the ground and nobody looks down their noses and squeaks out "Ground Swatting"..... Rolling Eyes

Heard they are coming out with a SC target that they just slowly roll down the road and your not supposed to take it until it stops and flops over....

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1377 Location: Denver, Colorado

KGB: cities aren't the only places where drive-bys occur. The local lexicon for grouse that make the unfortunate decision to hang by the dirt roads in regular daylight hours are "bonus birds". It would seem that shotguns are the method of choice in Northern Minnesota simply because that's what on-hand in season. Out of season harvests probably occur as well, and then I'd expect the quieter .22 to be the instrument of choice. You can even do it legally up there, you just have to be 3-vehicle lengths away from your ride when you take the shot. If grouse weren't so darn tasty the temptation would be far-easier to resist.

Member Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1257 Location: Nebraska

I'll be looking for those roll-and-stop targets next time I shoot a SC course! Would help the average a least a little. Only turkey I shot was flying--I'd circled around to try to herd them toward my father's friend but they'd run into the taller grass and I didn't expect them to come up around me. .003" of choke and #4's were good enough, and I wound up with a hen----if more of those spring hunters shot hens we'd have fewer of them populating our bird covers. Wink

Dan Thomason of western Montana has been fighting to get ruffs recognized as gamebirds which should be shot only on the wing but the traditions of potting them for the camp cook run too strong. Whether near-tame or set on hair triggers by a persistent army of men and dogs, they carry around some very tasty meat indeed.

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1377 Location: Denver, Colorado

Dale :

I feel like I owe you an apology. I've gone back over my photos of that day and I'm embarrassed to say that I was wrong; that isn't a Ruffed grouse hen, it's a Spruce grouse hen. I've made this mistake before and had to eat it. Sprucies aren't as tasty as ruffies so I try to avoid taking them home.

It was still a grouse, so you get off scot-free. Nice to see birds on the road even if it was a Spruce Grouse. They were so small in the photo it was tough to tell.

I have never shot a Spruce Grouse because I always heard they tasted like a pine cone. Not that I have sampled all that many pine cones but the idea of it kept me away from them.

Good Hunting,
Mike

Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 1377 Location: Denver, Colorado

The good news here is that I didn't have a gun. If it had been in season and she was the first bird I saw, she'd have been in trouble. About every other year, a hen gets up and fools me. You are so keyed-up to hit a rapidly departing Ruffed grouse that anything resembling one is at significant risk. The males are easy to ID (fairly dramatic coloration, very different posture from Ruffed, different behavior, etc.) and I generally leave them alone for a number of reasons. The lady that runs the wildlife district there tells me that Spruce Grouse numbers are in decline (for reasons yet unknown). Evidently, they don't drum, so good population counts are difficult to obtain (if drumming is a good tool for such studies? I have my doubts) . And, as it has been mentioned before, they don't eat that great.