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fourtrax
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:36 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 04 Jun 2009
Posts: 827
Location: N. Shore, mn

This grouse has been drumming steadily since April. He's slowing down now but was still drumming last week. He resides a short ways from the local trap range here. Trying out the new trail cam seemed like a good idea.



Dave Erickson,
There are grouse in MN!!
When you retire...........................






[url=https://flic.kr/p/Vcq5U1] [/url]grs on log by steven clarke, on Flickr

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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 7:18 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

fourtrax,

Great stuff, I might have to make another trip to MN for some Grouse hunting now that I am retired! Problem with that is I have lots of Grouse right here in Potter County, Pa and there right in my front yard. Still MN sounds like Grouse heaven to me.

Love the trail Cam picture!


Pine Creek/Dave

One of my resident drive way Grouse here at home just in front of our Log Cabin front door.

[URL=http://s264.photobucket.com/user/pine-creek/media/DSCN2085_zps0pyuwfqz.jpg.html] [/URL]

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Chicago
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:09 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 12 Aug 2007
Posts: 1376
Location: Northern Illinois

I miss the Drummer in my backyard in Marquette. He had a log at the corner of my property and he liked my raspberries and apple trees. No ruffed grouse in northern IL, but I did see a Sharptail once.

I do have a resident grouse at the cabin in Marquette and my pups never understand why I don’t shoot it.

Good Hunting,
Mike
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Cold Iron
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 2:11 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 09 Mar 2016
Posts: 746
Location: Mn.

Great picture Steve! I have heard of this grouse near the trap field for years and now there is proof. Look at you going all high tech Very Happy Hunting season is all of 3 months away...

Dave I don't even go back "home" to Potter, Tioga and Bradford anymore to hunt. Population is dropping fast in much of the State they think it has to do with West Nile Virus. Including the Southern Tier of NY now. Never will be the 70's or 80's again but hope things improve soon and the population decline reverses. And the big woods get logged more.
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Soggy socks
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 5:49 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 26 Apr 2016
Posts: 369
Location: Vermont

Our populations in Vermont at least where i live have declined sharply. Pretty much mature forest now. My favorite woodcock covert has condo units on it now. We still find some grouse but now like before. Treasure everyone now, my son does not understand why I don't shoot (at)them behind the house. I just like seeing them on my way to my tree stand.
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 8:31 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

soggy socks,

Hate to hear about condo's being built on good Woodcock Coverts, at least if the owner builds it should be a nice single family home, not a stinking condo where people live right up against each other.

Cold Iron,
We have been lucky here on the northern tier around Potter/Tioga, our Grouse population has only dipped slightly, over on the other side of Mansfield, the population has been effected more severely for some unknown reason. Although we have no actual proof that WN is effecting the Pa Grouse population, the lack of proper forest management sure has. The PGC needs to harvest a lot more trees. Where the SFL has been managed properly with their timbering projects, we have plenty of Grouse.

Got to admit we use the Grouse on our home property for puppy training purposes and seldom shoot them. Love to be able to see them right under the picnic tables here in the front yard, I truly do get to live in God's country.


RGD/Dave

Boss what's that buried in the snow under the picnic table? Pine Creek Rory hunts with God now, he passed from Cancer this past year at the young age of 5. He was a Grouse dog when his feet hit the Ground at birth.

[URL=http://s264.photobucket.com/user/pine-creek/media/Roryarriveshome036.jpg.html] [/URL]

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tramroad28
PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 2:50 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 20 Jul 2011
Posts: 625
Location: Ohio..where ruffed grouse were

Pine Creek/Dave wrote:
... Boss what's that buried in the snow under the picnic table? Pine Creek Rory hunts with God now, he passed from Cancer this past year at the young age of 5. He was a Grouse dog when his feet hit the Ground at birth.

[URL=http://s264.photobucket.com/user/pine-creek/media/Roryarriveshome036.jpg.html] [/URL]


So sorry to hear about Rory. Sad

I recall when you had to give him up at such a young age....that had to be tough but, he went to a good hunting home.
I'm sure he is now on point...waiting....for his owner....to make her or his way to him.
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 7:36 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

tramroad28,

Rory at 9 months old on Grouse point in the Pa mountains, a bad tempered little boy with Grouse finding abilities of a 4 year old Veteran Grouse Dog. He found 6 birds this particular dry still day. The lady who kept and housed him for me, loved him very much, he was treated like a king all his life.

RGD/Dave

[URL=http://s264.photobucket.com/user/pine-creek/media/DaisyTrainingRory035.jpg.html] [/URL]

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tramroad28
PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 4:37 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 20 Jul 2011
Posts: 625
Location: Ohio..where ruffed grouse were

Bad temper can be misunderstood but, oh, well.
Puppies can be a handful if one is not used to true oomph...especially some breedings.
But, that can also be a good thing, as with the potential Rory appeared to indicate.
Was he from Fazenbaker or Doc? or....?

Does not matter tho......too soon gone and I am sorry for the lady who understood.
They all and very soon get deep within us.
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 7:02 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2786
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

tr28,

Rory was a great dog to humans, however he would not become socialized with any other animals at all. Even after my big Weimar female tuned him up more than several times, he tried to aggressively dominate the entire kennel.

He was submissive to humans, especially me and very jealous of other dogs being around me. His temperament was just terrible with other animals, and my Small Munsterlander male would not tolerate the dominant aggression from him at all.

I had to keep Rory separate from the rest of the dogs in the kennel or he would immediately become aggressive to them. The way my home kennel is set up, this housing was almost impossible. In my home kennel my dogs are expected to mingle freely with each other, and become part of the wolf pecking order.

Rory came from the Fazenbaker breeding program and for some reason he absolutely required his own home, Lynn provided that loving home for him as long as he lived.

Having training many many Gun Dogs from lots of different breed lines I realized what I was dealing with when Rory was 10 months old and refused to socialize at all with other animals, he was then placed in his own home environment where he became a loving part of Lynn's house hold. He never showed any aggression to humans, however one of his litter mates was aggressive even with humans.

Pine Creek/Dave

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tramroad28
PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 8:27 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 20 Jul 2011
Posts: 625
Location: Ohio..where ruffed grouse were

I agree...homes and owners surely differ!
I believe that more time should be spent evaluating an owner's limits in self and home and reason for purchase than in finely sifting a pup's pedigree.
Not many truly bad dogs are out there....dog Fit is It.

Often, owners simply have inexperience or requirements that make it difficult to work through the many issues which pups as individuals can bring with them.
However, if conditions are unworkable then it is indeed best for a pup to find a better owner more suited to sweat and heavy lifting....despite any expectations the first owner may have had which found them with a pup sometimes chosen just to fit an image or a desire or a color palette.

At times tho, the issues appear more a misconnect in the choosing and less a disconnect in the pup.
When that first reality happens, it is sad to witness.

Here's to hoping that all pups get an even break.
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tda003
PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:41 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Apr 2017
Posts: 60
Location: St. Simons Island, GA

I have a Gordon Setter who will point quail. I suspect she'd point a grouse if the opportunity presented itself. However, where I live in the Southeastern-most corner of Georgia, It's just too hot and humid to safely hunt her. Does anyone here know if there are actually grouse in Georgia? There is a season for them in North Georgia, but I can't find any recent posts from anyone who has hunted them successfully. So that may be like having a sasquatch season.

Just to make it clear, one of the places I take lessons is a hunt club and she has found leftover quail. I can't shoot them, but she seems happy enough to just point them. She once pointed up a tree and it turned out that there actually was a quail up there.

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tramroad28
PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 2:51 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 20 Jul 2011
Posts: 625
Location: Ohio..where ruffed grouse were

I would see no reason to believe that ruffed grouse would be extinct in northern Georgia, i.e. the southern extent of the Appalachians.
No doubt the bird is facing ever-growing extirpation in many such locales tho.
Would one hunt them?
Some would.
Not sure why but if it is legal, then there will always be someone wishing to kill one.

The point, to me, is not in shooting and killing the last grouse in a southern App. covert but it is killing the last grouse in a covert by not shooting it.
Just flushing the bird at a bad time of the season can be the same as a pellet to the gizard.
And that, ....seems regretable, to me when undertaken for reasons of "I never have.." or yet another notch on a scattergun's grip.

You could look at the ACGRP report for some info.
I believe NC participated...can't recall now if other southern states entered the study.
Interesting reading, regardless.

Whether one wishes to look for Georgia Bonasa U is up to the individual...personally, I would be afraid that I would find one.Idea
I would also not be bold enough to look down on any person who would hunt them....one does what one thinks best and wise and ethical when given a look wider than one's own game bag.
Truly, an individual decision.

I have a Gordon pup....good luck with yours.
Yours will not need a grouse to be happy....dem quail will do just fine.
And yes, dogs will point birds in trees....not really unusual, just takes the right conditions.

Have fun...buy a Gazetteer and hit the Superslab for the pup..
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tda003
PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 3:15 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Apr 2017
Posts: 60
Location: St. Simons Island, GA

I don't need to shoot them, I'd just like to let her do her thing from time to time. Quail would be good, too, but it's just to hot and humid down here.

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tramroad28
PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 3:21 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 20 Jul 2011
Posts: 625
Location: Ohio..where ruffed grouse were

That's one reason they make shooting Preserves.

I'm sure one could pick an autumn or winter morning with dew for scent and maybe scudding clouds where heat and humidity could be held at bay for awhile, at least until pup gets a snootful of what his genetics hunger for.
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