16ga.com ~ View topic - Holiday grousing w/ a '53 Belgian Browning

Joined: 27 Nov 2020 Posts: 84 Location: mtns of central PA

I found an IC barrel online for my sweet 16 last year, and it's living out its second life as a grouse gun. Just had an enjoyable couple days hunting the high country of West Virginia (my native land), and managed to put a couple grouse in the bag. If you've ever hunted those rhododendron h#lls, you know they don't come easy! We are whipped.

The birds were being cagey and not giving the dogs much to work with, but we found tracks in the snow, and my young pup and my buddy's older GSP tracked this running bird for quite a ways through the rhododendron and hemlock jungle...point and move, point and move... finally they pinned it beneath a rhododendron, both dogs locked on with a lovely double point, wish I had a picture. My buddy circled around and gave us a nice shooting opportunity. I'll keep the fan, quite a nice mature bird. I missed a bird in just about the same spot last year over my older dog's point.

Joined: 07 Mar 2010 Posts: 483 Location: South Eastern PA

Good going. What a great way to finish the year.

Joined: 26 Nov 2020 Posts: 33

Hard earned * gorgeous bird.

Beautiful tail! Some of my first covers were Mountain Laurel with some Rhododendron, birdy but tough. A well deserved reward!

Boon,

Fantastic Grouse hunt, with great dog work. God makes you earn those Grouse Christmas presents for sure. My kind of Grouse hunt buddy. I love both the WVa & Pa mountains, with the best Grouse hunting on earth.

Beautiful tail on that Grouse!

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

I suppose it depends on your definition, but it is fairly well established that the best grouse hunting in the U.S. is the upper Midwest. There is a reason the RGS annual fundraising dinner is in MN.
Good Hunting,
Mike

Chicago,

There is a reason RGS moved its headquarters to Pa long ago, we had an incredible grouse population at one time, I grant you MI & WI have more birds now. Mostly because of the poor forest management that went on here in Pa for many years.
I hunt in all three states and up in Me and NH most times. ME has had MI beat for a long time as far as bird contact. I would say WI has about the best grouse population in modern time. Pa and WVa Grouse are very very challenging to gun because of the Habitat the birds live in, probably the most challenging Grouse gunning left on earth.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

IMO Pa & WVa have the most challenging Grouse gunning in the USA. We no longer have our incredible Grouse population however. Pa's northern tier does have a nice Grouse population.

Joined: 09 Mar 2016 Posts: 753 Location: Mn.

Outstanding Boon, and great picture! I love the reds. The farther South you go the more reds you shoot compared to grays. I moved to Mn. from Western NC and down there they were almost always reds. Northern Tier of Pa. a mix of gray and reds. Up here most are gray. I still have an affinity for reds.

Having hunted the backbone of the Appalachians I know those rhododendron hills well. Back "home" in North Central Pa. it was mainly mountain laurel. I never have hunted ruff in West Virginia I am thinking that must be around the point that the transition takes place?

Sounds like the dog is coming along well! You may not have been able to take a picture of the point but you will carry that picture in your mind forever Smile

Joined: 04 Apr 2018 Posts: 40 Location: ESKY

Yes sir, the best grouse hunting without a doubt is in PA. and WV. I haven’t seen a grouse in years.

Joined: 27 Nov 2020 Posts: 84 Location: mtns of central PA

Cold Iron, I'd say you are about right on that transition zone. I've seen rhododendron as far north as Coopers Rocks in northern WV and in that Ohiopyle/Forbes SF region of southern PA, but above that it seems to be just mtn laurel, which isn't too bad to navigate on foot. When I moved up here, I expected to find a lot of PA grouse in the laurel (good thermal cover), but they seem to prefer a nice stand of pines to that.

The new pup is coming along, but she needs some steadiness work this summer. Hoping to hunt southern NY as long as the weather holds.

Gentlemen,

I know you WI & MI Grouse hunters want everybody to Grouse hunt in Pa and other eastern states like NH, NY and Me. However our once great Grouse population is nothing like when I was a young man. We have a lot of Grouse hunters from OH, Ny, NJ and Md who own camps and come here every year to Grouse & Woodcock hunt, I am now directing them to WI when they have a bad day hunting here in Pa. I know we do not have the amount of Grouse hunters as in the past, however some of the Grouse hunters we do have are very good at what they do, glad to send them out west.

Never believe a western Grouse hunter when they advise you that they have no Grouse population, they have all the Grouse now, and want sportsman to hunt in the eastern states. As you see they even like semi-auto bird guns. Our tradition here is SXS double guns!

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

No Grouse in Pa! Grouse hunt WI & MI please.

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

Good looking pup.

I literally bought a 1956 Browning Standard 16, that had a 25” IC barrel, because I came into a bunch of 1 1/8th ounce 16 gauge loads. I would never have bought those loads, but, times are changing, and rather than feed them to my 6lb. Nitro Special, I bought the Browning to eat them up. Was a time I would have sold them. Not now.
A gent sent me a 26” Full choke barrel with the matting treatment, heck of a nice guy, haven’t decided exactly what to do with that- open the choke? Tubes? Not sure.
A guy can do far, far worse than an A5. I have three. All mean something to me.

Best,
Ted

Joined: 27 Nov 2020 Posts: 84 Location: mtns of central PA

Cold Iron, I now remember that I've seen big rhododendron further north in PA. There are some big stands in the coal-mining regions in northern Schuylkill County (drove past some on the way to Frackville the other day), and I've also seen them near Pine Creek as well. Not so much on the Allegheny Plateau itself, which seems to have the smaller laurel.

Boon,

We do have some nice Rhodies here in Pa, the Grouse & the Bear both love to be in em.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man