Grouse camp 2024 another bust

[Hatchdog]

My wife two dogs and I just spent the week in grouse camp. (Love that term) We hunted five days and saw a total of four grouse and only put one in the pot. This is something we have been doing for at least 15 years and the number of birds we are seeing is way down. Used to be we would see a couple dozen birds and bring half of them home. Not sure what’s going on other than we have had cold wet springs which could affect the survival rate of the young birds. The guy who lives across the road told me he isn’t seeing the amount of birds he used to on his place.

All that being said we’re not serious hunters. We just drive the logging roads which is legal here for hunting. I could be working the creek bottoms and draws and would see and hear more birds but the chance of getting a shot is low. This is something we do just for fun and the dogs love it too. I did get the Henry 410 bloodied.

So the one bird I got was fun for them. I shot it and it went down in some heavy brush. I let the dogs out of the back of the utv and the nine month old pup went right to it and picked it up. Then he decided to play keep away with the adult dog and ran down the road with the other dog chasing. Then for whatever reason the pup brought the bird back and put it back in the brush very near where he picked it up.???????? All in all it was pretty comical. Nice soft mouth with no attempt to chew the bird.

A few pics

IMG_5474.jpeg

IMG_5468.jpeg

IMG_5470.jpeg

[Vaquero]

Some more fun.
Never hunted grouse, heck I've never seen one.
Of course we don't have them here, we used to have a good quail population, but
don't see or even here many any more.

RP

[North Country Gal]

Love the dogs. I grew up in pheasant and quail country in Nebraska. We also had some grouse, but those were Sharptails. Looking back all those many years, it's not the shooting I remember now, it's the wonderful dogs. I remember each and every one.

[daytime dave]

Congratulations on bloodying the Henry. I haven't seen any grouse in the back pasture this year. They have been here steadily, but the coyotes have increased too.
I hope it was enjoyable.

[Hatchdog]

Some more fun.
Never hunted grouse, heck I've never seen one.
Of course we don't have them here, we used to have a good quail population, but
don't see or even here many any more.

RP

We have two species here locally and a third in central Washington. The local species, Ruff and Blue are considered to be camp meat by the Fish and Game folks. We are allowed to hunt them with any firearm and can shoot them on the ground. The idea is while big game hunting with a rifle one can take a shot at the head of a standing grouse. My ex father in law used to tell me stories about him shooting the head off with his 30/06. That would be a tough shot…

The Ruff are found in the lower elevations such as where we were hunting (3000 ft) and the blues are in the higher elevations (5000+). Ruffs are pretty small and I just pull the breast from the bird. The blues are big enough to pluck and skin and cut into pieces exactly like a chicken. Very tasty, both of them but I prefer the ruffs for the pot.

[rickhem]

Nice! Sounds like a good time, and it's a good time to be out in the woods too.
My most frequent encounter with grouse is while deer hunting, and just walking around trying to spot-and-stalk, and having a grouse take off practically under my feet. Scares the daylights out of me every time.
I did catch one once with my bare hands, that's a fun story.