With a break in the weather and all of the snow melted off Sammy and I took the opportunity to finally get in the woods for a grouse hunt before the season ends. The temperatures warmed into the 40’s and the ground was still moist from the recent rainfall making for perfect scenting conditions for the dogs. We were all eager to go when we pulled up to the first old clear-cut that has been a good spot in years past.
We’ve found that the habitat has to be just right to find the grouse. If the clear-cut is too young and too thick you’re more likely to find rabbits. Once the cut starts reverting back to open forest the cover disappears and so do the grouse. The ideal places to concentrate are those areas that have been timbered 8 to 10 years ago and have a mixture of saplings, grapevines, and briers.
Find a hollow or drain with water and even a few hemlock trees and get ready as the birds have food, water and cover in these locations. Greenbrier, sumac, and grapevines are the preferred food sources during this time of year. Besides watching the dogs hunt and then hopefully point, I like to grouse hunt because you see a part of the woods that most don’t.
Weaving in and around all of the saplings and briers it’s easy to see why the grouse live in these places. We tend to cover a good bit of ground when chasing after grouse which is great exercise during the winter months. It also lets you know how out of shape you are.
The first cut we hunted ended up being a bust without a single grouse being flushed. We decided to relocate and try another spot where Sammy had flushed some birds a couple of weeks earlier. We parked the vehicle and unloaded the dogs. Sammy and I followed Mady, and Barker into the brush and didn’t even make it out of sight of the truck before a grouse took off.
Sammy no longer said “get ready there might be another one” when the sound of beating wings erupted. I thought the grouse would go the same way the other one did which was straight away from us but I was wrong. I caught movement and then noticed that the bird was gliding right towards us. “Up, up, up” is all I could say to get Sammy’s attention as I readied my shotgun.
The grouse must of saw us moving and banked to the left. Sammy fired 2 quick shots and then I got one off. The bird kicked sideways and feathers flew. I worked the pump action and just as soon as I got another shell in the chamber I was able to send a finishing shot to down the ruffed grouse.
We took a couple of minutes to admire the beautiful bird and take in what had just happened. “That didn’t take long” Sammy said with a laugh. We continued on working our way along the old logging roads. As we started to near one of those drains with fresh water coming out of it Sammy said “get ready there are always grouse in here”. Sure enough one took off but it was too thick for a shot.
Then another one busted out of a grapevine and I was able to fire a shot but it didn’t connect. That’s the way it usually goes for me when grouse hunting as those suckers are hard to hit. A third grouse flushed making a clean get away. For some reason the birds kept flushing out in front of us instead of holding for the dogs to point them.
The hunt continued with a few more birds flushed and a couple more shots fired but in the end I was happy to get that one. Grouse hunting is something I look forward to every January and February. It’s great to get back in the woods and get some good exercise at the same time. You don’t have to be still and quiet as you’re always moving and a grouse can flush at any second.
It would have been nice if the birds would’ve held better for the dogs but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I just enjoyed my time walking the hills and hollows once again. Grouse season ends on February 29 and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it back out for another hunt. If not, I’ll be looking forward to next winter to chase after the elusive ruffed grouse again.