Category: Ruffed Grouse
Morning came late on day two, which gave us ample time to get our gear together and head on over to Reeds Outfitters just to see what kind of interesting stuff they had – like musky-sized in-line spinners that cost $20-30 apiece! We were amazed
After a somewhat disappointing launch of our ruffed grouse season in Maine, we were really looking forward to hitting Minnesota just right: the leaves down, the locals focused more on deer than birds and, not least, being in aspen central.
Off to MN! Here’s a partial list of what we learned hunting the opening week of the Maine grouse season – partial because we’re sure we’re forgetting something.
Our last day hunting Maine this year, and the weather forecast was for a sunny, cool day. Great…except for the 16 mph winds. And for once, the weatherman was right.
This is embarrassing to admit, but hey, we were frustrated and wanted to SEE SOME GROUSE ALREADY:
We knew rain was in the forecast for day 4. Rain and wind. We were going hunting anyway, but figured it was a good day to jump in the truck and look at new areas – in this case meaning entirely new.
On the night of day 2, we spent a bunch of time on Google Earth looking for grousy covers. We’d already done that pre-trip, but the areas we were finding weren’t right – for how we were hunting, the amount of vegetation and the species mix: The areas we found were holding only woodcock rather […]
Day 2 was hot. We’re talking temperature, not birds. In the middle of the day it felt like temps were in the 80s, but were in the low 60s. Hardly any wind, strong sun all day. We spent this day prospecting around Jackman, looking for new covers. We succeeded, in a way. After some unproductive […]
Day 1 We just got back (yesterday) from a week in Maine chasing the ever-wily ruffed grouse. At least we think that’s what we were chasing. So many leaves on the trees and so much ground vegetation it was tough to tell most of the time
FINALLY, it’s bird season, and we are psyched, stoked, chomping at the bit and [insert your favorite “energized” cliche here]. We love shooting any upland birds (including pheasants, supposedly a lowland bird), but it shouldn’t be a secret by now that we are diehard – dieHARD – ruffed grouse hunters. And that’s what we’ll be […]
The Ruffed Grouse Society recently published its 2010 grouse forecast, and although there’s nothing new there for the major (and some minor) states vs. our compiled forecast, it does have some states and Canadian provinces not covered, excerpted and edited below.
Woodies Too! Obviously we love hunting for ruffed grouse, “the king of all gamebirds” (long live the king!), so we chase down as much info as we can about these birds. Enough info to fill a book…. Pheasants Forever does a good job with its annual pheasant forecast. But since ol’ ruff seems to have […]
The following bird forecasts are from Paul Fuller’s Bird Dogs Afield periodic emails (sign up here). A bit of explanation from Paul, and then edited versions of the forecasts: > Our bird forecasts are fresh and typically obtained within the past week [from wildlife biologists and] several folks…that are not biologists but are in the […]
A forester, landowner and tree-farmer in CT named Jim Gillespie recently wrote in to the Litchfield County (CT) Times newspaper about what many grouse and woodcock hunters – including the Ruffed Grouse Society – have been saying for years: Cut trees! It’s all good! Some choice excerpts from the piece, titled In Defense of Clear-Cutting:
It’s not every state or every species yet, but some info is trickling out. Here’s the skinny on three big bird states.
We’re monitoring all things Minnesota these days in anticipation of our trip to that state – aka “the aspen homeland” – in mid-October. A stat on just one state forest: 80+% aspens! Anyhow, we ran across a somewhat sobering piece in the Duluth News Tribune, which states that: Minnesota grouse hunters harvested just 358,000 birds […]
Don’t know why the Associated Press is covering ruffed grouse, but a few news outlets picked up an AP article about North Dakota ruffed grouse populations looking good. But there are a few buts: > This is based on drumming counts, which don’t exactly correlate to fall hunting. > The increase isn’t that stellar, and… […]
Since you’re Serious, even if you don’t hunt for ruffed grouse you no doubt know that these birds have a roughly 10-year population cycle (insight about that is in our book!).
We came across this final paragraph in a short missive from Sam Cook of the Duluth News Tribune: “I think [ruffed grouse hunting will] be similar to last year. There were plenty of birds out there, but the leaves held on for a long time, and when leaves left the trees and the weather turned […]
Just read this article on hunting ruffies in MN this year. So much of it, while well-intentioned, is wrong. Here goes: > The good news is, counts were up 34 percent this spring in parts of northern Minnesota. Counts remained stable in southern Minnesota. This COULD mean that there’s more easy birds (young ones) early […]
Lessons from 2012 Maine-NH Hunt
Don’t know if we’ve fully recovered yet from our not-quite-a-week of hunting Maine and New Hampshire for ruffies and woodies. We all actually bailed 2 days early, having put in 5 consecutive days instead of our usual 7. Felt like wimps about it, but hey, we were BEAT…from 5 days of the most brutal hunting […]
No Grouse Comeback in SW Penn?
Sounds like ruffed grouse will never be as much a part of the landscape of southern Pennsylvania as they once will. “Never” sounds ominous. Permanent. But that’s the conclusion of an article by Bob Frye in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Why should you care if you don’t live or hunt in PA? Reasons: > Pennsylvania is […]
Hey: All Ruffies Drum Differently!
Did you know that? Not until now…. This info won’t help us hunting, but it’s interesting – and makes sense. Here’s more, from newscientist.com: Male ruffed grouse are the first animals known to make unique non-vocal sounds. Humans and many other animals, particularly birds, can be identified by their voices. But no one had looked […]
Ran across this quote from an article about Iowa’s pheasant count: > “I haven’t even gone pheasant hunting the last couple of years because the birds just weren’t there,†said Tim Wolf, a 61-year-old bank president who lives in Waukee. YES THEY WERE! They most definitely were there. Maybe not like this… > “But I’ve […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Across the Pond Bird Follies, Vids
Ah the UK, the land that gave the world 17 pieces of silverware on the table, animal rights and other questionable stuff. Okay, it wasn’t all bad – that’s where our bird hunting came from too. But it’s different here…or there, depending on your perspective. Here’s some recent bird news plus some interesting vids. Katie […]
Do Congress, Tea Party Hate Pheasants?
We make it a point to try not to get suckered by political hoo-ha, so that’s not what this is about. We ran across a blog post on the Discovery-owned treehugger.com titled “Why Does Congress Hate Pheasants?” and a related one, “Do Tea Party, Heritage Foundation Oppose Hunting?” Interesting stuff, written by the same gent, […]
Quail, the most beleaguered of our beloved gamebirds, is getting a helping hand in Kansas. Or rather, a bigger helping hand. The state just announced that it’s “launching a new quail restoration initiative aimed at making a difference in declining bobwhite quail populations at a landscape level.” Here’s more: > Includes the designation of two […]
Worms and Birds: What Else Don’t We Know?
Believe we’ve talked about this at least once, but a recent Wall Street Journal article on the plight of Texas quail got us thinking about it again. Here’s the applicable stuff: …Rolling Hills Quail Research Ranch, a 4,700-acre spread an hour west of Abilene. Last month, researchers there found that the levels of parasitic worms […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Lone Star Outdoor news recently carried an article on a speech given by Dr. Dale Rollins of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch near Rotan, Texas. Seems that a major threat to quail, at least in the Lone Star state, may be an eyeball worm. News to us! Highlights: > Especially mysterious were the continued […]
