Category: MN
Winter can be a great time to hunt ruffed grouse. Okay, anytime is a good time to hunt grouse (maybe – maybe – no so much in the early season) but winter can be particularly good. If, as always, you find where the birds are.
A SeriousBirdHunting.com reader named Chris emailed us after our Maine hunt reports were published with a question about woodcock: “How do you guys get the woodcock to flush by walking them up? I’ve never walked one up, actually did not think much of it without the use of a dog. Would be interested to know […]
DNH. Did Not Hunt. Never thought it would happen, never had happened before no matter what the conditions. But on day 6 in Minnesota we were SOL. A record low-pressure storm – basically a land hurricane – sat on top of a huge chunk of the United States, including Minnesota. Wind, rain, snow, more wind […]
We knew some bad weather was heading our way later in the week, so our plan for day 4 was to get the most out of it – meaning hunt the areas where we’d found the most birds. That area was about an hour away, but after a disappointing day 3, we were all for […]
Even though the weather forecast was a little inhospitable, we had our hopes up for day 3. We’d found some birds, decent numbers, and thought we’d patterned them: We were looking for aspens or alders near aspens – all the right size, of course – with enough moisture in the ground to provide greenery for […]
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.
MN, MI, WA, Resolutions, Prison Birds Pheasants are running for cover – okay, some are flying – all over the U.S. right about now, and here’s a roundup of some of what’s going on. Minnesota’s Brush Birds As we’ve said here before, Bob St. Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s marketing honcho, is a good writer and funny […]
It’s tough to tell what a bird season in an entire state will be from anecdotal reports, but that’s really all anyone has to go on – and we’re all going to hunt anyway, right? Here are a couple of ruffed grouse reports from Minnesota and Michigan, two states that – per our compiled grouse […]
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 […]
Pheasants Forever’s state by state (not all states) Pheasant Forecast for 2010 is out. Some of the state info is helpful, some not. Would be great to have it in graph form to see trends. Anyhow, here’s the overview plus the links for each. “Pheasant numbers appear to be holding steady in the Dakotas, Kansas, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
