RSSCategory: States

SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 6

SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 6

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.

October 19, 2010 | By | 2 Replies More
SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 5

SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 5

This is embarrassing to admit, but hey, we were frustrated and wanted to SEE SOME GROUSE ALREADY:

October 15, 2010 | By | 3 Replies More
SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 4

SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 4

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.

October 14, 2010 | By | Reply More
SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 3

SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 3

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 […]

October 13, 2010 | By | Reply More
SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 2

SBH Hunt Report: Maine Grouse, Day 2

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 […]

October 12, 2010 | By | 1 Reply More
SBH Hunt Report: Grouse in Maine

SBH Hunt Report: Grouse in Maine

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

October 11, 2010 | By | 2 Replies More
Got Legs? ID Chukars Looking Good

Got Legs? ID Chukars Looking Good

Huns and Quail Too, Pheasants Not So Much We’ve been assured by some good folks in the Pacific Northwest – including the ex-HMFIC at G. Loomis – that even with our walk-’em-up ruffed grouse conditioning, we are likely not in “steep up/steep down” chukar shape. Which naturally makes us want to hunt chukars. Bad. Nevada […]

October 8, 2010 | By | Reply More
First MI Sharpie Season in 12 Years

First MI Sharpie Season in 12 Years

You Don’t Need a Dog! (Before anyone gets their skirt all a-twitter, yes, hunting with a dog can be great. But some bird hunters – even Serious ones – don’t have dogs and need to realize they still have upland bird hunting opportunities. Just have to hunt dead very thoroughly!) Michigan’s first sharp-tailed grouse season […]

October 6, 2010 | By | Reply More
Hunt Reports: MN, MI Grouse Seem Good

Hunt Reports: MN, MI Grouse Seem Good

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 […]

October 4, 2010 | By | Reply More
Maine-Bound: We’re Off To the Woods!

Maine-Bound: We’re Off To the Woods!

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 […]

October 1, 2010 | By | 2 Replies More
Kansas Crowing About Its Pheasants

Kansas Crowing About Its Pheasants

Bobwhites Too Although precious few states do it, they have every incentive to pump us all up for bird season. South Dakota has the birds and the PR machine to do it, and they do. Colorado is trying this year. Oddly, few other states – Pennsylvania and Maine come to mind – do it. Add […]

September 29, 2010 | By | 1 Reply More
Wolf Attacks Bird Dog in WI

Wolf Attacks Bird Dog in WI

Hunters Cautioned The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram reported that “a wolf from the Bear Bluff Pack in Jackson County injured a German shorthair pointer on Sept. 18, and officials say the pack has become too familiar to humans and will be trapped.” After that, the paper’s report is sketchy. It only talks about the hunter – […]

September 28, 2010 | By | 2 Replies More
More Grouse Forecasts: RGS

More Grouse Forecasts: RGS

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.

September 22, 2010 | By | Reply More
Sleeper Pheasant States

Sleeper Pheasant States

Brian Lynn at Outdoor Life recently posted an interesting follow-up to Pheasants Forever’s 2010 Pheasant Hunting Forecast, titled Sleeper States: Beyond the Pheasant Forecast. Full post here, some highlights below.

September 21, 2010 | By | Reply More
2010 Compiled Ruffed Grouse Forecast

2010 Compiled Ruffed Grouse Forecast

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 […]

September 17, 2010 | By | 4 Replies More
NV 2010 Chukar Forecast: Good + Details

NV 2010 Chukar Forecast: Good + Details

The following is excerpted from this Nevada PDF, which is only worth reading if you want to know more about chukar surveys and counts. The bottom line is that chukar hunting looks good in NV this season. Buried in the document is this info: “The 2010-11 chukar hunting season is expected to be good for […]

September 17, 2010 | By | Reply More
Helped By Bad Weather, SD’s Pheasants Above 10-Yr Average

Helped By Bad Weather, SD’s Pheasants Above 10-Yr Average

$220mm Train Keeps a-Rollin’ Could South Dakota’s pheasant population really be better than the average pops over the last 10 years? Apparently so, according to a well-written article by John Pollmann for the Sioux Falls, SD Argus Leader – and it seems to have improved partly due to bad weather. Seriously. Before getting into some […]

September 15, 2010 | By | Reply More
PF’s 2010 State by State Pheasant Forecast

PF’s 2010 State by State Pheasant Forecast

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, […]

September 13, 2010 | By | Reply More
BDA’s Bird Forecasts: KS, ME, MN, MT, NH, PA, SD, VT, ON

BDA’s Bird Forecasts: KS, ME, MN, MT, NH, PA, SD, VT, ON

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 […]

September 3, 2010 | By | Reply More
In Defense of Clearcutting: CT

In Defense of Clearcutting: CT

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:

September 1, 2010 | By | 1 Reply More