More grouse for Matt and his boys and others, but I am done with them

R

retrvrman

New member
First off, I would like to thank all of those on the forum who have PMed me their advice and other info on finding the elusive Colorado blue/dusky grouse. I have lived here since 2002 and was stationed here back in 1995 through 1998 and I have not to this day seen a dusky grouse in the wild. Whether I was elk hunting, camping, ATV riding, or actually hunting them. :mad::confused:

A special thanks to Chad aka BleuBijou for all of his help. He is an awesome guy. However after my son and I drove 4hrs from COS up north, spent all day hunting them with two pointing labs and a flushing lab, well folks I am done.

We did get to see a young bull moose. I haven't seen a moose in the wild since I lived up in Alaska.

I am done with spending the $$ on the gas, getting up so early I feel like I should be duck hunting :eek::eek: I would rather divert my energy and resources to other things that are a bit more fruitful....

Now I have been on this forum long enough that guys will say, "well, it better than being at work or it is the experience or this or that"...I call BS, damn it, it would be nice to at least see something, maybe get off a shot.

I would rather drive half the time, being able to sit and shoot at the few dove that are left.

Now I am gearing up for waterfowl, pheasant, big game and I am done with grouse.

Heck, I will post a pic on here if I can ever figure this dang thing out with photobucket, of me and Conan my first lab, of the willow ptarmigan I shot while living up in Alaska. I would go out in the cold, dark winter month of February and chase those suckers around on snowshoes albeit, but I would at least see something and get a shot off.

Until I see it with my own two eyes....and again, those out there can say, "well good riddance, more grouse for me"...dude, how could that be when I never, ever, ever have seen one.

I have gone on three grouse adventures this month and I am over it!!!! But it wasn't just this season, I have been chasing them for the past several years now (I have lost count officially).

It would be one thing to have seen some and maybe gotten a shot off, but in all the years now that I have hunted them and with outstanding dogs minds you that are seasoned on all other type of upland birds, still have not even ever seen one.

I would rather go shoot sporting clays.

Take care and god bless...

Greg
 
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retrvrman said:
First off, I would like to thank all of those on the forum who have PMed me their advice and other info on finding the elusive Colorado blue/dusky grouse. I have lived here since 2002 and was stationed here back in 1995 through 1998 and I have not to this day seen a dusky grouse in the wild. Whether I was elk hunting, camping, ATV riding, or actually hunting them. :mad::confused:

A special thanks to Chad aka BleuBijou for all of his help. He is an awesome guy. However after my son and I drove 4hrs from COS up north, spent all day hunting them with two pointing labs and a flushing lab, well folks I am done.

We did get to see a young bull moose. I haven't seen a moose in the wild since I lived up in Alaska.

I am done with spending the $$ on the gas, getting up so early I feel like I should be duck hunting :eek::eek: I would rather divert my energy and resources to other things that are a bit more fruitful....

Now I have been on this forum long enough that guys will say, "well, it better than being at work or it is the experience or this or that"...I call BS, damn it, it would be nice to at least see something, maybe get off a shot.

I would rather drive half the time, being able to sit and shoot at the few dove that are left.

Now I am gearing up for waterfowl, pheasant, big game and I am done with grouse.

Heck, I will post a pic on here if I can ever figure this dang thing out with photobucket, of me and Conan my first lab, of the willow ptarmigan I shot while living up in Alaska. I would go out in the cold, dark winter month of February and chase those suckers around on snowshoes albeit, but I would at least see something and get a shot off.

Until I see it with my own two eyes....and again, those out there can say, "well good riddance, more grouse for me"...dude, how could that be when I never, ever, ever have seen one.

I have gone on three grouse adventures this month and I am over it!!!! But it wasn't just this season, I have been chasing them for the past several years now (I have lost count officially).

It would be one thing to have seen some and maybe gotten a shot off, but in all the years now that I have hunted them and with outstanding dogs minds you that are seasoned on all other type of upland birds, still have not even ever seen one.

I would rather go shoot sporting clays.

Take care and god bless...

Greg
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you are doing something wrong, don't be a quitter, it's only money

cheers
 
I was in the same boat as you, until this year. In the past 2 decades, I had seen more mountain lions than blue or Duskey grouse!

Anyhow, my buddy and I went scouting ... he saw one. Then he went camping and spotted a few. I went out with my dogs and bagged one. I think that I know where to look now. I made a few unproductive trips in the last two years and had almost given up. Now, I think that I know where to look, but ... I am in the middle of a big project and have been and will be working weekends through the middle of October.
 
retrvman,

Grouse are too delicious and live in too good of country to give up on!! Maybe we can help you find some?? What kind of habitat have you been hunting? What kind of trees are you around? What kind of understory exists where you have been hunting? North-facing or south-facing slopes?
 
Greg, It is a timing thing. They are there where you were. Just moved up .. We will go earlier next year. Makes you feel better, I did not see one either. I didn't look real hard as I knew they moved after the snow and I can't get there yet. I did see 5 Bull Moose and a Cow Moose and I was playing around with them making Cow calls. Then a big Bull stepped out behind me and decided I better shut up and get back to what I was doing before I got into trouble. Took some nice photo's of the scenery.
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Chad,
Glad you made it up there....it is beautiful country that's for sure.

Marshrat, I have printed out and written down all the good to know info. on the south facing slopes, aspens, sage, junipers, the berrys, the bugs, all that stuff. I have been on this forum for awhile know and I have read all the stuff on-line, youtubed dusky grouse hunting, researched them, adhered to the "grouse whisperers" advice on this forum.

Just not the right time or place....better luck next year if I decide to get a wild hair up my butt:eek:

Chad, I know Colton and I would love to go up with you. That would be awesome!!! My treat for lunch afterwards:cheers:

Greg
 
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Wow? This is an excellent year for grouse I think! I know they aren't out smarting anyone, the only bird that I think is below them on the IQ chart is the White-Tailed Ptarmigan. I have seen a lot of grouse this year and many young birds, also most elk hunters I have talked to have seen a bunch. Just saying good year to hunt 'em if you change your mind.
 
QuailBob said:
Wow? This is an excellent year for grouse I think! I know they aren't out smarting anyone, the only bird that I think is below them on the IQ chart is the White-Tailed Ptarmigan. I have seen a lot of grouse this year and many young birds, also most elk hunters I have talked to have seen a bunch. Just saying good year to hunt 'em if you change your mind.
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Well there Quail Bob, not sure how to take all that....however, all I will say is that my 15yr old son and my best friend can attest to our efforts, so this isn't just a one man, and his dogs type of story.

Interesting you mention this ptarmigan, since I hunted the willow ptarmigan up in Alaska while I was stationed there. So again, I am not sure what you are trying to say if anything at all:confused::rolleyes:

I do not believe they are out smarting anyone either, my point was merely that I have been on this forum since 2008, hunted all types of upland birds in Colorado since 1995 and hunted upland birds from Alaska to Texas.

And my point was that I am a bit frustrated to say the least.

I appreciate your points, however I think I will concentrate my efforts towards elk, pheasant and waterfowl.....and maybe I will see a quailbob too;)

Greg
 
blue's

I was up hunting sat. and found the young ones at 10460 ft; i did get some help with places to hunt them but didn't have the time to check those out but mit this week ; i got 2 by 8:30 and headed back for town, i was just lucky.
last 4 year years were dry for me when it came to blues.
 
Greg, you very well may run into some while elk hunting this year, since I know where you are going. Too long of a drive though for just hunting grouse and there are places closer then where you are headed. Season will still be open when you go elk hunting... I seen 5 flocks or groups of birds where we were both at this year. But, sometimes it is not like walking a half section of Pheasant ground and more like walking 6 sections. They move around a lot and not because of human activity. There are so many Moose up there it is also not a good idea for the use of dogs as you can find out in a hurry that they will chase your dog straight back to you... or stomp your dog right there. I am not taking the chance on that one. I will use them else where, where the Moose population is not that high. I have seen the damn Grouse walk right up to me while taking a break after not seeing one all day. When you do find them or they find you, they are not too scared of you that is for sure.:cheers: Hope you have a good elk trip!!:cheers:
 
Chad,
I hear you and I will keep an eye out. In fact, I may just take my .22 or 20gauge for the heck of it:p

That is good advice on the moose and dogs.

I need to find an area with decent grouse population without all the moose:eek:

Chad, just so you know, Colton still talks about how much fun he had when you let us come up for the youth waterfowl. In fact, he bugs me all the time on when are we going duck hunting again.

Good luck to you my friend....and thank you,

Greg
 
BleuBijou said:
Greg, It is a timing thing. They are there where you were. Just moved up .. We will go earlier next year. Makes you feel better, I did not see one either. I didn't look real hard as I knew they moved after the snow and I can't get there yet. I did see 5 Bull Moose and a Cow Moose and I was playing around with them making Cow calls. Then a big Bull stepped out behind me and decided I better shut up and get back to what I was doing before I got into trouble. Took some nice photo's of the scenery.
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That looks like great blue grouse country!:10sign:
 
BleuBijou said:
Greg, It is a timing thing. They are there where you were. Just moved up .. We will go earlier next year. Makes you feel better, I did not see one either. I didn't look real hard as I knew they moved after the snow and I can't get there yet. I did see 5 Bull Moose and a Cow Moose and I was playing around with them making Cow calls. Then a big Bull stepped out behind me and decided I better shut up and get back to what I was doing before I got into trouble. Took some nice photo's of the scenery.
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Wow Chad! Beautiful country, absolutely gorgeous.:10sign:
 
retrvrman said:
Chad,
I hear you and I will keep an eye out. In fact, I may just take my .22 or 20gauge for the heck of it:p
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If you've got a .22 pistol with those birdshot rounds, that's a great item to have in the elk woods.

Don't despair - I shot 1 blue grouse my first year trying a decade and change ago (during a 4 month hiatus from work, so I was up there a lot - maybe a dozen trips - and I was getting downtrodden), on top of that, I had a guy give me GPS coords of places in an area I grew to know like the back of my hand.

They're around, but they wander and tend to be gregarious, so they wander near each other. They also tend to be relatively concentrated in the same general areas (e.g 1 mountain) year after year. The trick is to figure out how far they wander, and mostly to stay on good ground (berries, low bushes, edges of flora change - sage to aspen, aspen to fir, etc. Game trails are big - grouse are relatively small and stick to logical travel paths - they aren't walking through the gnarly stuff like an elk would, for example). Over the years, I've realized how much time I wasted early on walking where there weren't going to be any grouse, either at the wrong elevation or in the wrong terrain.

If you're in proven grouse country, which it seems like you are, drive the logging/forest roads in the late afternoon - 3:00pm->dusk. They go to gravel every day. If you aren't seeing sign (feathers, droppings), you're either moving too fast or you're not in the right place. Just like with Pheasants, sharpies, et al - stop every 25-50 yards or so for a few seconds and if there are birds you and the pups have missed, theyll get nervous and either move or flush. Blues are tough on dogs. I've watched fine bird dogs run right past single bomber males that I could see but for whatever reason they couldn't smell.

This year is certainly a good year to keep trying. I've seen more birds in more places than any year I can remember except maybe 2009. One mountain I told someone about recently is a great example. It holds some birds, though not usually a lot, and we've got 4-5 spots that we check about 400-500' apart in elevation over a few miles of NF roads. This year they were all way on top, and we saw more than we can remember seeing in a whole season in one day (naturally we had a bow and no shotguns that day). A guy could have walked 3-4 miles around a spot we killed grouse the same time in 2013 and never seen a bird, but 500' higher, there was a bird every 50 yards.

"Next Generation" Photo follows: I killed this one with my boy on a 500 yard walk from the truck this weekend - my wife asked "if it's that easy, how come you guys set up a camp and hunt grouse for 3-4 days at a time?" - so there are some drawbacks to finding them :) -



I think we need to organize a grouse outing next September - such a fine game bird (well - they are when they don't just jump into a tree and stare at you) and they live in such amazing country.
 
If I could only hunt one thing, big game or small, it would be dusky grouse. There is just nothing like them when it comes to sheer excitement. I got my first Coues deer and bull elk this year with a bow and I still would take a grouse hunt over that. Don't give up Greg! I was in the same boat two years back. I bought a great dog and he and I spent the whole summer trying to find this bird. I was convinced they were extinct. Then we just started finding them together. I'm going to do a little write-up on last weekends duck and grouse hunt. Keep an eye out on www.huntingtherat.com and hopefully I can get some solid tips in there to help you out. Take care.

Fred
 
Sorry didn't mean for that to come off wrong just mainly wanted so say they are having a good year. But I too have hunted many areas I thought would be excellent for grouse and seen nothing. I probably wouldn't even hunt them if season didn't open sept. 1 It is just a good way for me to get the dogs out when its to hot to chukar hunt. I can say I have killed grouse from above timber line down to 7500 ft so??? The ptarmigan are STUPID and the only sporting part is you are at 13000ft chasing them. I would not recommend that hunt for anyone and they aren't any good to eat. I love eating blue grouse, I don't see how they can be so different tasting??
 
FredB said:
If I could only hunt one thing, big game or small, it would be dusky grouse. There is just nothing like them when it comes to sheer excitement. I got my first Coues deer and bull elk this year with a bow and I still would take a grouse hunt over that. Don't give up Greg! I was in the same boat two years back. I bought a great dog and he and I spent the whole summer trying to find this bird. I was convinced they were extinct. Then we just started finding them together. I'm going to do a little write-up on last weekends duck and grouse hunt. Keep an eye out on www.huntingtherat.com and hopefully I can get some solid tips in there to help you out. Take care.

Fred
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I have taken with my recurve, the black tail, white tail and mule deer and I am impressed with your coues deer. have only seen a couple, stalked one but that's it. kinda neat. have shot a ton of blue grouse with the bow however

cheers
 
QuailBob said:
Sorry didn't mean for that to come off wrong just mainly wanted so say they are having a good year. But I too have hunted many areas I thought would be excellent for grouse and seen nothing. I probably wouldn't even hunt them if season didn't open sept. 1 It is just a good way for me to get the dogs out when its to hot to chukar hunt. I can say I have killed grouse from above timber line down to 7500 ft so??? The ptarmigan are STUPID and the only sporting part is you are at 13000ft chasing them. I would not recommend that hunt for anyone and they aren't any good to eat. I love eating blue grouse, I don't see how they can be so different tasting??
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I prefer for eating either ruffs or blues, both are better than pheasants. as far as ptarmigan, usually they are easy to kill, got one with a rock once, fun with a bow but the rocks are tough on arrows. I found them good eating, their meat is darker, probably cause they fly more, not sure on that but blues really don't move much at all whereas the ptarmigan do

cheers
 
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