0 - 2 for Grouse - Doh!

CO_Weimar

CO_Weimar

New member
Changed locations this past weekend to NF near Gould, CO.

No grouse found ...
Saw one bull moose, moose antlers, robins, Clark's Nutcrackers, hawk, magpies, snowshoe hare, ground squirrels, chipmunks and Albert's squirrels ... and not one grouse. Grrr! :laugh:

Dakota only pointed the snowshoe hare. Earlier in the morning, Dakota was trailing something, not a bird. Having already seen a bull moose and shed antlers I called him off, figuring that bird shot would only make a moose really pi$$ed off. :laugh:

It was 25 degrees near the top of Cameron Pass and 29 degrees near Gould, with frost on the ground and iced over mud puddles. Nice!

Went out to Colorado Clays on Sunday, I needed to know that my shotgun still worked. ;)
 
I think the winter 2 yrs ago really did a number on the grouse population at high elevations. Most of the grouse I have found are 8500-9000 ft. Some even lower. My honeyhole above Green Mountain Resevoir was barren last year. Covered a good 10 miles through good cover and never kicked a bird. Even the bowhunters that had been in there for over a week had not seen any.
Saw a good sized covey at Stagecoach dam walking along the road last fall. I was fishing at the time so no shots were taken.....
 
Blues are not static in elevation preferences, they start out lower elevations and move up as the season cools down, eventually as the snow flies they are at the top of the tree line, or darn close. They are the one animal that moves UP in elevation as the winter comes on.

First weekends of hunting for them for me starts at the 7000' level and then up, also recognizing that in the mornings they move down hill, afternoons move back up to roost. After locating one weekend, I move up in elevation until I am running ridge tops early mornings.

While it will be this weekend before I get up there, from the reports I have heard the birds there all right, if your not having joy you just haven't found their current niche.
 
JDWnColo said:
Blues are not static in elevation preferences, they start out lower elevations and move up as the season cools down, eventually as the snow flies they are at the top of the tree line, or darn close. They are the one animal that moves UP in elevation as the winter comes on.

First weekends of hunting for them for me starts at the 7000' level and then up, also recognizing that in the mornings they move down hill, afternoons move back up to roost. After locating one weekend, I move up in elevation until I am running ridge tops early mornings.

While it will be this weekend before I get up there, from the reports I have heard the birds there all right, if your not having joy you just haven't found their current niche.
Click to expand...

So it almost sounds as if you need to have a degree in wildlife biology to find these rascals:eek::confused::D:rolleyes:

My weekends are so busy I don't know if I will be able to make it out again this year for them. I would like too, however between the wife wanting to ATV ride on the weekends, my weekend chores, and now football. And not to mention 1st rifle season coming up, waterfowl season and the pheasant season coming up too.....

Greg
 
me to!

I am 0-3 :(.

This is the first season I have ever hunted grouse and actually it is the first season I have even gotten back into hunting in 15 years. I have a year old English Pointer and I am a little concerned about losing our training over the summer if I can't get him on anything at all.

I have read all of the advice. I am starting around 8k feet and working up. I got to wondering if they reverse migrate if maybe the hot summer pushed them down a lot farther this summer.

Anyways... I am not looking for the gps coordinates to anyones honey holes but I have been poking around a lot near Rollinsville and Boulder and Gilpin counties in general. The 0-3 is just with a gun, I have been scouting hard since the beginning of august with little to no luck (I have seen 2 way off in the distance). I concentrate on Aspen groves and the edges of them and pine trees and I am just at a loss...

Has anyone had ANY luck in those areas? Should I forget about them and try other areas? I was just up near kremmling at the pumphouse campground and spent most of my time fly fishing the Colorado because I was getting a bit frustrated. Plus that sage brush and pines didn't look like prime habitat.

Anyways... just looking for some tips and trying to be as verbose as possible so someone can point out if or what I am doing wrong.
 
I ran some tips earlier, but will admit they were general. Bear in mind that blues hang at the top of ridges overnight, and come down during the morning, then back up in the afternoon. Sooo---- here is the following idea -

Find a mountain that starts in sage into quakies then aspen. Top that with pines until you hit lodge pole. They will hang on the edges of small meadows, usually the uphill side. Plan on walking uphill for the day, hoping to meet them coming down. I zig-zag up the hill going back and forth maybe over 200 to 300 yards working to the top. Look above the meadows especially where berries of any kind are, fallen logs and shade will be temporary holding spots.

Another little thing, in the mornings if there is heavy dew or after a night rain, you will find them in trees at the top letting sun dry them and the vegetation out before they head out. May also find them in the dirt picking grit at that time.


Now after a day of that, you and the dog dead tired, shells and shotgun tossed as being way too heavy and useless... you get into your vehicle and drive 20 yards to find a flock sitting in the road... you will have learned one last thing about mountain grouse - they will be wherever grouse want whenever.

Anecdote - once hunted for 5 hours up and down a likely area and no joy to be had. Stopped at some fallen logs that were next to an almost dry pool of water, had an entire brood march out almost over my foot from under the logs causing me to become well.... a mite edgy. Yes, I used the shotgun, as a golf club for my three that day. Not sporting on my part, but then they weren't either.


ETA- go west of the divide. and also,

http://wildlife.state.co.us/WildlifeSpecies/Profiles/Birds/Pages/DuskyGrouse.aspx
 
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I agree with JDWnColo's advice especially going West of the divide. He covers the areas I would certainly run the dog through. I have found them close to Denver too. That is if you want to cover 5-7 miles and see one bird. North of the Vail area can be quite productive. Muddy Creek Pass has plenty of property to cover along with birds. The Steamboat area can also be productive. I have scored quite a few grouse outside of Meeker, but that is a long ride.
Look for hoppers and oddly enough robins. The grouse love hoppers as do robins. I find that if the area supports robins there are generally grouse. They seem to like a small trickling springs
 
Thanks for the tips and stories. :D Might take the weekend off to do some training with the boys. Trying to get Dakota an AKC Master Hunter title and there is a double double hunt test the weekend of October 6th and 7th and want to get a MH pass or two on Dakota before he unlearns everything during pheasant hunting season.

Blitz will learn a lot during pheasant season ... no creeping in, and you had better stay steady or else the bird will go bye bye!
 
Holy smokes so it sounds like I shouldn't have taken the time off in Kremmling then and hunted the BLM land around gore canyon... oops. That is what that was, sage to aspen to pines and then lodge poll.

Also sounds like I am wasting my time in Boulder and Gilpen county. However I may end up hunting there more often than not so I keep the wife aggro down.

Thanks a ton for the input, I have read that DOW page like a thousand times, I have scoured over the harvest reports by county and I figured Boulder was low because there was only 1-5 hunters there and my guess was they didn't want to fight with the Nederland crowd... but I may have been wrong. I on the other hand have no problem fighting with the Ned crowd :)
 
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