'Dusky' Report

C

cedahm

Member
Spent 4 days up @ our spot in Routt with the old (deaf) man on his farewell tour. We thought last year was his farewell tour, but after having 30 teeth pulled due to massive gum disease, he's a new man, so back at it one more year. He only has his 4 canines and a couple molars left, which was a detriment on one cripple (I wish I had video of him chasing it down, gumming it, letting go, chasing it again, gumming it again, repeat...Keystone Kops episode where I finally had to grab the thing and end it. Poor old man was perplexed).

The good news is that there are birds everywhere. We limited every day and could have supported another guy or two. Almost all bomber males, with only 2 family groups. This is all around 9000' give or take a couple hundred. Singles, doubles, coveys, close to the roads, 3 miles back in the bush, just a lot of birds.

All of the big males had crops full of flower buds and vaccinium leaves, the young birds serviceberry and snowberry. We saw a couple of family groups on the road the last two nights, and both of them that we found while still shooting were further north (slightly colder) so would seem they are moving up.

All in all - a great weekend with my buddy.



 
Glad you got the old deaf man out!!! Looks like you will have a feast!!!:10sign:
 
Nice work up in Routt. I have been waiting for someone to chime in with reports of great bird numbers. I hunt a bit south of Routt county and have been seeing huge bird numbers. To the tune of 10 to 25 birds per hour walked. Seems other than opening day I have been into mostly young coveys, but that is just a function of where I am hunting. I think in the first two hours hunted this year I saw more grouse than I have seen roosters in the past 2 pheasant seasons combined.
 
I've been seeing lots of grouse this year too. most of the covey's I've ran into this year were healthy and nice and mature this year. Looks like nesting conditions were near ideal for them this past summer.
 
At least the Post didn't give up the location of that photo. They have wrecked quite a few great fishing spots over the years. Just for reference that photo is a great spot. In fact my two best hints this year have been just a few miles from there and a bit higher than ever it was taken. Many even head there tomorrow.
 
hey all,

New to this forum and, well, the state of colorado itself also. Just got settled into the new job and home so i figured its about time to explore and see what the state offers bird hunting-wise. I'll be honest the only real bird hunting ive been exposed to is solo hunting with me and my dog in ohio for released pheasants. So i imagine its worlds different out here but me and the dog are ready for some action!

So, turns out i didnt even know what a dusky grouse was a few days ago. Ive done a fair amount of research and yada yada but i could really use some pointers from yall as this will be my first experience up in the mountains chasing these birds. I'm living in denver for the time being so i know its going to be a little bit of a hike to get out there but were planning on maybe a tuesday-wednesday type hunt out to Routt or maybe Eagle County. Do you just drive in and look for access roads and hop out at the first sign of good 'grousy' terrain (and public land)? Again i might have this all wrong but this is my first time hunting an area of this size. Kinda daunting. aspen trees with sage and berries around the outer edges? From what i can tell, the birds are on their way up for winter nesting? Is it too late to hunt the aspens? how do you hunt the evergreens? Find a patch above a nice aspen area and just go on in and hunt?

My newbie may be showing but even if i get the ole skunk its better than sitting on the couch! Any info from you guys (and gals) would be greatly appreciated. The dog thanks you in advance too, im sure he could use some birds to chase.

Anyways, look forward maybe running into a few of you this year out in the fields. If you see a white chevy 4 door with a ladder rack and a stubborn beagle pointer mix that doesn't listen feel free to come up and say hi!
 
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trees

good luck, if you plan on hunting the birch, good luck with that one too. we don't have birch in Colorado. the birds won't go greatly up hill till it gets cold, until then hunt the edges of sage, grass, aspens and also in the aspens. we have lots of birds but there is also lots of country, you probably are going to need some help. good luck

cheers
 
oops I'm an idiot. I meant to say aspen stands not birch. I've read that the coveys and smaller birds frequent them in the early season and then start moving up after the frost. Have they began that uphill climb? Basically should i be focused on the out edges of the aspens or start moving up in search of them?
 
Mattwill00 said:
oops I'm an idiot. I meant to say aspen stands not birch. I've read that the coveys and smaller birds frequent them in the early season and then start moving up after the frost. Have they began that uphill climb? Basically should i be focused on the out edges of the aspens or start moving up in search of them?
Click to expand...

my two cents, some males maybe will leave early but not mom and the babies, takes more than a little frost, like the insects dying along with young plants like clover, etc. if you go into the timber you might look for berries, like goose, currants, and kinnikinick (sp) they love the stuff. if you are lost, ya might try the very top of gore pass on the north side the road

cheers
 
Matto, you'll want to hunt both in the aspen and on the edges depending on the time of day. Small meadows and openings in the aspens and pines can be good spots to check as well. I constantly scan for sign also while I am hunting theses areas. If I cover a mile or two and I'm not seeing sign time to move on. Good luck and have fun, half the fun is trying to figure them out.
 
Grouse migration

I just got back from a weekend of hunting grouse on the west slope and the hunting was still good. Wasted the first hour hunting lower elevations and didn't see much bird sign. As we climbed up the nearest ridge into a better mix of pines and aspen we started getting into birds. The first day the three of us all bagged two blues and even got to see a hawk take a bird out that we flushed. The second day I shot a quick limit and both of my buddies bagged a bird before the weather forced us off the mountain. There weren't very many leaves left on the aspen after sunday where we hunted and the birds seemed to get much spookier. Only one pointed bird on sunday but we still had around 20 flushes in a half day hunt. Another season with a good hatch and next year could be epic.
 
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