Grouse report

wingsnfins said:
Headed up to the Northwoods for a week beginning Saturday.
Wife, dog and I typically hit up places to hike every day, so it also quickly becomes a grouse scouting trip! LOL! Hoping to add a few more places to my list from last year to hit up this fall.
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Was on a walk with dog in northern MN last weekend and saw two. Positive outlook: saw two on a short walk. Negative outlook: just one chick in the “brood”.
 
Wisconsin Drumming Survey for 2024 showed a 60% increase for the Northern area from 2023....so hopefully that trends nicely with numbers. It was a really mild winter/spring for the Northern area.
 
wingsnfins said:
Headed up to the Northwoods for a week beginning Saturday.
Wife, dog and I typically hit up places to hike every day, so it also quickly becomes a grouse scouting trip! LOL! Hoping to add a few more places to my list from last year to hit up this fall.
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Good luck, wow going very early. Let us know how you do. Initial reports are good for a. certain state.
 
Birdman2 said:
Good luck, wow going very early. Let us know how you do. Initial reports are good for a. certain state.
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Grouse doesn't open until September 14th.
We're just going north for a weeks getaway, but we do alot of hiking while we are on vacations, so it's a good opportunity to see/hear birds.
 
wingsnfins said:
Grouse doesn't open until September 14th.
We're just going north for a weeks getaway, but we do alot of hiking while we are on vacations, so it's a good opportunity to see/hear birds.
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Cool. Boy that would tear me up seeing all those Ruffs together.
 
I'll be headed up to the Hayward area Oct 15-19 to hang out with a buddy coming in from out of state to take care of some family stuff.. We'll probably take a couple walks for birds.
How are the leaves looking that way? How are the ticks looking that way?
Looks like we should get a temperature change and some rain this week. Hope the temps keep dropping!
 
wingsnfins said:
I'll be headed up to the Hayward area Oct 15-19 to hang out with a buddy coming in from out of state to take care of some family stuff.. We'll probably take a couple walks for birds.
How are the leaves looking that way? How are the ticks looking that way?
Looks like we should get a temperature change and some rain this week. Hope the temps keep dropping!
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I did some casual hunting a little east of that area this past week and and a few weekends before that. Leaves are still plenty leafy, as is ground cover. I didn't see a single tick. Biting flies were out in some areas this past weekend. Didn't encounter mosquitoes.

Lower temps would be good! High 70s and mid 80s were not the best temps for hunting.
 
Limitless said:
I did some casual hunting a little east of that area this past week and and a few weekends before that. Leaves are still plenty leafy, as is ground cover. I didn't see a single tick. Biting flies were out in some areas this past weekend. Didn't encounter mosquitoes.

Lower temps would be good! High 70s and mid 80s were not the best temps for hunting.
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Thanks for the reply and info! I'll have the walleye and musky gear too in case I need to adapt. LOL!
 
wingsnfins said:
Thanks for the reply and info! I'll have the walleye and musky gear too in case I need to adapt. LOL!
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The only other thing I can add is to bring plenty of water and rest periodically. We did have some streams and puddles that were fine, but there were also some scummy ponds I made sure to keep her away from.
 
Did some public land hunting in the northern tier of counties today. Flushed 5 and shot 1 on county land. Not terrible and not outstanding for 3.5 hours.

I noticed all 5 were within spitting distance of the edge of fresh clear cuts.

The shot bird had only a few bits of green leaf in the crop.

Leaves are falling pretty fast here. Did not find any ticks, which seems strange after seeing them long into freezing weather last couple years.
 
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There is supposed to be a good hard freeze tonight across much of the state so that should kill off some bugs.
 
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