Minnesota Slam

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Lando

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Anybody here ever harvested all of MN's upland game birds? How about all in one season?
I've only had the pleasure of harvesting pheasants and the occasional ruffed grouse. I've seen woodcock but never had a clean shot. Never hunted far enough north for spruce grouse. Anybody ever harvest a "wild" MN Hun? Any pics?
 
I have shot 3 Huns in my life. Every few years I run into a covey. They like completely different habitat than pheasants so I think that is a lot of times why you don't see them. Don't forget we have sharptail as well. I cant find a picture of the ones I shot in the past.
 
In MN I have bagged pheasants, ruffed grouse, and woodcock. Not sharptails and did not know there were spruce grouse. In SD I have bagged sharptails, prairie chicken, and Hungarian partridge, and of course pheasants.
 
Huns, ruffed grouse, woodcocks and pheasants. Never harvested a sharptail or Prairie Chicken in Mn..

Back in the early to mid 70, there were thousands of Hungarian partridge in southwest mn.
 
Yep, quite a few huns in SW MN in the early to late 70's, and you could still find a few up thru the mid-80's or so. Didn't shoot a sharptail in MN until 1977. We would go up to the Baudette area to hunt them along with ruffs and woodcock in September. I'd have to dig out my old records, but it is very likely that I shot woodcock, ruffs, sharps, pheasants and huns all in the same year during the 1977-1980 time frame. Never did get a shot at a spruce grouse, although I've seen them along roads in northern MN a couple times. Best day we ever had on huns was 12 different coveys in one day, 13 bagged for 3 hunters, public land in Murray County.
 
The last covey of MN huns I saw was on family property north of Dassel around 1988. In the years prior it wasn't unusual to find them in some of the same cover as pheasants.

Jay
 
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I have seen sharp tails in Mn but never targeted them. I have a friend with a cabin right between international falls and warroad on 600 acres who has a small population of sharptails on his ground. He limits himself to only shooting one per season
 
Grey Fox said:
Yep, quite a few huns in SW MN in the early to late 70's, and you could still find a few up thru the mid-80's or so. Didn't shoot a sharptail in MN until 1977. We would go up to the Baudette area to hunt them along with ruffs and woodcock in September. I'd have to dig out my old records, but it is very likely that I shot woodcock, ruffs, sharps, pheasants and huns all in the same year during the 1977-1980 time frame. Never did get a shot at a spruce grouse, although I've seen them along roads in northern MN a couple times. Best day we ever had on huns was 12 different coveys in one day, 13 bagged for 3 hunters, public land in Murray County.
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I grew up in Pipestone county. Graduated in 76. Cant tell you how many huns I shot in high school, but it was alot.. I really liked chasing those little guys around..
 
reddog said:
Huns, ruffed grouse, woodcocks and pheasants. Never harvested a sharptail or Prairie Chicken in Mn..

Back in the early to mid 70, there were thousands of Hungarian partridge in southwest mn.
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There were good numbers (HUNS) in SD too in the 70S. Got one out west last year.
 
In Minnesota, Pheasants, Woodcock, Ruffed and Spruce grouse, Huns.

I have not harvested a Sharptail yet... in Minnesota. Shot lots of them and Huns in NoDak though. Huns could be the most fun to hunt of them all. Little buggers can run like Pheasants too.

Spruce grouse are more common i believe in the NE Minnesota. There nowhere near as good eating as their cousin the Ruffy nor are they as weary.

When I have run into Huns in MN it has been while Pheasant hunting in the SW or South Central (lower tier of counties bordering Iowa.
 
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I've bagged every one of those in Minnesota, minus the woodcock and Huns. All three grouse varieties can be found near International Falls. I've shot plenty of Huns in NE NoDak.

But never have I ever shot a woodcock.
 
I only have the spruce grouse to go. Guess I need to go walk the roads & trails between Sawbill and Gunflint trails.

checked box: ruffed grouse (lots), pheasant (many), sharptail (couple), Hungarian (gray) partridge (some), prairie chicken (few), woodcock (plenty).
 
Several years ruffies, pheasant and huns (partridge). Don't hunt the rest but could have shot woodcock, and sharps many times. Don't eat them so I don't shoot them. Will never hunt a prairie chicken. Yes it can be done if you set out to do it. I would think it would be a toss up for difficulty between the chicken and hun. Hun for low numbers, and chicken for being protected, very low in numbers and access. I did see some huns this year but I never went after them. I used to get them all the time in sth MN. These last ones I saw believe it or not were in Ottertail county.
 
Minnesota has a sustainable population of prairie chickens. I have noticed some decline in CRP, but the land they live on (old Agassiz beach) is not conducive to good crop production (a good thing). If the majority of the CRP is lost in this area and the birds return to living on pasture and scattered acres of MN WMAs ... Minnesota will lose the PC hunting season.

I have often seen more prairie chickens in a day of hunting than I see pheasants (except in December). Getting close to the prairie chickens can be a different story.

Classic duck recipe of marinate, skewer with tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Grill. Works extraordinary well. I wish I know the recipe in the 70s and 80s when I was shooting a lot of sharptails in North Dakota.
 
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the hun will be the tuffy.... all i need is the sharptail grouse & hun to have bagged them all in MN i cant find a sharptail 4 the life if me & i missed the onlt huns i shot at lol there are alot of chickens in the MN hunt unit & lots of pheasants & ruffed grouse also... the i hunt near the canadian border near bwca & in 1 area ive shot more spruce grouse off the trails then ruffed cross the road allmost all ruffed grouse???

the sharptails in MN are goofy birds a different sub specied then dakota or sandhill sharptails our birds live in hard to hunt aspen parklands scattered prairies & croplands near cattle & swamp boggs etc. hard to hunt... ive killed sage grouse easier then mn sharptails lol
 
I would try up north past Crookston. The far NW part of MN has more short grass pastures and more small grain fields.

I agree that Sharptails on the eastside of MN are nearly impossible. They tend to live around the cattle pastures because they like short grass. DNR acquires the land and it reverts to shoulder high grass...

The birds move to the bogs as they flock up in late fall ...

If you have the time (and money) you can scout early AM in areas where they live. Sharptails typically fly between roosting and feeding areas. There is a reason why their breast meat looks more like duck than ruffs or pheasants.
 
great info brittman i agree 100% ive hunted east central to the north western aspen parklands for sharptails... seen hubdreds of chickens 1 sharptail lol i hope i have better luckthis season would like to mount all the mn grouse my dad & brother both habe there mn grouse slam + huns im the odd duck/black sheep lol
 
Used to live in Tbear's home town. Had two or three farms we hunted that had short cover bordering them. Every year we would flush a covey of Huns from one of these short cover areas. Never took more than one bird a year. Didn't want to over harvest. Only a couple sharp tails, but pheasant, ruffed, doodles, and the single Hun pretty much every year. Loved that area. Good fishing too!
 
ended up rap n up my MN grouse slam saturday on opener thats a spruce ruffed sharptail & pinnated grouse aka prairie chicken been stuck on the sharptail only for like 5-6 years was the hardest to kill for me by far!!! shot at more huns then sharpies b4 saturday... all were take n on 100% public lands in MN ...

just need a few bonus birds like a sandhill crane & hungarian partridge to have shot all upland game birds in MN... going for all 4 grouse in 1 season now...
 
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