SD Sharptails and Grouse

yes thats a good tip quickdraw use the terrain wear u can to ur advantage like i said b4 they use there eyes loads dose not matter how careful your dog is if they can see him coming got me??? i often dis re-guard the wind direction when prairie grouse hunting if i see a hill or some terrain type that lets me get close to good habitat b4 the birds can see me they tend to sit looking down wind to see predators coming at them from up wind they are not dumb...

yes jfreeman says the bird have a tendency to flush in waves or clusters 2-4 then a few seconds then 2-4 more etc. if you have 20 in a small area you can have the best or worst shooting of your life!!! if you flush a bird just out of range hustle up there ASAP & be ready there is a great chance there will be more in that general area... they are there for a reason figure it out & hit similar areas at about the same type of day u will be golden...

i like to hunt them after 9:00 a.m. if its warmer & not heavy dew i will head out early cuz the grouse do as well in hot weather they feed early when the hoppers can not fly good in late season they feed early & head to loafing cover on the short height side for awhile then as the sun gets higher in the air they move to taller cover tall cover for a prairie grouse is like whats pictured in jfreemans pics not thick pheasant wise at all... sharptails like it more ruff & hilly & tolerate shrubs & small trees & woody cover better then chickens do...

lazy guys sit & watch wear the birds fly & then try & pass shoot them if they can i dont pass shoot them but i do get out early & see wear the birds like to eat & hang out like duck hunters do its a must in my prairie grouse hunting handbook... also dont be afraid to hunt near cattle for prairie grouse they are not afraid of them they treat em like buffalo way back in the day & follow them around...

look at jfreemans pics closew they really dont look all that much like a hen pheasant especially once they flush a hen pheasant will have a much longer tail & sound different also has a much more pale brown color sharptails look much whiter then chickens & hen pheasants flush a few prairie grouse & u will get the idea of what to look for... also prairie grouse fly very distinct when they flush they jump into the air very high then bank & flap flap flap glide flap flap flap glide like a hun aka gray partridge if u ever seen them flush... nothing like a pheasant...
 
I've heard from everybody that its pointless to hunt them before 8:30-9. There are a couple of guys from the Upland Journal forum that live out that way and hunt the Grasslands a couple times a week that have offered to hunt with us for a day or 2.

As far as the rattlesnake problem you have Nebraska, do you anyone that offers snake avoidance clinics? We have them here in Texas and I took my dogs. If I so much as pull a water hose across the yard and they see it they jump and take off the other direction. I only did the training once, it's stuck with them.
 
hunting them B4 8:00-9:00 is 1 thing watching wear the birds fly back & fourth to B4 then is PRICELESS info dont sleep on that... if you have some locals holding ur hand on the hunt no need to scout the area your self i guess???

if your not with the locals get out early & watch the area u plan to hunt its good idea... my brother was hunting MN prairie grouse & 2 years in a row he had birds on the ground by 7:30-8:30 am he was walking to a area to watch wear the grouse were going to be flying back & fourth & he flushed a massive flock of sharptails got his limit... next season he did the same thing & got 1 chicken i started hunting at 9:00 a.m. on my prairie grouse hunt this year & all 3 days birds were already in the prairie i was hunting loafing around & bugg n so you dont have to listen to those guys but they do have a point if you let that sun get up high in the sky the birds move to more taller cover to get in shade...

if you have guys willing to take u on another site good man & have fun u dont need my help if you have local pros to take you out hope you get into some prairie grouse on ur hunt it will be a blast im sure id rather hunt prairie grouse any day much much more EZ to walk the prairies then it is to walk pheasant cover...
 
I'm definitely taking in ALL advice given. It doesn't hurt to get up and scout. I'm not 100% sure if those guys will get to hunt with us so I appreciate any an all help I can get. I'll probably split the time between grouse and pheasant. Unless grouse just get addicting an I can't stop :D
 
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