Upland birds

pheasantaddict

pheasantaddict

New member
What's the toughest upland bird in North America to hunt? Explain why based on the terrain they inhabit, elusiveness, ability to absorb lead, elude dogs, etc.. Excluding the Himalayan snow grouse.
 
I will say the Ruffed Grouse, Just because the buggers are hard to get, they fly 300 miles an hour, mostly you hear them and don't even see em, then you are trying to shoot one in thick woods and brush besides. They are dodgeing around trees and doing more juke moves to you than Barry Sanders. One pellet will kill em dead though, but good luck getting one pellet home. You could flush a hundred before you get one. Quail at least you can get open country shots off at but I would rate them second. :thumbsup:
 
For me it is the Pheasant. I hunt them in the Washington Palouse. Which is hilly and I mean hills. Add to that they have the running ability of a "Track Star". We do not have corn here so we are hunting usually in CRP or stubble fields. So for me they are the hardest to get.---Bob
 
FCSpringer said:
I will say the Ruffed Grouse, Just because the buggers are hard to get, they fly 300 miles an hour, mostly you hear them and don't even see em, then you are trying to shoot one in thick woods and brush besides. They are dodgeing around trees and doing more juke moves to you than Barry Sanders. One pellet will kill em dead though, but good luck getting one pellet home. You could flush a hundred before you get one. Quail at least you can get open country shots off at but I would rate them second. :thumbsup:
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Ditto! they don't call them thunder chickens for nothing. Know to cause occasional cardiac arrest on close flushes. Especially when your whole body is tangeld in a briar patch and you couldn't possibly get a shot off if you wanted to. I've had them flush in pitch black darkness as I walked to my bow stand deer hunting. Dead calm and then the thunder chicken erupts. I have dreamed of someday getting the five bird limit in MN but never come close.
 
I've never hunted any ruffed grouse, but I can tell you that greater prarie chickens are very difficult to get close to. You may get a flush within 35 yards if you hunt them into the wind quietly. The other way to hunt them is flying into a bean field. Depending on how high up they are, you must lead them by 3 or 4 bird lengths because they're traveling fast! For KS upland birds, the prarie chicken gets my vote as the most challenging.
 
I only have ruffies, spruce grouse, ptarmigan, pheasant, snipe and woodcock to compare, because that's all I've ever hunted.
I'm on the fence between ruffed grouse and roosters.
Assuming that you exclude pot-shooting grouse off the side of logging roads or in trees, which is easy, wing-shooting them is a great challenge for sure. Also, their tendency to flush INTO heavy cover instead of out of it like roosters, makes them challenging for sure. As pointed out above though, they're not hard to bring down if you can put a pellet or two onto them.
This being only my third roosters season (08-09), I've gotta say that I'm earning a huge respect for the wilyness of these birds and their ability to outfox hunter and dog. Unfortunately, this season I also learned that they can absorb a fair bit of lead - I crippled two birds this year.
Ptarmigan I have only hunted a half-dozen times and found them very easy in comparison.
Spruce grouse are fairly easy if you can find them, but no very abundant where I used to hunt them.
I used to find woodcock impossible, until the dog and I worked out a system that puts them in the bag fairly regularly now. I send her into the alders but I stay on the outside, when I hear one go up I watch the top of the alders and try to pick him off as he switches from his vertical flush to his horizontal flight - there is a little pause there that is your best hope, I find. One big challenge with these in my experience is that the dog doesn't smell them as well as she does other upland game birds.
-Croc
 
UGUIDE said:
Ditto! they don't call them thunder chickens for nothing. Know to cause occasional cardiac arrest on close flushes. Especially when your whole body is tangeld in a briar patch and you couldn't possibly get a shot off if you wanted to. I've had them flush in pitch black darkness as I walked to my bow stand deer hunting. Dead calm and then the thunder chicken erupts. I have dreamed of someday getting the five bird limit in MN but never come close.
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Ha! I know what you mean on the bow hunting thing, I have offten thought that would be the most productive way to get them, bring a bb gun bow hunting and let them come to you, I see them under me every time at certain stands. But I have never done that. I don't even know if it would be legal. Say a 22 or something.Any way it is cool to watch em.
 
I've hunted sharpies, pheasants, quail, and huns. I'll go with pheasants. It's amazing to see them escape time and time again from public areas that continually get pounded. When you knock them down and if they have a pair of good legs or just one, they are harder to get a hold of than a greased hog in a mud pit. Ruffies sound like a great challenge and great tablefare. Has anyone hunted wild chukars? I've heard they are tough to hunt.
 
Pheasantaddict. I have hunted them and what makes them rough for me and a lot hunters is the terrain. They rocky hilly type stuff. You better be in shape when you go after those birds. If not you will really feel it the next day.----Bob
 
I like to hunt from the top down. It is true most of the chukar like to work uphill. But due to the terrain it is hard to get to the top and work down. I have this one spot where there is a easy climb to the top on the end. So I go there to start and work across. I leave Tony tell me when to work down. To me that is the ideal situation. I like 7 shot (true 7 shot) in the first barrel of my O/U followed by a 6 shot.---Bob
 
I hunt ruffed grouse quite a bit, and think they are much harder then any other upland birds I have hunted. Second would be the Blue Grouse. I mean for the amount of work and hours per bird.
 
All the upland birds are difficult but I think the pheasant is the toughest bird overall. They learn run when they hear hunters entering the field. They are tough for the dogs with all the tricks they have to escape. They are tough to birds to bring down and if you don't hit them hard they hit the ground running. In my experience ruffs are fast but don't take much to bring down. Sharptails have good eyes and flush before you get to them but again they are pretty easy to knock down. Chickens and Huns to are easy to knock down. For me the pheasant is tough all the way around but that is fine because I like the challenge as most everyone here :)
 
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