easy grouse hunting

[sneg]

I just want to share my tactic to hunt grouse.May be it would be of any interest to some new hunters. I invite any comments or share your own tactics.
Grouse hunting is fun,it can cheer you up in middle of the day between morning and evening hunt for big game.

Previously I shoot grouse ocassionally. Drive or walk, see the bird, pull my .22 and shoot.If it close, head shot is the best, if not close or somehow shot obstructed than body shot.Quite offten it resulted in lost bird or damaged meat.
I found that more often than not there are much more grouse than what you see in front of you.
If I spot grouse on the road,there will be some feeding birds and some guardian.Feeding bird would feed on small gravel ,while guardian will wach for predators.
But also in close by bush there will be other birds.Most important there will be some chief bird- we call it mama san. Mama san will look at guardian and give orders to other birds in the bush.
Typically grouse disappear way before you see them,thanks to guardian. Guardian gives signal to mama san,which in turn command others to hide. When you shoot feeding bird /guardian mama san still in command.
So,what I do now ? If I see bird on the ground I stop and look for bird in the trees- mama san. It is easy to distinguish which is mama san.It would move much more than others and will be very vocal. I use bino,probably my eye sight is not perfect anymore. Than I shoot mama san. Without her command other birds will seat tight and usually just hide in branches,but will never run or fly away.After the first shot feeding birds/guardian will fly to nearest branch or sit in the grass.Easy target.
I use my 12ga, it has good range and unlike with .22 I can take down bird hiding deep into branches.With bino I do not need to come very close either.If several birds on same tree I start from the bottom and shoot way up bird by bird.
This tactic worked for me most of the time,allow to shoot my day bag limit at one or two locations.
What is your favourite tactic ?

Cheers
Sneg

PS .Sorry,pics somehow small.

[mark]

Holy crap! I didnt know that anybody really put any thought into grouse hunting! Ive never had names for any of em either. I usually just see them and start shooting . Believe it or not, ive seen over a 100 sprucies within 100 yards once! Got 9 of em with sticks and rocks!

[Mr. Dean]

never thought much about the social roles of grouse but do agree that if one is spotted, theres more in the area that're hiding. Also agree that if you're serious about bag limits, a 12ga will do it in short order. A good retriever will also help.

[Th0r]

Thats a cool tactic man. See what happens when you really sit down and analyze stuff. I just shoot em by the road and one time I stumbled on three while hiking and nailed them all. I have never hit a bag limit for grouse, good for you.

[goatdancer]

If you got some fool hens treed, it doesn't really matter how you shoot them. Even on the ground they're not too smart. If you got willows in your sights that's a different story. Most times they won't give you a chance to look for mama-san, they just take off so you have to be fast on the draw. I use a 17 HMR, head shots only, and limited out 4 times this year, plus a few days of 2 or 3 birds. That's riding a quad on old FSRs and trails. It would be nice to have a dog to retrieve them...

[thatskindafunny]

Interesting fact. And I will take this as fact or manner of speaking. Will look for the all mighty mamma san for the first shot. Nothing ventured nothing gained. So I have mentioned before on a thread here somewhere but will mention again..... When you shoot at a grouse and it flys with it's feet down it's a dead bird. Happened when my deer hunting partner got out of the truck and shot at it with the 22. It flew with it's feet down and I said dead bird. They looked at me like I had rocks in my head. I explained how my bird hunting partner's old man had taught me that. He has 70 years + bird hunting experience. So the 2 buddies went over the bank and came back with the grouse. Also a good bird dog knows when a bird is hit. Pheasant took off, we shot, the bird flew, the dog took off, we called and the dog ignored us and 5 minutes later came back and dropped the pheasant at are feet. Oh and we let the old man stay behind us still today to shoot what we miss.

[PGK]

So I'm not the only crazy one out there! I also developed this idea. Applies mostly in the early season, sept-ish, when the birds are still coveyed up. After Oct I find all the coveys have broken up and I am always into single and doubles, rarely triples. Once I hit upon this, I started getting more than 2 or 3 birds per covey. Shoot the noisiest bird, it's usually a 'sentry'

[Chuck]

Before the Quad was invented - ya I go back that far, we just walked with a dog or two in the lead. Down a road or trail and soon as they'd scent a bird, into the bush they'd go, flush and tree the bird(s). We could often get the whole covey before they wised up later in the season. Only drawback was if the leaves held on the trees too long - made it harder to spot them. Super smart mama-sans or papa-sans wouldn't tree, but instead took off for parts unknown. These sly birds were probably educated by close calls with Mr. Yote or maybe Goshawks. There once was lots of grouse and areas to hunt them around here, but urban sprawl has eaten up a lot of areas and the abundance of skunks and racoons hasn't helped imo either regarding failed nests.

[steelheadSABO]

when I c one in the road i shoot it in the head from far away then slowly and quietly walk up to that spot and look in the the bushes for more and shoot as many as i can before they fly away.it gets you at least 2 but somtimes your limitor i get my dog to spot them.then i shoot them.

[dutchie]

Yeah I am really excited to get My German Shorthair pointer, so i can go on a hike after the morning hunt with my dog and my over under and he points, i shoot he retrives!!!

It is a WIN WIN!!