MN Ruffled Grouse

Where are you guys hunting that there’s so many people? I know there’s the popular areas and we just avoid them or just go for a ride for the scenery. Other than that we very rarely see anyone where we go and we put on a pile of miles during the fall. Bird hunting to us is just a bonus thing to enjoy during our favorite time of year while we spend time together with the family. Do we shoot birds on the ground? Absolutely. It’s not some sporting event for us, it’s about the meat. We absolutely love eating them and are grateful for every one we get to enjoy.

There’s a lot of good tips on here thanks. I’ll call the dnr guy or ruffed grouse society guy and see if he can steer me in the right direction. I’m sure most people riding buggies are safe, but I also know a number of them personally that ride around half cocked all the time and go at a rate of speed often beyond their control. Reminds me of a segment of snowmobile riders. Bar hop all day and speed up and down the trails.

Get 50 yards into the woods off a trail used by ATVs. You’ll be amazed by the number of grouse pushed off the trail available for you to hunt.

crawdaddy wrote:

There’s a lot of good tips on here thanks. I’ll call the dnr guy or ruffed grouse society guy and see if he can steer me in the right direction. I’m sure most people riding buggies are safe, but I also know a number of them personally that ride around half cocked all the time and go at a rate of speed often beyond their control. Reminds me of snowmobile riders. Bar hop all day and speed up and down the trails.

Oh so now the snowmobilers are all a bunch of drunks that drive around wasted too? You sure have some crazy imagination. Why don’t you go find something else to complain about that’s legitimate and that other people can relate to. Just stay home. You’ll be much happier in your safe space curled up with your blankie thinking about all the monsters out there.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Gitchi Gummi wrote:</div>
ATV road hunting is the FFS of grouse hunting

So when you go hunt the atv trails and whine you see atvs, do you do the same at the lake ?

I don’t hunt atv trails. Never have, never will.

fins wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>crawdaddy wrote:</div>
There’s a lot of good tips on here thanks. I’ll call the dnr guy or ruffed grouse society guy and see if he can steer me in the right direction. I’m sure most people riding buggies are safe, but I also know a number of them personally that ride around half cocked all the time and go at a rate of speed often beyond their control. Reminds me of snowmobile riders. Bar hop all day and speed up and down the trails.

Oh so now the snowmobilers are all a bunch of drunks that drive around wasted too? You sure have some crazy imagination. Why don’t you go find something else to complain about that’s legitimate and that other people can relate to. Just stay home. You’ll be much happier in your safe space curled up with your blankie thinking about all the monsters out there.

Mom called, the meatloaf’s done

I wish Iowa let you use ATVs on public. I either get the option of quartering and packing, dragging, or getting a pack horse. Sucks that people abuse that privilege, I’m getting old and packing s#it out or dragging is getting exhausting. Regarding grouse, I always wanted to hunt them, heard a few drumming in the northeast portion of our state but never drew on one. Gotta buddy that hunts them in Wisconsin every year, gonna go with sometime.

Steven Krapfl wrote:

you use ATVs on public. I either get the option of quartering and packing, dragging, or getting a pack horse. Sucks that people abuse that privilege, I’m getting old and packing s#it out or dragging is getting exhausting. Regarding grouse, I always wanted to hunt them,

Go sooner rather than later. October/November are great times to be in the woods and hunting grouse is serious fun.

Mom called, the meatloaf’s done
[/quote]

Doh good one! Can’t wait to get done with your mom so I can have some loaf.

I ended up calling the grouse biologist for nothern MN yesterday, he gave me some good info. Look for 5-20 year old aspen he told me. The really new cuts might not be tall enough for grouse to feel comfortable from aerial predation. Edges with Oak trees can be good because the grouse like acorns for food. He said state land tends to have more trails on it. Land types open to hunting he told me WMAs, State Forests, National Forests, county lands. I asked about timber company lands and he didn’t know much if those were open to hunting, I’ll have to research.

When it comes to gas buggies I apologize if I painted with too broad a brush initially. I believe most people in the world are good, and I’m sure the majority of atv drivers are responsible. That being said I want to be careful, especially for the dog, and always consider all safety aspects before and during a hunt. Walking a trail trying to hunt with a dog while the side by side parade goes on has no appeal to me. I’ll take Gitchi’s advice here and find trails that are walking only. I’m not afraid to bust brush either, so I’m sure as long as the woods aren’t a complete salad bowl I’ll try some of that.

I asked the biologist about atv hunting and he said, “yeah it’s real common for people up here to just drive around and blast em right off the road and on the ground, not really my cup of tea.”

Hopefully this trip happens. It will depend on if I get a prairie chicken lottery or not, and if I plan a hunting trip to North Dakota/Montana for sharp tails.

fins wrote:

Mom called, the meatloaf’s done

Doh good one! Can’t wait to get done with your mom so I can have some loaf.
[/quote]

Wow you’re a piece of work. Why do you even log in? Just to prove to everyone how much of a d bag you are? Get lost.

crawdaddy wrote:

That being said I want to be careful, especially for the dog, and always consider all safety aspects before and during a hunt. Walking a trail trying to hunt with a dog while the side by side parade goes on has no appeal to me.

I wouldn’t worry about safety too much, you can hear them coming from a mile away. I always have plenty of time to get my two dogs back and hold their collars and half the time I still end up sitting there for awhile until they actually catch up to me.

grubson wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fins wrote:</div>
Mom called, the meatloaf’s done

Doh good one! Can’t wait to get done with your mom so I can have some loaf.

Wow you’re a piece of work. Why do you even log in? Just to prove to everyone how much of a d bag you are? Get lost.
[/quote]

I totally agree. What kinda dip$hit makes a comment about a mom and meatloaf? There’s definitely some simpletons running around on here.

Back to the topic here. If you hunt the right areas and habits there are places you can get into ruffed and sharp tailed grouse here in Minnesota.

crawdaddy wrote:

I especially for the dog, and always consider all safety aspects before and during a hunt. Walking a trail trying to hunt with a dog while the side by side parade goes on has no appeal to me.

Be on the look out for wolves as well. I know the area I hunt we heard them pretty much all day very close by.

Another option for grouse is the southeast near the Mississippi. I’ve had success from Red Wing south. Whitewater WMA can have good bird numbers but be ready to do some up and down.

Ubetcha, I just talked to another biologist today and hit the jackpot. He lives up in grand rapids and hunts grouse all over. He told me about the paper company that allows hunting. He mentioned that there’s dangerous creatures in the woods, bear, wolves, and mountain lions. Although very rare to run into one, he only had it happen once in all his hunting. There was a yearling black bear that got angry when it saw his dog and a fight was gonna break out, but he got lucky and boogied out of the woods before the claws and fangs flew. He mentioned to eye check as dogs can get twigs etc. in the eye. He said the most common danger are all the ticks which carry Lyme’s as well as other diseases he mentioned. I asked about gas buggies and he hasn’t had much problem with them, he walks some old lonely logging roads. He mentioned usually farther from town less hunters and vehicle traffic. The guy also told me about a Hotspot! Last year hauling gravel for a DNR project there was a road through public land and he’d see at least 3 grouse every time. In his opinion the number one thing that’ll affect the fall grouse population is spring weather during nesting time. Fingers crossed for a good hatch.

Yes. Dry warm weather is the huge deciding factor on how many birds will be around come fall.

Youbetcha wrote:

Be on the look out for wolves as well. I know the area I hunt we heard them pretty much all day very close by.

A sled dog place scared the crap out of me once before I knew they were in the area. All sorts of howling and yipping coming straight for us through the woods! Double timed it back to truck and got dog inside. Turns out the trail I was on curved back close to main road amd it was a pack of sled dogs coming around the bend all hooked up to a summer exercise rig

That would have spooked me too. Never seen that one. We hunt the north shore area in superior national forest. The wolves are thick in that area. Heard from a local CO they seem to be moving west as the deer population is declining. Good news is grouse can at least get away from wolves

We quit hunting our lab towards the end of her hunting career because of a wolf scare. She had a couple years left in her but that encounter was enough to quit while we were ahead. She was in the woods working off the side of the trail and a wolf walked out about 50 yards in front of us. It stopped, turned towards us and looked at us for a second and then went back in the woods. Very fortunate the dog was in the woods and never saw it or else she would have took off after it in a heartbeat.

That same dog had several bear encounters at the cabin. Random ones pop out in the yard or something and that dog would bark and run a few feet at them and they always instantly took off running. From what I’ve seen bears hate dogs but I wouldn’t want to see what would happen if cubs were involved

I have been hunting ruffed grouse in Minnesota for about 40 years or so. I focused on grouse hunting in my 30s and 40s and probably had some years of 20+ days (often just half days) in the woods. I still hunt ruffed grouse, but I don’t go “a mile back” like I used to… I have shot a lot of ruffed grouse and woodcock from the far westside, the middle, to the far eastside of MN. Most of my hunting has been north of I-94 and south of Hwy 2. Never found much reason to go far north, but there are probably more birds way up there.

Spring – early summer nesting season usually is a far better “indication” of fall bird populations that drum counts.

Aspen is a key component, but so are areas of balsam and alder swamps. My advice is be ready on edges!

ATVs and SXS are definitely an issue in some parts of the state. Like Gitchy noted … I have never hunted a true ATV trail. I have also seen example after example of where ATVs drive right around a trail gate to go down walking only trails. If you find areas of the state with lots of intertwining gravel and trails roads it is not just ATVs … I have seen plenty of sedans and pickups slowly driving around looking to pot grouse on the ground. I will also note that in the last 10 years or so … most of the ATVs I see moving about no longer tote guns … they are just riding to ride. I would like to MN continue to develop more ATV free – walking only hunter trails across the state.

Clover (spread on trails to stabilize the soil after a clear cut) is a primary reason grouse are on those trails. It is a major food source for them and an easy source. More than one DNR biologist has told me that clover roads are where most MN ruffed grouse go to die. Grouse of course are also along these trails and roads for gravel.

I bet more grouse are killed standing than flying. Legal and no judgement. Actually, I know quite a few guys that probably not be able to kill many grouse (or any) that are flying.

Over the past decade or two I have noticed that September and October are warmer and to be honest also seems much windier. Often the heat limits you to hunting say 8AM until around 11AM or noon and then maybe one last golden hour walk. That noon – 4 time is often a tough time to find many birds anyways.

I run Brittanys so the prolific expansion of wolves (especially into one of my best private land spots – deer land) is of concern. I have never seen a bear in the fall … see them in April and early May though for sure.

Dog dangers while MN grouse hunting:
> porcupines
> deer ticks … have them on the pill or topical treatment of both. Spray your pants too.
> sharp objects and lots of objects on the forest floor. I have had dogs rip open their chest, break toe nails, sprain joints
> rare but there … ground hornet nests … ouch. I carry Benadryl
> conibear traps when fur bearer season opens the last few weekends in October. Minnesota needs to follow Wisconsin in how trappers are allowed to set these traps to protect dogs. Any subtle changes have been stopped in the legislature. Probably the number one reason that I have stopped late season grouse hunting … that and a return to my roots – pheasants. Learn the process of removing a conibear trap … buy a trap at MFF and practice … know the dangers of flagging tape near the ground.

Do dogs ingest the flagging tape or?

I believe its to mark where the conibear is set. Not sure if that is law or just a good practice.

Thanks for the tips brittman, and especially the list of dangers. I like to be prepared for things like this ahead of time. My understanding is that conibear traps are only supposed to be placed underwater in MN. I do my best to keep the dog out of culverts and keep an open eye around beaver huts because that’s what people are trying to trap with them I believe. I did borrow a trap from a buddy when I first got into hunting so as to understand the release mechanism. My plan would be to try the weekend before pheasant opener, once that opens its all roosters. A lot also depends on if I hit the prairie chicken lottery.

A couple of other dog safety precautions used in our hunting camp, carrt with you:
a multitool with pliers – porkies suck!
a small first aid kit, include superglue. Not the most skin friendly
thing to use but when you’re 45 minutes away from the truck it seals a wound
Lots of water and a foldig water bowl (my dog doesn’t like to drink from a
bottle)
ahandgun in wolf country. If my dog is running toward me with a wolf
in pursuit it constitutes a reasonable fear of bodily harm to me
Long cable tie/zip tie to release a conibear

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Jarl wrote:</div>
Spent some time in that general area last weekend scouting for turkey. Was encouraged by what I saw for grouse along the roads. And out of around 1/2 dozen trails I stopped at I heard drumming in at least 4 of them. You should have no trouble finding state forest trails that don’t allow motorized traffic. Even then I spend most of my grouse walks off trail and feel I see more birds that way.

That’s how we do it. Off the beaten path, far more birds and no atvs. Or you could hunt a atv trail and complain about the atvs

Birds? What are those?

Lol last year was really bad in my area.numbers were supposedly way up but mine weren’t. My dog had fun tho so that’s a win

FinnyDinDin wrote:

I’d suggest going once most of the leaves are down. Third week of season is kind of hit or miss for that. Depends on the fall weather.

Definitely bring the dog. A good dog that stays close will increase birds in the bag. Typically a pheasant dog has no trouble transitioning to grouse.

There should be some woodcock around then. Great eating little bird contrary to what some say. Darker meat and I suggest cooking them like a duck rather than how you would cook a grouse or pheasant.

I sent a PM with some helpful info. Good luck!

I do not like grouse hunting early season. Between the ticks, temps, and vegetation no thanks. Yeah more dumb birds but not worth it to me.

ganderpike wrote:

The guys doing the road hunting thing are the same ones tossing Busch Light cans in the ditch. Seeing Fins stick up for them is all I needed to see to never change my mind

I swear when I’m pheasant hunting in Iowa I step on at least one or two empty Busch light cans per ditch. Lol. And yes I ditch hunt sometimes. Dad is old and disabled. Sue me.