# MN Rough Grouse Trip



## Dick Monson

That's right, rough grouse. I feel like a babe in the woods as I took the boys back to the MN State Forests again this week for our second run on RG. No luck this time either. Got there in the late forenoon and hunted to about 3 PM. Saw a total of 3 birds. Briefly. The first 2 added insult to injury by popping their wings a couple time before they took off. Thup-Thup and gone. The third bird was a red phase and offered a clear shot in the open. My gun was on the wrong side of a tree. :eyeroll: And that was it except for a few tracks in the snow.

I was hunting along the over grown logging trails that had small aspen and hazel brush.


















There were still nuts on some of the bushes, along with rose hips and high bush cranberries.


















Evidence.










The dogs think any hunt is a good one as long as the room is nice.










The second day I didn't even put up a bird. But I did see tracks around the spruce thickets. The branches went to the ground and it was impossible to see in there. I did see a goshawk flipping through the trees and that was a highlight. How they can do that without breaking a wing is beyond me.

When I got home I saw that Duke had an infected boil on his chest from a scratch he got last week. So quick trip to the vet and he is down for another week. The phez can rest easy til after Christmas. Hope you guys get out and enjoy this nice weather. We are almost done for another year and it will take that long to plan round three.


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## Duckslayer100

Dang Dick, tough luck! Did you get a bit further east this time, or same area?
Hope Duke hangs in there. Keep us posted.
P.S. went a bit further west this weekend and found the pheasants. Without giving too much away here, let's just say the natural gas flames by the oil rigs sure made the feathers pop on those roosters!


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## Dick Monson

That is great. Bet you made the feathers fly! I hit Two Inlets again and Paul Bunyan. First time there. Very rugged ground for me. My map collection doesn't show the detail I wanted so will have to start over on that. I visited with a guy that was about 100 miles east and he had great luck on RG. I think next year a plan would be to hit one of the MN state forests west of Walker, stay the first night, and drive east again for the second and third day. 3 hours of roading at a time is enough for me.


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## Duckslayer100

Yeah, that is a haul out there. My advice, honestly, would be to take a week off and really explore the area. I took an extended weekend for my ruff trip this year, and it was phenomenal, but I definitely used every day I had. Grouse are not a bird of limits. In all my years of hunting them, I've yet to even get close to a daily limit, nevermind possession. For example, the four days I hunted this fall for them, I came home with 7, and I'd wager that's pretty close to average. They're a dang tough bird to hunt, but it gets in your blood! We'll have to get together next fall for a trip. I'll show you around my old stomping grounds. Hopefully you won't be disappointed :wink:


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## tilley

Well ruffed grouse used to be a bird of limits but not so much anymore. The so called high peaks nowdays are way worse than the low years of 20 -30 years ago. This is one of the most maddening and disappointing wildlife population enigmas of my lifetime as I absolutely love to hunt these birds. We now have more more excellent habitat on the landscape than anytime in the last 50 years and far fewer birds than ever. I am talking North Central Minnesota close to where Dick was hunting and I concur it is just pitiful how few birds there are and this ,according to the DNR is a peak year. Unbelievable.Predators like your goshawk are rampant as well as wild turkeys now seemingly everywhere. Don't know if there is any turkey connection with the grouse but it makes a guy wonder. There are better populations North and east of here where coincidently there are no turkeys.The DNR and ruffed grouse society seem unconcerned but I can tell you there is no where near the birds there were years ago. 1970-71 was phenomonal as and the last really good hunting I experienced was 1989. Big drop off since all the way to the dismal numbers we now have. Not uncommon then to put up 15-25 birds in a couple mile hike. Hitting them may be another matter for sure,but it is sure was fun. Hope they come back but it sure doesn't look good. Things change I guess but I thought with all the logging that the grouse would be the big winners but guess not. Never use to have deer or canada geese, now they are plentiful,used to have ducks,now they are damn near extinct . Go figure.


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## Dick Monson

tilley, other people mentioned the connection between turkey and grouse populations. How would that affect them? I'm just asking. There seemed to be plenty to eat and the logging over in Paul Bunyan SF looked like phenomenal habitat. I can't say that I walked a lot of ground so my experience may not show what was actually there for birds.

An old guy in the cafe said there was a poor hatch in western MN but better farther east. Too much rain? Too cold in June?


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## tilley

Dick, I am not sure if there is any connection between the turkeys and grouse but it begs some further study as there were never turkeys in this area before and now they are exploding seemingly in direct porportion to the steady decline in the grouse pop. This year it was indeed wet in June and it could have been a factor as high protien bugs and insects are required in the first 10 days or so of a chicks life. Cold wet weather is the worst possible conditions for the newborn grouse. I will throw this one out there: Deer ticks. They are thick in some areas especially north central Mn and the worst areas are the aspen cover that grouse prefer. They too were not here 15 years or so ago. Just a thought and I have no proof but I am 100% positive the grouse numbers have been way down for a minimum of 10 years or so and it something has definately changed and to me it is disturbing and sad.


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## ChukarBob

A friend of mine noted a correlation in rising turkey numbers and falling quail and pheasant numbers in SE Kansas. These were the only 2 variables in the equation that had materially changed in the past 40 years, as the human population, with its attendant development, from agriculture to housing, had held steady. My hypothesis is that the turkeys are opportunistic omnivores and won't hesitate to munch on pheasant and quail chicks. However, if you were to tell me I'm nuts or simply wrong, I probably wouldn't argue.


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## CrazyWalsh81

If you are looking for a good area. look into Blackduck, MN. The area south of there on CR39 is all state forest and easy to walk. Plenty of logging road and trails. Birds are there, you just have to be able to hit them.


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