# Is the cycle bottomed out yet on ruffed grouse?



## roostman (Jan 20, 2006)

wondering how people did and if ruffed grouse was on the up cycle or has it bottomed out yet? I would like to get a out of state license again for Minnesota just waiting for the birds to get better. :lol:


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## Trois_Beaux_Canards (Dec 14, 2005)

We didn't have much luck this year, and those I have talked to have not either. The numbers seemed a lot lower than the last couple of years. I certainly hope it is on the upswing again, but you can't be sure...after al, the grouse don't know they are on a cycle?
The few we did take were not juvenile. Fact is, they were downright good in size. If this is indiactive of the others who are left, then it could be very promising.


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## chukardog (Feb 1, 2006)

Its funny, when I lived back east our grouse population went through a cycle just like most of the states the birds live in. however when I moved to utah it was unreal. the population has been very, very stable for the past few years and It was not until last spring which was very wet did it impact the the grouse, both ruffs and blues. the other amazing thing is the grouse out here are a completely different bird then the birds back east. they are dumb as a rock, it is almost no fun to hunt them. I killed one on the elk hunt this year with a stick!!!!! the blues which get a bad rep for being even more stupid are actually a little more wild and a blast to hunt, the big cock birds are huge. we also harvest almost exlusively gray phase birds.

surf


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## Triple B (Mar 9, 2004)

right now in ND we are in the low part of the cycle, i'm not sure if where you are but i would assume if you are in NW MN the time of the cylces should be fairily similar. the nice part of being on the bottom of the cycle is that theres roughly 10 years where it will get better every year. something to look forward to i guess.


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## roostman (Jan 20, 2006)

nice looking dog chukardog. Has any of you thought of doing a grouse grandslam before? I'm been thinking pretty seriously lately of doing like a 4 state slam of my own, hit S.D for some prairie chickens, heading over to WY. for some sage grouse hit montana for some blue grouse hit N.D for the sharptails and finish up in M.N for some Ruffed Grouse. I know I sound like I'm crazy but if a guy could take 2-3 weeks off and just go, would'nt that be cool to hit four states and shoot 4 or 5 different kind of Grouse? :beer:


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## chukardog (Feb 1, 2006)

roostman, you would not need to travel so much to accomplish that feat, hech in montana alone you could harvest blues, ruffs, sage, sharptail, and possibly spruce. however you would need to go elswhere for prarie chickens, both greater and lesser. I have shot blues, ruffs, sharpies and sage all in one trip in idaho. we could not find any spruce though, damn hard bird to find in those thick conifers.


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## roostman (Jan 20, 2006)

I know I could get most of them in Montana or even Idaho but that would take out some of the fun of hunting other states, thats part of the whole crazy idea is to hit so many states and hunt for so many different species.
I seen in the pheasant forum That you chukardog would like to come to Nothdakota to hunt some pheasants, you probably would not have to travel so far either but thats part of the fun of things is to get out of your home state for a while. You are going to love pheasant hunting in the Dakotas. :beer:


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## chukardog (Feb 1, 2006)

roostman, you are right half the the fun is traveling to other states. I am really looking forward to North Dakota next year. yea, we shoot quite a few roosters here in utah, but we work really hard to earn those birds, public land out here is a joke, and trying to get on private ground is even worse. luckily I have trained a few dogs for guys that own some land


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## oatsboy (Mar 29, 2005)

grouse closed here yesterday 1,st yr in 3 snow wasn't up to my sak,covered lotsa ground not many flushes .i hope this is bottom of cycle but i thought it couldnt get worse than last year, iwas wrong.i hope i'm still able to march around when and if the 2 boxes a day hunts ever come back


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