Here in Idaho, the forest grouse opener is the end of August. We've got three species of forest grouse (dusky, spruce, and ruffed), so any timbered area is likely to have birds.Yum-yum!


The Blue Grouse, now called the Dusky Grouse in Idaho, is usually fairly common, especially at higher elevations.



My Brittany sure loves to hunt Blues, but sometimes gets a bit tuckered out.



Three birds is quite a bit of meat.



The Spruce Grouse (Fool Hen, Stupid Chicken) is found in the northern half of the state. Often, not too sporty, as you can walk right up to them.



Not a true forest grouse from Idaho, but three species of ptarmigan (these are Rock Ptarmigan) are found in Alaska and are fun birds also.



Jack

Love grouse hunting, especially over a good dog. Nice pics, Jack.

I have really really wanted to hunt forest grouse. Your Spruce grouse is beautiful.

Love grouse. I planted and kept many indigenous shrubs that give buds and berries that grouse love. I've had up to and above five grouse in one tree at any time.

Blues are plentiful in the higher areas here. So fun to see them in Doug fir, aspen, subalpine fir, and my favorites, Mtn Hemlock and cedars.

Everywhere I have lived, I have planed shrubs and trees to attract them.

I hear them every Spring when I’m out there turkey hunting. They start drumming well before sunup too.

I have found that the young of the year of all three species are pretty easy to get close to. I have killed 4 ruffs in my driveway so far. The blue and ruffed seem to wise up fairly fast. I am fortunate to have all three species where I hunt.

Our grouse season starts here next weekend,been working out in the big woods for the last week,I'm seeing coveys of ruffed grouse daily.We do have spruce grouse as well,but not too many,I shot one male for mounting purpose ,bocat jumping at him.When I lived in Montana I really enjoyed hunting blue grouse with my bow while we were elk hunting,good camp meat at spike camp.Thanks for sharing Jack.

It's all about the dogs.

Don't forget the sage grouse.

Great photos Jack. It has been some time since I have seen or heard the familiar drumming of our grouse locally.

An old friend that has passed some time back lived in the woods in an old mobile home. His place had an old, rusted oil tank that a local grouse would fly upon it every morning and drum his little heart out. My old friend used to complain because it would commence to drum much earlier than Albert would arise each day.

I don't care what anyone else calls them, they are still blue grouse to me. My favorite eating game bird.

Sharptails and occasionally some huns here. Season opener tomorrow..

Had quite a lot of 100 grouse seasons back in the day.

BOCO do you step on the wings and slow pull the breasts out?"

I used to,now I just put two fingers of one hand into the bird below the neck(after ripping the skin at the crop)and two fingers from the other hand same place but opposite direction and pull.apart.Get breast and wings in one hand and legs. back and guts in the other.

Always carry the shotgun picking boughs
[i][/i]

My brother and I with a few ruffed grouse and 2 woodcock

Fantastic license plate. That's as good as it gets, in my opinion. Tell me the history behind that sucker. That yours Posco?

It is, Jack. Maine limits us to seven characters on a plate or it would have been TMBRDODL. Only met one person who knew what the plate stood for.

I found some on the opener.

Today I found the first ruffies of the year. I like them all for eating but I rank the forest grouse with ruffed grouse first then blue grouse and the spruce grouse come in third.

I just finished a drink in my favorite whiskey glass.
Off to bed so I can get going in the morning to find a couple more.

Tools of the trade.

Thanks Jack. I grew up shooting ruffed grouse in upstate NY. None here in IL.

I have shot both spruce and blue grouse in Colorado years ago while bowhunting elk.

They all taste great. Only bird I would rate better tasting is quail. We do have some here.

Range - Quite a wholesome combination; blue grouse and Pendelton. Two of my favorites.

Posco - A classic grouse-gitter. Beautiful!

D. T. - Now that's sporty. Stick bow, a coupla' grouse, and a wall tent. That's my idea of real recreation. Thanks for that picture.

3togo - You're welcome sir. I was hoping others on this site had as fond of memories of grouse hunting as i have. Hope to make a few more...

A grouse double, a true double where two birds flushed at the same time and my buddy knocked them both down. I've had pheasant, duck and dove doubles and even a rare woodcock double. But never a grouse double. I have enough trouble hitting singles.

Only a week away. Will be nice to get a couple meals of grouse.

It's Paahtridge...not Grouse

Out here, Nessy, we ain't got any of those wimpy paahtridge or any of those limp-wristed creeks. We got grouse and cricks!

Jack

I had one of those dang cricks in my neck this morning !

Out here, we don't have paahtridge.

Folks here, shoot peasants. Lots o fun.

Needs gaahlic....

Grouse season just opened here yesterday! I look forward to it every year!




My daughter with her first grouse


Very common looking crop




Sharptail population is growing here


A close look of what is inside of the crop from a Sharptail. Sharptail’s are the only grouse I’ve seen have grasshoppers in them.


And we have Ruffed Grouse for days!!

Paahtridge are shot on the ground or off a limb from the comfort of a heated cab. Not trying to be mean but I won't be lumped with uncouth.

Anybody use a 28 ga for grouse?
Thinking of geting one since 28ga shells are easier to get than 410's here.I have killed hundreds of grouse with the 20 and 410,never owned a 28.
Have to decide on a side by side or over and under.

Here the dusky(blue) grouse crops are full of huckleberries and grasshoppers this time of year.

No creeks here Jack...we have streams. Like " Field & Stream..lol

Love the spring time chasing those birds.

JP - Grasshoppers make up the bulk of the crops this time of year on the chukars and hungarian partridge. Our blue grouse, too, always with a few hoppers as Sundance pointed out. Also, the yellow racers (snakes) are generally full of them also. By the way, man, beautiful photos; well done!

Boco - Yes. My wife shoots a 28. She's got a o/u. Absolutely loves it. You can't go wrong with it. Do yourself a favour and get a stacked gun, not one of them wussy side-by-eaches.

Nessy - Okay. Streams are acceptable, as well as cricks.

Mad Mike - I used to love the spring hooter hunting on Admiralty Island. Really miss it. I can hear the hooters booming from my yard every spring, but we don't have a spring season on them.

Jack

I've owned a 28 gauge side-by-side. Sweet little gun but it was too light and whippy, couldn't hit anything with it.

I was doing a pretty good job of restraining and behaving myself. Thanks for freeing me.

Boco…get a Baretta O/U. I could do anything with my Silver Pigeon. Please, no side by sides….ugh….

Grew up hunting Sage Hens and Pine Hens (which I also still call Blue Grouse .

I'll give you partial credit for not mentioning Ruger.

Ouch you’re rough on my little red label.
At least it has birds in the picture with it.

Lol, nothing personal.

Plural. I've got one set aside for ya.

I love the gray bar on the tail of Lazarus’ and Dan Barnhurst’s blue grouse. I don’t get that here, our’s are all black.

How does Sage grouse taste,I shot one for mounting when I lived in Montana,there a very cool looking bird mine is mounted in the full strut love the tail feathers spears.Big birds 4 to 5 lbs I'm guessing,Huns and ruffed grouse were the best eating,never shot Chuckars how are they for table fare,they must be fun to hunt as well in the land scape they call home.

We don't have Ruffed Paahtridge we have Ruffed Grouse.

The other white meat. Picked up 3 the other day with the .22. I often wonder how come their hearts are half the size of a spruce hens heart? Any biologist on here?

Might have something to do with the pale meat on a ruffed and the dark meat on a spruce.
Young spruce grouse here-young of year,taken in the fall have light meat like a ruffed.By winter the meat is purple.

Young spruce grouse here also have white tender meat in the fall. Rarely shoot them in the winter. Ruffies seem to have much fluffier feathers, ( better for insulation ) than spruce hens, which may rely more heavily on blood flow to keep warm. Just a theory.

Some of the grouse from last year
can't wait till the 15th

Good post Jurassic with the crop contents. Can call the crop "Uikuass" an Innu name and the name of our granddaughter besides her English name. Her great grandmother named her before she passed. With spruce grouse, before the snow, often red berries (mountain cranberries) and blueberries in them crops. For a small snack open the crop and float the contents. They will separate and the red and blue berries float and snack time or you can put them in dressing to sweeten up the birds if roasted. Always pick the birds here for most flavour. Usually rough pick right when shot. Very quick and saves time and mess at home or camp.

I used to hunt birds with my dogs, German shorthairs.my last dog was so smart it all most train itself. we shoot 100 birds off him when he was 9 months old, man I loved that dog, never got another close to him, don't have a dog now probably will never have another dog. Just walk the back roads now when I want a bird, our season opens on the 15 of sept.

Great post i dont care what you call em partridge or grouse grew up shootin them with sling shot along with my brothers,dad let us take the 410 when i was 8 and would give us two or three shells and tell us he wanted that many birds hatted to come home after a miss or two and we had the dog to a cross cocker that would tree em for us and chase rabbits and sqirrels great times. like Bocco says 410 shells hard to find and more money than 20 gauge. thanks for pics and stories,take care.

The best food in Alaska

Second best. I still think lynx hams and backstrap is even better'n ruffed grouse!

Somewhere I have a picture of me eating a lynx "drumstick"

You're right they are pretty tasty !

Yeah, I think that lynx meat is probably even bettter'n headless chicken.

Gulo bobcat is right in there !

I've chewed on plenty of bobcats. I've eaten (or tried to eat) some pretty raunchy old toms that weren't what I'd call delectable table fare. Lynx, I've never had a bad one.

Jack

Grew up hunting Ruffed Grouse and the only other grouse I've had the opportunity at is Sage Grouse (managed to bag a couple limits in WY a dozen or so years back). Going after the "King of the Uplands" during my favorite time of the year....doesn't get much better than that.

Got some tears flowing with this thread. Grouse hunting comes to a whole new light with a dog working them and a soft tinker of a bell "on point "

Wife made some great grouse adobo. And no lucky shot to chew on!

When I hunted elk in CO we would see a lot of grouse in coveys along the road. I asked one of the ranchers what kind of grouse they were? He said they were sage grouse, no good to eat. Is that true?

Great shots and an even better looking longbow. Is that a J T Traditions or Toelke?

Toelke all the way. 58” whistler. Lucky enough to hang out with those guys and they make a fine bow

Gulo You sure hit a HOME RUN with this post It woke up a lot o bird hunters Your pictures along with all the other ones submitted makes for a very nice post I began my bird hunting adventures in .south eastern PA DURING THE 1960'S AND 1970 THE AREA WAS KNOWN AS THE Pheasant hunting capital of the east coast .If I could turn back the clock I would love to, go back to those days . Thaks for all the great pictures everyone posted

Our grouse opener is the 30th of this month but it doesn't look promising. Last year was dismal and this year looks worse. I'll still be out there lugging a shotgun in the crisp autumn air.

If you have any good luck make sure you give us some details You don't have to kill a bird to enjoy a good hunt .

I would choose ruffed grouse as the best eating wild game. Pheasant a close second.

Hint of fall in the air this evening. Love it!

I certainly agree, ruffed grouse have gotta be close to the top. Difficult, though, to pick. Pheasant is mighty delicious, as are doves, quail, chukars, and young blue grouse. I would rank ptarmigan, winter spruce grouse. sage hens, and yard-bird down a ways on the list. Actually, my favorite is whatever happens to be on the plate for dinner.

If you're ranking all wild game meat, not just upland birds, I'd have to go with lynx meat or Dall Sheep as the best, followed closely by Sitka blacktail deer and young Russian boar.

Jack

Any chance that might be an AYA?

Old Cuddy could tell the month O' the year by the taste O' the partridge.

Good question n Boco comment on dark meat related possibly. Might have something to do w dark meat is more oxygenated than light meat and so the bigger heart required to do that. I think birds that fly nil have small heart and birds that fly more bigger heart. Ptarmigan big hearts and great flyers. The Q then is do spruce grouse fly quit a bit. Might be despite appearances other wise. Must try to find a good tetronidae/grouse family bio. Boco correct young spruce have paler meat in the fall but darken up as the season progresses.

it's been years since I've shot a Grouse

Better!

Jack

I have a couple of thoughts on those issues. That's all they are though...just thoughts......no evidence to support them.



I think there are a couple things going on here that MAY shed light on the color and flavor of meat in young of the year birds.........and on the difference in heart size between ruffed and spruce grouse.

Grouse are "precocial". That is, when they hatch they have down and their eyes are open. They are ready to rock as soon as they dry off and usually are able to leave the nest in as little as an hour but for sure within 24 hours.
They still can't fly but they can walk and forage for themselves.

So these birds are eating mainly insects and a few seeds they can find on the ground. Only when spruce grouse can fly and access a tree can they eat needles. I think that is when the color and taste of their meat begins to change.

The ruffies main grub is the aspen bud. Much higher in nutrition than spruce needles so the ruffie can get a meal in less time than a spruce grouse and thus avoid exposure to predators somewhat. Also the buds don't taste as 'toxic' as needles.

Conifer needles can be toxic to some predators. So I am going to guess that adapting to a diet of needles may be one form of defense against some predators............including man. I'm sure we've all tasted spruce needles. Not good. We all know how apparently stupid spruce grouse are so they need all the help they can get as a species.

Heart size may also be associated somewhat with diet. Since needles are much lower in nutrition than buds or berries, the spruce grouse has a gut that increases in length during cold months. MAYBE that additional gut length needs more blood or a stronger heart to pump blood that extra distance.

Another factor MAY be that the ruffie is better adapted behaviorally to deal with cold.

Spruce grouse we know will congregate in trees as a roost. There is a small bit of thermal advantage to a small group of trees but mainly it gets them out of reach of some predators. Nevertheless they are exposed to the cold air and wind.

On the other hand, a ruffie will dive into the snow and tunnel 15 or 20 feet to create a space that has a much warmer and constant temperature than the "outside" environment.

Anyway it is my guess that perhaps the ruffie doesn't need as large a heart because he manages his 'heat/energy budget" better than the spruce grouse.


Just my two cents and it may be worth even less

A lot to digest White but one quick comment is ruff, spruce and ptarmigan all dive into the snow when it is cold enough and snow is soft enough. Seem lots of times. Sometimes when you have only slightly disturbed them you will see a head poke up, out of the snow, and then they rocket up shortly after.

Yeah I have been scared witless by ruffies coming up out of the snow but I can't recall a spruce grouse doing it. Maybe I just haven't been observant enough. I can go a decade or more without ever seeing a ptarmigan so can't really say on that......but I wouldn't be surprised if they do it too

I just popped 7 spruce hens on the way to the post office back. Everybody was purple, but one. Still on the cranberries. Won't move to spruce needles until cranberries drop for the most part. Then it seems to be straight up spruce needle diet. I believe my ruffies were planted and not native. They were not here 30 years ago.

Those ptarmigan ghost flying of the snow at night in front of the sno-go have scared me half to death.

Try staying seated on a horse and have them burst up in the air right in front of their nose. Fun.

I think my heart gets larger just from those adrenalin bursts

Ya are what ya eat.....I know that in deer, antelope, heard it with snow goose hunters, even corn fed cows

I KNOW that's a fact with milking goats . If they eat weeds, the milk is awful . Fed on sweet feed, it is as sweet, rich and creamy as ever.

Conifer needles....UGH.

It would make sense that ptarmigan would roost in the snow also since where we see them there aren't many suitable trees

Around here winter diet of spruce ones is balsam fir needles. Not sure ever saw them eat spruce needles. Some jack pine got planted here years ago by Forestry and some ppl have seen that in their crops too. Fall berries as long as they can get them.

Ptarmigan winter willow buds, and the odd time pull willow bark off too, and in wind blown areas and where caribou dig they can get at berries in winter too. Fall they like the berries.

Young ones, of any kind, supposed to eat a lot of bugs over the summer.

Ptarmigan can roost in snow even where there are a lot of trees.

Real cold and you can find ptarmigan and spruce roasted in snow in middle of day at times. I suppose they feed after daylight and then dive in the snow to get out the cold and digest what is in their crop. Snow holes usually full of poop. I think they feed twice a day - morning and evening. I think too they fed on moonlight nights as at times you can shoot them just before dark and crops are empty but most times you shoot them just before dark and their crops are full.