Ruffed grouse are hard to spot due to their natural camouflage, but the drumming sound males produce can betray their position.
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October 25, 2024
Hunting Appalachian ruffed grouse takes you to some of the highest elevations in the South. Dizzying hikes, dense cover and rugged terrain are the challenges, but spectacular scenery and the potential for bagging one of the most handsome upland birds are your rewards.
My son Justin and I were crossing a stream on a wobbly, single-plank bridge when we put up a bird. The whirring of wings caught Juston’s attention and he swiveled his shotgun to bear. He took a shot, but the pattern brought down only rhododendron leaves.
“How about that?” Justin asked. “A grouse!”
Like most of the ruffed grouse we flushed, it was in a rhododendron thicket. My lab, Tinkerbell, hadn’t gotten close to the bird when it sensed our approach. With grouse, you must always be prepared to shoot because you never know when a flush will occur.
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YESTERYEAR VS. TODAY When I lived in Mooresville, N.C., I made a couple of trips to Pisgah National Forest each season with Chuck Forbes and his German shorthair pointer, Woodcock, named after the bird upland hunters are more likely to encounter in the area. The drive took only two hours and, back in the 1970s, a typical hunt resulted in seven or eight flushes and one or two birds shot.
Over the years, however, ruffed grouse have become increasingly scarce in the South, yet statistics show that hunters in good habitat still average a bagged bird every hunt or two, especially at higher elevations. This is why, now that I live in Wilmington N.C., I continue to hunt in Pisgah despite it taking several more hours to get there. The beauty of the mountains, the challenging terrain and the hope of hearing birds flush convince my feet to trade beach sand for rocky trails closer to the sky.
GO HIGH FOR BEST CHANCES According to spring drumming and hunter surveys in various states, bagging grouse in the South nowadays is more difficult than it was a few decades ago. In North Carolina, where grouse could be found at elevations as low as 1,500 feet when I began hunting them, they now mostly occur at elevations of 2,500 to 5,500 feet.
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Veteran Southern grouse hunters know that looking for these gamebirds in high-elevation areas with dense cover commonly results ?in more opportunities. (Mike Marsh) The decline in numbers is attributed to several factors. For starters, a decrease in habitat has undoubtedly had a major impact; warming temperatures may also be to blame; and West Nile virus appears to have increased the birds’ mortality rate, as well. Of course, the mosquitoes that spread the virus are less active at higher, drier elevations, and ruffed grouse thrive in colder climates, which could be why hunters stand a better chance of finding the birds by focusing their efforts in locations at least 2,500 feet above sea level.
Nevertheless, grouse need a varied habitat, and the components often missing at higher elevations are openings in the timber and regenerating forests. The higher the elevation, the steeper the terrain and the greater the erosion risks, thereby reducing the likelihood that clear-cuts and other timbering activities that benefit grouse will be conducted.
HIGHER-PERCENTAGE AREAS When I hunted with Chuck, we were in our 20s and frequently spent long hours chasing game. We once hunted grouse all day and flushed seven without downing one, which wasn’t uncommon even back then. Upon returning to the truck, I was unloading my Stevens 12-gauge double-barrel when a grouse flushed from beneath a scraggly apple tree nearby. The shot would have been an easy one, and since then the importance of soft mast for locating grouse has been hammered into my head.
Omnivores that will gladly feed on insects, leaves, buds, shrubs and acorns, grouse also show a great affinity for fruits and berries. (Mike Marsh) Grouse love fruits and berries. I hunt some game lands with active and inactive cattle pastures where crabapples are abundant and have flushed grouse beneath trees with fruit clinging to the branches as well as on the ground. However, crabapple spines stuck into my dog’s feet, so now I only hunt near the trees. I have also found grouse eating persimmons and can confirm that wild strawberries, gooseberries and blackberries growing along trails and openings are also excellent grouse foods. Grapes, persimmons and crabapples can remain attractive to the birds well into the season. In fact, I have seen grouse tracks in the snow beneath crabapple and persimmon trees still holding fruit, as well as grape vines with dangling, old grapes that more closely resemble raisins.
Additionally, there are certain pockets of cover that grouse hunters should look for. Chris Kreh, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, says the cover that holds grouse is often the kind you’d rather not walk through. That usually means 15- to 20-year-old regenerating timber with lots of underbrush. Recovering wildfire burns offer similar habitat and were grouse strongholds before logging operations began with the arrival of Europeans. Making it through these dense areas can be tough on both hunters and their dogs. It’s best to stick to firebreaks and trails and work the edges.
Prescribed burns, selectively logged areas, places with ice-felled trees and trails and openings planted specifically for wildlife are also worth some time investment. So are manmade openings, including logging roads and decks, hiking trails and fields, all of which make good foraging places for grouse looking for insects, seeds, fruits and edible plants. Plantings to keep an eye out for include orchard grass and white clover, as well as other early-successional plants like lespedeza and beggar-ticks.
While ruffed grouse are widespread across many cover types early in the season, they increasingly use rhododendron as the leaves fall from deciduous trees. This can reduce prime hunting areas by as much as 90 percent, concentrating the birds. But that doesn’t necessarily make grouse easier to hunt. Rhododendron makes them difficult to find and flush, and harder to see and shoot.
GUN DOGS AND SCATTERGUNS A good grouse dog can be a flushing or pointing breed as long as it works cover thoroughly. But while grouse often flush well out of gun range, they will also do so underfoot, thus making a close-working dog an asset as it increases the odds of additional shot opportunities.
I have hunted grouse mostly with a succession of Labrador retrievers. My current one, Betty, points and flushes gamebirds on command, which makes her perfect for hunting in the open or in dense cover. Retrievers trained for waterfowl hunting make excellent grouse dogs because they can be handled to work specific locations where the upland birds are likely to be. Pointing dogs with grouse hunting experience are capable of trailing birds for long distances and pointing them, though the birds don’t always hold long enough for the hunter to arrive before they flush. For this reason, some grouse hunters prefer flushing dogs, such as springer spaniels, which tend to hunt more closely.
Both pointing and flushing breeds make good grouse hunting dogs, but those most proficient at close work usually produce more chances. (Photo courtesy of © JAVIER ALONSO HUERTA/DREAMSTIME) Hunters without the aid of trained four-legged friends can still put up grouse by walking slowly, stopping intermittently and changing directions—behavior that mimics natural predators and makes the birds uneasy. The best shotguns for grouse are lightweight for fast handling. While semi-autos and pump-actions bag their share, I prefer the more traditional double-barrels because they instantly offer a second choice of choke and shot size. I have used 12-gauge to .410-bore double-barrel shotguns with an improved cylinder choke in one barrel and a modified or full choke in the other.
Bigger gauges loaded with heavier shot weights work better after the leaves have fallen because opportunities can come at extended ranges. For longer ranges, No. 6 lead shot is the best size, while No. 7 1/2 lead shot is ideal for shorter ranges.
PREP FOR THE HUNT A grouse hunt begins with homework. Hunters should talk to state wildlife biologists and U.S. Forest Service (USFS)staff beforehand. I call USFS Ranger District offices and ask for any personnel that may have seen grouse and can tell me about hunting access. It may be an enforcement officer, ranger, assistant ranger or educational staff member who returns the call. USFS Ranger District offices are also the best sources for national forest maps.
Because cellular phones and other navigation devices may not have service in mountain areas, it’s imperative to use mapping apps with offline capabilities, such as Huntstand or onX, or simply go “old school” and resort to printed maps.
Grouse hunting social media groups and message boards can also be of assistance, and I have found people who hunt bears with hounds to be another superb source of information.
On one of our annual grouse expeditions, Justin and I came across a group of pickup trucks with dog kennels stretching for miles along the mountain roads. When we asked one of the bear hunters about grouse, he used his CB radio to ask if anyone in the hunt had spotted any. Several reported seeing some along a certain road where we saw a grouse feeding on the shoulder as soon as we arrived in the forest.
Shortly after parking the pickup and sliding our shotguns out of their cases, we released Betty to follow the bird’s trail. When she flushed the grouse, I downed it with a single shot. Bagging that “gimme” grouse made up for the arduous mountain miles we’d walked. For us, though, hunting a bird that weighs merely a pound and a half is a pretty good excuse to hike through some of the most beautiful scenery the South has to offer.
LIGHTEN YOUR LOAD Shed gear pounds without sacrificing quality.
Grouse live in some of the highest and most rugged terrain in the East. Dependable, lightweight gear is paramount in helping hunters stay on target, and two good places to shave some weight are your boots and your shotgun.
(Photo courtesy of Irish Setter Boots) The Irish Setter Wingshooter all-leather boot ($204.99–$249.99; irishsetterboots.com) is lightweight, yet durable enough to protect feet and ankles from sharp-edged rocks. A waterproof membrane keeps feet dry and warm when hiking in snow or dew-soaked leaves or when rock-hopping across streams. It is available in 7-, 8- and 9-inch heights, and with or without a non-metal safety toe.
(Photo courtesy of Mossberg) Mossberg expanded its Silver Reserve over-and-under shotgun line with a 20-gauge, synthetic-stocked gun, the Silver Reserve-Eventide ($756; mossberg.com). Weighing 7 pounds, it has a black stock with a 3-inch chamber, five flush choke tubes, a tang-mounted safety and a barrel selector. The original Silver Reserve 20-gauge ($820) sports a walnut stock and weighs 7 pounds in 20 and 28 gauges and 6 1/2 pounds in .410 bore.
This article was featured in the October 2024 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .