Grouse Hunting Info - Ruffed Grouse Hunting Tips

Grouses are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. Grouse inhabit temperate and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere. They are game and are sometimes hunted for food. Males are often polygamous, and many species have elaborate courtship displays. These heavily built birds have legs feathered to the toes. Most species are year-round residents and do not migrate. These birds feed mainly on vegetables, but will also feed on insects, especially when feeding young. There are a few species of grouse that stand out from the rest.

Spruce Grouse, Falcipennis canadensis, are medium-sized birds. Their habitat of breeding is the boreal woodlands or taiga all across Canada and Alaska. It can also occur in the boreal forests that extend into the United States‘ northern states. These birds nest on the ground and in dense cover. Adult spruce grouse have lengthy square black tails, brownish at the end. The adult males are mostly grey having a black breast with some white bars, black throat as well as a red patch above the eye. The adult females are spotted brown with white and dark bars on their under parts. These grouses hunt on ground or in trees in the wintertime. The caeca, the digestive sacs found in the intestines, enlarge to bear this creature’s winter diet which consists of conifer needles. In the summer, they are also known to eat berries, some insects and green plants.

The Willow Grouse (Europe) or Willow Ptarmigan (North America), Lagopus lagopus, is a medium-sized gamebird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, breeding in birch and other forests and tundra across northern Eurasia, and in Alaska and northern Canada. It is the state bird of Alaska. The spring male is brown above with a reddish neck and white wings and under parts. The female is similar, but lacks the pure white belly. In winter, both sexes’ plumages become completely white except that the tail is black. The distinctive British subspecies, the Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) has sometimes been considered a separate species. It is a moorland bird, and is basically reddish brown in all plumages, never going white. The male Willow Grouse is unique in its nesting behaviour. In all other species of grouse, only the female takes responsibility for the young. However, the male Willow Grouse often takes responsibility of the young by staunchly defending his territory and his young. Males have even been documented to have attacked a Grizzly Bear and will attack humans who distract their young.

Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellus, are medium-sized grouses living in woodlands across Canada, the Appalachian as well as in northern United States counting Alaska. The Ruffed Grouse have 2 different color stages, grey and red. While in the grey phase, adult birds have long square brownish tails with barring as well as a black sub-terminal band close to the end. The head, the neck and the back are grey-brown; these grouses have vivid breast with barring. Ruffs are positioned on the sides of their necks. They also have a sort of “crest” on top of the head that occasionally lays flat. Both of the sexes are likewise sized and marked, making them tricky to tell apart. These grouses hunt on ground and in trees. They are omnivorous creatures, eating buds, berries, seeds, leaves and insects. Males are regularly heard drumming on fallen logs in the spring to draw females for mating purposes. Female birds nest on the ground, normally laying 6 to 8 eggs. Grouse spend the majority of their time on ground level and when they are surprised, they may burst into flight, beating the wings extremely loudly.

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