Grouse Hunting Tips
This section contains a few grouse hunting tips that will help you have a more successful and rewarding hunting experience. They are meant to improve your methods, as well as your way of acting and knowledge about the grouses' behavior.
Hunting dogs should be definitely used in hunting grouses, because with their help, you will have more opportunities of detecting the grouses, even when they seem invisible. Pointing dogs are recommended for this type of bird, but you should know that making your dog a good grouse hunting dogs will take hours of training every day, for several consecutive years. For more information about this topic, take a look at our grouse hunting dogs section.
Some hunters may say that for them, it doesn't get better than moving a bird from its cover and taking it by the wing. In order to maintain a constant rate of success season after season, you have to follow several tips.
Learning to recognize a good cover from more experienced hunters is probably one of the most useful tips you should take into consideration. They usually see a grouse where it seems that nothing has been, but they have developed this capacity after many hours of observation and experience. You have many things to learn from them, therefore getting in touch with such a hunter could be a good idea. You could also keep an eye on grouses even when you're not hunting. You might notice useful details that you haven't thought about yet.
Another efficient grouse hunting tip is thinking about the main things that attract grouses: food and cover. You can start by looking for their tracks at edges or near willows and confers, which provide food and shelter. Grouses are so dependent on cover because they fall prey to many animals and birds, from goshawks to domestic cats. Therefore, finding a type of food that provides them with a good cover is great. Being able to tell plants and trees would help you very much, but you can also carry a field guide in your pocket.
Keeping things organized could be an improvement to your hunting methods. While some hunters remember the exact spot where they flushed a bird, others don't recall them at all. You could try taking notes or marking the places with X. These notes will become very handy after a couple of seasons.
A grouse hunter should be aware of all the features of a grouse, details about their behavior and about their biology and lifestyle. Thinking like a grouse will help you know beforehand the favorite places of these bids. In the end, nothing makes a better tip than good knowledge and good practice.
Some hunters may say that for them, it doesn't get better than moving a bird from its cover and taking it by the wing. In order to maintain a constant rate of success season after season, you have to follow several tips.
Learning to recognize a good cover from more experienced hunters is probably one of the most useful tips you should take into consideration. They usually see a grouse where it seems that nothing has been, but they have developed this capacity after many hours of observation and experience. You have many things to learn from them, therefore getting in touch with such a hunter could be a good idea. You could also keep an eye on grouses even when you're not hunting. You might notice useful details that you haven't thought about yet.
Another efficient grouse hunting tip is thinking about the main things that attract grouses: food and cover. You can start by looking for their tracks at edges or near willows and confers, which provide food and shelter. Grouses are so dependent on cover because they fall prey to many animals and birds, from goshawks to domestic cats. Therefore, finding a type of food that provides them with a good cover is great. Being able to tell plants and trees would help you very much, but you can also carry a field guide in your pocket.
Keeping things organized could be an improvement to your hunting methods. While some hunters remember the exact spot where they flushed a bird, others don't recall them at all. You could try taking notes or marking the places with X. These notes will become very handy after a couple of seasons.
A grouse hunter should be aware of all the features of a grouse, details about their behavior and about their biology and lifestyle. Thinking like a grouse will help you know beforehand the favorite places of these bids. In the end, nothing makes a better tip than good knowledge and good practice.
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