Hunting Grouse in Northern Maine

[Picher]

My son and I just got back from a three day hunting trip to "North Maine Woods", a large area of managed timberlands located about 20 miles North of Mooshead Lake where there are literally thousands of miles of unpaved logging roads.

It's nice to live in Central Maine and be able to get there in about 2 1/2 hours by pickup. The roads can be quite bad, but this year, they're the best in many seasons, both because the various owners made a commitment to do so and because the weather has been unusually dry for this time of year.

The birds are fairly plentiful this year and most birds are found while driving lesser-trafficked feeder roads and those that aren't regularly brushed-back and ditched. Good cover along the roads allows the birds to feed in the grass without being seen by predators, including hunters. They occasionally go into the gravel to get warmed by the sun, or to get grit for their crops.

We hunt mostly by cruising the old roads, or walking them, but don't have much success walking without dogs. Still, we limited out for the three days...8 birds in possession apiece, though didn't reach the daily limit of four birds.

We walk up on birds seen from the truck and shoot if they flush, or about to run for cover in the very tight, woody cover along the road and ditch.

We did better than other hunting parties, but know where some of the better places to hunt are, based on many trips over the years.

When younger, I scoffed at those who would hunt from a vehicle and shoot birds on the ground, but at 70, I don't any more. When younger, birds in our area were more plentiful, but farmlands have either been converted to strip-development, or allowed to go to older timber, neither of which will provide good bird hunting.

We have grouse on my son's 150 acres out back, but they're too skittish to be hunted, either with or without dogs. They flush beyond sight or range. In 10 years here, I've only been able to shoot about 3 grouse in our woods.

Northern Maine is still grouse paradise.

[Barnacle Brad]

Ruffed or the grouse formerly known as "Blue"? IIRC, the blue grouse have been broken into sub species? Now there is a dusky and a something else I do not remember. It was easier when they were just blue! Still fun to hunt them regardless of name...

Thanks for sharing!

[Picher]

Eastern Grouse are brown and usually quite jumpy, so getting a shot is difficult. In the "North Maine Woods" they're not used to encountering people and stay put long enough to get shots of them along roads, but can be difficult to hunt with dogs, due to thick covers up there.

Much of the big woods have been harvested periodically, so there's a good mix of young and older stands. Although there aren't typical farmland meadows, apple trees or many oaks, grouse subsist on leafy plants, mushrooms, and other low-growing plants during the growing season. During the winter, they feed primarily on poplar (similar to aspens) buds.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

Four types of birds found in Northern MN. Ruffled grouse, Sharp tail grouse. Hungarian Partridge & (blue) Spruce grouse. Spruce grouse are seldom seen. The others are always seen but seldom shot.

Close to your age I now hunt old logging roads, hunting stand foot trails, ATV & snowmobile paths. I found it doesn't pay to lug that 870 12 ga. pump of mine or the 20 ga. citori lighting either. Just a old Iver Johnson single shot 410 is my preferred. {simplicity in weaponry is best when it comes to tender bite upland bird hunting.} Honestly of all the game birds I've ever hunter which includes all water foul, and those tough old Iowa pheasants included. Nothing even comes close too or is better eating than a breast of grouse or partridge on the dinner plate. Nothing!!
BTW upon walking back to my cabin via a old county gravel road. If a bird happens to pop up out of the ditch onto that gravel road I walk. I'll look around and see if there are any gawker's or a neighbor driving down. No folks. No traffic. That tasty little bird just may come home with me.

Oh I almost forgot~~congratulations on getting that Son out to hunt.
We don't do enough of that getting together with our kids. Funny how it seems. "The older we get the less we see of our kids."

[Barnacle Brad]

I wonder how many times I have nearly had a heart attack, sneaking through the quiet woods and flushing an unseen grouse within yards of where I was...

Holy smokes! That will get your white corpsuckles jumping over one another!!! Hahahahaaa...

[buck460XVR]

Northern Maine is still grouse paradise.

You're a lucky man. I grew up hunting grouse in West Central Wisconsin/South Eastern Minnesota where at one time all one had to do was hunt hard for a long afternoon and odds are you'd have fresh grouse for supper. Not so much anymore. Spent all afternoon yesterday with two good dogs and my oldest boy in an area that used to hold good numbers. Good combination of mature oaks intermingled with cut-overs ranging from last year to a decade ago. While we got a half dozen woodcock, we only saw one grouse and that one flushed far ahead of the dogs.

First time I went Pheasant hunting in South Dakota 35 year ago, one of the local folks we ran into when we went to buy our license told us that the Pheasant numbers were way down that year. He told us it took him two hours of driving around and shooting birds from the road to get his limit, instead of the usual one hour. We found that with enough gas, one really didn't need the dogs, but we didn't go out there to drive around and road hunt. So we walked the fields and shot behind staunch points. Didn't hold anything against the old native that road hunted, just wasn't for us.


Really lookin' forward to the major woodcock flight now that we know where they'll be..........

[Picher]

I walked out to the road to get the newspaper this morning about 6:45 and, you guessed it; a grouse woke up and flushed out of a tree near the driveway and flew a couple of hundred yards down the treeline. It must have known I didn't have a gun.

[Blindstitch]

I miss hunting grouse. Pheasants although fun just aren't the same.
As a kid 20 or so years ago we use to road hunt I guess kind of. We use to bring a little 410 with us in the car when we would go out fishing. There were some trout streams in Northern Michigan (U.P.) some 10+ miles down gravel roads and every once in a while you would run across a covey running across the road. Jump out and maybe shoot a few and continue on the way to the fishing hole.

On my parents property we would make sure there were always grouse and never over harvest. Many years not a bird was shot off the property due to low count. But on the good years they were great. Even shot two one day on my way deer hunting with a 30-30. Also got one with a bow.

Here in South East Wisconsin I never see any. Even when I go in other places across the state. But recently I was in Wyoming looking for elk and kicked up 6 or 7. If only it was season, I had my gun and a license.

But pheasant season starts in 2 weeks so if I can't have grouse I'll chase other birds.

[Picher]

I love grouse for eating, but the pen-raised pheasants released by IF&W years ago, were like the best-tasting chicken you ever had, then double the taste. They were wonderful. We contemplated raising some here and may yet do it, but we don't have hunting dogs anymore.

We happened to get one a few years ago, but someone else in the family cooked it with strong spices and ruined it for me.

[Mainah]

Picher, that's the narrative I hear from every serious bird hunter in Maine now. You have to go North and hit the logging roads. Although I did see a lovely grouse on the side of the road just off the exit ramp from 295 to Yarmouth today. Sounds like a great trip.

They may have the birds, but we've got the deer down here!

[Picher]

Mainah: Yes, we have more deer down here, but they're making a comeback up there, after the bad winters about 5 years ago. We've seen deer on several trips the last couple of years, including the most recent trip.

We're going back up there for a couple of days the fourth week of October. There probably won't be many leaves on trees, or as much cover along roads. I just hope the snow holds off. We haven't had much luck on snowy roads, at least early snows.

[giaquir]

Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,
Grouse are what yuppies kill and haul home in their Lexus and Bmw's
while dressed in their swede britches and wearing their Raybans.
They have no business in Maine above Bangor or in Nh above the notch.
Makes me ill.

[Blindstitch]

And how do you differentiate your rough partridge, spruce partridge, sharptailed partridge.... and many other types that are actually called grouse.

But if you want to buy me a Lexus then go for it.

Anyway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grouse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partridge

[giaquir]

First of all it's not "rough" it's "Ruffed", and we don't
have sharp tail anything in New Hampshire or Maine.
Now on to Spruce grouse, which is a true grouse.We call them
"Spruce Grouse" which are illegal to shoot in NH. Also we have
Hungarian Partridge which are okay to hunt in Nh.

On closing ,why on God's green Earth would I buy you a Lexus.

[Barnacle Brad]

Pa'tridges? We don't need no stinking Pa'tridges!

[giaquir]

Oh, you don't know what you're missing better taste
and they fly faster. Partridge alias "Rocket Rooster"

[Picher]

Call them what you wish, but grouse is quicker to type. I've called 'em partridge for years, but we now just just call 'em "birds".

We know what that means in Maine, but this is read by many others.

Woodcock or timberdoodles are something else.

Put that in your Funk and Wagnall's. LOL

[buck460XVR]

Originally posted by giaquir:

Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,Partridge,
Grouse are what yuppies kill and haul home in their Lexus and Bmw's
while dressed in their swede britches and wearing their Raybans.

Now on to Spruce grouse, which is a true grouse.We call them
"Spruce Grouse"

Ruffed Grouse are a true grouse also and not a partridge......and who cares who else shoots them a long as it's done legally and safely. Why the need to bash fellow hunters besides the fear some guy wearing Birkenstock's can out hunt you?

The ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is non-migratory.

The ruffed grouse is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a "partridge", an unrelated phasianid, and occasionally confused with the grey partridge, a bird of open areas rather than woodlands

[giaquir]

I'm the greatest partridge hunter on the continent.
I have no worries

[Picher]

Once read that the national average number of shotgun shells it took to get a grouse was almost a box full. That may have been in the old days and when trying to walk them up with or without a dog.

On my latest trip up North, I shot my limit of 8 birds with about 15 shots, and that includes shots at flushed birds. Birds usually flush into heavy cover along the edge, but often fly straight away and get out of range quickly. Those that flush across the road are usually in deep doodoo.

We see at least three times as many birds as we shoot at. Most walk off into heavy cover and may flush without seeing them again.

[Unlicensed Dremel]

...and the humblest!

So these grouse / partridge - taste just as good as quail & pheasant (which I love)?

[Mainah]

Actually it's "pahtridge".