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My Grouse and Hen Pheasant Dilemma

2K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  BirdChaser 
#1 ·
My early season has been most definitely a tad strange this year.

Opportunities for classic dream shots over solid points:

Woodcock............ none
Pheasant great..... best year ever
Grouse fantastic... more than ever

Pheasants Bagged... 12
Grouse Bagged......... 3

Now for the strange part. Nearly every time out for Grouse I have been running into Hen Pheasants in my favorite Grouse Covers and I have never had this happen before. As any excuse for my poor shooting is as good as any, the Hen situation has me now hesitating a second or so for conformation prior to taking the Grouse Shots as I normally would. Most of my Hunting is in Rooster only areas and I do my best to respect the PGA's game regulations. Even though the UN-mistakable sound of a Grouse's Flush has me already sighting in on the sound, I still find myself hesitating just a tad too long before taking the shot.

I have asked a few of my friends if they had ever experience my dilemma and most have replied with an affirmative no!. They all just smile and say "Perhaps You Need a Therapy Session at the Local Sheet Range".

Now, don't get me wrong this year had been fantastic for both "Link my Britt" and myself, I will cherish the memories of this early season for a long time to come. I am extremely lucky that Link is doing as well as he is. He is getting closer to 10 years old than 9 and I find myself missing him even though he is still with me.

So those of you who are waiting as impatiently for Deer Season to be over with as I am, join me in a toast to a great late season and hopefully many more.



Will this one be a Hen or Grouse? I just really don't know anymore!
 
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#2 ·
BirdChaser said:
So those of you who are waiting as impatiently for Deer Season to be over with as I am, join me in a toast to a great late season and hopefully many more.
I'll be sitting somewhere Saturday waiting for the first legal deer to appear, thinking lets get this over with and get back to clamoring bells, happy tails, and an empty woods.

Pending how far you are from me, if you send me the GPS coordinates I can go take a look and see if I would be able to offer any insight into more quickly differentiating the two.
 
#4 ·
Lyco,
You old covert snitcher, we skin people who log GPS Covert locations here in Potter/Tioga, and you don't even want to know what we do to those who sell such information.

BirdChaser, if you are hunting above Rt 80, don't hesitate,
most all those hens will never make it thru the winter, and
they are good eating. If you hesitate on a Grouse he beats you almost everytime. A mixed bag dinner of Grouse, Pheasant and Woodock is prime eating, with a wild trout and dirty rice, and a little good wine its incredible.
Pine Creek/Dave
 
#5 ·
Lyco and Lost

If I were so inclined to send you Guys the GPS coordinates to some of my covers I can tell from Pine_Creek's post that he just might have a Bounty for my demise placed on me.
Ha! Ha!

I can; however, share this bit of info. Seems over 75% of my finds are in "Green Briar Thickets". I think the stuff is in-correctly named, "Green Barb Wire" would be a far more descriptive name than simply "Green Briar". When I return from a Hunt I appear as though I have had a encounter with "Freddie", from the movie Nightmare on Elm Street, or Edward Scissor Hands himself.

I also think the Grouse have been taking lessons from the knowledgeable Bow Hunters that Hunt in the thick stuff and pre-cut shooting lanes around their stands,the Grouse are getting gone so fast they must have cut themselves a few flight lanes.

The covers I usually find Birds are so thick I just cannot see how an avian predator could swoop down and snatch one without breaking a wing or it's neck. Some of these places are so thick I can barely get my gun barrel through the stuff. I have begun to believe that protective cover is very very important these days, far more than it used to be.

The Pheasant Hens that are contributing to my shooting disorder, may have discovered the same.
 
#6 ·
PGC will take your license for a year if you shoot an illegal hen pheasant mistaken for a grouse...Ragosta

When I hunted out in Western Kansas...it was common to mistake a hen for a rooster with the morning sunshine...How much closer does a hen pheasant resemble a grouse?
 
#7 ·
jamesh,

that's just not the sort of information that is going to help me with my new found shooting disorder. I am having a hard enough time with this mid-season deer crisis.
 
#8 ·
Nearly every year someone we hunt the prairies with will mistake a hen pheasant for a sharptail and boom...you have an illegal supper! Once you've hunted them a bit it's nearly impossible to confuse the two though.
 
#10 ·
Yes, you certainly do Dan. Our 2 Britts even share a strong resemblance along with their desire of Pointing Birds in the roughest cover in an area.

Now, if we could only just teach them both to locate their Birds where we would like for them too!


Kinda reminds me of a good song title "Dream On"
 
#11 ·
If it makes you feel any better I lost a chance at the easiest grouse shot I will ever see in my life, because I hesitated and called it as a hen pheasant. My dad and I were working a briar patch in a local SP and this bird popped out flying more like a pheasant than a grouse (not the normal speed or flourish of a grouse). I had my gun up but began dropping the gun and safed it again as I called my dad off too as I figured it was a hen pheasant. Being from State College, our grouse hunting down here in the South Central part of the state isn't what I'm used too and grouse don't pop into my mind as what flushes, especially when it's brown, flies like a pheasant and is by a field stocked with pheasants. I then watched this bird lollygag fly down a clear trail in no hurry, no speed in what would've been an easy shot. But then I took a closer look at the tail and realized the easiest grouse shot I'll ever see just got got away. But hey grouse hunting isn't supposed to be easy anyway. We'll chuckle about that one for years to come. Anyway I shared as I share your frustration over the two birds in the same area. But hey at least we have birds to identify!
 
#12 ·
Hey mwolfgang,

regardless of the content of my previous post I would not say that I am frustrated about the Hens and Grouse sharing the same cover or for that matter not even about my poor shooting. As long as there are Wild Upland Birds still around I would just as soon go after them with a cap pistol and probably enjoy my day afield just as much.

Guess I would have to say that my excitement comes from just being with and watching those beautiful Dogs doing what comes natural to them. There is just that special something I cannot explain about spending a day in the woods or fields with those fantastic animals we call Bird Dogs.

My true frustration will be when our Wild Upland Birds are all gone as they are in so many other states; however, now that I live in the great State of Pennsylvania I am going to do my best to get my fill. That is if there is such a thing.

Thanks for sharing. I can only smile just remembering my own similar feelings as yours.
 
#13 ·
X2 the toast for December to get here. I wish i had a nickel for every solid point in low, open cover that i got complacent and mosied up thinking this is to easy to be a grouse, cockbird, or sharptail...must be a hen...and when a ruff or big old cockbird flushes six inches from the dogs nose I miss with both barrels...I always laugh out loud when the dog gives me the "i told you so" look!
 
#14 ·
Sharptail1,

I took my video camera with me on a hunt a couple of weeks ago and was able to get a couple of clips of the days action. One is an example of the reasons for my dilemma and the others are of the results.

If you would like watch the video click on the link below:

http://arkansassportsman.net/bird-hunting-in-pennsylvania-with-link/

By the way see if you can Count the Grouse....
 
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