grouse and woodcock

[splaker19]

#2980

Hi , I’ve made the switch to traditional, and am having a blast doing it. I want to try hunting grouse and woodcock behind my goldie, the shotgun is not as fun as it use to be. Any tips on arrow setup for thick nasty cover I hunt.

[Alexandre Bugnon]

#15146

Welcome to the wonderful world of traditional archery and tradbow!!

I would think you’d have to tip your arrow with a small game head the same weight as your field tips.

A great small game head is the Hex blunt head by Ace archery.

[Brennan Herr]

#15201

Having spent most of my hunting life chasing grouse and woodcock here in PA…I can’t imagine hunting them with a bow. I am meaning while they are in flight. I could only hit 1 out of the 3 or so I got shots at with my shotgun. I wish you the best of luck and can’t wait to here how the hunts go. My advice is to use an UEFOC arrow to help over come the brush. Again , good luck.

[splaker19]

#15206

What’s UEFOC arrow?

[Brennan Herr]

#15373

Ultra extreme front of center,Troy is the one to ask about it, something like 30% foc. He had a name for the arrow he made but I can’t recall what it was. Where do you hunt your birds? I have never been out west but have heard the ruffed grouse out there act nothing like in the northeast. Here they are lovers of the thickest cover and are as weary as a whitetail. Friends that I know that go out west say they will flush at your feet and land in a nearby tree and just look at you. But I could be wrong…anyone hunt ruffed grouse out west and how do the act?

[shaneharley]

#15403

Roughed grouse in Oregon are kinda dumb. Most guys shoot them at 15 yards after a skidding stop on a logging road…. I think you could kill them with rocks if you could throw straight. They will scoot to heavy cover if you spook them. But I think they sit still and just let you pass most of the time. Some of the cover they hang out in is super thick. A lot of the time it’s hunting the transitions and catching them in the open. Sometimes they are few and far between but you can find honey holes out here.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#15907

What Shane said. I don’t bother hunting them much with a gun and a dog anymore, preferring to focus on Huns, chukar, etc. But they are delicious, and I always carry a couple blunts when I’m out bowhunting for just that reason.

[Brennan Herr]

#16329

They are so different here. Unless you have an outstanding bird dog they are nearly impossible to get to hold for a point. Woodcock will hold tight for the dogs but not the grouse. They really screw with the dogs. My Dad has been hunting grouse for 40 years and after many dogs has had only two that could pin them down regularly. Usually by the time the dog can figure it out it is to old to hunt anymore. But man they are fun to hunt. I did mention hunting them with my longbow behind the dogs to my Dad. He laughed for a good five minutes.

[Jason Wesbrock]

#16406

I killed quite a few grouse in Ontario several years ago with Ace Hex Heads. They would be my first choice should I hunt grouse again.

[William Warren]

#16416

Have not hunted grouse but have had them in bow range on the ground in Quebec while on a bear hunt. One bird was feigning injury to lead me away from her brood. Could have killed her with a stick. Woodcock are another matter. I have taken my share of those and Wilson’s snipe over dogs. They were a late season bonus while out after quail. I never tried it with the bow. They fly so erratically I’d be amazed if anyone could hit one with an arrow.

[David Fudala]

#16456

Well, I’m by no means an expert on wingshooting with tradgear but I am familiar with grouse and woodcock. My only suggestion would be as inexpensive an arrow as you can shoot accurately and carry A LOT of them!

Best of luck!

[Etter1]

#19315

Grouse are a perfect expample of how hunting pressure can change animal’s responses over the course of generations. In the east, where they have been hunted for ages, they will hardly hold for a point and flush at the earliest sign of danger. Out west and in Canada, they seem as dumb as barnyard chickens.

I’ve gotten within 10 feet of them dozens of times in canada. Most guys “hunting” them up there would just drive the roads with a .22 pistol and pop them out of the window.

[Ralph]

#19354

Never tried driving down the road and popping them out the window with a longbow. Game warden would probably laugh himself silly and let me go :D:D:D

When I used to hunt CO and NM I always carried a blunt or judo just for fool’s hens. Mighty tasty bout anyway you can fix them.

Before the drought we had plenty of quail but I never shot a flu flu fast enough to catch up with the little buggers. Was fun though. Lot of times when oozing around looking for deer and I could here a covey twittering, talking to each other. The stalk would begin and even knowing where they were the flush would scare the s#%* outta me. Always the first one up be from where I didn’t consider one being 😉

[mgerard]

#19370

Shooting at flushing birds I would recommend a Snaro or other “extended” birdpoint. Birds on the ground, the Ace hex head is hard to beat. I think flu-flus are too slow and noisy for ground shots and would use them only for flushing birds. Good luck.

[Ralph]

#19375

I grew up with people that considered a bird shot on the ground was about like an eleventh commandment violation. But since I took up longbows way many years ago the old adage “A bird in hand is worth more than two in the bush” makes way more sense. 🙂

[James Harvey]

#19573

Having nothing to add myself, but remembering reading something similar recently, here’s what the guy who wrote the book said about it sometime ago:

tjconrads wrote: There are certainly plenty of opinions on what to shoot squirrels and grouse with. I have shot both with everything from a simple blunt to wide broadhead and know one thing: you don’t lose one of them if you use a broadhead.

Grouse can be tough to kill with blunts. Sure, small spruce and Ruffed are easy to waylay with blunts and Judos, but where I hunt big blues wear flak jackets. Rubber blunts and Judos bounce off unless you are shooting from just a few feet, which isn’t likely. I have seen them take a steel blunt right through the middle and still fly off, never to be found. I have shot more grouse with my bow than I can count: spruce, Ruffed, blue, and sage, and found blues the toughest of the bunch.

I shot this blue last September with a Zwickey No Mercy at about 25 yards. Broke its left wing and knocked it off a log, stone dead. I was more surprised than it was! A blunt or Judo would never have penetrated the feathers, much less the skin.

T.J.

Here’s the whole conversation:

https://www.tradbow.com/members/cfmbb/messages.cfm?messageid=6D1F8896-1422-1DE9-EDBCE19082CEB56F#6D1F8896-1422-1DE9-EDBCE19082CEB56F

[Robin Conrads]

#19600

T.J. will occasionally kill an elk while hunting grouse! 😉

[Alexandre Bugnon]

#19636

Webmother wrote: T.J. will occasionally kill an elk while hunting grouse! 😉

😀

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#19664

Webmother wrote: T.J. will occasionally kill an elk while hunting grouse! 😉

That would be a pretty accurate description of my pursuits as well..

[Col Mike]

#19724

No mercy in the Conrad household:lol:

[Alexandre Bugnon]

#19841

Webmother wrote: T.J. will occasionally kill an elk while hunting grouse! 😉

T.J follows Glenn St Charles motto: To be a trophy grouse hunter, until something else comes along!!!:lol:

[paleoman]

#20879

R2 wrote: Never tried driving down the road and popping them out the window with a longbow. Game warden would probably laugh himself silly and let me go :D:D:D

When I used to hunt CO and NM I always carried a blunt or judo just for fool’s hens. Mighty tasty bout anyway you can fix them.

Before the drought we had plenty of quail but I never shot a flu flu fast enough to catch up with the little buggers. Was fun though. Lot of times when oozing around looking for deer and I could here a covey twittering, talking to each other. The stalk would begin and even knowing where they were the flush would scare the s#%* outta me. Always the first one up be from where I didn’t consider one being 😉

When I was younger and not much dumber I kept flushing a grouse from the same spot over and over. I figured I’d just blast the spot one day…the bird blew out of there when I went to pick it up:wink: My sense of fair chase has matured since! I’d shoot one on the ground with a bow though!

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