Ruffed Grouse | ON TARGET in CANADA

Grouse Hunting at Wawang Lake

Join us in NW Ontario CANADA for some exciting and thrilling grouse hunting

Grouse Season: September 15th to Oct 31st

Grouse hunting is a relaxing pastime that is getting more and more popular every year. In our area bird hunting can be an adventure in itself! Driving down the back roads & trails in your truck or on your ATV can not only be thrilling but breathtaking as well as you wander down roads that are in full color deserving of natures fall foliage. Just taking in these magnificent fall colors, peaceful wilderness & the wildlife that you’ll encounter will make you feel like you are definitely “North of the Tension Zone”.

The bush trails with the rise of the birds, singing of the guns, the smell of the pines along with friendly comraderie back at the camp will not long be forgotten.

Surrounding Wawang Lake are hundreds of miles of ATV trails, old logging road, game animal trails and hiking trails. The bush is just stuffed with these upland game birds and on a sunny fall afternoon you will see hoards of them. Many of our guests choose a fishing / grouse hunting combination package and spend half the their time taking advantage of the awesome northern pike and walleye fishing and spend the rest of their time enjoying the clean fall area and exploring the many trails where birds are plentiful.

There are three species of grouse found in Ontario.

Ruffed Grouse – Spruce Grouse – Sharptail Grouse

Ruffed Grouse

Spruce Grouse

Sharptail Grouse

Ruffed Grouse is the most common and comprises of 80% of what you will encounter during your hunt.

The limit for grouse in Ontario is 5 birds per day in any combination of species with a total of 15 in your possession and you will be surprised at the number of grouse we do have and how fast you’ll bag those limits.

Compared to other areas the grouse cycle in our area has remained consistently high over the years and we credit this because of less human population that other places are known for. In a nutshell what you’ll experience at Wawang Lake is a vast area of complete privacy during your hunt.

The most popular guns for grouse hunting are .410 or 20 gauge shot gun and some hunters use a 12 as well. Quickly becoming more popular is BOW HUNTING for birds. To increase the thrill and excitement of your hunt give your bow a try and the challenge alone is sure to thrill you.

Grouse-Fishing Combo Package

September 15th through to October 31st

USD 495.00 per hunter
CABIN – BOAT & MOTOR
For a (6) night stay

Housekeeping Cabin Suitable For Group Size

Blaze orange hat & vest is required and must be worn out in the field

Canadian Firearms Regulations
All Firearms (does NOT include bows) being brought into Canada must be registered at the Canadian Customs at the time of entry into Canada. A one-year permit costs $50.00 Canadian, or there is a long term permit as well. If you would like further information, you can visit the Canadian Firearms Website through the link on our website or call toll free, 1-800-731-4000.

Canadian Customs
You should be aware of special customs and immigration issues whenever traveling to another country. For people with prior legal issues (including DWI’s) you need to find out what restrictions may be placed on your travel. Visit the Border Crossing Link and/or the Canada Citizenship & Immigration.

DEPOSIT REQUIREMENTS
A $150.00 non-refundable deposit is required at the time of reservation to guarantee a hunt. Balance to be paid in full upon arrival at the resort. Hunting deposits and installments are non-refundable. Consideration may be given to date transfers if vacancy can be filled.

There are a limited number of spaces available for our hunts. Often there are more guests interested in hunting than there are available spaces, and hunts are often booked a year or more in advance. It is extremely difficult to fill spaces that become available due to cancellation. For these reasons we ask that our guests do not book hunts lightly

For further information, or, to book your next bear hunt please contact us at:
1-888-534-9217 or EMAIL

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TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

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Posted by Wawang Lake on May 27, 2015 in grouse, Wawang Lake Resort

All That Remains: How to Make Game Stock | Field & Stream

22 May

One thing you can do to amp your kitchen credibility quickly is learning to make stock—a flavorful cooking liquid that forms the base of many soups, sauces, and other recipes. Making homemade stock from venison bones or bird carcasses not only give your favorite dishes, such as the duck pho in the photo, a flavor boost, but you’ll be get every last scrap of use from your bird or game animal.

The stock making process starts with a scrap bag—a gallon-size Ziploc kept in the freezer that collects the trimmings from onions, carrots, celery and other vegetables. (Of course, you can also make stock with fresh ingredients, but this method is kind of like saving your pennies for a rainy day.) A simple stock can be made by adding the ingredients of the scrap bag into a pot with the leftover carcass from a pheasant, grouse, duck, or goose, deer leg bones or other game scraps, covering everything with water and letting it simmer for a short period of time, say 30 minutes to an hour. However, with just a couple more steps and a bit more time (mostly unattended), you can achieve a richer, fuller flavor by roasting the scraps before soaking them.

Here’s a recipe for pheasant stock, but you could easily substitute the pheasant carcass for just about any game bird or whole or cut leg bones from deer, elk, moose, and other venison.

Stock Recipe

Ingredients
– Pheasant carcass or assorted pheasant bones (NOTE: You can use any game bird)
– 1 cup each of celery, carrot, and onion scraps
– Assorted herbs, including thyme, parsley, and rosemary
– 1 bay leaf
– 12 cups water (or enough to cover pheasant)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the pheasant bones and vegetables in Dutch oven or heavy, ovenproof stock pot. Place the uncovered pot in the oven and roast for 30 minutes, or until ingredients are browned.

2. Move the pot to the stovetop set the heat to medium-high and add a few cups of water, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Cover the pheasant and vegetables with the remaining water, add the herbs and the bay leaf and raise the heat.

3. When the water just starts to boil, remove any scum that has risen to the top. Lower the heat and cover the pot. Simmer slowly for at least 1 hour; two is even better.

4. After a few hours, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool slightly. Remove the bones and vegetables with a slotted spoon and discard. Pour the stock through a cheesecloth-lined strainer or other fine sieve.

You can let the stock sit overnight in the fridge and skim any hardened fat from it the next day, though, with lean birds like pheasants, this generally isn’t necessary.

Stock can be stored for up to a week in the refrigerator or several months, covered, in the freezer.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on May 22, 2015 in cooking, grouse, preparation, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: diy, Food, grouse, grouse hunting, grouse recipe, Ruffed Grouse, soup stock, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Grouse Hunting RATES

26 Apr

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Posted by Wawang Lake on April 26, 2015 in bow hunting, grouse, gun hunting, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: grouse, grouse hunting, Guides and Outfitters, hunting, Ruffed Grouse, wawang, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

How Marinade Works

22 Apr

For some reason, the go-to recipe for wild-game always starts with “Soak (insert game meat here) in Italian dressing for three days.” Seriously, how many times have you heard a hunter say this?

One argument for using marinades is that they help tenderize tough meat. But this is probably the biggest misconception about using marinades, at least if you believe in science.

“When proteins are exposed to an acidic marinade, the bonds break and the proteins unwind. Almost immediately, one unwound protein runs into another unwound protein and they bond together into a loose mesh. This is the same thing that happens when proteins are exposed to heat. At first, water molecules are attached to and trapped within this protein mesh, so the tissue remains juicy and tender. But after a short time, if the protein is in a very acidic marinade, the protein bonds tighten, water is squeezed out, and the tissue becomes tough.”

This and similar studies have also found that the acids used in marinades penetrate meat at the rate of one to two millimeters per day. So even a three-day marinade isn’t going to penetrate much past the surface of the meat. Now, there are marinades that call for enzymes (such as those found in pineapple, papaya and yogurt) rather than acids, and enzymes actually do tenderize meat by breaking down the muscle fibers and the collagen that holds muscles together. However, you have to be very careful when marinating with enzymes as they can make meat mushy rather than just tender.

If a marinade doesn’t tenderize meat, why use it?

Marinades are great for enhancing the flavor of the meat. Note: ENHANCE, not cover up. For game birds, the lighter flavored the marinade the better. Venison and red meat, particularly from older animals, can handle heartier marinades, but again, be careful not to overpower the game.

Because marinades also coat the surface of the meat, they help keep it moist, which is particularly useful for cooking over high-heat, such as grilling or pan-frying.

Anytime you’re cooking wild-game, it’s a good idea to reserve some marinade for basting. But remember to not reuse marinade that’s had meat soaking in it as your basting. Reserve some liquid separately to prevent cross-contamination.

So what’s the best marinade if it isn’t Italian dressing? That depends on what flavor you’re looking for, but here’s one to use for grilled ruffed grouse breasts. It’s a little sweet and a little salty, with some Asian influence that makes it wonderful for a stir fry or even just grilling and chopping it up to serve in a soup with some noodles. Dress that with some diced jalapeño and some cilantro and it makes a great lunch.

Honey-Ginger Ruffed Grouse Marinade

Ingredients
– 2 tbs. rice wine vinegar
– 2 tbs. honey
– 1 tbs. soy sauce
– 1 tbs. sesame (or olive) oil
– fresh, grated ginger

Directions:
Whisk ingredients together and pour over pheasant breasts. Let marinate 1-2 hours before grilling.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on April 22, 2015 in cooking, game, grouse, hunting, meat, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: grouse, grouse hunting, grouse recipe, recipe, Ruffed Grouse, Wawang Lake Resort

Grouse Hunting at Wawang Lake

14 Apr

Join us in NW Ontario CANADA for some exciting and thrilling grouse hunting

Grouse Season: September 15th to Oct 31st

Grouse hunting is a relaxing pastime that is getting more and more popular every year. In our area bird hunting can be an adventure in itself! Driving down the back roads & trails in your truck or on your ATV can not only be thrilling but breathtaking as well as you wander down roads that are in full color deserving of natures fall foliage. Just taking in these magnificent fall colors, peaceful wilderness & the wildlife that you’ll encounter will make you feel like you are definitely “North of the Tension Zone”.

The bush trails with the rise of the birds, singing of the guns, the smell of the pines along with friendly comraderie back at the camp will not long be forgotten.

Surrounding Wawang Lake are hundreds of miles of ATV trails, old logging road, game animal trails and hiking trails. The bush is just stuffed with these upland game birds and on a sunny fall afternoon you will see hoards of them. Many of our guests choose a fishing / grouse hunting combination package and spend half the their time taking advantage of the awesome northern pike and walleye fishing and spend the rest of their time enjoying the clean fall area and exploring the many trails where birds are plentiful.

There are three species of grouse found in Ontario.

Ruffed Grouse – Spruce Grouse – Sharptail Grouse

Ruffed Grouse

Spruce Grouse

Sharptail Grouse

Ruffed Grouse is the most common and comprises of 80% of what you will encounter during your hunt.

The limit for grouse in Ontario is 5 birds per day in any combination of species with a total of 15 in your possession and you will be surprised at the number of grouse we do have and how fast you’ll bag those limits.

Compared to other areas the grouse cycle in our area has remained consistently high over the years and we credit this because of less human population that other places are known for. In a nutshell what you’ll experience at Wawang Lake is a vast area of complete privacy during your hunt.

The most popular guns for grouse hunting are .410 or 20 gauge shot gun and some hunters use a 12 as well. Quickly becoming more popular is BOW HUNTING for birds. To increase the thrill and excitement of your hunt give your bow a try and the challenge alone is sure to thrill you.

Grouse-Fishing Combo Package

September 15th through to October 31st

USD 495.00 per hunter
CABIN – BOAT & MOTOR
For a (6) night stay

Housekeeping Cabin Suitable For Group Size

Blaze orange hat & vest is required and must be worn out in the field

Canadian Firearms Regulations
All Firearms (does NOT include bows) being brought into Canada must be registered at the Canadian Customs at the time of entry into Canada. A one-year permit costs $50.00 Canadian, or there is a long term permit as well. If you would like further information, you can visit the Canadian Firearms Website through the link on our website or call toll free, 1-800-731-4000.

Canadian Customs
You should be aware of special customs and immigration issues whenever traveling to another country. For people with prior legal issues (including DWI’s) you need to find out what restrictions may be placed on your travel. Visit the Border Crossing Link and/or the Canada Citizenship & Immigration.

DEPOSIT REQUIREMENTS
A $150.00 non-refundable deposit is required at the time of reservation to guarantee a hunt. Balance to be paid in full upon arrival at the resort. Hunting deposits and installments are non-refundable. Consideration may be given to date transfers if vacancy can be filled.

There are a limited number of spaces available for our hunts. Often there are more guests interested in hunting than there are available spaces, and hunts are often booked a year or more in advance. It is extremely difficult to fill spaces that become available due to cancellation. For these reasons we ask that our guests do not book hunts lightly

For further information, or, to book your next bear hunt please contact us at:
1-888-534-9217 or EMAIL

WEBSITE RATES FISH HUNT CABINS PHOTOS
TESTIMONIALS BROCHURE HUNT BOOKLET

Subscribe to Blog via Email

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

Leave a comment

Posted by Wawang Lake on April 14, 2015 in grouse, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: grouse, hunting, Ontario grouse hunting, Outdoors, Ruffed Grouse, sharp tail, sharptail grouse, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort

Pattern Birds for a Better Hunt

26 Mar

But you can save steps, increase your flush count, get more shots, and bag more birds if you use some common sense and follow the program below. Ruffed grouse utilize different parts of their habitat at different times of day. Here’s where to hunt and when.

Early Morning: Timber Seams
Don’t believe sleepyhead late-risers who rationalize that grouse hunting is better at midmorning. Hit the woods at sunrise, when the birds have just flown down and are moving out and laying down some scent for your dog. Even if you hunt without a canine, grouse are on the move and more vulnerable now.

Hunt seams and transitions between big, mature timber (where birds like to roost), open areas, and the thick brush where grouse spend the bulk of their day. Another good zone is the seam between conifers, such as pines or spruce, and hardwoods.

Midmorning: Feeding Zones
By the time the sun has been up for an hour, most grouse have arrived at their feeding area and are foraging hard. Know what the birds are eating: If you shoot a grouse, open up its crop and check inside. Then hunt that kind of feed.

Grouse love high bush cranberries, plus most any other juicy or freeze-dried fruit, such as crab apples. Abandoned orchards are grouse heaven. If there are oaks around, grouse will look for small acorns and pieces. Work the edges of open areas like hay meadows and abandoned fields, where grouse will hunt insects and pick up seeds. Logging roads and tote trails with clover are also prime.

Afternoon: Thick Stuff
After feeding, ruffs work their way into the thick stuff, where they will loaf and spend the day under cover. As a general rule, think “low” and/or “damp” now—along brooks, creeks, marshes, bogs, and seeps.

Head for stands of young aspen—trunks from buggy-whip-thick to fencepost diameter are about right. Grouse love tag alder thickets, especially where that cover butts up to timber or wetlands. Brushy tangles of witch hazel, raspberry canes, and multiflora rose hold birds. So do deadfalls. On windy days, kick around in the grassy edges of some of the thickest cover.

Late Afternoon: Feeding/Gritting Areas
By late afternoon, grouse are out feeding again, as well as pecking for grit.
Hit the kinds of feeding areas discussed above. Also work sandy lanes, dirt roads, and the edges of other open areas where birds pick up grit.

Evening: Transition Corridors
You can hunt grouse right up to sunset, and this is a great time to be out, when the birds are back on the move toward roosting areas. Research indicates that grouse prefer to roost in and under deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, in brush piles, and in leaf litter. When cold weather hits, grouse will snow roost unless conditions are unsuitable. Conifers are then the roost cover of choice. Try hunting the transitions between stands of young timber and thick brush, or young timber and mature trees. If the evening is windy, stick to lower ground where birds find protection and quiet.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on March 26, 2015 in game, grouse, gun hunting, hunting, northern ontario, Northwestern Ontario, trip planning, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: grouse, grouse hunting, hunting, hunting at wawang lake, Ruffed Grouse, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Roasted Grouse With Mushrooms

23 Mar

Make your own cream of mushroom sauce (and add bacon and whiskey) for this classic grouse recipe

Ask any deer camp old-timer for a foolproof recipe, and you’re likely to encounter a lot of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. There is a reason for that: Mushrooms plus cream plus game meat adds up to a perfect trinity of flavors. This recipe chucks the can, and all its high-sodium gloppiness, while retaining the earthy comfort that made mushrooms and cream the go-to sauce for generations of hunters.

Ingredients

Grouse:
4 grouse
4 Tbsp. butter, softened
8 strips bacon

Sauce:

2 Tbsp. butter
20 oz. cremini or wild mushrooms, trimmed and sliced thin (morels, chanterelles, or a mix of wild and cultivated would be good)
1 shallot, minced
1 cup rich chicken stock (or defatted drippings from the pan)
3 sprigs thyme
12 cup cream (or crème fraîche)
(or)

1 Tbsp. bourbon
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. ROAST THE GROUSE: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Rinse the birds, pat dry, then smear each with a tablespoon of softened butter. Generously salt and pepper, inside and out. Wrap 2 bacon slices around each grouse, then set them in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven until the grouse is browned, about 25 minutes. Remove to a plate and let rest, covered loosely in tinfoil, while you make the sauce.

2. MAKE THE SAUCE: Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and about 1/2 tsp. salt and sauté, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms release a lot of moisture and begin to smell fragrant, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the shallot. Sauté until soft, and until most of the moisture has gone out of the pan, about 4 minutes. Add the stock (or defatted drippings from the roasting pan) and thyme sprigs and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Pour in the cream and bourbon and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 3–5 minutes.

3. TO SERVE, spoon the sauce onto four plates, and rest a grouse in the center of each. Sprinkle thyme over the grouse. SERVES 4

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Posted by Wawang Lake on March 23, 2015 in grouse, hunting, mushrooms, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort, Wildlife

Tags: grouse, grouse hunting, hunting, hunting at wawang lake, Ruffed Grouse, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort

Tips For More Grouse

18 Mar

Learn to Recognize Good Cover
Some hunters seem to have a sixth sense about where the grouse are. This isn’t magic but rather the culmination of years of experience, observation, and a working knowledge of what the birds need. These guys are constantly reading about grouse habitat and lore; they take note of wherever they hear drumming in the spring. They know that good grouse cover holds food and provides protection from predators — if it is near an evergreen stand or gravel so much the better.

Take a page from these hunters. Every time you or your dog move a bird, have a good look around after the smoke has cleared — you’ll see a pattern soon enough. Study grouse biology at home; carry field guides when you hunt; learn to recognize common grouse foods in your area. After a while you’ll develop that sixth sense too.

Keep a Log
Every serious grouse hunter I know keeps a hunting log. Some maintain elaborate leather-bound journals in which they detail particulars of the hunt such as the date, cover, number of flushes, dog work, weather, harvest, and crop contents of the birds. Other keep it simple, by marking covers on their handheld GPS. Either way, the hunter is reminded of the places that produced grouse last season.

Do this consistently and it won’t take many seasons before you have a bevy of early, mid, and late season options. The more options you have, the better your chance of having a grouse dinner.

Break Some Clay
Over the course of a season, few of us get enough shots at grouse. So it only stands to reason that a hunter ought to make the most of each opportunity. I do this by honing my shotgunning skills in the off-season. Skeet, trap, or sporting clays keep a hunter sharp so that mounting and swinging his scattergun becomes second nature. You’ll still miss — grouse have a way of humbling everyone — but you’ll also make some shots that you might not have without the off-season practice. It just takes a few of these to turn a mediocre season into a great one.

Don’t Forget the Dog Days
Spring and summer are tailor-made for training your dog. Despite this, few of us take advantage of the opportunity. Instead, we expect our dogs to work flawlessly on opening day and we’re actually surprised when that doesn’t happen.

Does your flushing dog hunt too far ahead and blow cover before you get there? A little “hup training” (teaching your dog to sit on command, no matter how far away) in the off season goes a long way towards remedying this. You might also consider brushing up on retrieving drills or introducing your dog to pigeons or game farm forays prior to the season. Some advanced training, such as steadying to wing and shot (where a dog sits down automatically at each flush) might require the help of a professional dog trainer. If that’s what you want, the off-season is the time to do it.

Pointing dogs have their own set of training needs, which might include bolstering staunchness, retrieving, hunting range and finding dead birds. Whatever your canine hunting partner’s flaw is, the off-season is the time to address it.

The idea is to learn to handle your dog so that you perform as a well-oiled team during the hunting season. There are plenty of great dog training books and videos — the off-season is when you should benefit from them most.

Follow the Food
Grouse eat hundreds of types of food and each provides a clue as to where the birds are hanging out. That’s why it’s a good idea to check the crop of every bird you shoot. Knowing what grouse are eating helps you understand their habits and tells you where you should focus your hunting efforts. If the last three birds you shot were full of blackberries, for instance, it’s definitely time to hunt any of your covers that hold these shrubs.

Against the Wind
A dog relies on his nose to find birds. So why would you hunt with the wind at its back? We all know that there isn’t any good reason for doing so, but it’s one of the first things excited dog handlers forget when approaching good cover.

If you hunt into the wind, your dog will work closer, scent more game and, hopefully, find more birds. It’s a simple but often overlooked strategy that can make the difference between a full and empty game bag. This is also an important consideration when looking for a lost bird. Take your dog downwind from where you think it fell and let it start hunting from there.

Stop and Start
A good grouse hunting dog provides opportunities that you might not have otherwise had, but that’s not to say that a dog less hunter can’t do well. The key, for a dog less hunter, is to stop and start through likely cover and change direction often. These unpredictable patterns unnerve grouse and invariably pressure them into flushing. Another added bonus is that when you stop you can sometimes hear the put-put-put of a grouse moving just ahead of you. If that’s the case, get the gun up and rush it.

Don’t Hesitate
A good upland shot doesn’t hesitate. He takes the first available shot, even if it’s not a great one.

If you wait for a better chance you’ll rarely get it. Similarly, if you are leading a bird that disappears behind a screen of leaves, follow through, and shoot anyway. You’ll be surprised how often you connect. If not, shells are cheap.

While we’re on the subject of shooting, be ready for the second flush. Often, especially, early in the season when birds are still in their family groups, multiple flushes do occur. If you keep this in mind, they won’t catch you flat-footed — or with an empty gun.

Follow Up
Whenever you flush a bird and don’t fold it, mark where you last saw it. Most times they won’t fly much further than 150 yards. If you marked it well and follow up immediately, you have a good chance of forcing a second flush.

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Another advantage of following up on grouse is that they sometimes lead you to new covers. If that’s the case, don’t forget to mark it.

Lastly, never assume that you missed any grouse that you shot at. After the shot, keep quiet and listen. Sometimes you’ll hear a mortally wounded grouse doing its death dance against the ground — that’s the one that you thought you missed.

The Right Tools
A fast-handling 12, 16 or 20 gauge shotgun is ideal for birds. Most gunners like double guns. Some happen to prefer a pump because that’s what they shoot best with. However, don’t discount the light weight, easy to carry .410 shotgun. Nice little gun with ever growing in popularity in our neck of the woods.

Whatever, your preference, you can’t go wrong using 2 3/4-inch shells filled with 7.5 shot. Grouse aren’t tough birds and it doesn’t take much to bring them down. Since most shots are within 15 yards, the more open-choked your barrels are, the better.

Other essential grouse hunting tools include a quality blaze orange upland hunting vest with a lined game pouch; brush pants; comfortable, well-supported hunting boots; and a compass and/or GPS. If you are hunting with a dog, a whistle, water bottle, portable dog dish, dog first aid kit, and lead are important too. When working heavy, thorny cover, a pair of shooting glasses that protect your eyes are worth their weight in gold.

Conclusion
No one ever said grouse hunting was complicated. But it does take some planning, know-how and skill. Over the last few years, these strategies have made many a much better grouse hunter. Hopefully, they’ll do the same for you.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on March 18, 2015 in Ammunition, firearm, grouse, gun hunting, hunting equipment, northern ontario, Northwestern Ontario, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: grouse, grouse hunting, hunting equipment, Ruffed Grouse, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Get More Early-Season Birds

27 Feb

It weave left, slip right, then disappear through the auburn treetops. It’s not often you get such a clear look at an escaping grouse during the early weeks of the season, but there I was, frozen as the bird slipped through the prettiest shooting lane I’d see on the entire trip. I never pulled the trigger.

The embarrassing reality of this scenario is that I’d been caught off guard. It was my first grouse hunt, and I wasn’t prepared for the surprise of the flush. That was a tough lesson, but it wasn’t the only one I learned during that trip to the hallowed grouse of NW Ontario’s Boreal Forest. Here are some more hits and misses that, if you’ll consider before you reach the woods, should help you bag more early-season birds.

1. Being Aggressive
There’s no place for methodical shooting when hunting grouse. There’s no time for the shot to develop, as with long, loping shots on the sporting clays course. Grouse are fast, and they live in dense cover. But you don’t have to be a snap shooter to be successful. You just have to be aggressive. You should have nothing on your mind but finding that bird. The sooner you see it, the sooner you can move for it. Visualize beating the bird to the treetops with your gun.

2. Going Off Trail
We started our morning busting brush but by midday got lazy and stayed on old logging roads & trails. The result was a half dozen points in cover that we couldn’t reach in time. Our hunt picked up tremendously in the afternoon, when we got back in the brush.

3. Misjudging Range
Twice I flushed grouse that I thought were out of range, although they were visible, only to realize afterward that they were makeable shots. Part of the fault was how I prepared. Before the trip I had practiced mostly fast, outgoing targets thrown from a few yards in front of me—textbook fast-flushing bird presentations. I was visualizing those shots in the field, and when birds flushed from farther away, I had the impression they were out of range. Be sure to practice at longer ranges.

4. Starting With The Gun Up
A solid ready position is a key to hitting fast-flying birds. It gets your body and eyes ready to make a quick, efficient move. When you moved in on birds with the stock up under your armpit and the barrel pointed forward, you will shoot much better.

5. Relaxing After The Flush
Grouse might not covey up like quail, but they do often travel in close proximity to each other, especially where there’s a good food source. I saw this first-hand when we flushed three pairs of grouse over the course of a day. So when a bird flushes out of range or doesn’t offer a shot, don’t drop your guard. Be ready for another bird to flush.

Evening_Flight-_Ruffed_Grouse_large