The old favorite spots seem to hold few grouse but still attract grouse hunters. These classic coverts visible from the road have nice well beaten parking pads, and usually few birds. A buddy hunted one of these spots in the afternoon after another hunter from our group went thru in the morning. The afternoon hunter moved seven grouse in two hours, a good hunt. The earlier morning hunter moved one, go figure.
You’ve seen the “Habitat” / “Hunt Here” sign declaring an area of intense grouse management. I tend to avoid these too. One soggy day I needed a quick, easy trail hunt to finish the day. It didn’t look like it had been hunted in a day or two by the lack of truck tracks, thought I’d explore. A dozen grouse flushed in ninety minutes and I had reached my self imposed daily limit of three birds, with several solid points and nice retrieves to hand. A hunt a few days earlier had me on another well beaten trail late in the day. Although another hunter was in this spot that morning it’s such a large and consistent spot I had to give it a try. Plus I rationalized or hoped he was hunting with a fatlab, golden, weim, or one of the other less productive breeds that like their owners, don’t leave the trail. A few hundred yards in, my youngest dog efficiently brought to hand a true “report pair” of well pointed grouse. All that sporting clays practice came together in one moment! High point memories for sure.
It’s encouraging to see about half of my birds bagged are young birds of the year. A few birds are truly pint size, perhaps from a second clutch. Maybe all the doom and gloom about rain and West Nile are overstated, for now.
While I can find plenty of great looking cover where grouse aren’t, they might be there tomorrow. I can’t predict where to find them next, so I try to spend about 1/3 of my hunts scouting new coverts. There were fewer grouse hunters most days, and many times it’s a mile walked per bird flushed. That you kill grouse with your legs not your gun, is true as ever. I don’t see many folks capable of putting in ten mile days or having the dog power to keep at it either. But off the beaten path, after a spell of tough weather, and sometimes in the “too” obvious spots it’s possible to put up a number of grouse without tearing up an extreme amount of boot leather.