New hunter: a story of failure (or how I was humiliated by a chicken)

[jungleboy]

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[Aged Milk]

Originally Posted by aragor764

Also another thing I never realized is that they live their entire lives pretty much in the same are, so if you spot one someday and it goes away, there is a good chance that it will still be around there somewhere later on. They seem to manifest out of thin air whenever you are NOT hunting them, especially while walking in the bush and trying to stay quiet...

I've heard about them living in the same small area all their lives, but I've also heard it's a seasonal thing, and that they move to more sheltered areas in the winter. So I'm not really sure.

I plan on taking a look at the area in the screencap below. Just wondering if there are any red flags that would tell an experienced grouse hunter to stay away. It looks*like it might not be bad. Forest edges, a creek / swamp, mix of old growth, new growth and clearcut.

[KGB]

If you are hunting on foot, remember this- the birds will hear and see you before you see them. The technique you should be using is this: take a few steps then stop and listen and look under the trees. A few more steps and listen and look again. Repeat as often as you can. You will hear them rustling thru the dry grass and leaves and can spot a movement of the head. If they see you first- they will flush or they will run. Or they will literally freeze. You must find them before they see you.
That’s if you are hunting with a .22
If you are using shotgun- you can pick them off the air when they flush. I just don’t like the taste of the pellets….

[Aged Milk]

Well, I now know why I wasn't finding any. Because they were all at a different spot.

So I went to some other location, and after a long time, came across a spot where I flushed two grouse into the woods. Didn't manage to find either, but I told myself that at least I'd found a spot I could return to. The sun was almost down, so I figured I'd do some target practice so as not to have wasted my time.

Lo and behold, twenty metres away, empty rifle in hand, I spotted a pair of ruffed grouse. They stayed there long enough for me to fumble in my pocket and reload my mag. One scattered, and I got the other with an instant-kill shot, my first ever bag. While searching for its buddy, I spotted a third (or possibly the same one which had dipped), which I got as well.

Unfortunately, I was aiming for a lights-out headshot for this one as well, but I hit its shoulders. I had to wring its neck. Hopefully all the movement after was just spasms, but I want to avoid that in future. Perhaps I should bring a pair of scissors to quickly snip the head off, just in case I whiff the headshot. I don't want the birbs to suffer.

Wasn't prepared for success, so I didn't have a recipe ready. Had some butter chicken mix though, so I made butter grouse.

[KGB]

How do you know you made a successful head shot? - the bird will flip flop and trash for a good 4-5 minutes. That’s normal, they don’t suffer. Same way as if you cut off the chicken head and let it down it will start running without a head.
If your bird drops dead after the shot- it’s a body shot. The meat will be bruised and most likely you end up feeding it to the dog…
I take head shots only or I let it live another day.

[JonC]

Originally Posted by KGB

How do you know you made a successful head shot? - the bird will flip flop and trash for a good 4-5 minutes. That’s normal, they don’t suffer. Same way as if you cut off the chicken head and let it down it will start running without a head.

If your bird drops dead after the shot- it’s a body shot.

This

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