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01-16-2021, 09:23 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 87
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Grouse season-end review
In early Sept, I was feeling a bit discouraged about the prospects for the new season. So I asked what others were expecting. Now, with the season over, I was wondering what folks have experienced. My personal impression/experience is that this season was a lot better that last season, but not as good as the two previous seasons. In general, I would call it average over all. Success was achieved however, with a lot more effort, both in walking and with driving. Also,it seems that the further north one goes, the greater the success. What are your impressions?
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01-16-2021, 10:17 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Calgary
Posts: 4,083
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only hunted sharptails . Population seemed good , not as good as a couple years back but still managed 3 . Ruffles I saw while deer hunting were few and far between in 300 zones
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01-16-2021, 10:28 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 120
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Grouse up North
Grouse numbers up North in the 500s seem to be pretty healthy in my area. In my early September and October outings, I seen a lot of ruffed grouse, few spruce grouse and quite a few sharptails pending the area. I was fortunate to get my limits without much difficulty. As the end of November approached, I seen fewer ruffys and more spruce grouse, mainly hens...possibly because of the amount of snow we received. In comparison to last year, this year was much better
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01-16-2021, 10:29 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 8,372
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Ruffie numbers in 306 402 and 400 were healthy
Blues were in good numbers....
Lots of spruce around too
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01-16-2021, 10:40 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Calgary
Posts: 157
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I was out four times. Got the limit on the first day which appeared to be just a pure luck, as I did not see a bird on three other outings in 406.
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01-16-2021, 10:53 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Calgary Area
Posts: 277
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312 was above average.
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Proud member of the Boom and Crockpot and Poke and Yum Clubs - Eating tomorrow's trophies today.
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01-16-2021, 11:04 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,260
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326, 328, 330, 332 poor to very poor. Compared to years past. Most of the ones I did see were spruce.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by huntinstuff
Attention Anti Hunters
Sit back
Pour yourself a tea
Watch us "sportsmen" attack each other and destroy ourselves from within.
From road hunters vs "real hunters" to bowhunters vs rifle hunters, long bows and recurves vs compound user to bow vs crossbow to white hunters vs Native hunters etc etc etc
.....
Enjoy the easy ride, anti hunters. Strange to me why we seem to be doing your job for you.
Excuse me while I go puke.
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01-16-2021, 05:08 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 350
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312 well above average, good sharp tail numbers in the east, actually really great numbers of sharptails, put some up today while walking the dog.
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01-16-2021, 06:43 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Drayton Valley, AB
Posts: 699
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336, 337, 509, 234, were all poor. 12 days of hunting deer and grouse and only saw 2 ruffles. Did see quite a few Huns this year but didn’t have a shotgun with us on that trip.
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01-16-2021, 07:59 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Fort McMurray, AB
Posts: 2,514
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Spent most of my time in 512 as that’s where I had my early moose tag. Not many ruffies, a few places had pockets of spruce hens. Overall a slower grouse year. In November I saw only a few grouse in 512/517/519/529... only bagged 2 spruce and 3 ruffies all year. Now I wasn’t out hunting hard but usually I pick up 10-15 of each species in a given season.
Did see more rabbits this year. Shot a few in October and snared a few in December
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Be sure of your target and what lies beyond.
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01-16-2021, 09:10 PM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Stony Plain
Posts: 6,568
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338 birds were spotty but overall I think an improvement over last year. All roughies I think I saw one spruce grouse.
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Preacher: “Well, there's a lot of sinners here abouts. You wouldn't want me to leave before I finish my work, would you?”.
Last edited by jungleboy; 01-17-2021 at 12:10 AM.
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01-16-2021, 09:16 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Ft. McMurray
Posts: 38,526
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Ruffies in the 500's where I hunted were scarce as were spruce grouse..
Cat
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Anytime I figure I've got this long range thing figured out, I just strap into the sling and irons and remind myself that I don't!
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01-16-2021, 09:46 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 5,509
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jungleboy
337 birds were spotty but overall I think an improvement over last year. All roughies I think I saw one spruce grouse.
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Last year we did pretty good there, this year wasn’t that great at all! We were seeing 2-3 birds if we lucky! But got a few bunnies - ther was not much snow on the ground so we could see them good!
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01-16-2021, 11:35 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: CANADA
Posts: 6,268
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There were a few clutch's early giving us a 38 grouse day seen
over all numbers were about the same a last year
we saw 192 grouse of those 5 sharp-tail's which are not open
2019/20 we saw 206
2018/19 we saw 350
Upland hunting in the foothills has been awesome
.22 Semi Rem 597 4x Bushnell 38gr American Eagle
head shots only
mmmm nothing like a grouse supper
David
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Scientific and Analytical Angler/Hunter
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01-17-2021, 12:05 AM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Stony Plain
Posts: 6,568
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KGB
Last year we did pretty good there, this year wasn’t that great at all! We were seeing 2-3 birds if we lucky! But got a few bunnies - ther was not much snow on the ground so we could see them good!
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Ya it was weird would go out one weekend and barely see a bird and then next weekend we would see a dozen. We were mostly in the Carrot tower area
Also , my bad I meant 338 sorry bout that.
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Preacher: “Well, there's a lot of sinners here abouts. You wouldn't want me to leave before I finish my work, would you?”.
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01-17-2021, 12:10 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 191
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Quote:
Originally Posted by osterous
In early Sept, I was feeling a bit discouraged about the prospects for the new season. So I asked what others were expecting. Now, with the season over, I was wondering what folks have experienced. My personal impression/experience is that this season was a lot better that last season, but not as good as the two previous seasons. In general, I would call it average over all. Success was achieved however, with a lot more effort, both in walking and with driving. Also,it seems that the further north one goes, the greater the success. What are your impressions?
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My experience was on par with yours
Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk
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01-17-2021, 08:26 AM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: A bit North o' Center...
Posts: 11,113
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JonC
My experience was on par with yours
Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk
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Fairly similar experience here as well. Put in a lot of shoe leather, and we potted more spruce grouse this year than usual.
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01-17-2021, 10:59 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 120
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500s
Quote:
Originally Posted by catnthehat
Ruffies in the 500's where I hunted were scarce as were spruce grouse..
Cat
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Guess I should have been more specific. Lots of grouse in 536, ruffys and spruce. 535 holds a whack of sharptails.
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01-17-2021, 11:09 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 407
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I did not chase any Ruffies this year which are my favorite table fare but Pheasants were great this year and I did not hunt any release sites I saw lots of sharpies but season was already closed .....
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01-17-2021, 11:18 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 373
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507/350 numbers seemed down this year and last year. Saw fewer Ruffies and more Sprucies this year. Birds were skittish as can be. Still managed a couple tasty dinners. Little gifts from the forest.
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01-17-2021, 12:42 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 5,509
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jungleboy
Ya it was weird would go out one weekend and barely see a bird and then next weekend we would see a dozen. We were mostly in the Carrot tower area
Also , my bad I meant 338 sorry bout that.
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And they were very well educated! I have never seen them starting to run when the vehicle approached, but this year was different. They would freeze for a second and if they see the vehicle slowing down or stopping- they run like a antelope!
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01-17-2021, 02:04 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 248
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Hunted mostly in 356 and it was an average year for me. I found that ruffies were very area specific . Some areas seemed barren then a few miles away they were thick . Not sure why but the river hills seemed to be more productive than usual while the poplar flats were thin.
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01-17-2021, 03:36 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 28
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I hunted in 336, 334, 339, 936, 248.
Early season I thought that I was going to have a ****ty year and not find many ruffed grouse. I didn't bird hunt much through November as I chased bigger critters. By late season I was consistently bringing multiple birds home each day and seeing a lot more flushes than that. Overall I saw more birds this year than the last 2-3 for sure.
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01-17-2021, 03:43 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Rocky View County
Posts: 616
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312/318/320 all very poor for our group this year. Way below normal.
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01-18-2021, 08:47 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 1,239
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We saw average numbers in 349/350 early in the season. Nothing mid season, but higher numbers in Dec. The 2 trips to 358 yielded fewer flushes than usual early, but higher numbers in Oct, mostly because they seemed to be flocked up.
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Long gone are the times when things were made of wood, and men made of steel.
author unknown
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01-18-2021, 09:57 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,191
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I hunted the 200 zones. I saw a few while hunting bigger Critters but it was few. The couple times i did go out on purpose for grouse i got skunked.
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01-20-2021, 02:46 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 357
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I saw lots of Spruce while out in the mountains. Lots of Sharp-tails as well but a veritable onslaught of bird hunters in my area could fix that for next year.
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"Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” - Henry David Thoreau
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01-20-2021, 03:44 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Calgary
Posts: 1,521
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Seen below average amounts of ruffies in areas South of #1 west of #2 north of #3 not the best Intel from me that area is vast and I wasn’t focused on them. there was still enough in the back 40 to supplement mountain house ever day or 2.
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01-21-2021, 01:13 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 232
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wmu 338
ruffies a few less than normal, hardly saw a spruce
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01-21-2021, 05:29 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 3,281
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I hunted a total of 19 days in 512/518/530 and in that time I only saw a half dozen grouse in total and didn’t kill a one. Pretty amazing when you consider 3-4 years ago you couldn’t walk anywhere without kicking one up.
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