Best Bait for Hunting Grouse?

[Gerald Martin]

My friend Rick Farthing took me grouse hunting yesterday. In the off chance Randy sees this video, the location shall remain undisclosed. We loaded up on his ATV with chopped apples for bait and cruised the two track behind Rick's house. Rick used a combination of the engine noise from the 4-wheeler and his trademark high pitched , "Chick, Chick, Chicken!" call to pull "Harry" up close and personal. At times the encounter was so in your face and Harry was so agressive I was wishing I had packed my grouse spray for protection.

For the past two months, Harry has been coming up to Rick and hanging out with him whenever he's working back in his woods. It was totally instigated by the grouse and seemed to be that he was looking for company. After about a month, Rick figured out that Harry likes chopped fruit so he takes him a treat now. Harry is still totally wild and amazingly tuned in to danger other than humans. At one point yesterday, a squirrel gave an alarm call in the woods and Harry ran under the ATV and crouched completely motionless.

I hope you enjoy the video. It was certainly a priviledge to be able to witness an interaction like this. I hope Harry makes it through the winter and has a long and happy grouse life.

 

[BigHornRam]

#keepsanderscountyweird

 

[slatebuilder]

Ran into this guy out fall turkey hunting this week. Who knew Stevens made a model 311 grouse perch.

 

[stillkickin]

That’s darn cool Gerald, also it’s good to see that I’m not the only person that still wears Fratzke camo. Great stuff!

 

[kansasdad]

The makings of a Disney movie somehow.
Amazing oddity of nature meeting man story

 

[p_ham]

The makings of a Disney movie somehow.
Amazing oddity of nature meeting man story

No if it was Disney the hunter would be lighting the grouse on fire or some other rediculous act.

 

[Nameless Range]

Gerald, such a cool video and pictures.

It made me think of something though, if it's ok to stray into the ghost story realm a bit.

Many native cultures interpreted birds getting close to them as a bad omen, meaning something bad was going to happen to a loved one. There is a really good podcast out there called Lore that has a good episode on this. https://www.lorepodcast.com/episodes/25

I was also told a story once that has often given me something to think about. I once worked with a former biologist for the BLM. He was a man who exuded wisdom and was of the utmost character, so the story he told me, though seemingly supernatural, was not concocted. He was just not a bullshitter and I believe him. For the story let's call him "D". I may butcher the details.

In his former career, one of D's jobs was to notify firefighters on the fireline of tragedies at home - death of a loved one, etc.He was part of a team that dealt with tragedies. He had been sent to Lake Como to notify a tribal firefighter of the death of a family member. He took a boat across the lake, found his man, and brought him to the shore to tell him the news, but the man stopped him. The tribal member told him the story of a time when he was hunting as a young man, and a grouse came to him, standing at the end of the barrel of his gun. It told him something was wrong, and he went home to find his grandmother dead. That day on the fireline, a bird again had come to him, standing on a branch only feet a way, as if notifying him that again tragedy had struck. The man knew someone he loved had died before D even spoke. He then told, D, "Now you may tell me what you need to."

Of course your buddy's grouse-whispering skills are something else, but I have often thought about that story.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Thanks for sharing the story, Brett. I think I'll just let Rick continue to think Harry likes his company and isn't some supernatural messenger.

 

[elkduds]

Thanks for posting this, amazing relationship, well recorded.

 

[zach_destroys]

I believe I would have a belly full of grouse, very cool to see though.

 

[ismith]

“Due to the current owl herpes epidemic, effective immediately, ruffed grouse will assume supernatural messenger duties.”

 

[teej89]

wow that's pretty awesome!

 

[marshman]

Great stuff, our life would be much more plain and mundane without gods critters.

 

[Elkoholic]

Won't be long and Rick should have Harry perched on his shoulder riding a sled chasing lion tracks
And tell Rick he's getting awfully soft in his years...

 

[tzone]

That’s awesome!

 

[Elkdog]

Thanks for sharing that!

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Really cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[schmalts]

So cool.

 

[88man]

About 8 years ago we bought 2000 18inch norway spruce seedlings for cluster planting to create a winter wind break/habitat area. Anyway we were planting them and a Grouse followed us everywhere we went & was at our feet the whole morning even picking at our hands when we were packing soil with our hands. The grouse followed us back to our trucks at lunch and proceeded to fly into and land on the seat of my buddys pick up truck! I swear!

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Awesome stories. I'll tell mine. We were in the bighorns a few years back and wandered around looking at some rock outcroppings. My wife and son had both found arrowheads when a grouse hen came out of the brush and followed us around for the next 30 minutes. Pretty cool afternoon!