Good morning folks. As our big-game season winds down, I'm trying to find ways to stretch out my other tags and time spent in the field, and man do I love chasing grouse. I'm curious if anyone continues to pursue them through the month of December? I intend to, but noticed while chasing deer that the ruffies simply aren't in the same areas I found them in the September, namely in and around snowberry/various berry species. I've been researching their winter diets, but have encountered a problem; most of the literature references Midwest or Northeast birds, which dine on hard mast and buds/catkins of trees we lack in NW MT. Nearly every source I encountered, however, referenced Aspen stands. Do our mountain grouse seek out Aspen like their brethren elsewhere? Are there enough Aspen stands to accommodate the congregating birds of winter, or are there other primary sources of food I should be looking for?
December Upland Hunting in Montana
- Thread starter RuralMT
- Start date
Doug fir stands...copy that. I reckon I can find a few of those around here, haha. Thanks for the confirmation. My buddies think I'm crazy for spending December hunting them without a dog, rather than chasing safe/early ice! I like the thought of having the woods mostly to myself.
Sask hunter
Well-known member
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- Sep 20, 2016
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I have trouble finding ruffies once the snow flies too they seem to disappear. That’s when I like to go further south and chase huns
Nameless Range
Well-known member
I don’t know a whole lot about Ruffies, but Blue Grouse, which in my opinion are some of the coolest and tastiest Montana birds out there, typically take part in an altitudinal migration. They go up in the winter. They’ve been known to migrate as far is 30 miles, but typically if you saw them during archery season you can assume they are up drainage and hill from that location in dense timber on the ridges above above.
Typically that means they’re hard to get to, but we haven’t got a whole lot of snow yet.
Typically that means they’re hard to get to, but we haven’t got a whole lot of snow yet.
Hunting Wife
Well-known member
The forage species may be different, but the basic diet is the same as what you found in your research. They will eat buds of deciduous trees/shrubs where they are available- willows, poplars, various berry bushes, cottonwoods, etc. Across their range they’ve been documented to use a pretty wide variety of forage species. In most of the areas where I’ve chased ruffies in Montana, aspens are a fairly small proportion of the deciduous forage species available so I wouldn’t automatically focus on those unless it makes sense for the area you’re hunting. In fringe areas where deciduous species are lacking, they will eat buds and needles from conifers-tamarack, fir, pine.
Ruffies don’t make quite the same altitudinal migration that blues do. They’ll stay in those middle elevations where you usually find them, but will probably move to denser evergreen thermal cover.
Ruffies don’t make quite the same altitudinal migration that blues do. They’ll stay in those middle elevations where you usually find them, but will probably move to denser evergreen thermal cover.
Therein lies the rub. My options, as far as vegetation is concerned, consist of mixed-conifer forests, predominantly comprised of doug-fir and rather lacking in deciduous trees, with the exception of tamarack. I went cruising through an older cut that was dominated by the latter and didn't kick a single bird into flight. I'll try the thicker evergreen stands today and see if that produces for the better.
I wish I had that problem, haha. The closest huns for me involve a several-hour drive, which is hard to justify for birds alone. But man are they fun to chase.
I'm embarrassed to admit, but I hadn't given blues much thought, predominately because of the snow, haha. The upper elevations surrounding town are snowed in; although I do own a pair of snowshoes...
