DrH
Member
I have hunted elk for 51 years, and I first shot grouse with my elk rifle because they were there and taste good, the "bird in the hand" routine. On at least a dozen occasions, when slipping through timber with my rifle hunting elk, I have shot grouse, one time three in a row with a .308, and walked less than 200 yards and seen elk, seemingly unconcerned. That does not seem to happen when they are in the open.
After a few years I could afford a Smith and Wesson 622 handgun with aluminum frame which is a pound lighter than the average .22 handgun, and carried one in my pack for thirty-five years, using it to kill both dusky grouse and ruffed grouse for the annual end of the hunt grouse fry.
Those who are not good enough shots to head shoot a grouse with their rifle or who think the shot will spook elk should refrain from doing that. I got as close as possible, then either head/neck shot them or missed completely. I think that is more possible where there are grouse that don't see many hunters. Where they are hunted they don't allow a close enough approach for head-shooting with a rifle.
Some of my companions would body shoot grouse with their .22 handgun, but if you don't hit them where the wings attach, breaking a wing or hitting the heart, they fly off to die and be wasted.
As for slingshots, once a hunting partner brought a slingshot with buckshot for killing grouse. I did research on dusky grouse for five years and used a 16 foot fiberglass pole with a plastic coated wire leader to noose birds to tag them. I brought some leader on that hunt, as I still could not afford a handgun. We ran into a flock of grouse on the way to camp. He either missed them with his slingshot or hit them in the body, which might have bruised them, but wasn't even enough to get them to fly out of a tree. Meanwhile, I cut a piece of dead aspen, hooked up a noose, snatched the heads off three young grouse, cleaned them, tied them to my pack, and went up the trail while he was yelling at me to give him the leader.
After a few years I could afford a Smith and Wesson 622 handgun with aluminum frame which is a pound lighter than the average .22 handgun, and carried one in my pack for thirty-five years, using it to kill both dusky grouse and ruffed grouse for the annual end of the hunt grouse fry.
Those who are not good enough shots to head shoot a grouse with their rifle or who think the shot will spook elk should refrain from doing that. I got as close as possible, then either head/neck shot them or missed completely. I think that is more possible where there are grouse that don't see many hunters. Where they are hunted they don't allow a close enough approach for head-shooting with a rifle.
Some of my companions would body shoot grouse with their .22 handgun, but if you don't hit them where the wings attach, breaking a wing or hitting the heart, they fly off to die and be wasted.
As for slingshots, once a hunting partner brought a slingshot with buckshot for killing grouse. I did research on dusky grouse for five years and used a 16 foot fiberglass pole with a plastic coated wire leader to noose birds to tag them. I brought some leader on that hunt, as I still could not afford a handgun. We ran into a flock of grouse on the way to camp. He either missed them with his slingshot or hit them in the body, which might have bruised them, but wasn't even enough to get them to fly out of a tree. Meanwhile, I cut a piece of dead aspen, hooked up a noose, snatched the heads off three young grouse, cleaned them, tied them to my pack, and went up the trail while he was yelling at me to give him the leader.
