Grouse

[AlaskaHunter]

Alaska is the only state that does not have wild turkeys...moose calling in the fall is my substitute...I do miss spring gobbler season.

But we have 4 species of grouse (sooty grouse in southeast, ruffed, spruce, sharptails in interior AK)
My favorite to hunt is sharptails, my favorite to eat is ruffed grouse.
The hunting season is still open in AK until the end of March, but I stop hunting in the fall after snow flies.

This ruffed grouse was eating aspen buds in our backyard:

 

[wyoboypt]

Some of the tastiest birds I’ve eaten for sure. We always shoot them while bow hunting elk in September. Mostly blues and ruffed here.

 

[LuketheDog]

I'm making an effort to do more grouse hunting every year, they really are tasty and fun to hunt

 

[Dave N]

Planned on going after some in August but may not even go up this year.

 

[Northwoods]

When I lived in Fairbanks I didn’t have to drive very far for some pretty good grouse and ptarmigan hunting.

 

[rwc101]

Every time I see a grouse.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

I recommend joining Ruffed Grouse Society to entertain and support your obsession with these great birds!

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Or Pheasants Forever. They help out a lot of wildlife.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Backyard grouse.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

When I lived in Fairbanks I didn’t have to drive very far for some pretty good grouse and ptarmigan hunting.

Some of my best bird hunting memories are grouse hunting out west.
Steep avalanche chutes where the grouse concentrated on mountain ash berries in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah.

Hawthorne berry patches adjacent to Doug-Fir north slopes while hunting chuckars in the Salmon River canyons of Idaho.

Opening day at high elevations near Darby, MT.

In interior AK, all the wildfires there has been a boom in the population of sharptails the past couple decades.

It does feel strange that the AK bird season is open through March...

 

[VikingsGuy]

One of my favorite things about our cabin up in Northern MN was the ruffed grouse. But whether it is wolves, west niles, aging woods or climate the numbers have just not bounced back from the bottom of the last cycle. Super bummer - a very fun hunt and one of my favorite to eat.

 

[1_pointer]

I shot a couple of sharptails in AK last Feb, along with a couple ptarmigan. Interesting hunting for sure.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Here's a couple of Ruffed Grouse my son shot last time we were hunting in the Ruby's 2 years ago. They were very tasty!

 

[Straight Arrow]

Happy boys with first grouse.