Ptarmigans in Colorado

[TheGreek]

I can't imagine walking any trailhead in the Zirkels and not finding a few dusky's.

I’ve done it. Drives me crazy the few times it has happened.

@timf you must not have enough messages for me to PM you.

 

[timf]

I’ve done it. Drives me crazy the few times it has happened.

@timf you must not have enough messages for me to PM you.

Maybe some of it is me being too much of a novice. Plus, my dog has only ever hunted pheasant and chukar (limited experience with geese and ducks), so duskys and ptarmigan are totally new to him. Granted, once he knows what we're after, I'm sure he'll be set to go, but the first bird surprised both of us and I only caught a glimpse of it flying off, so I wasn't even completely sure it was a grouse, but the heaviness of the wings flapping and the size of it coming off the ground made me pretty confident it was a dusky. I can't imagine any other bird matching those qualities, which was ~9K ft.

@TheGreek I'm not sure but maybe 10 posts is the number. And I think this might be 10, so perhaps try again?

 

[cedahm]

Grouse aren't solitary creatures, although the mature males may be a bit away from the groups. If you found one there's others in the area. Glad you're having some success.

Especially this time of year - males will generally be 'nearly' solitary (often there'll be a handful of them nearby as @Birdbander points out). Based on a quick scout the other week, Females and young of the year should be starting to push uphill shortly.

And 10.5-11.4K for dusky grouse. Wow, this is higher than I would have thought, but it fits with some of the other posts.

I'd note that those elevation bands (for Dusky's) are 'relative' to the specific mountain range you're in. I've seen them right at treeline over the years, but it's pretty rare, IME.

For example, the Zirkel's top out just over 12k. Treeline is mostly down at like 11,000. If you don't start until 10,500 there you won't be hunting much. Versus some spots we hunt in southern CO where 11,500' is still a creek bottom in the timber.

 

[timf]

Especially this time of year - males will generally be 'nearly' solitary (often there'll be a handful of them nearby as @Birdbander points out). Based on a quick scout the other week, Females and young of the year should be starting to push uphill shortly.



I'd note that those elevation bands (for Dusky's) are 'relative' to the specific mountain range you're in. I've seen them right at treeline over the years, but it's pretty rare, IME.

For example, the Zirkel's top out just over 12k. Treeline is mostly down at like 11,000. If you don't start until 10,500 there you won't be hunting much. Versus some spots we hunt in southern CO where 11,500' is still a creek bottom in the timber.

That's really good and actually I had been thinking some of those same thoughts. Since I didn't have any luck finding duskys last season, all I know is from forum posts or web articles and I remembered reading things about females going lower into sage or aspens with their broods for the insects and more and males staying higher, so this fits even if they're not completely split or things aren't always this way for the different genders and groups.

And I wondered the same thing regarding the treeline idea, specifically because of that point you made about the Zirkels so thanks for that. I'm heading straight west this weekend to the region @Birdbander suggested to scout for ptarmigan and hopefully I'll see some duskys as I go up in elevation with my dog. I'm hoping I can camp closer to treeline too than the distance I was in the Zirkels, so we can spend more time cruising the high alpine terrain instead of simply hiking miles just to get there.