Tips for Hunting Grouse in the Rain!

Hey all I decided I would share some tips and tricks for hunting in the rain for grouse.

This is my first year hunting birds mainly grouse and I did a lot of reading and really didn't find much besides drive on a road jump out and shoot when you see one or a flock haha. So I decided to go by experience and have fun and go out. First thing is first I am a very avid hunter and angler. during the spring-fall I will fish ~3-4 times a week sometimes even driving 2 hours to fish for 1 hour. as for hunting when the season arrives, I will hunt approx 4 times a week. I also spend a lot of my late summer and spring setting up at my camp or at my other sites around Timmins and Quebec. So I like to consider my self well seasoned! hahaha I am also a hunter educator!.

Now for the tips for hunting them in the rain!

1. get out of the truck/car/atv.
Hunting in the rain, or snow as the case of yesterday, will produce nothing, or close to it. use your vehicle to find a spot. What you will be looking for is somewhere with thick bush... THICK! but nice clearing under it with a nice soft group mossy if you will with enough fallen mine needles around.
I realized this on Tuesday (its been raining pretty much all week in Timmins this week with snow flurries) when I was driving the logging roads and not finding a thing I decided to leave the car and get on my feet and get into the bush where they would be nestling staying out of the rain and snow and wind. they are NOT necessarily on the ground and when you find 1 there is also at least another one close by. Look for the footballs in the trees that are on the look out for a predator when you see them puff up you've been caught... homely close enough to take a shot, when you have taken that one out of the tree walk extremely slow keeping an eye out for movement within a 10-15 square metre area there should be more down there keep ears open for noise and little twigs moving and your eyes peeled. I was able to get three doing this.

2. Keep your Ears and Eyes open.
for example chipmunks, squirrels, crows and ravens. When they start to pipe up and make noise they are warning things around that you're there. Keep your eye on ground and keep your ears open for any sign of a little head bobbing along slowly, when the grouse are hearing this they tend to try and move away (usually deeper into the bush).when the other animals pipe up! this is something I learned and applied while moose/bear hunting, other animals will warn other animals of incoming predators and movement will occur the movements are very slight and small and hard to tell when they are but using this technique I was able to bag 5. (two on monday, 2, 2 on tuesday, and one yesterday).

And lastly

3.Look on top of large rocks with moss under the trees.
When you have a rock slab, and a thicket of trees hanging above it what a better place to feed and stretch if you're a bird? you are able to see everything! and keep semi dry and warm at feeding time! I actually found 3 sleeping on top of this gem of a rock and shot two of the three and hand to chase the other. When I came across this I decided to find more places like this and what do you know I found more! I had seen about 2 dozen in total hanging out on rock slabs under the shelter of trees unfortunately I was already at my limit for the day and decided to put the shot gun away and just see where I can find them!

So there you have it, these are my tips for hunting in the rain for grouse. Its annoying and wet, and can get frustrating. But when that happens take a second look where you are and take a big sniff.. smell the trees and the air and observe mother nature.... she's very relaxing! and also keep in mind you are looking at some things most people are not!

Enjoy! hunt safe and hunt smart!