Fall grouse setup??

[ChuckC]

There are a bunch of Bodkins still floating around and they would make great inexpensive small game heads.
ChuckC

[highlow]

Hey Whitetail Addict. If you have shot a ruffed grouse with stick and string then you are my new hero. I can't hit 'em with #6 bird shot out of a twelve gauge. Let me know your secret. Promise I won't spread it around.

[Whitetail Addict]

Originally posted by highlow:
Hey Whitetail Addict. If you have shot a ruffed grouse with stick and string then you are my new hero. I can't hit 'em with #6 bird shot out of a twelve gauge. Let me know your secret. Promise I won't spread it around.

My secret is that I rarely shoot at one on the wing. The only ruffs I've killed with a bow have been either on the ground, or in a tree. Sorry to disappoint you.  

Bob

[highlow]

Those NY "ruffies" must be a lot dumber than our NJ species. Can't get close enough to shoot while on the ground or roosting much less on the wing. Do you use a dog? That's the only way I could see you being able to take them with a bow. Without a doubt, the ruffed grouse is the ultimate trophy in the winged category. IMHO

[Jesse Minish]

Judo tips work great. I have killed a lot of ruffed, spruce and blue grouse with judo tips.

[centaur]

This one fell to a Hill broadhead, but I have taken them with judos, rubber blunts, and other broadheads, I have also had a few leave for parts unknown with arrow attached. Broadheads are the best choice, in my opinion.
Get ready for a feast; blue grouse are about as tasty a bird as there is.

[Whitetail Addict]

No, I wouldn't call them dumb, and I don't mean to give you the impression that I go out and shoot my limit with a bow, either. I'm usually able to kill two or three each year, because I enjoy it, and I put in the time hunting them.

The way I hunt them is to very slowly make my way through good grouse cover, spending more time looking than walking, like I would if I was still hunting deer.

More often than not, they fly before I see them, but now and then I'll spot one standing there looking at me, or I'll notice one when it takes a step or two. I've had a few fly up into low trees and offer me a shot over the years, but it doesn't happen very often.

I'm no great hunter. I just love to hunt, I'm dedicated, and I'm able to spend enough time in the woods to make it happen once in a while.

Bob

[highlow]

Would love to try hunting them like you described Bob. Unfortunately the grouse population here in NJ is almost non-existent. Been deer hunting in NY up around the Cincinnatus area north of Binghamton. See and hear quite a few but concentrating on deer exclusively. If I ever tire of trad bow hunting, which I seriously doubt, might take up grouse hunting.

[Walt Francis]

Broadhead!  There isn't many things more disheartening then watching a grouse lock it's wings with a judo tipped arrow halfway through its chest, as the grouse  crests the pines and does a thousand foot glide down the mountain you spent the last hour hiking up.  Now you have to follow up because choose to release the arrow.  

As Charlie said, "Wingnut has eaten more grouse than most of us will ever see so pay heed to his recommendation of a cheap broadhead".

[DarkTimber]

You could always go really primitive...I took this one with a fastball from about 15 yds (lucky throw).  I was tagged out and not carrying my bow.  Most of the ones I've killed have been shot with an Ace blunt, but I absolutely agree with the others that have said a broadhead is better.  I just use the blunt because I always carry 4 sharp broadheads and a blunt for practice.  I'm never specifically hunting grouse but usually elk hunting and grouse happen to be a creature of opportunity.  If I were targeting grouse, cheap broadheads are all I'd carry.  They are tough birds.  

 

[Tony Sanders]

Nice throw and harvest DarkTimber. Were you a baseball pitcher in your past life?(LOL)

  Tony

[DarkTimber]

Tony...I was a catcher.

I was hunting with my brother that morning trying to call an elk in for him.  He shoots a compound and I'm always trying to talk him into shooting a stick bow. I always tell him..."it's just like throwing a baseball".   So when we saw the grouse that morning he handed me a rock and said "go ahead...remember it's just like throwing a baseball".   When the rock clobbered that grouse my brothers jaw just about hit the ground (mine too probably)