Mountain Magnets

Tar Heel wing-shooters who get the itch for action in October should consider ruffed grouse — but only if they don’t want to get hooked.

Ginny’s high tail, flaring nostrils and the intensity of her point told me she had a snoot full of bird scent.

As I walked to her point, a thunder of wings broke from the briar tangle to my right. The bird was gone before I could get my gun to my shoulder.Sounds like a typical scenario for a North Carolina quail hunter, right? But the bird involved wasn’t a quail but its cousin and N.C.’s other upland gamebird, Bonasa Umbellus, a ruffed grouse.

The mountains of the Tar Heel state are near the southern end of ruffed-grouse range that extends into north Georgia and by some accounts into the northeastern corner of Alabama. Although grouse populations in the South aren’t as numerous as in New England and the upper mid-west, numbers are huntable. And there’s a pretty long season extending from mid-October to the end of February.

Several friends and I travel north each October to grouse hunt for a week. Flushing 12 to 15 birds a day is considered normal and some years low in this region of the country. But in the N.C. mountains, it’s a great day when hunters flush six to eight birds.

According to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s annual Grouse Hunter Survey, the average flush rate per trip is between three and four birds. That’s, as usual, because of habitat.

For anyone who never has hunted grouse and wants to come to the mountains and give it a try, there are two primary considerations: habitat and hunting methods.

The grouse may be the quail’s distant cousin because both need to feed, to rest and secure cover. But their habitat requirements are completely different.

While quail are known as birds of the field edges, grouse are birds of thick forests and forest edges.

Because of the habitat differences, grouse don’t find security in numbers as quail do in coveys. Grouse are loners that seek thick cover for safety.

Occasionally hunters flush several birds from one location, but that’s primarily because of weather rather than a natural inclination to seek security in numbers.

And that’s actually what makes grouse hunting so challenging — thick cover.

Where Are Grouse?

I know where I look for birds at different times of the season, but wanted to get an expert’s analysis. So I talked with Gordon Warburton, supervising wildlife biologist for the WRC’s western region.

He said of the three grouse needs (cover, food, and water) that “cover is most important during the early season to escape predators to include hawks and owls.

“Fall is one of the peaks of mortality for grouse because of predators.”

That usually means early successional forest or a timber cut that’s 6 to 20 years old with high “stem density.”

That’s probably why most hunters of these elusive birds have a saying that “you know you’re in grouse cover if you drop your gun and it doesn’t hit the ground.”

Early in the season when birds are scattered, grouse are likely to be anywhere — hanging out near trail edges or underneath conifers, in particular near regenerating forests.

Hunters also can try seeking them near food sources.

During the early hunting season, the birds feed mainly on late season berries, such as wild grapes and also on hard mast such as acorns.

“Grouse in the Appalachians are pretty much dependent on acorns in the fall and into winter if they’re still available,” Warburton said.

He also said location of the food source is important.

“If the food source is near the grouses’ protective cover, it also reduces mortality because they burn less energy looking for food and aren’t as exposed to predators,” he said.

As the season progresses, their diet turns more toward leftover acorns, green briar berries, birch buds and some green leaves. A grouse’s protective cover also changes as the season goes along.

As winter sets in, the birds’ habitat tends to shrink, with warmth being a primary concern, and that usually means hiding out at a laurel or rhododendron thickets.

During sunny days during the winter, hunters may find them at a sunny hillside, but it will still be in thick cover. Warburton said hunters also shouldn’t forget the grouse’s need for water.

“These wet areas near streams with a lot of vegetation near the stream bed are important to grouse,” he said.

Several years ago while hunting one late-season day that was unusually warm and dry, I was walking at one of my usual haunts at a nearby National Forest.

I had hunted hard with my young dog for a couple of hours and hadn’t moved a bird. After reaching my vehicle, I decided to stop at a small cover near the road that had a stream running through it and some rhododendron thickets along the banks.

I put my old dog out of the truck after I stopped, as much for the exercise as anything. During 30 minutes, we flushed three grouse within a one-acre area near that stream.

Where To Hunt

So where does an enterprising, full-of-spit-and-vinegar grouse chaser with a spunky bird dog go to hunt mountain pat’ridges?

Unless a hunter has access to private land, a good starting place might be the 1-million-plus acres of N.C. game lands inside the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests and Dupont State Forest.

The problem is it isn’t all grouse habitat, so areas to focus hunting must be chosen — and more areas eliminated.

Start by locating possible areas to hunt using game lands maps. Since these don’t typically show the level of detail one needs, then go to either the North Carolina Atlas & Gazetteer by DeLorme or a topographic map for the areas one wants to hunt.

Many outfitters in the mountains carry hiking maps of the national forests and Dupont acreages that have a useful level of detail.

What a hunter should seek are trails off main roads. Those trails are usually old logging roads or Forest Service, gated maintenance roads.

Warburton said in cooperation with the NFS, the WRC is working to improve some of these roads as grouse habitat by reducing overhead cover, planting shrubby growth at the sides and reducing grass plantings and seeding with clover and other desirable plants.

Because of the WRC’s work, a popular technique among many grouse hunters is to walk service roads, allowing dogs to work either side of the roads. When they get to a likely spot such as an old logging road, thick clearcut or habitat like that mentioned earlier, that’s a good spot to swing off the road to hunt, making a loop back to the service road.

The advantage veteran grouse chasers have is knowing through experience which roads to hunt. Unfortunately, for the first-time hunter grouse hunting in such a manner usually will be a hit-or-miss proposition, so hunting with a local resident or a grouse guide probably is a good idea.

One guide service is Curtis Wright Outfitters of Asheville, Saluda and Weaverville, although others exist.

What Do You Need?

Let’s talk dogs.

I wouldn’t be a grouse hunter if it weren’t for dogs. Although dogs aren’t required, and hunters can flush a few birds without a dog, they’re definitely part of the experience.

For pointing-dog owners, there’s something magical about a fall afternoon, walking to a dog on point in a thicket, and the thunder of wings of a grouse making its escape.

No matter the breed, in the mountains a dog has to work close and respond to commands. There are plenty of stories about foothills and lowland hunters unloading big-running quail dogs in the mountains and starting the search for them within minutes. That may be why the continental breeds are popular.

Good grouse dogs include Brittanies and German shorthairs. A personal preference is a close-working setter.

Even if a dog works close, most hunters still use locator collars or bells. A dog can go on point in a rhododendron thicket 50 yards away and be invisible and out of hunter’s hearing ability.

Although they’re not seen much in southern grouse country, a close-working flushing breed such as a Springer spaniel or Labrador will work, but hunters will have to get off the service roads to maximize their hunting methods.

For hunters who never have experienced the beautiful mountains of the Tar Heel state, they should think lightweight.

Unlike grouse habitat at some northern states that can be relatively flat or rolling hills, most N.C. grouse cover is steep. The service roads generally follow the contour of the terrain along hillsides and ridges and aren’t too bad. It’s when hunters get off the beaten path that they can work up a sweat.

For that reason, most hunters dress in briar pants, a shirt, and hunting vest or light coat (if it’s really cold). It doesn’t matter how cold it is, hunters will work up a sweat.

Boots with a good sole for traction and ankle support are important, and may be the only heavy thing items a hunter needs. Dedicated grouse hunters are familiar with busted backsides at steep slopes covered with wet leaves.

As for the best shotguns for grouse, veteran hunters each have an opinion. But two points of agreement are common — they need to be lightweight and short.

Lightweight guns will help make hills less steep and a day of walking seeming much shorter. The actual short length of a grouse gun enables a hunter to swing it easily because in the thick cover of grouse world, there’s not much room to handle a long-barrel scattergun.

Grouse shooting, in fact, is mostly point and shoot — instinctive gunning. The window hunters normally have for a shot at a departing grouse is measured in nanoseconds.

That’s why mountain grouse hunters often tote short-barrel over/under or side-by-side shotguns with open chokes. Grouse aren’t hard to kill; they’re hard to hit.

Gauge choices are a matter of personal preference, although 20 gauges are popular and many hunters are deadly shots with a 28 gauge (a 12- or 16-gauge may be too much gun and definitely on the heavy-to-carry side).

No matter one’s choice of gauge, shot-size preferences are usually No. 7 ½ or No. 8 loads (typical quail loads). Some hunters go to heavier No. 6 loads later in the season when birds tend to flush wild and require longer shots and a bigger mass of lead.

A few other light-weight items don’t need to be overlooked when venturing for grouse in the mountains. Two are a compass and a map if walking across unfamiliar terrain.

I still haven’t made the technological leap to a GPS unit, although some folks use them religiously to mark the position of their truck and waypoints. Some of the mountain “hollers“ and “draws” look a lot alike if a hunter isn’t used to them.

It’s easy to get “turned around” (temporarily disoriented when talking with your buddies), and there are no road maps or service stations to visit and ask for directions at the bottom of a 500-foot ravine.

Once I stepped out of the woods to a main road in the national forest, expecting to see my truck — and it wasn’t where it was supposed to be. After my heart started beating again, I discovered I was about 200 yards from it; it hadn’t been stolen, and I wasn’t really lost. A cell phone isn’t a bad idea either, although you may have to get to the top of a mountain to get a signal if the worse happens.

Hunters also should bring plenty of water for themselves and their dogs. Small streams often trickle through the forests, providing a source for dogs to slake their thirsts (humans shouldn’t drink from them because of potential pollutants or other problems), but many are seasonal and may be dry during the fall and winter. So bring water for yourself and the dogs. Running through the mountains is hard work for dogs and they’ll need plenty of liquids to stay at peak performance levels.

Hunting quail in Alabama began a lifelong pursuit for me and I pursued them across the Southeast while I was in the U.S. Army. When I moved to the mountains, grouse were the only game in town.

“What the heck?” I said. “It’s a bird living on the ground … shouldn’t be that much different from quail.”

I discovered grouse hunting was a new ball game the first time up to bat in the N.C. mountains when my setter, raised on quail, stopped at a steep hillside and gave me her “what-have-you-gotten-us-into-this-time?” look.

But after the first thunder of grouse wings, I was hooked. I didn’t kill that bird, which caught me totally off guard. But that’s the reason grouse hunters count number of flushes instead of birds killed when tallying Tar Heel “pa’tridges.” The game is about anticipation of what’s around the next bend in the trail or down the next draw.

For Down East quail hunters who get the “itch” during early fall days before quail season opens in November, remember grouse hunters get cranked up a month earlier.

Pack up the gear, load the dogs and head to the mountains. It’s almost a guarantee you’ll break a sweat, but you’ll likely be back next year.