Shooting grouse while hunting?
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: LINK
23-Aug-17
Do you have to purchase the small game license to shoot grouse if you have an elk tag? I'm looking at the regs and I'm assuming the grouse you see most commonly across Colorado are blue grouse?
From: Lark Bunting
23-Aug-17
You have to have a small game license. The most frustrating thing to me is that grouse doesn't open simultaneously with elk season in Colorado.
Also, watch out for people taking shots at grouse out there. I had a tree get smacked with a .22 round a couple years ago while I was archery hunting. Some guy shot at a grouse and missed and the bullet hit a tree about 20 yards away and I happened to be looking in that very direction so I got to see the bark go flying. Hard to distinguish "your target and what's beyond" when we are in full camo.
From: LINK
23-Aug-17
The dates fit me fine I just was wanting to make sure I'm legal.
From: PoudreCanyon
23-Aug-17
Grouse season opens September 1st. You do need a small game license to shoot them. We shoot them when opportunities present themselves - they are delicious!
From: Mark Watkins
23-Aug-17
Absolutely!
The only way to the coveted "Avian Slam!"
Mark
From: LINK
23-Aug-17
Lol, I'm just looking to supplement my mountain house.
From: Buskill
23-Aug-17
Good eating
From: SJJ
23-Aug-17
meh....taste like pine
From: DL
23-Aug-17
Take an extra old aluminum arrow with you, unless you don't care about throwing $20. bills away
From: Brun
23-Aug-17
If you look at the regs they are now called "Dusky Grouse." They are still Blue Grouse to me and It's a fun add on to a hunt and they are delicious. There are also Sharp Tailed Grouse in parts of northwestern Colorado. They are equally good to eat, but usually flush more readily than the Blues, so they are harder to get a shot at with a bow.
From: Bowfreak
23-Aug-17
Ask Randy Newberg, he sometimes quits grouse hunting to chase elk. :)
From: Glunt@work
23-Aug-17
I have yet to hear anyone start calling them "dusky" other than the CPW. They renamed them because they were lumped into the same species as sooty grouse which is a west coast bird that looks almost the same but is a separate species. They'll always be blue grouse to me.
From: cnelk
23-Aug-17
Wham.... supper
From: Zackman
23-Aug-17
Mr. Watkins never misses an opportunity to check another box in his endless pursuit of the Avaian slam
From: rideold
23-Aug-17
Grouse are the reason I have a 5 arrow quiver. One always has a small game head on it. Last year grouse was the only game that came home in the cooler.
From: wyobullshooter
23-Aug-17
Whether they're called blue grouse or dusky grouse, they'll always be crazy chickens to me. Either way, they're mighty tasty and fun as heck to thump!
From: APauls
23-Aug-17
I never miss a chance. I have the same weakness Randy has lol
From: jjs
23-Aug-17
A bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush, eat up.
From: MichaelArnette
23-Aug-17
Yes! They taste delicious! Although I didn't know you had to have a small game license ?? I suppose I'll be getting one this year
From: TD
23-Aug-17
From: Ucsdryder
23-Aug-17
My buddy and I call it getting groused...sneaking through the silent woods, tip toeing along, listening for the slightest noise of a twig breaking or something brushing up against pine needles when all of a sudden something explodes at your feet and scares the turds out of you! Happens every year and I always chase that little bastard down and try to kill him for almost giving me a heart attack.
From: jordanathome
23-Aug-17
Amen to that! They were lousy thick in 34. Not having as many scare the bejeesus outta me in 20.
From: Spookinelk
23-Aug-17
Heartattack chickens! They deserve to get eaten because making me squeal like a little girl ain't right! I carry 4 elk arrows and 2 bludgeon tipped grouse arrows, carrying 4 grouse arrows and 2 elk arrows would probably be more appropriate .........
I have a no grouse shooting before 10 am or after 4pm rule, I'm supposed to be hunting elk right?
From: LKH
25-Aug-17
One of the worst scares of my life occurred in Idaho. Was a horror movie night. Half moon, ground fog, and I was taking a steep shortcut between long switchbacks by cutting up a brushy gully.
Was after dark, no light and the grouse flushed by flying from my feet up over my face, wings beating on me the whole 1 second it took it to depart. Maybe the closest I've ever came to losing control of my functions.
From: SmokedTrout
25-Aug-17
Spookinelk here's my solution, I carry use a 9 arrow quiver with 5 broadheads, 2 blunts, and 2 judo tips. Usually only have 5 broadheads left in the quiver when I get back to the truck... I should use your 10 - 4 rule!
From: Bowfreak
25-Aug-17
What do you guys recommend for small game tips? Field points or something more specialized?
From: Kodiak
25-Aug-17
I've shot a few on elk hunts, they're dumb as a box o' rox.
That's ok, they eat good.
From: Mt. man
25-Aug-17
Mt. man's Link
Pack yourself some VPA small game Thumpers! Solid steel and indestructible! They work great on grouse and fly pretty darn accurate! Link Provided!
From: rideold
25-Aug-17
Yep, the VPA small game heads are great. Been flying true for me as well. Darn effective as well.
From: longbeard
25-Aug-17
Are they the same thing that are called fools hens? We didn't even shoot them with our bow or gun, we would hit them with a rock and nock them out of the tree. One guy would always be waiting at bottom of tree to "harvest" them. They were delicious!!
From: Bowfreak
25-Aug-17
So...you have to buy a small game license to shoot them? $56 to shoot grouse.....I like shooting anything but when you add up the cost of arrows and points and license I might have be too cheap to play that game.
From: Spookinelk
25-Aug-17
SmokedTrout,
That's what I need ....A bigger quiver!
I Like the Saunders bludgeon points because they cushion the arrow a bit when you hit rocks and prevent penetration.
From: Hawkeye
25-Aug-17
Great eating!
From: Spookinelk
25-Aug-17
Bowfreak,
$650 plus expenses for a 15% chance of shooting an elk vs. $56 for guaranteed action(where I hunt) and a lot of additional fun.....it's a no brainer for me!!!!!!
From: APauls
25-Aug-17
I use judos. That way I can always find my arrow.
Worst I ever freaked out was I shot a doe one time at dark in some thick and I mean THICK conifer forest. cleaned her up, just start to drag her out and a screech owl lets loose an honest 8 feet from my head. Holy Hell!! I swear they record screech owls for the horror movie soundtrack screams. Just the worst! Sounded like some girl was having her heart ripped out just above my head. I still shudder when I think about it lol.
From: wytex
25-Aug-17
Judos here too. They don't stick as far in trees and a slightly off shot can still decapitate one.
From: Bowfreak
25-Aug-17
The $56 Is not a If deal ....agreed. Breaking or losing so.e Gold Tip pros adds up though.
I admitted I was being cheap. Lol
From: TD
25-Aug-17
In MT one afternoon we were hunting sharpies in the low sage. So many we were calling head shots on em. We just needed one or two more for our limit (4 if I recall) and were having a blast as the birds really didn't know what was going on, they didn't flush and just ran a little ways at a time...... when I realized I had only brought a dozen arrows and had likely lost 5, maybe 6 already and pretty much out of judo heads...... some were easy to find and pick right up as we went, ready to shoot again..... and a few even had birds on the end of them. Others we had marked the area and kept hunting to come back later to look. Called it a day for birdhunting...... and started more into arrow hunting..... I think we found maybe 2 or 3 of em. Lost way more than when we were hunting prairie dogs.... =D
From: Ucsdryder
27-Aug-17
Still don't understand why they don't line up the season with elk season. A big fatty blue stood on a log 10 yards away staring at me for a solid minute yesterday.
From: bad karma
27-Aug-17
Grouse season used to start October 1. Many years ago, Marv Clynke was the head of the Colo Bowhunters Association. When he spoke to the wildlife commission, he asked to move the start of grouse season to September 1, when archery season started back then. One commissioner asked him to "Give me one good reason why we should move the season to September 1." Marv replied "well, we're going to shoot them anyway so you might as well make it legal."
That's why the season starts September 1. No kidding.
From: MidMoElknut
27-Aug-17
In Colorado do you have to purchase a different license to take grouse if you have a otc elk tag?
I tried to find it on the cpw site but I never found a definite answer. I'm guessing I would also need a small game license!?
From: LUNG$HOT
27-Aug-17
"In Colorado do you have to purchase a different license to take grouse if you have a otc elk tag?"
Yes absolutely you need a small game tag to legally shoot them.
From: Whip
27-Aug-17
If I'm reading the regs correctly in New Mexico grouse is covered under the hunting license I already bought along with the elk tag. . I'd better bring more arrows and small game tips!
From: Swamp Buck
28-Aug-17
Colorado should provide the Small Game along with Archery Elk instead of Fishing... More are likely to shoot a grouse than fish for a trout on the elk hunts.
