546 
FOREST AND STREAM 
December, 1921 
GROUSE SHOOTING EXPERIENCES 
THE ECCENTRIC ACTIONS OF THIS NOBLE GAME BIRD SUPPLY 
THE HUNTER WITH MANY MOMENTS OF THRILLING SPORT 
S OME years ago the writer was still- 
hunting for ruffed grouse near 
Chestnut-Ridge, in western New 
York, where the birds were wild 
and wise from much hunting. There 
was about six inches of snow on the 
ground. As I was tramping up a steep 
wooded slope a grouse flushed about fifty 
feet to one side and slightly behind me. 
I turned and covered the bird, but at 
that moment my foot caught in a fallen 
limb and disturbed my aim. I saw the 
sight swerve on to the trunk of a beech 
tree about ten feet to the left of the fly- 
ing bird, just as I pulled the trigger. 
I had instantly made up my mind that 
it was a miss, but I saw the bird drop 
about twenty feet beyond the beech tree. 
After picking up the bird I walked 
back and examined the tree, and I saw 
where the shot had struck the trunk. 
Most of the charge had glanced off the 
smooth, hard bark on the side toward 
the bird, killing it stone dead. 
A BOUT twenty years ago I was 
grouse hunting in the wild valley 
of the Paupac, in the Pocono Mountains 
of Pennsylvania. My companion was the 
proprietor of the hotel where I was stop- 
ping. We had no dogs, and after a hard 
day’s tramp we had aquired only a few 
birds apiece, and were disappointed, for 
at that time there was no bag limit. 
About sunset as we were proceeding 
along an old logging road which led up 
a slope where winter-green berries grew 
in profusion, we were startled by a roar 
of wings and ruffed grouse by hundreds 
began to flush all around us, crossing the 
logging road in all directions. We both 
fired into the flying mass and killed five 
birds; loading up quickly we went into 
the woods and the birds flushed all 
around us giving us some exciting sport 
for about fifteen minutes, when they all 
seemed to have left the vicinity. It then 
being too dark for further shooting we 
reluctantly left for our buckboard which 
was waiting for us about a mile away. I 
had eight birds and my friend had nine. 
When we arrived at the hotel and 
showed our bag to the other sportsmen 
they begged to be driven up there the 
next day. The proprietor assented and 
the next morning six of us left the hotel 
in two buckboards, having with us two 
splendid setters. We proceeded to the 
scene of our last evening’s sport, when, 
strange to say, not a bird was to be found 
in that section. We were puzzled but 
decided that the birds had congregated 
there from the surrounding hills in the 
evening to feed on the wintergreen ber- 
ries, so we decided to hunt through the 
valley and return to the place in the eve- 
ning about sunset. 
We followed this plan but did not find 
very many birds although we hunted the 
hillsides and valley diligently. 
Towards evening we wended our way 
By V. P. RIORDAN 
to where we had seen the large pack the 
evening before, only to be again disap- 
pointed ; not a bird was to be found in 
that vicinity. Where they had come 
from on the previous evening and where 
they had gone we never found out. 
On another occasion, a few years after 
this, I was still-hunting at Cooper’s 
Plains near Corning, N. Y., and after 
hunting diligently all day my bag con- 
tained only one grouse. 
As I was returning at sunset along a 
pathway above a stream at the foot of 
the hills, where a line of young hem- 
locks grew between the path and a small 
meadow on the bank of the stream, there 
was a mighty roar of wings and at least 
a hundred grouse flew out of the hem- 
locks. 
In my excitement I blazed away 
The wise old cock mounted 
through an opening; I could not see any 
of the birds as it was almost dark and 
thinking I had not hit any of them I did 
not look for any dead birds, but went 
on to my hotel about a mile away. 
Next morning I started up the same 
path and when I reached the place where 
I had fired into the pack of grouse the 
previous evening, I looked out on the 
little meadow and saw two dead birds 
with outspread wings on the grass. 
I had fired at the “noise” and the 
birds were so thick I had killed two. 
On several other occasions I have seen 
the ruffed grouse congregating into 
packs like the red grouse of the 
British Isles. 
^EAR the city of Buffalo, N. Y., a 
*■ ' number of years ago there was a 
well-wooded glen much frequented by the 
city sports, which always held a few 
grouse, but they became so well educated 
that it was almost impossible to get a 
shot at them. 
There was one magnificent old cock 
which I often flushed, but he was so wise 
that he always got away before I could 
get within range. 
One day, having flushed him as usual, 
he flew up the glen and I knew from ex- 
perience that he had gone to a little 
grove of hemlocks about five hundred 
yards up the creek, so I reasoned that he 
would be listening for the sound of my 
footsteps and would flush again before I 
could get within range. 
“Now,” I mused, “I’ll fool him,” so I 
made a detour into the open fields on the 
edge of the wood and walked swiftly un- 
til I judged that I was about a hundred 
yards above him. I then approached him 
from the opposite side and, sure enough, 
he was listening so intently for sounds on 
his back track that he allowed me to ap- 
proach within fifty feet of him before he 
flushed, and then, still thinking that I 
was following him, he flew out sideways, 
giving me a good quartering shot and I 1 
cut him down neatly. 
He was the largest ruffed grouse I 
have ever killed, and his ruff was brown 
instead of black as it usually is. I had 
him mounted and photographed. Some 
sportsmen said that he was a hybrid, be- 
tween a domestic fowl and a ruffed 
grouse. 
DUFFED grouse, when flushed on a 
^ hillside, dive with great velocity 
down the slope and then the hunter must 
lead them more than when flying on the 
level. I have led them as much as thirty 
feet and made hits. 
A companion and myself were hunting 
on a steep and densely-wooded slope. He 
was above me and flushed a bird which 
he heard but could not see, as a grove 
of young hemlocks intervened. The bird 
flew with great speed down across my 
front. I heard it coming but could only 
get momentary glimpses of it as it swept 
rapidly through the timber towards a 
large forked tree. I instantly figured it 
would pass the open fork of the tree, and 
while it was still about thirty feet away 
from the opening I fired through it and 
scored neatly. 
This was a case where I did not ac- 
tually see the bird when I fired and my 
success was due to rapid and accurate 
mental calculation. 
Of course you must remember that I 
do not mean thirty feet at the muzzle of 
the gun, but an apparent distance of ! 
about one foot at the muzzle, which, on 
account of the angle, increases to about 
thirty feet at twenty-five yards distance 
and this is about the average distance ; 
that we obtain shots in dense cover. 
This statement must be taken subject 
to modifications also, for example: if the 
bird is quartering away from you at an 
angle of forty-five degrees, then allow 
only six inches lead, and if the bird is 
going straight away from you, fire at it | 
point blank. 
Another very successful method of 1 
shooting birds which are flying across 
( Continued on page 567) 
