
The 
Ruffed 
Grouse 
Remains 
Ever the 
Mystery 
Bird of 
the Forest 
—Therein 
Lies the 
Fascination. 
Conclusion 
A cock grouse strutting. Note that tail spread approximates a semi-circle. 
“Principally Grouse” 
ACH season adds to the evidence 
E, that many ruffed grouse are 
wounded which, to the unintiated, 
show no signs that they have been hit 
at the time the shot was fired. Al- 
most all these birds are lost. 
With a companion, the writer was 
hunting along the steep, wooded bank 
of a river one day when a bird, flushed 
by the other chap, who was higher up 
on the bank than I, plunged down 
across my front. Though well in range, 
the barrier of pines and hemlocks ob- 
scured my view of the bird, as, feathers 
flattened with speed and humming like 
a bolt from a crossbow, it tore down- 
ward from the height above. I fired, 
pulling the gun well ahead as I did so, 
but I would have gambled the gun that 
the shot charge never came within five 
yards of the target. My companion, 
who watched the skirmish from the 
top of the bluff, confirmed my guess by 
asserting that I had achieved a clean 
miss. The bird meanwhile continued 
with unabated speed far up the river 
in full sight of us both, until it finally 
disappeared around a bend three hun- 
dred yards above. A single tiny feather 
came down the breeze as I pushed out 
of the thicket and this, coupled with 
the fact that the bird had made an 
unusually long flight, aroused suspicion 
in my mind that perhaps, after all, 
a stray shot had scored. My friend 
was decidedly of a different and un- 
flattering opinion, so the matter was 
654 
By MAJOR H. P. SHELDON 
put out of mind and we moved along. 
Ten minutes later and three hundred 
yards farther upstream the other chap 
saw something of unusual appearance 
lying among the litter of dead leaves 
and shriveled fruit under a massive 
wild grape vine and, stooping, picked 
up the bird I had fired at—stone dead 
and still warm. One shot had severed 
the jugular. Except for luck and cir- 
cumstance that grouse would never 
have been recovered and would have 
been rated a clean miss on my game 
register —and ruffed grouse are too 
valuable to lose. 
Grouse do not fly far as a rule un- 
less it is absolutely necessary for them 
to do so in order to reach cover. One 
hundred and fifty yards is well above 
the average flight distance. If, after 
a bird has been fired at, it is observed 
to make either an exceptionally long 
flight or an unusually short one, it is 
well for the shooter to mark it down 
and follow it up. In the first instance 
he may find his bird lying stone dead 
at the point where it settled, for this 
long level flight frequently indicates a 
shot somewhere in the body and death 
from such a wound comes suddenly as 
a result of hemorrhage. 
Wisk the flight is short and ends 
with a quick pitch downward the 
chances are good that the shooter will 
have to gather a “runner”—a bird un- 
able to fly but with a demonstrable 
ability to run far and fast. Inciden- 
tally this latter class of cripples is the 
most difficult of all to secure, even with 
the assistance of a clever and experi- 
enced dog. They will sometimes be 
found hundreds of yards away from 
the spot where they pitched. 
VERYONE knows the “towering” 
bird, but there may be some who 
do not know that when a bird of any 
game species goes into that abrupt up- 
ward flight it is a sure indication of 
a head wound or spinal injury which 
will bring speedy collapse. A towering 
grouse will sometimes fly nearly 
straight up to an unbelievable height 
and its return to earth is equally sud- 
den and startling. I have seen a bird 
complete this spectacular performance 
by dropping like a plummet within a 
yard or two of the spot from which it 
“took off.” 
Even a single floating feather is evi- 
dence that some portion of the shot 
load has found its mark. Precipitate, 
reckless flyer that he appears to be, the 
grouse seldom collides with any natural 
obstacle with sufficient force to knock 
feathers out of his jacket. A wounded 
bird will often lose control of its steer- 
ing apparatus to the extent of caus- 
ing it to bump into stumps and trees, 
shedding clouds of feathers at every 
contact, but a sound bird never does 
this. I once plucked a bird which ap- 
peared to be an exception to the rule. 
a’) ah 
