Ruffed Grouse

[northwoodshunter]

I took my setter pup out today just to let him run and do some recall training while looking for grouse not knowing if any are there and one got up on the other side of the little thicket row. Do they come back to the area after some time that same day? Because I want to let him see as many birds as possible and we tried to follow it but couldn't find it.
Thanks

[Mountaineer]

Depends...on what brought the bird to that particular location or held it there.
One can always look.
Good luck.

If you are in WI then you have more blessings to follow up flushes...still, the advisibility of that action varies with the time of season and the local population, as a start.
In some portions of the range, that decision to follow up can lead to more hunter additivity than is advised, imo.

[CDN_Cocker]

Male grouse tend to hold an area and don't stray too far from it. Hens are a little more like vagrants. The only way to know is to go back out. Typically though if you find areas that hold grouse, they tend to always hold them - unless you shoot a few there.

[mnaj_springer]

I've always found that birds lead to more birds. But like others said, depends why they were there. You can make an educated guess as to why based on the time of day and nearby vegetation. Where I flush grouse I take a mental note (or a literal note) of the time of day, weather, cover, and possible food sources. And if I bag one I always check the crop. If they're eating clover, I find more clover. If they're in the dogwood and alder, more of the same.

[DeLo727]

In the area where I hunt....time of day and weather makes a huge difference. Many of the spots my friends and I hunt, only produce in the morning when its warm, evening when its cool or vice versa. You just have to get out, find a few birds and than go back there a bunch of times over the course of a few weeks. You don't want to pressure birds too hard.