The Ruffed Grouse Championship of America

[Rod W]

Here in Northern Wis., we have a unique venue with the millions of acres of public hunting lands, a large old, historic hotel (The Gateway Lodge) with a gun club offering trap and sporting clays on the premise. The Ruffed Grouse Championship of America is headquartered here. Unfortunately, with the economy in a freefall,this wonderful event had to be cancelled, this fall, and the few entries recieved had to be refunded. This has been an invitation only, one day championship hunt raising over $30,000 for various local and national youth outdoor activities along with the US Olympic Shooting Team. Yesterday, I talked with one of the beautiful ladies that organizes this championship weekend and she agreed that this hunt will now be on a first paid basis, which is why I am inviting any and all on Gun Dog Forums to join us next Oct. 17-18-19. On the 17th is The Bird Dog Challenge, the 18th--we shoot Sporting Clays at the Gateway Gun Club, Sat the 19th is the one day Championship Hunt. For all the particulars see----The Ruffed Grouse Championship of America----Please also go to ---The Gateway Gun Club, Land 'O Lakes, Wi Thank You and I hope to see you in Oct. ROD

[Ms. Cage]

Is this simular to the RGS National Ruffed Grouse Hunt that has been held in Grand Rapids Minnesota since the early 1980's ?

[Mountaineer]

[Ms. Cage]

I gotta ask, why the sad face ??

[Winchey]

Going by previous posts, probably because it is a grouse and woodcock killing contest, akin to a fishing derby.

[Mountaineer]

Going by previous posts, probably because it is a grouse and woodcock killing contest, akin to a fishing derby.

Pretty much...150 or so max ruffed grouse taken over a wide area in the UGLs is absorbable.....I reckon even in down years tho not sure that is a factor in the decision to hold the event....maybe.
And any of these type events(they term it a skill hunt) do appear to generate some amount of lucre for good causes....fingers crossed.
Simply a shame it takes traveling that road.....most would not begin to understand as hunter additivity appears too often, ignorable and the ruffed grouse simply, party fodder.
The title of the event tho is plain silly....much like the BDC wordings....I wonder if there is a connection to the run&gun tennis shoe folks.
Anyway, hope some folks are helped as a tradeoff.
Just a deal .
Better to save such an event for the pigeon or the pheasant...some bird that is easily renewable in a comparable heartbeat.

[Rod W]

Ms Cage--Our hunt is the 3rd weekend, it looks like it is right after your's AND, all of these Ruffed Grouse tournaments are STICTLY--CATCH AND RELEASE !!!!!!!

[Doc E]

Ms Cage--Our hunt is the 3rd weekend, it looks like it is right after your's AND, all of these Ruffed Grouse tournaments are STICTLY--CATCH AND RELEASE !!!!!!!

How do you catch a Grouse ?


.

[Rod W]

That's where the skill comes in!! Find a deer bait, preferably corn that we put on a hook, climb into the tree----Seriously, if you don't think it takes skill to kill a grouse or woodcock, ON THE WING, 6 shells per team member, 3 grouse max, apiece, 3 woodcock, 6 hours to hunt neither early nor late. 10-4. A referee walks along with us for the 6 hrs.I believe most years aprox. 30-40 birds are killed. Please, go to Ruffed Grouse Championship of America to see more details before, condemning. It is mostly a social event for various fundraisers. The top prizes for the Bird Dog Challenge and the RGCofA are a pair of shotguns .

[Ms. Cage]

3 shells 3 grouse, tough thing to do. Good luck with your Championship. I'd love to enter but Howie says no. I wouldn't be a good partner for Howie anyway. I'm not a very good shot. Maybe a couple 3 grouse bagged from a box of shells. I have fun though!!!.

[Rod W]

Yes, tough to do---the birds have to get up for you, sometimes you go 3 for 3, 4 for 4, this fall I killed 9 woodcock with 11 shots, fairly open shooting! I usually won't even shoot a woodcock but I've got a GWP pup that seems to like them! I had to force my other wirehairs to pick them up. 2 weeks ago I was hunting woodcock in the jungles of Louisiana and I was about 3 for 30. I made some good friends and saw some excellent dog work though. It is, all about the dogs and the hunting partners! I have worked in your area, extensively----the spotlessly clean taconite plants and paper mills, ROD

[Mountaineer]

As noted, whether it be 40 or 140 or 240...the UGL region can handle the ruffed grouse harvest pressure of such a get-together most years....on a covert level, it would be open to the conscience and ethics of the hunter, as it always is.
That section of the range is blessed in many ways.
Reducing the hunt to a competition tho, regardless of money draw, is the real issue...or, God forbid, reducing it to a social event....or an event where 3 for whatever achieves some imagined importance.
All that is what seperates the refereed circus from 60 hunters walking two-tracks across three states.

Be best, as I suggested, to do the same social gathering," I'm best" with some bird not of as fragile a nature as a ruffed grouse.
And no...it is not all about the dogs or the hunting partners.
It is, or should be, first about the bird and a respect for the bird rising above social fodder or a money draw.

Despite the blindness that living in a blessed area apparently can carry re ruffed grouse.....it is easily seen that many areas have also had comparative numbers of birds and conditions to the UGL, only to find the blessings of a very limited nature.
Grousehunters should be wiser than we are.
We should not care a whit about a scattergun as swag above the ruffed grouse as a treasure.

Good luck to your event....maybe one year the pigeon or pheasant suggestion will make sense.
In fact, I'm afraid that it will.

[Rod W]

The organizer of this already started a pheasant hunt in Huron, SD

[Mountaineer]

The organizer of this already started a pheasant hunt in Huron, SD

Good for him.

[JIM K]

As noted, whether it be 40 or 140 or 240...the UGL region can handle the ruffed grouse harvest pressure of such a get-together most years....on a covert level, it would be open to the conscience and ethics of the hunter, as it always is.
That section of the range is blessed in many ways.
Reducing the hunt to a competition tho, regardless of money draw, is the real issue...or, God forbid, reducing it to a social event....or an event where 3 for whatever achieves some imagined importance.
All that is what seperates the refereed circus from 60 hunters walking two-tracks across three states.

Be best, as I suggested, to do the same social gathering," I'm best" with some bird not of as fragile a nature as a ruffed grouse.
And no...it is not all about the dogs or the hunting partners.
It is, or should be, first about the bird and a respect for the bird rising above social fodder or a money draw.

Despite the blindness that living in a blessed area apparently can carry re ruffed grouse.....it is easily seen that many areas have also had comparative numbers of birds and conditions to the UGL, only to find the blessings of a very limited nature.
Grousehunters should be wiser than we are.
We should not care a whit about a scattergun as swag above the ruffed grouse as a treasure.

Good luck to your event....maybe one year the pigeon or pheasant suggestion will make sense.
In fact, I'm afraid that it will.

mm,this is why i am going to wisconsin this fall for grouse.
pa has ruined their hunting here.
deer are being wiped out and grouse are not far behind.
only reason we have some grouse left is do to heavy pressure on grouse or overhunting.
they flush way out and hunters cant hit them that are left but now hunters that want meat[grouse] found out if they hunt in big groups,odds go up they will kill what is left.

i can say this. with all hunters i hear heading to wisconsin this fall from pa,it wont be long before it is like hunting we now have here in pa.
lousy......

[Mountaineer]

mm,this is why i am going to wisconsin this fall for grouse.
pa has ruined their hunting here.
deer are being wiped out and grouse are not far behind.
only reason we have some grouse left is do to heavy pressure on grouse or overhunting.
they flush way out and hunters cant hit them that are left but now hunters that want meat[grouse] found out if they hunt in big groups,odds go up they will kill what is left.

i can say this. with all hunters i hear heading to wisconsin this fall from pa,it wont be long before it is like hunting we now have here in pa.
lousy......

No, Pennsylvania has not ruined their ruffed grouse hunting....nor are deer being wiped out in that state.
Deer are being adjusted in the areas where browse lines were an issue and and early successional was being stunted and preferentially browsed to a bad degree.
Management for both is head and shoulders above other states in the central and southern appalatchians....the PGC is doing, comparably, a good job.

Overhunting is a hunter decision...it happens, often with folks disbelieving in hunter additivity in some areas and during a portion of the season.
But Pa. is lucky in that terrain and snow limit hunters....in that they mimic to a degree the UGLs.

I do understand you wish to paint a bleak picture in Pennsylvania.
I am though with you in that skirmish lines are more seen these days...often comprised of deerhunters post deer season....or RGS members, from the decals I used to see on vehicles in late season Ohio.

Wisconsin or Mi or Mn have little to fear compared to the Apps....I would not mean to imply them comparable.
The practical differences between the areas is what allows "social gatherings" as the hunt mentioned here, to work after a fashion.
They actually have a "cycle" there, they have a different forest base and forest industry, there are areas that serve as sinks in bad times, the road system is far less developed....add their winter and the volume of cover and you have a start of explaining that difference.
However, ruffed grouse are a fragile bird and what camos that at times Up Nort is the advantages just mentioned that offset the pressure and the population is strong enough to absorb the impact.
Bad stuff still happens to good birds tho.
Just like some said that Potlatch or Mead would never lease acreage....times brings change.
Hit any area too hard with some of the plusses absent or at a valley and there can be an issue.....recovery is easier there for sure but I simply hate to see the bird used in the manner of a "Championship" for folks to high-five at a banquet.

I expect I am a bit over-protective in my attitude but untill one sees grouse plenty reduced to grouse nothing; unless one views a grouse treated as a mark of skil rather than as a high point of a day as different(having hunted them since 1964...ruffed grouse can represent hard and ridiculously easy shooting, same for woodcock) .......that attitude would be difficult to understand.
I simply stand unapologetic for the bird.

[Doc E]

That's where the skill comes in!! Find a deer bait, preferably corn that we put on a hook, climb into the tree----Seriously, if you don't think it takes skill to kill a grouse or woodcock, ON THE WING, 6 shells per team member, 3 grouse max, apiece, 3 woodcock, 6 hours to hunt neither early nor late. 10-4. A referee walks along with us for the 6 hrs.I believe most years aprox. 30-40 birds are killed. Please, go to Ruffed Grouse Championship of America to see more details before, condemning. It is mostly a social event for various fundraisers. The top prizes for the Bird Dog Challenge and the RGCofA are a pair of shotguns .

OK then, how do you shoot a grouse and then "release" it....... I thought this was 'catch and release'.
You really got me confused on this one.


.

[Ms. Cage]

The hunt in Phelps area will have no effect on bird pop. The RGS Nat. Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock hunt has had no effect on bird pop. in Itasca, St. louis, Akin, and Cass counties. What we have seen though is a huge influx of out of state hunters since the hunt started. It's nice to see you're limit on grouse for the hunt is 3 grouse. My husband has always felt that the RGS hunt should set there limit of grouse to 3 per day vs 5 the state limit.

[Rod W]

The hunt in Phelps area will have no effect on bird pop. The RGS Nat. Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock hunt has had no effect on bird pop. in Itasca, St. louis, Akin, and Cass counties. What we have seen though is a huge influx of out of state hunters since the hunt started. It's nice to see you're limit on grouse for the hunt is 3 grouse. My husband has always felt that the RGS hunt should set there limit of grouse to 3 per day vs 5 the state limit.

Yes, I was stictly against this when I heard about it to,BUT, unlike SOME, I found out what it was all about, then decided to hunt. The year we had 6 inches of wet, sloppy snow the night before the huint, the winning team, a local guide and his partner from Land 'O Lakes, had but 3 birds, there were 8-10 teams that never even flushed a bird! We have no young popple here in the Phelps area but a few counties over a neighbor harvested about 65 grouse out of his car window. 5 is the limit pr/day here also. Just north of here, I heard of guy who harvested 13 grouse in one day, also out of the window. If I were ever to see this I would definitely call the warden. Judge all you want, you will complain if the sun is shining or if it is cloudy!! Thank You, ROD

[uplandnut]

Just want to make everyone aware that Ruffed Grouse Society does not sponsor or have anything to do with this event.

[Rod W]

Just want to make everyone aware that Ruffed Grouse Society does not sponsor or have anything to do with this event.

Let me make this perfectly CLEAR!!!! THE RUFFED GROUSE CHAMPIONSHIP of AMERICA, has nothing to do with The Ruffed Grouse Society,I am truly sorry if there is any confusion, I don't believe I led anyone to believe this and Ms Cage of Northern Minn explained the Natl Ruffed Grouse Society hunt! No, This and the Ringneck Festival in Huron, S. Dakota were both started (with the help of others) by a local boy (Land O' Lakes) that made it big! Thank You, ROD