why did the state up it to 4? it has been three as for as long as i can remember. i can not believe that the grouse numbers are up so high to make this right.

I spend a lot of time hunting grouse on the westside and I am lucky to even see 4 grouse in a season. I have never shot more then 3 in a single day.

probably one of WDFW's "unattainable limits," kind of like the 6 fish steelhead limit on the cowlitz when there are none to be caught.

Seems whenever I've had a gun on a gravel road trying to shoot 'em, I've never seen more than two...but driving to the rivers in the morning I could have run over about six, if'n I had a mind to...

They are tasty little buggers, though.

Fish on...

Todd

I went out this evening and I got one in about two hours. It was with two or three others. I missed a rabbit too. There are a lot of grouse to be had. I have gone out some days and got my limit in one covey and had to go home. Somedays I hunt all day and dont see any.

They are masters of camoflage. Its their first line of defense; flying is their second. Thats why they stand perfectly still and let you shoot them; they think you cant see them although they are in the open. Also thats why they scare the chit out of you when your bowhunting and you almost step on the fu(kers.

I never have an issue limiting in one of my grouse areas in Eastern WA, so 4 wouldn't be an issue. On this side of the mountains I've limited 5 or six times, but seldom have I had an opportunity for a 4th.

On Wednesday I grabbed my bow and went out to the Mount Baker area looking for grouse. I saw several but the only one that I got was with the windshield of my truck. That plump sucker flew right across the road and smacked the top of the windshield with a big thump. First time that's ever happened to me.

I was at the meeting when they aproved the new limit and in a nutshell the reasoning was it would not harm the population (though they admitted they don't have a pop estimate) and that it seemed unreasonable for people to drive to Eastern WA and only get three.

I've never eaten Grouse, are they similar to Pheasant ?

Similar to pheasant but most people would consider them even better.

I was at a WDFW meeting last week when they talked about the reasons behing raising the limit. As I recall (I was only mildly interested in hearing the response and it was hard to hear) is the extra bird in the bag limit will likely do nothing to the overall population. Sounds like something we have heard in fishing.

But the big concern was harvesting them too early, like when the hen is still taking care of her young. There has been some discussion about moving the opening day back to allow mothers to get their young raised to a certain point, but the long standing tradition of grouse hunting on Sept. 1 won out.

i remember when the start was later. it was move to the first because that was when the feds pigeon season start and a lot of people had a problem not opening grouse season early

It's prolly false advertising to sell more licences.

We seen 10 one day up elk hunting. Wasn't going to waste a $20 arrow on 4 bites of grouse breast. Wish I had the scatter gun though...

Keith

Lots o' grouse around in central washington. Glad there's a bonus bird.

haven't seen a single one yet this year. figure if i leave the shotgun at home and just pack a fishing rod, they'll be all over the place.

If I know I'm up in grouse country, I like to carry my .45ACP with an extra mag with the bird-shot rounds.

Doesn't get in the way like a big scatter gun and it's pretty effective for a grouse giving you the stink eye.

I saw a couple the other night when I was scouting for deer. I even had a shotgun, but they happened to be in the area I will possibly hunt, and I wasn't about to start shooting in there.

Then I get further down the spur and find someone had been target practicing there. There are hundreds of other roads in this area, that have inpenetrable reprod surrounding them (aka nomansland), and only 3 possible clear cuts that can actually be glassed. For some reason that is where someone did their target practice. I guess it lets the deer know where not to be.

Strategery RR, Strategery.

We saw at least 8 per day with more on some days over the past 9 days elk hunting. Never seen so many before, like you I wasn't wasting a $20 arrow on one though. Might go back up and chase them with the shotgun though.