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Fin explains his Grouse Slooshing - Guest on another podcast

Big Fin

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Ron Boehme has been a follower of our podcast since we started. Ron does the "Hunting Dog Podcast." It has taken a year for us to match calendars, but last week we got on the phone together allowing him to seek my perspective of where my "ground pounding" grouse ethos comes from.

It takes about 10 minutes for him to get through the commercials. After that, you can hear how I my grouse "problems" were in my DNA from the start.


https://thehuntingdogpodcast.com/episodes/randy-newberg-grouse-hunting-strategies/


Thanks for listening.
 
If you grew up in Big Falls you learned to shoot grouse on the ground. We were all so poor that you didn't want to take a chance on them getting away. Now I'm older and I still ground pound them , it's sure nice to not bite down on pellets. For all you LL Bean wearing yuppies keep counting flushes I'll keep ground pounding
 
I mostly hunt with my lab, so my "ground pounding" days are over mostly. However, I'll still shoot them out of trees. Not too proud to say that I have only shot 3 grouse this year and 2 of those my dog flushed the bird up into a tree. Needless to say I did not make any effort to get the grouse to flush from the tree and shoot them on the wing. A ruffed grouse in the bag means the "what's for dinner?' question is solved for that night
 
Loved the podcast Randy - Always love hearing you expound upon your love for grouse hunting and your heritage! And always entertaining to hear you talk about the "lack of handiness" schtick
 
Good listen! It's fun shooting birds, but your grouse method is my goal when slipping ducks. A limit of woodies (3) with one shot is a good hunt.
 
Gotta love Ronny! Next time you talk to him, ask him about his pudelpointer many moons ago who tried to eat the horse across the road from a NAVHDA event. You can tell him "Tom the woodcock spread guy" says hi. I could listen to his stories for weeks...

I love shooting pointed birds over my old red vizsla, but grouse are too tasty to give them free passes- be safe and pound away!!
 
Randy is the type of person to reprimand the crew for making too much noise and spooking big game and then immediately after pull out a 12 gauge on a grouse. ;)
 
"For all you LL Bean wearing yuppies keep counting flushes I'll keep ground pounding"

I ground pounded and branch schloosed a lotta' ruffs and blues before I ever got a good bird dog.
You and randy can ground pound all the birds you like - no problem with me.
But this Filson pants and wool sweater wearing yuppy lab/pointer mutt cross hunting bird dog guy has seen the light. If you can't appreciate the work of a good dog you have no soul. Dogs rule.
I'll still ground pound the occasional blue grouse, but one of my girls will be coming back - tail wagging, head held high - with a tasty morsel in her mouth.
I could no sooner hunt birds without a dog than some folks could hunt without Sitka Subalpine pants :D.
bbird.jpg
 
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Today I got an email from a guy lecturing me about my bird hunting ethics. I don't think he understands the humor of this back and forth jabbing that is me shooting mountain grouse, or as I call them, forest chickens, at every opportunity and thumbing my nose at anyone who doesn't like it. A brief segment of that email is copied below, protecting the well-intended guy who wants to save me from the ground pounder's Hades.

In season 4 episode 3 you made a comment about bird hunting, way to open a can of worms. Never insult a dog guy especial his dog. I find myself compelled to answer a question that you asked on the hunt. You didn’t know why guys needed a dog to hunt birds. As I thought about your question I kept coming back around to something you say often on the show, hunting ethics. The same ethics should apply whether your hunting a big bull elk or small bird like a grouse. Those of us that are avid bird hunters do have ethics. The use of a dog plays a part in those ethics. Dogs don’t just help us find live birds they also help to track wounded birds and retrieve those birds. I live and hunt grouse in Michigan. Many times I have had birds fall on the other side of a swift river. This is a situation where a dog comes in handy in retrieving that game. I won’t waste a downed bird just because it fell over an obstacle like a river. A few of those rules of ethics immediately come to mind after watching the show.
1. No ground swatting.

2. No shooting birds out of trees.

3. Birds should be shot on the wing.

4. If the shot is bad don’t take it.

We want to give the bird every opportunity to give us a challenge and shooting a bird on the ground or out of a tree is not a challenge, that’s not fair chase.


I love watching a good dog work birds as much as anyone. I've had some good bird dogs that I loved dearly and enjoyed every day afield. But, some folks need to loosen the top knot and take a deep breath.

I was polite in my reply, giving some feedback about this ground pounding being a bit of humor in our content. I was going to ask about the ethics of messing up a fine bird breast by filling it full of pellets while wing shooting, versus arrowing them or picking off the heads with a 20 gauge while they are on stumps, all the while preserving in a pellet-free form every bit of breast, wing, and leg meat. I figured that might tip him over the edge.

Tightly wound people are what drove Mrs. Fin out of flying fishing here in our Valley where some want to proclaim as the center of the fly fishing universe. We'd knock a few spotted river carp (trout) on the head and toss them in a cooler. The comments from the Oncorhynchus worshipers were enough that if not for the presence of our young son, I would have tried to hone my pugilist skills. Rather than have our good fishing times rained out by the tears of over-geared and under-qualified tourists packing an attitude, we bought a motorboat and I got her addicted to walleye fishing, where she proudly proclaims, "If you hook 'em, you cook 'em." We even did a T-shirt to support her cause.

Now, if they are 16-20" Sander vitreus, they go in the live well, then to the fry pan, where we eat them with glee, singing praises to the "Catch and cook" gods while the annually growing masses of tourists flock to our ever-crowding Valley for their 100-fish days, seemingly unaware that they have probably killed 5-10 fish in the process. But, I guess the cormorants have to eat, too.

And while the last meal of summer walleyes disappears from our forks, my mind starts thinking about forest chickens. Where I will shoot them on stumps, from trees, on the ground, with a bow, with a shotgun, and be tone deaf to those well-intended souls unable to enjoy the pleasures of putting chicken in the pot.

To me, this style of grouse gettin' is akin to the simple life of bank fishing with a bobber, a worm, and a mess of fat summer bluegills sizzling in hot grease. I'm a guttin' and I'm a grinnin'. And I ain't apologizin' to nobody.
 
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Today I got an email from a guy lecturing me about my bird hunting ethics. I don't think he understands the humor of this back and forth jabbing that is me shooting mountain grouse, or as I call them, forest chickens, at every opportunity and thumbing my nose at anyone who doesn't like it. A brief segment of that email is copied below, protecting the well-intended guy who wants to save me from the ground pounder's Hades.




I love watching a good dog work birds as much as anyone. I've had some good bird dogs that I loved dearly and enjoyed every day afield. But, some folks need to loosen the top knot and take a deep breath.

I was polite in my reply, giving some feedback about this ground pounding being a bit of humor in our content. I was going to ask about the ethics of messing up a fine bird breast by filling it full of pellets while wing shooting, versus arrowing them or picking off the heads with a 20 gauge while they are on stumps, all the while preserving in a pellet-free form every bit of breast, wing, and leg meat. I figured that might tip him over the edge.

Tightly wound people are what drove Mrs. Fin out of flying fishing here in our Valley where some want to proclaim as the center of the fly fishing universe. We'd knock a few spotted river carp (trout) on the head and toss them in a cooler. The comments from the Oncorhynchus worshipers were enough that if not for the presence of our young son, I would have tried to hone my pugilist skills. Rather than have our good fishing times rained out by the tears of over-geared and under-qualified tourists packing an attitude, we bought a motorboat and I got her addicted to walleye fishing, where she proudly proclaims, "If you hook 'em, you cook 'em." We even did a T-shirt to support her cause.

Now, if they are 16-20" Sander vitreus, they go in the live well, then to the fry pan, where we eat them with glee, singing praises to the "Catch and cook" gods while the annually growing masses of tourists flock to our ever-crowding Valley for their 100-fish days, seemingly unaware that they have probably killed 5-10 fish in the process. But, I guess the cormorants have to eat, too.

And while the last meal of summer walleyes disappears from our forks, my mind starts thinking about forest chickens. Where I will shoot them on stumps, from trees, on the ground, with a bow, with a shotgun, and be tone deaf to those well-intended souls unable to enjoy the pleasures of putting chicken in the pot.

To me, this style of grouse gettin' it is akin to the simple life of bank fishing with a bobber, a worm, and a mess of fat summer bluegills sizzling in hot grease. I'm a guttin' and I'm a grinnin'. And I ain't apologizin' to nobody.
Incredibly refreshing take! My first grouse was with a .410 on the ground! My 2nd, was in a tree and they both are memories I'll never forget.
P1000063.JPG
These self-righteousness folks would never want to duck hunt with me either 🤣🤣.

The C&R crowd is getting intolerable. There was a study done that upwards of 30% of fish caught, die from lactic acid buildup.


Pass on my kudos to Mrs. Fin, once I saw that shirt I had to have it.
 
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Everything stops for grouse. When even the guest hunters are working hard to help him produce good TV, Randy will use any weapon at his disposal to sloosh a bird.

I don’t know if you know why that first shot had so much recoil, Randy but you shot the first bird with one of my turkey loads I threw in the shotgun case.😂
 
Hmmm. That dude needs a beer. Or twelve. I love good dog work, and everyone knows I shoot a snooty side by side 16 gauge. All that said, if I’m bow hunting elk and I see a grouse, all of the rules he posted are flat out the window.
 
The C&R crowd is getting intolerable. There was a study done that upwards of 30% of fish caught, die from lactic acid buildup.
I was fishing at Hyalite south of Bozeman one time. A dude was fly fishing from the shore. I paddled out in my float tube with my spinning rod.

I hooked a fish immediately, paddled in and knocked it on the head. Dude give me the booger eye. I ask him “limit is five right”. He grumbles under his breath.

I paddle back out, hook another, paddle in and knock it on the head. By the third fish Dude gets pissed and says “you don’t have to kill them all”. I told him I was only going to kill five. He left, I killed two more and took them home for the smoker.
 
Hmmm. That dude needs a beer. Or twelve. I love good dog work, and everyone knows I shoot a snooty side by side 16 gauge. All that said, if I’m bow hunting elk and I see a grouse, all of the rules he posted are flat out the window.
I just realized that I don’t think I have ever shot a grouse that was flying. In fact I don’t know if I have ever shot one with a shotgun. I always carry at least one blunt or judo tipped arrow when bow hunting though. That’s my favorite method of grouse gathering.
 
I like shooting birds over a dog with a Browning over/under and I like catching trout with dry flies and a Sage rod. I also like chucking a Panther Martin and shooting grouse with a Marlin .22 just as much. Like Gerald, I’ve never shot a single blue or ruffed grouse with a shotgun.
 
I just realized that I don’t think I have ever shot a grouse that was flying. In fact I don’t know if I have ever shot one with a shotgun. I always carry at least one blunt or judo tipped arrow when bow hunting though. That’s my favorite method of grouse gathering.
+1
 
I was fishing at Hyalite south of Bozeman one time. A dude was fly fishing from the shore. I paddled out in my float tube with my spinning rod.

I hooked a fish immediately, paddled in and knocked it on the head. Dude give me the booger eye. I ask him “limit is five right”. He grumbles under his breath.

I paddle back out, hook another, paddle in and knock it on the head. By the third fish Dude gets pissed and says “you don’t have to kill them all”. I told him I was only going to kill five. He left, I killed two more and took them home for the smoker.
This is my mantra! As soon as I hit my limit, I'm gone! I don't need to pad my "stats" for the day.
 
A few years back I purchased a ruger american rim fire in .17 hmr, it's a tac driver. No wasted meat. My family just straight up calls them chickens. Makes a day elk hunting better when later that night you get to eat some tasty forest chicken if you struck out on the wapiti.
 
I used to carry a pump pellet pistol while rifle hunting just for grouse. Now I've switched to a Ruger Mkii pistol with Aguila Colibri ammo. It's actually quieter. It won't cycle the action so there is no bolt clack either. No forms, papers, or suppressor hassles. Absolute magic for grouse sluicing. No shot pellets in the breasts.
 

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