Grouse on public land

[KELTICREBEL]

Anyone ever go for grouse on public land? Looking to get out this Saturday for a bit with my boy. Somewhere not too far out from the cities. Hinckley area preferably. Any help or suggestions is always appreciated.

let 'er buck

[CaughtABuzz]

KELTICREBEL wrote:
Anyone ever go for grouse on public land? Looking to get out this Saturday for a bit with my boy. Somewhere not too far out from the cities. Hinckley area preferably. Any help or suggestions is always appreciated.

Absolutely….plenty of birds to be had. There are WMA’s specific to grouse habitat. Not a ton around Hinckley area but take a look

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/rgma/index.html

[Oldstar]

Hinkley is pretty far south for grouse. Some can be had in Nemadji, that is miles of public land not far from the cities. CC Andrews can be good only about 20 min. north of Hinkley. Tons of public land near Moose Lake can be good for grouse too.

[KELTICREBEL]

Thanks for the input guys. We used to lease land real close to nemadji always had grouse around there. Don’t lease the land anymore so just looking for other areas

let 'er buck

[snow]

Check out the WMA’s in mille lacs county,we always bagged ruffies there.

PS~ TAKE CARE as the ticks have become active again.

[PikePetersen]

Take a look at the RGMA’s. There’s one just north of Hinckley. Like others have said, heading further north would increase your odds.

[Bigfatber]

Yes there’s always grouse on public land , and CaughtABuzz hit the nail on the head when he spoke of grouse habitat , finding proper habitat is so important when searching for grouse . I would go as far north as you can .. The long range forcast for Saturday looks great up “north”, hope you and your son have a fun time . And yes always check for ticks ..

[zachd]

I always hunt public land for grouse and I always thought most other people do too The 40 acre and 80 acre private land is deer hunting I have and I am not about to go tromping through it during bow season to get a couple birds just not enough land to do that.

Like someone said before Nemadji is a great place they have a grouse management area I usually do well at.
If you are looking at Hinckley try the Sandstone wildlife management area. I have pulled a few birds from there
Solona state forest is worth a check as well as the milacs wma

[Joehere]

Remember if you’re wanting to hunt Nemadji,lots of atv on the weekend,good for walking mon-thurs.

[zachd]

Joehere wrote:
Remember if you’re wanting to hunt Nemadji,lots of atv on the weekend,good for walking mon-thurs.

The trick is to walk were the atvs cant go. I hunt it on the weekends and yes it is busy but you can get away from it. Too many times people say a place sucks because they wont leave the gravel or logging trail.

Last time I went to Nemadji the guy I was with only wanted to walk on the trails. Guess how many birds he saw. 0 I said forget you and walked off trail and I flushed 18.

[bottlebass]

Hunting public land you definitely have to be willing to go where others aren’t especially after the first week or 2 no matter what kind of game you are hunting. If it’s grouse, go off the beaten path you will be rewarded. If it’s pheasants push those cat tails!

Anyway, plenty of birds to be had on public land you just have to be willing to push a little farther than where others will go, the reward is almost always worth it.

[zachd]

bottlebass wrote:
Hunting public land you definitely have to be willing to go where others aren’t especially after the first week or 2 no matter what kind of game you are hunting. If it’s grouse, go off the beaten path you will be rewarded. If it’s pheasants push those cat tails!

Anyway, plenty of birds to be had on public land you just have to be willing to push a little farther than where others will go, the reward is almost always worth it.

Agreed if you don’t have scratches on your face and poked in the eye a couple times by branches your not grouse hunting ” title=”” class=”bbcode_smiley” />

[bean357]

Don’t believe what the DNR say about drumming reports. Hunted hard for 4 days had 9 flushes got 3 between 2 people.

[PikePetersen]

bean357 wrote:
Don’t believe what the DNR say about drumming reports. Hunted hard for 4 days had 9 flushes got 3 between 2 people.

What part of the state were you hunting?

[Sotafishing]

Id be hesitant to start blaming the DNR on their drumming counts this early in the season. Ive gotten plenty of flushes and am hearing lots of drumming as well.

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