Grouse Survival Guns?

E

Erasmus

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Jul 15, 2002
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So, I read in the previous Survival Guns thread that grouse can take a solid body shot from a .22 or .38 pistol, and just fly away, gone forever!:confused:

Well, that lets out shooting them with the rifle barrel on my M6 Scout, on backpacking trips. Who has tried .410 shotgun ammo on them? What size shell (2 1/2" or 3") and what size shot worked? Results?

Impressions? Comments?

Help a backpacking/hunter out, thanks.

CHEERS
 
410 works just fine for Grouse, I've killed lots of them. The thing is that with the larger gages there are more pellets. 6,s are OK but for Grouse I like 8,s dove and quail loads. Low base don't wollop you so much either. IMO 2 1/2 in. 6,s in .410 do the job just fine and are cheaper too.
Googl "ROSSI" and check out thier combos in single shot guns. I have two of the .410-.22 and they break down very small. I also picked up a couple of boxes of slugs just because, and if you think about it 410 slugs are very close to a rifle aside from the fact that the barrel is not rifeled.
 
In a survival situation, you would shoot them on the ground. They do not struggle like a pheasant. With a shotgun, frequently one pellet is enough, so a 22 is just fine as long as you hit the body. I would have to be pretty desperate to try to shoot them on the wing with a shotgun unless I have lots of ammo. That is not to say that grouse hunting is not a bunch of fun under normal circumstances.
 
As a kid, I shot lots of grouse with a .22. That was the weapon of choice in Stoney Plane. I don't recall any getting away and leaving blood or feathers. The food was needed.
 
I've killed several grouse with slingshots and even took one with a hand thrown rock (my lucky day!).
 
Heck grouse are pretty easy to kill. Their defense mechanism is to stand still so you can get really close to them. If you can't shoot them in the head them aim right where their neck goes into the body. That way you don't ruin the breast. ANY gun will easily kill one.
 
sirjason_20 said:
If you can't shoot them in the head them aim right where their neck goes into the body. That way you don't ruin the breast. ANY gun will easily kill one.
Click to expand...

Exactly. :thumbup:
 
My comment on the other thread was about spruce grouse, not the lower 48 variety. Weapons used were a Hi-Standard Sentinel 9 shot .22 lr and a Walther P-22 loaded with CCI high velocity HP. The .357 magnum was an 8-shot Taurus with a nine (?) inch barrel, 150 grain Hot JHP handloads. This left a gutpile on the ground, a horrendous bloodtrail in the snow, and it flew off.

taurus8shot3572xo.jpg


Spruce grouse are excessively dumb and will allow you to walk right up to within 30 feet or so while they perch and fidget. They are a perfect survival food as they are plenty and plenty easy to hunt. You don't have to take my word for it, experiment yourself. If you can drop them with a slingshot that would be fantastic. As for me, if I ever get the opportunity to shoot them again I will aim for the head or shoulders to keep the buggers from flying off.

Ptarmigan. These change color, this one is had lost most of it's color.
macwithptarmigan3ci.jpg


Shotguns drop them just fine. We swapped the .22's for a 12 ga riot gun with a 20 inch barrel. Shots are easy as they spook from the trees. They don't start off very fast and they are big targets, range is close etc.

Spruse Grouse. These were taken with the .22 revolver.
sprucegrouse11if.jpg


Ptarmigan w/ revolver. The gun has a six inch barrel as a size ref.
ptarmiganwithrevolver7mu.jpg


Having grown up in PA and seen my share of ruffed grouse I was amazed at how much damage a spruce grouse could take. They are the groundhog of the bird world. Mac
 
In my T/C contender .45/.410 bbl, I like #7 1/2 shot. Smaller than #6, but you get more pellets, and out of a 2.5 inch shell, I need all the pellets I can get. Even out of my old bolt action shotgun, which takes a 3" shell, I use #7 1/2 shot. At 30 yards, you should be ok for most small game. Pattern your gun with both 6 and 7.5 shot, to see the difference for yourself.
 
I have killed hundreds of Spruce Grouse in my day. Mostly I have used a 22 and taken them in the head or neck. Shot in the body with solids the can indeed show little reaction and carry considerable lead. Hollow points hit a lot harder and make a loud POP when they hit. Here you can get considerable meat damage but IMO the head and neck is the way to go.

The 20 gauge IC on my Savage 24C seems to do a great job to 20-25 yards or so with #6. The full choke barrel on my M6 410 is pretty useless shredding the birds up close and not killing well past 20. Only used it once and won't again unless starving. I used #6 shot maybe should have tried 7.5's
 
Pict, we have spruce grouse here in Maine, but they are considered a non-game species (no hunting). The reason for this (I am told), is to protect the resource as a form of emergency food for people gone astray in the woods. I'll be at a meeting with a Maine Game Warden on Saturday, and I'll get confirmation on that. We have ruffed grouse as well.
 
Mac, those are some seriously LARGE birds. How much of that is feathers and how much meat?

I've never had a chance to hunt these critters, and likely never will since Alaska isn't in my future, but if I ever do I'll take your warnings to heart and use enough gun on those blighters.
 
V,

They have a good supply of insulation but they are big birds, about the size of a small pheasant or cornish game hen. One of them makes a good meal for one person.

They like to perch in the Spruce trees, sometimes right on top. They let you walk within easy pistol range. As far as northwoods survival foods go they are a gimme. They will sometimes even sit for followup shots if you miss. It's like they're drunk or something. The temptation is to aim for the middle of that big body. It's easy to hit them that way but it doesn't produce. They just fly off deeper into the woods and good luck finding them.

Ptarmigan spook far easier but they will also sit and trust their camo, especially in the snow. The one I shot was about 50 feet away on the ground. I hit him, he flipped and ran. I went to where I last saw him and would have missed him in the snow but he make a little fidget and I got him.

I love their feet, they're like snowshoes. Mac
 
I have run into these often in northen Maine. They are protected in this state as previously mentioned. They don't strike me as being very bright. I have walked up on them within 3 yards or so, close enough to use a rock, slingshot or even a throwing knife or hawk. I thought they were protected as they were dumb, but the mention of them as survival food makes sense.
 
As I said earlier, I happened to be in a meeting with a Maine Game Warden today and inquired about the spruce grouse being protected. He said the law went back many years and originally was intended to save the birds as a source of survival food. He said that currently, the law is more a reflection of their vulnerability (as hicomp2 alluded to), since the popluation would be decimated by hunting in short order.
 
I'm another one that's killed more than my fair share with slingshots and recurve bows. (please note my location)

Most of my friends used to kill them with Red Ryders...

If a chosen projectile launcher is any more powerful than a ten year old kid with a rock, it'll probably work just fine.
 
I've never lost a Blue Grouse to a .22. I've also killed them with blunts and broadheads from a longbow. The first and last time I tried a slingshot, I bounced a lead ball right off of one and it flew away. I've heard of many being killed with sticks and rocks but I'm not that accurate a thrower and almost always have some sort of firearm when I'm around grouse.
 
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