Mentored hunts are great experiences
“It’s by far my favorite event of the year,” said Gabe Stone, the Ruffed Grouse Society/American Woodcock Society Regional Engagement Coordinator for Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. “It’s pinnacle! It’s so much more than an R3 event.”
He was speaking about the RGS Grouse Camp event, held at Trees for Tomorrow in Eagle River, WI. “The goal of the event is to help people who want to get into grouse and woodcock hunting learn the ropes,” Gabe continued. “The seminars present information and the mentored hunting provides real experience.”
“I didn’t think that I was going to enjoy the event,” said Mark White, a long time avid grouse hunter who came to mentor novice grouse hunters last year. “But I did; I see why this is so helpful to new grouse hunters.”
The event is open up to 80 attendees, who are matched with experienced grouse hunters, for a mentored hunt after some seminars that fleshes out the basics of grouse hunting. Those that attended last year came from sixteen states, including California, Texas, and Florida.
The attendees usually have a fair amount of hunting experience just not ruffed grouse hunting, however, there are always some that are relativity new to hunting. Many are avid pheasant, quail, waterfowl, or big game hunters that took an interest in the challenge of hunting upland birds in forests. For many it’s a bucket list hunt, and they are using the knowledge gained at the event to cut the learning curve. Several use the event as a kick-off to a two week first time ruffed grouse hunt.
“The attendees and mentors from previous Grouse Camps all talk about the camaraderie,” Gabe told me. “It’s powerful. There have been many a lifetime friendship made from these weekends. Several people have traded hunts for ruffed grouse in Wisconsin for sharptailed grouse or pheasant in another state. There is a group that formed that gets together for camping in the summer every year and grouse hunts in the fall.”
“People really liked the pig roast, wild game cooking demonstrations, and the whiskey tasting Saturday evening after the hunt,” he continued. “Combine that with one to one opportunities with our corporate sponsors to answer questions about gear, dog nutrition, and technology. The seminar put on by OnX is always well liked by both attendees and mentors.”
As the first set of seminars comes to an end the you can see the anticipation of the attendees for the mentored hunting part. Different from a guided hunt where the guide handles the dogs and when they find a bird, they walk the hunters up to the point and hopefully you get a shot.
In the mentored hunt the mentors take the time to show what they are looking for in cover. They point out different plants that grouse like to eat, woodcock chalk, and likely micro-covers that birds like to hide in within a covert. They show how they approach a point or follow a flushing dog and so much more. The seminars handle the biology the hunt puts that into practice The mentors often work with the attendee’s dogs and show them how to handle and keep track of a dog you can’t see, pick a path towards a pointing dog, and if lucky enough to actually shoot one - how to sex a bird. The attendees see the whole process of how to select a spot to scout in a new area they never hunted, how to decide where to park, and where to start hunting from, right up to how to the hold the bird for a picture. A large campfire burns both nights of the Grouse Camp, because what hunting camp doesn’t have a campfire?
By the end of the weekend the idea is that everyone developed knowledge and confidence to head afield and find birds. There are shooting seminars, but ruffed grouse are the great humblers of wing shooters. They aren’t called the King of Gamebirds because they’re easy to hunt.
“I wish there would have been something like this when I started hunting grouse 40 years ago,” a salty old mentor told a group around the campfire last year on Saturday evening. “This cuts off ten years off the learning curve of chasing these things.”
If you or someone you know would be interested in attending Grouse Camp this year, registration can be completed by going to https://ruffedgrousesociety. org/events/grouse-camp-2023/. The camp starts on late afternoon on Friday afternoon and ends Sunday afternoon.
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