Upland Hatch
 

Can anyone comment on how the hatch was this year? All the moisture usually doesn't bode well for upland chicks. Regardless, I'm heading out tomorrow for ruffies and huns.

Thanks in Advance,

Big Shooter

we have seen 15 since opening day(out 3 times)

no clutch's yet

although when berry picking we saw a clutch of Ruffed's deep in tree's

also saw a Sharp-tail clutch with a second hatch chick (very small)

I have been wondering too

talking to oilfield operators n grader operators they have seen some clutch's

last year we had seen 60 grouse by Sept 13 (out 4 times ) 3 to 4 clutch's

we have been hunting in a differn't area this year so far

with all the rain its been very hard to see into the bush off trails/roads (lush)

also the weather here has been rainy but we went hunting anyway

hope this helps

David :)

I haven't seen a single upland bird since mid June around these parts. Some of the old roads I used to hunt are completely washed out. It's looking to be poor hunting this year. On the plus side Im seeing lots of ducks in the once empty sloughs and ditches.

Been out in 500 almost everyday. So far the ruffed grouse numbers look a little below average. With the gundogs we are flushing a bird about every 20 or 30 minutes of hiking time.

We were out south of and west of Oyen for a couple of weeks touring around and saw a number of flocks of sharptails and grey partridge. When we hunted the Wainwright sharptail season there were a number of juvenile birds taken. Close to 50% of the total. I did very well on the base hunt with 9 sharptails and 2 ruffled grouse. Several people got into family groups of ruffies.

I had expected the base hunt to be poor numbers and it was actually good.

I've been out a few times and I'd say numbers are down quite a bit in my usual spots compared to last year. I'm seeing one or two in an evening, and none are in groups, except for a single group of only two.

Seen a few single ruffies on hikes and the resident huns (protected area) raised a good sized clutch as usual.

Won’t know about the bush ruffies till October when the leaves are down and they are on the trails more. Lot of roads I’m not even trying to go down this year, not worth wrecking the truck.