bscrandall
Senior Member
Shot in the dark but about how far do you have to go for grouse? Anyone think there would be any on cohutta or would I need to go further east?
Welcome Guest!
Grouse
- Thread starter bscrandall
- Start date
coachdoug87
Senior Member
I have never hunted Cohuta. I have hunted the public land farther east in Georgia. These days they are hard to find. The lack of cutting/burning has really bad a negative impact all over the Southern Appalachian mountains.
trad bow
wooden stick slinging driveler
When I was a younger fellow and able to hunt the mountains I always found a few in Cohutta but found more around Clayton area. This was in the eighties and nineties. Not many around anymore.
D
Deleted member 35556
Guest
My bro talked to a man who had gotten a couple grouse up around Clayton this year. We were hunting woodcock when we ran into him. So they're around in Georgia, but i'm assuming you'll be burning a bunch of boot leather to find 'em.
coachdoug87
Senior Member
There are still a few and maybe even a few more than people think, but it is hard hunting. The eighties and part of the nineties were still good. I still think there might be enough left that they could come back if the land was managed right, but the clock is ticking.
D
Deleted member 35556
Guest
Let's even say there was a decent population up there. The hunting is still gonna be hard. Those mountains aren't kind to anybody who's not in shape to walk up and down them looking for some birds.
coachdoug87
Senior Member
That is another good point. At one time, you could find them in the foothills. Now, it is pretty much just the counties that border North Carolina and Tennessee. In other words, the steepest land in the state.
herb mcclure
Senior Member
Having been an old era Grouse hunter from the '50s through the '80s, I know I experienced the hey-day of Georgia's grouse hunting, I am sure. However, there are still a few grouse left, which I cross paths with going into and out of the turkey woods I still visit. I even saw a grouse walking across a White County blacktop road just North of Cleveland, GA. not long ago.
Also, I am the ole hunter who wrote the grouse story published back in December's GON magazine titled Mountain Grouse Memories.
Also, I am the ole hunter who wrote the grouse story published back in December's GON magazine titled Mountain Grouse Memories.
whitetailfreak
Senior Member
I flushed one on Cohutta Saturday morning. There's still several around.
trad bow
wooden stick slinging driveler
Their still around but not in numbers that we in the old days remember. Even in the seventies my father carried us back to his home place in Cherokee county N.C. Birds were very plentiful there. We would hit several spots in Georgia on the way home but even back then the bird numbers were low compared to N.C.
coachdoug87
Senior Member
I read that. A really good article.
Coach K
Senior Member
I wonder if RGS magazine could ask GON for permission to republish that article in their "Covers Magazine". I hope you will submit it to them. I too enjoyed the article,.....but triples on grouse???? ;-)
Last edited:
I enjoyed that article a lot, it brought back some memories here, too.
I can remember back in the 70s and 80s here, the woods were full of grouse. You could hear them drumming all over, and they were standing all in the roads pecking grit. You could flush half a dozen usually in a morning.
Then, they just disappeared. I didn't even see one for a few years. The last couple of years, I've been seeing a few more, but nothing like they used to be.
Hillbilly stalker
Senior Member
What led to their decline ? Loss of habitat ? Predation ?
trad bow
wooden stick slinging driveler
Habitat my guess. Timber harvest and new growth would be a place to start a comeback.
NCMTNHunter
Senior Member
Habitat is the main thing. Ideal grouse habitat is 8% - 12% early successional. I don’t know about GA but forest service lands in western NC are less than 1% right now. Grouse just don’t have the food and cover they need to flourish here anymore. And grouse aren’t the only thing suffering. Everything from songbirds to deer have declined on our public lands. In the early 70’s there were more deer killed on opening day than there are getting killed all season now on the Pisgah NF. All because people don’t like the way a timber project looks.
Habitat is part of it, but it isn't the only thing going on, for sure. Even private land around here with plenty of good, brushy successional habitat doesn't have many grouse any more. I am wondering if some kind of disease didn't come into play, also. The quail disappeared about the same time. THey are completely gone as far as I can tell. Even in good habitat with broomsedge fields, weedy overgrown fields, briar patches, brushy fencerows, and all the same habitat that used to be full of them.
Hillbilly stalker
Senior Member
The old time bird hunters around here, quail hunters, blame the fire ants for destroying the clutches. Is that a possibility ? Do y'all have them devils up there ?
We have no fire ants at all. The quail still disappeared about the same time they did down in the flatlands.
