Road Hunting Grouse

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Road Hunting Grouse

Postby steve4102 on Tue Oct 04, 2016 7:45 am

A buddy of mine just had his son complete his Firearms Safety class.

During the class the instructor told the class that it was Illegal to shoot from the road. He also said that the hunter had to be at least 60 feet from any vehicle before they could take small game.

I always thought it was legal to "road Hunt" small game with a shotgun as long as you didn't shoot from the vehicle.

So, I contacted to DNR for clarification.

Good Afternoon
If the road has a public easement and is not a highway a person may take small game.
You may need to contact the county or township to check on a road for public easement.
But as a general rule if it is a gravel or dirt road you can hunt small game.
You still need permission if discharging within 500 ft. of a dwelling or livestock.
The shotgun could be uncased and unloaded in the vehicle. You see a grouse, stop and turn off the vehicle.
Step out of the car load the shotgun and shoot. You just cannot be touching the vehicle while discharging.
For big game this is illegal. But for small game it would be legal.
Jim


MNDNR Information Center
500 Lafayette Rd
St. Paul, MN 55155-4040
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby yukonjasper on Tue Oct 04, 2016 9:04 am

Just goes to show you how personal bias and misinformation is perpetuated. It would be worth sending a message to the instructor and his organization to remind them of the law.

The way the DNR stated it is exactly how we always hunted the back roats north of Virginia and Chisholm.
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby MJY65 on Tue Oct 04, 2016 9:52 am

As I recall, there was a period of time when the law stated you had to be 40 yards (I think) from the vehicle.
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby yukonjasper on Tue Oct 04, 2016 9:58 am

I do remember that, however that distance became difficult on some of the roads you end up on. We would get out and get as much separation as possible - rarely more than 10-20 yards.
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby Jackpine Savage on Tue Oct 04, 2016 11:12 am

"Minnesota: The State Where Absolutely Nothing Is Allowed"

Minnesota's hunting laws drive me crazy.

Here are pages one through six of North Dakota's hunting laws:
https://gf.nd.gov/gnf/regulations/docs/smallgame/small-game-guide.pdf

Here are pages one through one hundred and thirty two of Minnesota's hunting laws:
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/hunting/2016/full_regs.pdf
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby JJ on Tue Oct 04, 2016 12:14 pm

Jackpine Savage wrote:"Minnesota: The State Where Absolutely Nothing Is Allowed"

Minnesota's hunting laws drive me crazy.

Here are pages one through six of North Dakota's hunting laws:
https://gf.nd.gov/gnf/regulations/docs/smallgame/small-game-guide.pdf

Here are pages one through one hundred and thirty two of Minnesota's hunting laws:
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/hunting/2016/full_regs.pdf


Lots of stuff is allowed, we just like to make sure the government specify's exactly what we may do.

You know because...stuff..and things...?
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby 45Badger on Mon Oct 10, 2016 8:49 am

steve4102 wrote:
So, I contacted to DNR for clarification.

Good Afternoon
If the road has a public easement and is not a highway a person may take small game.
You may need to contact the county or township to check on a road for public easement.
But as a general rule if it is a gravel or dirt road you can hunt small game.
You still need permission if discharging within 500 ft. of a dwelling or livestock.
The shotgun could be uncased and unloaded in the vehicle. You see a grouse, stop and turn off the vehicle.
Step out of the car load the shotgun and shoot. You just cannot be touching the vehicle while discharging.
For big game this is illegal. But for small game it would be legal.
Jim


MNDNR Information Center
500 Lafayette Rd
St. Paul, MN 55155-4040


Such a sporting way to take game :roll: . The king of game birds deserves better than lazy ground-swatting by bozos.
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby MJY65 on Mon Oct 10, 2016 8:57 am

45Badger wrote:Such a sporting way to take game :roll: . The king of game birds deserves better than lazy ground-swatting by bozos.


Nothing says you can't walk toward the bird to flush it.
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby yukonjasper on Mon Oct 10, 2016 1:18 pm

I love it when "the purists or traditionalists" take a stand on ground swatting. Like it's taking unfair advantage of the bird. What is better: A ground swat that provides a clean head shot with a certain kill or risking wounding the bird and potentially losing it. IMHO Ethically speaking, you should take the cleanest and quickest kill you can. I don't know any deer hunters that will only shoot deer if they are at a full run or will spook a deer prior to shooting so as to get the most challenging shot possible. Similarly, duck hunters who don't wear camouflage or sit still because they want to shoot at ducks at the very extreme range of their load. The idea of only shooting on the wing certainly seems noble, but in practice, I don't know how practical it is. Certainly when hunting over dogs, its a necessity for obvious reasons of the dogs health, but otherwise seems unnecessarily complicating.

A very good friend of mine is a self described "ethical" hunter who will not shoot a grouse on the ground. He doesn't grouse hunt much because its frustrating when the birds take off running into heavy cover only to pop out the other side and fly away without him able to get a shot off. A typical season will find him with a total birds shot that will be a fraction of what I shoot. I happen to like the taste of Grouse and do have some shots in flight, but I won't pass up a ground or stationary tree swat if its presented. We will often take separate forks of a trail with my return yielding results and his yielding a story of some sort. His choice and I don't necessarily have a issue with it. He does know better than to lecture me on the subject however.

I also have done a lot of road hunting which consists of driving the gravel roads and peeking down the logging trails, some we will walk if they look promising, but sometimes the birds are on the side of the gravel road or on the trails as we drive by. The program is to stop the truck past the bird or before the bird. shut off the truck and load up on your way to where the bird was sighted on foot. The bird is shot whether on the ground, in a tree or in flight.

yours truly,
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby Ghost on Mon Oct 10, 2016 1:47 pm

My definition of ethical hunting is: legally putting meat in the freezer
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby MJY65 on Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:07 pm

yukonjasper wrote: What is better: A ground swat that provides a clean head shot with a certain kill or risking wounding the bird and potentially losing it.


My long deceased grandfather used to hunt grouse with a full choked bolt action 16ga. He would shoot a standing birds whenever he could. His goal was to take the top of the head off without a single BB in the breast so as not to waste any meat.
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby BigDog58 on Tue Oct 11, 2016 2:33 am

This type of method sounds like it would be ideal for me. I'm unable to stand or walk for very long. I would love to try this method out, and see if it would in fact, allow me to bird hunt.

Because of my disability, I qualify to hunt from my vehicle. But, I have not yet done this because I have no idea where to go and attempt this in Minnesota. Before I was injured in 1999 I lived and hunted in Georgia, as much as I was able. During the rut, I slept about 3 hrs a night. I'd be in my tree stand at least 90 minutes before sunup, and would stay until noon, when I had to go back home and get ready for work. Weekends, were spent sitting in tree's (Ladder Stands) during deer season. In boats or swamps during duck season. Wood Ducks were a B!tch to shoot, at least for me.

I have not hunted since moving to MN in 2002 but I really want to at least give it a try, and see whether my limitations will allow me to do it ethically and most of all Safely? I bought a popup blind a few years ago with the intent on trying to deer hunt. The family friend that owned the land South of the cities, was going to let me hunt there. Just before the season started, her mother died (it was her mothers property) and a family feud began over the estate, and those plans went down the toilet.

Hopefully, I'll eventually meet someone with land, that I will be able to get hunting permission from. The last deer I ever took, a 12pt is hanging on my wall, and is getting lonesome. He used to have a buddy on the wall next to him, a 12lb Largemouth I caught in the very first B.A.S.S. Tournament I fished on Lake Okeechobee in the mid-80's (I still lived in Miami at that time). But I lost him in 2009 when our house burned. I sadly lost all of my camo clothes as well.

One of these days, I'll hopefully get another chance at hunting. I loved hunting Deer, Wild Hogs, Turkey, Rabbit, Squirrel, Ducks and Geese. And, I've always wanted to hunt Pheasant and Grouse. :didntdoit:
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby CROSBYK2 on Tue Oct 11, 2016 5:48 am

Where I grew up in northern Minnesota, hunting grouse was not a sport, it was collecting groceries.
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby photogpat on Tue Oct 11, 2016 6:25 am

Does grouse taste different if swatted vs. on the wing?

Asking for a friend. :roll:
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Re: Road Hunting Grouse

Postby MJY65 on Tue Oct 11, 2016 7:15 am

photogpat wrote:Does grouse taste different if swatted vs. on the wing?

Asking for a friend. :roll:


Generally, the swatted ones lack the rich flavors of feathers and lead in the meat. ;)
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