Grouse Camp Tour

Join Us | at Grouse Camp 2019

May 30, 2019 by Ruffed Grouse Society

Countdown to Grouse Camp 2019

History

Since 2015 RGS/AWS members have followed along with our annual Grouse Camp Tour. From the organization’s roots, in Monterey, Virginia, to the far northern covers of Maine, the Grouse Camp Tour has traveled the country celebrating our beloved hunted traditions alongside our devoted membership.

The Grouse Camp Tour hasn’t seen the covers in Wisconsin since the inaugural tour in 2015. This fall Grouse Camp returns to Wisconsin as we invite you to join us during the first ever Grouse Camp Meet-up in Eagle River, Wisconsin, September 27th -29th.

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GROUSE CAMP TOUR STARTS TODAY!

October 21, 2017 by Ruffed Grouse Society

NEW YORK & NEW ENGLAND

2017 GROUSE CAMP TOUR

October 21 – 29

#grousecamptour

“There is an old New England saying to the effect that if you give a man a shotgun, a bird dog and a violin, he won’t amount to a damn.”

~William Harnden Foster ~

Join the Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society for the third Grouse Camp Tour, where we celebrate habitat, membership, volunteers and the grouse/woodcock hunting experience. This year’s Tour will be throughout the New York and New England region: New York Grouse & Woodcock Benefit Hunt – Malone, NY, Vermont, Western Massachusetts and Southern Maine.

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WHY WE HUNT, Member Jim Gray

July 5, 2017 by Ruffed Grouse Society

I might have arrived late to the grouse hunting scene, but I am determined to do everything I can to “pay it forward” and leave it in better shape than I found it.

Why do I hunt? I really didn’t have any choice, and I have been eternally grateful. My dad was a quail hunter. He started taking me when I was four or five years old. When I got too tired, he carried me on his shoulders. We hunted the sand hill scrub and pine/palmetto woods of Florida. I got my first shotgun, a JC Higgins .410 single shot for Christmas when I was 10. About that time, quail hunting lands began getting scarce as the hills and pine woods of Central Florida were bulldozed for orange groves. So, we shifted to dove and duck hunting.

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2016 RGS GROUSE CAMP TOUR – North Carolina & Georgia

November 21, 2016 by Ruffed Grouse Society

North Carolina/Georgia

RGS chapters are striving to ensure national forests are properly managed in the Southern Appalachian Region to preserve our grouse hunting traditions for future generations.

The famed conservationist Aldo Leopold once said, “We shall never achieve harmony with the land, anymore than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations the important thing is not to achieve but to strive.” The word “strive”, being the operative, is exactly what RGS chapter volunteers are doing in North Carolina and Georgia to ensure our public lands, namely national forests, are being properly managed for wildlife.

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2016 GROUSE CAMP TOUR – Virginia/Tennessee

November 15, 2016 by Ruffed Grouse Society

Virginia/Tennessee

Grouse/woodcock hunters are speaking for the wildlife that cannot speak for themselves – influencing forest management on public lands.

Only partially down the Tennessee mountain trail, Parker Street, of the Appalachian Highlands RGS Chapter, pointed to some Rhododendron sandwiched between clear old growth and a more recently managed mountainside. “Right here . . . there ought to be a bird in here, boys,” he urged.

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2016 RGS GROUSE CAMP TOUR – Monterey, Virginia

November 12, 2016 by Ruffed Grouse Society

RGS 2016 GROUSE CAMP TOUR – Monterey, Virginia

The Birthplace of the Ruffed Grouse Society

Walking down the short main street of Monterey, Virginia, a small mountain town in the northwestern part of the state, it would be difficult to assume that North America’s leading forest wildlife conservation organization was started there way back in 1961, but it was . . . welcome to the birthplace of the Ruffed Grouse Society.

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2016 RGS GROUSE CAMP TOUR – West Virginia

November 8, 2016 by Ruffed Grouse Society

2016 RGS GROUSE CAMP TOUR – West Virginia

The Habitat and History of the Canaan Valley

Grouse camp mystifies the overall grouse and woodcock hunting experience . . . sitting next to a fire, telling stories of misses and great days afield, belly laughing at your buddies, all while petting a bird dog . . . these are all things we cherish and must preserve for future generations of grouse and woodcock hunters.

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Day 5 Redux of the Grouse Camp Tour

January 10, 2016 by Ruffed Grouse Society

Day 5 began with a tour at the headquarters of Stormy Kromer, Jacquart Fabric Products, Ironwood, MI. (U.P.) Owner Bob Jacqaurt, who’s one of the most studied Kromer historians today has been a longtime friend of RGS Regional Director, Dave Johnson. Dave paired the Grouse Camp Tour crew up with area chapter committee member Matt Tingstad and friend and fellow RGS member Luke Lamb. It was a short and wet morning hunt but proved to be productive.

Day 4 Redux of the Grouse Camp Tour

January 7, 2016 by Ruffed Grouse Society

Day 4 took place at a very unique grouse camp in Wisconsin. Father and son, Chuck and Chris Bye have tailored their camp specifically for hunting grouse with their prized crew of English setters, including ideal habitat for grouse and woodcock as well as tons of trails for hunters of all mobility levels. Also in camp was Henry Page, longtime friend of the Bye’s and fellow RGS member. It didn’t take the crew long to realize that the most of elements that made up this camp were also in the minds of many grouse hunters’ who strive for a special camp of their own. No element of the grouse camp and hunt experience were lost on these guys, for them it’s about the entire experience, not the game bag status at day’s end.

Day 3 Redux of the Grouse Camp Tour

January 7, 2016 by Ruffed Grouse Society

Day 3 of the Grouse Camp Tour had the crew following along behind two 12 year old brothers, Tucker and Wyatt Johnson. With them was their dad Greg Johnson. Greg is on the committee of his local RGS chapter. Also helping mentor these youth in the woods is RGS Director of Member Relations & Outreach, Mark Fouts along with his crew of top-notch English pointers of all ages.

It was a great morning spent with some very accomplished, young upland bird hunters. The crew had a lot of fun running with these two very safe hunters, and took the opportunity to ask them a few questions including what can be done to get more youth their age in the woods.

After the hunt concluded the crew was southbound for another stop at a very unique fall grouse camp experience.

The Grouse Camp Tour crew would like to thank Tucker, Wyatt and Greg Johnson as well as Mark Fouts for a action-packed morning.

Grouse Camp Tour

Countdown to Grouse Camp 2019

History

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