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Mentored Hunting

New Hunters Graduate From Mentored Hunt Training Presented by The Ruffed Grouse Society

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new hunters

New hunter mentor program allows new hunters of any age, young or old, to learn about upland bird hunting from mentors.

Kane Pa.:  The Allegheny Chapter (Kane) of the Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) has completed their new hunter training for 2019.  The New Hunter Mentor Program (NHMP) allows new hunters of any age, young or old, to learn about upland bird hunting from mentors. During a day in the spring and a day in the fall, all attendees learn about shooting, habitat and GPS, bird dog care, and then graduate to an actual hunt for birds with dogs. Experienced grouse and woodcock hunters mentored the graduates for the actual hunt.

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A Weekend at Grouse Camp with Ruffed Grouse Society – RGS

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The day a German immigrant became an adult-onset hunter at RGS Grouse Camp in Wisconsin

Most grouse and woodcock hunters know this situation: standing in young Aspen cover with a shotgun in your hand. All you hear is the tone of the e-collar that tells you a dog is on point maybe 50 yards away from you. Slowly, but with determination, you make your way through the thick cover of late September, just to end up about 15 yards in front of the dog still strongly on point. 

Just six month ago I would never have thought I’d find myself in the Wisconsin North Woods, chasing the King of the Woods and the curious looking timberdoodle. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know of the existence of either of these beautiful birds that are now so common to my vocabulary.

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Video Contest | Join Us at Grouse Camp

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Tell Us Why You Want to Attend Grouse Camp?

We would love for you to Join Us at Grouse Camp in Eagle River, WI September 27th -29th. Now you have a chance to do so for free by entering our active video contest.

Thanks to generous donors, winners (up to 10) will receive free entry to Grouse Camp 2019 which includes event registration and some meals ($150 value). This does not include lodging.

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Woodcock | A Gateway to the Uplands

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Photo Credit | Michael Furtman

Highlighting the cooperative and welcoming nature of a truly amazing little bird.

We were wrapping up the afternoon, myself and hunting partner, also Mike, winding our way through likely cover on our rough course back to the truck. We each had a handful of chances at birds, my partner had brought one to hand. I was new to this, well, not new to woodcock, but new to southern, migratory woodcock. 

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Join Us | at Grouse Camp 2019

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Countdown to Grouse Camp 2019

2019 Grouse Camp Tour

Some of the best memories come from grouse camp experiences. Get registered for this year's Grouse Camp in Eagle River, Wisconsin today. Camp will run from September 27-29. We currently have 15 states accounted for attending, will you be there? Join The Movement and come to camp! #HealthyForests | www.ruffedgrousesociety.org

Posted by Ruffed Grouse Society on Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Grouse Camp 2019 Preview

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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Register Now | Women’s Intro to Wingshooting – Grand Rapids, MN 2019

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Women's Intro to Wingshooting

Join RGS and AWS for our annual Women’s Intro to Wingshooting Course available to Grand Rapids, MN area residents in 2019.

The Women’s Intro to Wingshooting is a course designed to provide women in the region each course is held with outdoor skills, a network resource of like-minded ladies, and a foundation for hunting game birds. The program was developed by RGS and supported by sponsors to promote the future of hunting through recruitment and retention of new upland game hunters

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – Pause to Reflect

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Cover image

It won’t be long before it’s time for us to think about New Year’s resolutions. Personally, I’ve never really taken this practice very seriously, but I know a lot of people who do. I can see some value in making promises to ourselves at the beginning of every year aimed at making some change for the better or improving some aspect of our lives. To me it’s another form of goal-setting . . . so why confine that activity to just one day of the year?

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GROUSE AND WOODCOCK HUNTING GATEWAYS

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A focus on simple gateways to grouse hunting can recruit our next generation of hunters.

By Matt Soberg, RGS/AWS Editor & Director of Communications

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We always hear about perceived barriers to entry purportedly inherent in grouse and woodcock hunting. “There are no birds around, and it’s hard to find them. The cover is so thick, too hard and strenuous. When you do find birds, the shots are impossible. Guns are intimidating, and I don’t know how to train a bird dog.” Blah, blah, blah.

Grouse hunting is not that scary. Trust me.

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WHY WE HUNT, Member Stephen Faust

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Our sport will die out if we’re not bringing in new hunters. In the sales world, we say if you’re not growing you’re dying. In the hunting world, the same may be true.

S Faust Photo 1

I was about 8 years old when I rounded the corner of a bean field in Hyde County, North Carolina, and it was there I saw what would guide me through the rest of my life. That was 40 years ago, and I can still see the combination of five English setters and pointers locked up on the edge of that field. Walking in on that first point was a blur of wings, sights, sounds and pure exhilaration. I am sure I shot in self-defense, and I don’t remember the first quail I bagged, nor the first woodcock or grouse. But I have points and birds from 40 years of upland hunting scattered throughout my memory. I cannot remember what I went to the grocery store for on a normal day, but I can see a woodcock I bagged over an old setter when I was about 12, just like it was yesterday. From the UP of Michigan to Louisiana, the “Little Russet Feller” has haunted me ever since. When my son bagged his first using the same gun on which I learned, he jumped up and down with excitement. He was hooked, and I was delighted.

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WHY WE HUNT, Member Noah Smith

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The sun was making its way across a high top in the Nantahala Mountains, and the first rays of light hit the frozen windshield of my truck. The thoughts of previous hunts high in the Carolina hills fought for a piece of time in my memories. The memories make grouse hunting so unique . . . no two are ever the same. Every dog has its own slot, every bird too, and the covers, well they reside down the deepest passage in the rooms of the brain, only visible to me and those in which I choose to share them.

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