Hi All,

I will be doing a drop camp elk hunt the first rifle season (October 11-18) in Colorado's Unit 12. What are the chances of also doing some productivegrouse hunting from my drop camp after I have bagged an elk?

Unit 12 is in the northwest quandrant of Colorado, near Meeker, and is in the White River National Forest. My drop camp will be at 8500', and the local ridges go up to about 9000.' The terrain is ridges and gulches, with a mix of aspen groves, conifer stands and open meadows. I will be at camp for a total of7 days.

Should I bring my shotgun so that ifI bag an elk early in theweek I can spendsome of my "free" time walking up some grouse for the cook pot? I will be traveling to Colorado from Virginia andwould hate to schlep a shotgun all that way without a real chance to use it, butI would also hate to pass up some fair to good grouse hunting.

Thanks.

--twofer

Good to see that you have a plan when to bag your elk. Do you have a size planned too, and have you told your elk to be ready for you?
I've flushed by accident several birds in that area, they are there, so bring your shotgun.

Bring your shot gun.
Blue grouse.....
Seems that I run into themon lightly wooded spruce/aspen mix areas onsouth side exposures during that season.
Bigger than a pheasant, smaller than a turkey, and not too smart.


That said, once you get your elk and get it out and taken care of, you may find easy going camp life quite attractive.

Definetly bring your shotgun as EKM said. Don't know about specifically where you will be hunting but where we hunt (White River NF South or I-70)there are lots of grouse in the timberand even Ptarmagan above timber line.

You got that right!
You can literally walk right up to them 5-10 feet away before they flush.

I've hunted close by also, and the grouse will be there.I don't know how many of youwill be in the drop camp together, but I would almost bet that not everyone will kill an elk. I bring that up because I know I would not be vey happy about my partner blasting away at grouse as I continued my search for an elk in the same general area, his butt ought to be out scouting and glassing.Furthermore why eat grouse when you have fresh backstraps? Maybe I'm just jealous b/c I didn't draw a tag this year, have a great hunt and stay safe.

Icertainly share the concern others have voiced about not disturbing the elk hunting of my camp mates while I am grouse hunting.

My plan was/is to wait until most members in my camp have tagged out(assuming that I fill my tag early in the season), and then coordinate with the guyswho are still elk hunting so that I grouse hunt far away from them. In other words, I figure I wouldn't disturb my hunting partners if I am grouse hunting 1 or more miles from camp in the opposite direction from them.

More generally, this is my first drop camp elk hunt, so I am interested in learning about any universal camp rules, ethics, traditions, etc. on how to properly conduct myself. Specifically, are the hunters that tag out early expected to spend their days in the camp to not disturb the ones still looking to fill their tags? Or, do the successful hunters spend the rest of the season helping those hunters still in the pursuit of game?

Thanks.

--twofer

Take a 22 then and not worry about disturbing your hunting partners. There are people that do hunt grouse and other hunters in the woods that will be shooting also. Grouse are dang good eating and I look forward to being to shoot them while big game hunting also.

I'm thinking about using my 44 mag pistol loaded with #7.5 shot. But then I don't carry my 44 when out hunting. I have seen and heard a few but not enough to depend on a dinner.

Why not shoot grouse with your bow? Isn't it legal in CO to take grouse with archery equipment?

When I lived down there years ago we used nothing but 22 pistols and rifles.

Don't piss off the cook.