Wild Trout and Ruffed Grouse

However to achieve your goal this is what you need to do. Get a list together of a bunch of places where you want to try wild brown streams. Then go onto Google in the vicinity of those streams and look for clearcuts. They will show up very well. One clearcut is hit/miss. Several clearcuts in an area separated by patches of mature forests are best. That gives you birds trading back and forth between good and marginal habitat. You won’t know exact cover and food availability until you put boots on the ground. You will shoot a grouse doing that.
This is some sound advice. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out. I enjoy long days in the woods and covering lots of ground, so boots on the ground is definitely not an issue for me. I just have a lot to learn as far as "ideal" habitat goes. I'm learning that just because an area is thick doesn't automatically make it a good area.
 
So, you hid the gun in the woods while you fished?
Interesting.....
Yep.
I had a technique of wearing a cheap blaze orange vest which I would take off when I reached the creek. I'd roll it up and put it in the fork of a tree something like fifty paces on a compass heading from where I placed the shotgun, usually just leaned against a tree. Sometimes I'd tie a small piece of orange ribbon instead. I could easily find the vest or ribbon while fishing back up.
I'm good at losing things, but I never lost a shotgun. 🙂
 
Like others have mentioned, the grouse are in trouble here in PA. I’ve been a hardcore grouse hunter for 30 years and it saddens me deeply to see what has happened. The Game Commission should shut the season down totally for a few years and then re-evaluate.
Sadly, this is but another sign of the times, and it isn't good!
 
I wish some of the time and money spent on pen raised pheasants would be put into PA’s wild game birds. ……..Hmmm, could say the same thing about trout.
 
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