Where to find Dusky's in the sage?

[Cervus]

For the last few years I have taken my English Setter out on Sept 1st to hunt some duskys in the sage, which I hoped would be a nice warmup/teaser for the upcoming upland season. The problem is, we've never found any! We've scouted during the summer but the only time I ever saw any was sitting a watering hole for antelope, and of course they were never seen again.

While my Setter loves the hunt no matter what, I would really like her to get some birds. We mainly hunt northern Colorado in GMUs 6, 7 and 8 where there is a creek wandering through sage country and aspens up the hill with pines above that. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

And yes, I've tried not looking for them, hunting something else, stalking quietly up on an elk and any number of other 'sure fire' tactics -- unfortunately in those cases I can't have my dog with me and by the time I go back with her, it's waaay too late.

Pic is of one we found by chance in some higher elevation aspens, nowhere near sage country.

 

[LongWayAround]

Take it for what it's worth...

I've never intentionally found them with my dog but I typically jump them where the aspens and little juniper bushes intersperse the edge of the sage in late summer. I think they're down there hunting grasshoppers.

At some point they migrate up the mountain towards subalpine timber.

 

[Cervus]

Thanks - oddly enough that is exactly where we found the bird in the pic.

 

[DerkPerk]

Not much input on where to find duskies in the sage. I’ve only taken a few in the sub alpine but pretty sure that’s a ruffed grouse in the picture there.


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[Cervus]

Derk, if it was a Ruffie, it was the dumbest Ruffie I've ever met! I grew up hunting them in New England where they were typically smarter than I was.

 

[wytx]

Looks like a ruffed to me as well. I don't see the tail color of a dusky, however Colorado says they have no ruffed grouse ?

 

[Lfkfam]

I believe the ruffed have a black stripe across the tail feathers. None of the blues I've bagged in CO have had that that stripe. Most of the coverts I've found have been above 9k, in the timber, along ridges. I look for lots of growth on the ground. I believe the red berries they like to eat up here are called buffalo berries, though I haven't been able to confirm that. And juniper of course

 

[hobbes]

That's not a ruff. It's just a hen dusky. Those edges are likely the lower reaches of their range. If you were in low country sage antelope hunting, you likely saw sage grouse unless you weren't in their range.

 

[rkoeneke]

CPW has released some ruffed grouse on the western slope. They are saying that it is in-fact part of their historic range. As for the identification of a particular bird, I am the last person you would want to ask. However, I do know that restoration efforts are in progress over here.

 

[2ski]

Dusky, Franklin's/Spruce, and ruffed = mountain grouse and in the mountains. Sage grouse and sharptails are in the open plains.