According to those who watched it, the spring current of the black grouse is truly spectacular, striking the imagination with bright colors and sounds. This bird is one of the most colorful feathered inhabitants of the forest.
Description
She has a blue-black plumage, a large trunk ending with a lyrical tail, a white undertail and a lingonberry eyebrow. Grouse is usually found in a mixed forest, where birch prevails. The main food is berries, and with the onset of cold weather - the grains left after harvesting in the grain fields. In winter, black grouse is forced to feed exclusively on birch buds.
This relatively large bird has a small head and a short beak. Males look significantly larger than females. Their length reaches 58 cm with a weight of one to one and a half kilograms. Grouse females are variegated, tan, with transverse dark yellow, black-brown and gray stripes. Outwardly, they look like capercaillie, but differ from them in white “mirrors” on the wings and a small tail recess.
Females usually make clucking fast sounds, often stretched out at the end. The males mutter loudly. Their loud singing is most often heard only during mating, which in the middle of our country begins by about half or the end of March, and in the north - in mid-April, continuing until the onset of summer.
Shooting Dates
Grouse hunting - in spring, winter or at any other time - is beautiful and exciting. The extraction of this game has always been considered a rather fascinating occupation. Success often depends on how well the shooter is familiar with the habitat, as well as the habits and habits of the black grouse.
Our ancestors have long been popular in
spring hunting for black grouse on currents. It can be said without exaggeration that Russia is the birthplace of this fascinating craft. Particularly popular hunting black grouse in the spring was in the mid-nineteenth century. In the rules that were in effect at that time, the terms of the shooting were defined as follows: this game could be obtained all year round, with the exception of the time from mid-May to half of July. Hunting for black grouse in the spring began in March, often even in the snow, and continued until the end of the mating.
Types of hunting
In the last century, this game could be obtained in various ways. It could be a hunting for black grouse in spring from a hut on a current guide, with hiding from the approach, and also in the floodplains of the river - by boat or from the porch. Now the rules are somewhat tightened. This is explained by a noticeable decrease in the number of this wonderful bird, which was the result of its careless extermination. Today, spring grouse hunting is permitted only on currents from the shelter. In summer, in August, prey is allowed with a dog, and in autumn - with stuffed animals. Some use it for more successful shooting and decoys, attracting prey to them. Winter black grouse hunting takes place in the holes. No less popular is the approach method, however, hunting lovers are primarily attracted by the desire to get a magnificent trophy in the spring, when nature awakens from sleep. But the main thing at the same time is to find the place of currenting.
How to find a spring in spring
Grouse - a bird is quite constant. From year to year, he chooses the same place for overcasting. Therefore, if you are not too lazy, then it will be quite easy to find it. After all, the sounds made by the pigs are sometimes heard for a kilometer or more. The main condition for active grouse mating is good spring weather. This bird, as, however, and all chicken, do not like rainy windy days. On clear, quiet mornings, her currents are very active. Moreover, night frosts stimulate it even more.
To go in the spring in search of current is necessary at dawn. You need to go without making sudden movements and, if possible, avoiding open spaces. Current birds are very careful: they can fly up, having felt the person who is at a distance of two hundred meters and even further. It is undesirable to scare them away, since subsequently the birds will be very careful on it.
Features of spring hunting on the current
For several centuries, black grouse, living in most Russian regions, has been one of the most popular targets for prey. In general, hunting for black grouse - in the winter, late autumn, and, of course, in the spring - is practically not connected with the use of special equipment, which ensures successful shooting. The success and lootiness of this lesson depends primarily on the knowledge of the habitats of the game, its habits and habits, and, of course, the skillful application of accumulated experience.
The hunter must prepare for grouse hunting before the start of the season. Around the middle of March, having previously studied the places of constant currents, it is necessary to mount the skeletons for the construction of a future hut. This must be done so that current birds can gradually get used to the appearance of “new objects” on the ground.
To protect yourself from dampness, it is better to throw straw or spruce branches inside. Experienced hunters erect several huts at once to use them one at a time. Moreover, at the same current, grouse shooting should be carried out no more often than after two, in extreme cases, one day.
How not to miss
The hunter enters the hut even in the predawn darkness in order to remain in it until the start of the morning grouse shooting. To go to the shelter when the males have already begun to "mumble", in no case impossible. It should not appear at the hut when the currenting has already begun or is about to activate. In order not to disperse the squint, shooting should begin only when the game enters the "rage".
Many believe that the best is to hunt for black grouse with small things, the invaluable features of which are weak sound when fired and small returns. You need to aim slowly and very carefully. It is impossible to pick up dead game before the hunting for black grouse ends.
With a scarecrow
As a rule, it is held at the end of September, when old zosachi begin to gather in flocks, and young growth and grouse slowly join them.
Before the formation of a thick snow cover on the morning and evening dawn, this bird sits near the places of lodging for the night and feeding zones, on the favorite trees, mainly on birches. Grouse hunting with stuffed animals is based on the use of this prey habits.
Having noticed the trees on which the game likes to sit, the hunter places a hut at a distance of twenty meters from them. The scarecrow is planted on a thin straight and possibly long pole. The success of the hunt depends on how correctly this is done.
A scarecrow should look like a calmly sitting bird, without tilting to the side, while always breastfeeding towards the wind. It should be turned into calm in the morning east, and in the evening - west. As a rule, three or four stuffed animals are displayed at different heights at the same time, but one of them should be as close to the top of the tree as possible.
Grouse catch in winter
After the first powders appear, an excellent season begins for shooting this bird from the porch or approach. I must say that hunting black grouse in winter is difficult with heavy snowfall. Its success depends on a good knowledge of the terrain and the anticipated movements of the flock of pigs. It can continue all day, from the moment of black grouse departure to feeding places. For access to them, an ordinary cart is most convenient for the powder, and in the snow - logs. The horse needs to be chosen unpretentious. The driver should rule her, since it will be difficult for the hunter to shoot and rule at the same time.
Having noticed even from afar the game sitting on the trees, the logs or the cart should be guided as if they were circling the flock side. A large number of pigtails rarely allows a hunter to shoot, so first it should be dispersed, and only then, approaching small groups of black grouse or loners, start shooting. If the black grouse are sitting, laughing and quietly pecking the kidneys, then the entrance can continue. When they crank their neck, alert and stepping from one foot to another or looking around, you need to shoot immediately.
In the holes
In windy, frosty weather, killer whales usually spend the night in the snow. They dive into it from a tree, break through a long passage and hide. In this case, an oblong pit remains on the surface of the snow. It is on this that grouse hunting is based.
A flock of shovels for overnight in the snow selects small forest glades protected from the wind. Therefore, the holes are very close to each other. Birds leaving under the snow about an hour before sunset spend all night under it.
Grouse hunting in the holes can take place both at sunset and during the day, if the prey remains in the shelter. You need to approach the pits as quietly as possible. In this case, even after a shot from a small-caliber rifle, not all black grouse immediately rise. This means that the hunter has the opportunity to recharge.
Using decoy
Experienced hunters are well aware that the song of a kosach on the current starts with a kind of "chuffykany". Making these sounds, the bird starts to bounce quite high. After such an original introduction, "mumble" begins.
Hunting black grouse with decoy is based on a person’s ability to imitate the sounds made by the kosach on the livestock, as well as the invocation cries of the grouse or the noise of a flock landing on trees. Bait is used primarily when it is impossible to come close for a sure shot to a game sitting on a branch or a current one.