clapper, it is been my observation that competitive shooters dont do well in the grouse woods, where shots are more instinctive... and unpredictable...and it works vice versa...low gun skeet seems to be the best practice for grouse shooting...
Wut?!
Glad someone forget to tell these grouse that last year
Ernie Hausmann of Hausmann's Hidden Hollow Sporting Clays in Friendsville, PA caters to upland hunters, primarily those who shoot ruffed grouse and woodcock. The type of traps and targets they throw in wooded and brushy areas of his courses and called "hunters clays" because of their close simulation of actual bird hunting situations.
There is a Pa. SGL not far at all from Hausmann's that holds a few birds.
That is the furthest East I hunt back in the Northern Tier of Pa. Woodcock flights can be hit or miss depending on the year. I would take my son back "home" for youth bird and deer season and looking at the date on the picture it was 2004. Hausmann's hadn't opened yet or was just getting ready to. We would go down to Rock Mountain for sporting clays. Been a few years since I have been back East.
I'm a member of two of the three clubs that host the Wisconsin Iron Man. 400 targets, 4 different courses. The two where I've shot a lot, since they're located in northern Wisconsin, have plenty of trees. No problem simulating grouse shots. Matter of fact, shooters will occasionally encounter a grouse or two as they go around the course. The thing about courses like that is that they can be challenging without a lot of long shots. Think short windows--which is also the name of the game when you're hunting grouse and woodcock.
The Iron Man is interesting in that the higher class shooters don't dominate the entries. Although there's no shortage of them, there were more Hunter Class shooters this year than any other class. Matter of fact, out of the 290 entrants, there were more Hunter Class (95) than there were M, AA, and A combined (89).
It's not easy to set up courses that are sufficiently challenging for serious competitive shooters while not scaring away those who are there just for the fun of it. But the Wisconsin Iron Man clubs are located in a relatively sparsely populated part of the state, yet still succeed in drawing around 300 shooters every year.
Larry I'm guessing there aren't a lot of SxS guns at the Ironman? Thinking about doing it next year. This year on the Thursday before the weekend of the Great Northern I did the $100 all you can shoot with a pretty good sized group of guys. Shot 350 rounds with my Win 23 20 ga. and was physically and mentally whipped when I was done. But believe could do 200 a day. Have an ISIS recoil reducer on my Dickinson 12 ga. and that may be the way I go although the Win 23 obviously works well for me and clays too. Then again I'm not getting any younger...
Getting ready to pack up and go shooting this morning. Yesterday a Sportsman club setup traps and threw clays for youth and new hunters. Very soft targets. At day break the evil trap setters will show up and crank the springs but more importantly use background, sun and trees to make the birds much more difficult. But still shootable, although that is open to debate by some. I do know that it will be a great time, and grouse opener is a month away.
